The Stranger’s morning news roundup.

by Hannah Krieg

First things first: Today, in my humble opinion, will be fucking awesome. According to the National Weather Service, Seattle can expect a little cloud cover in the morning, but once that clears up, we’ll get a sunny afternoon with a high temperature of 66 degrees. I love when outside is inside temperature. Amazing! 

ICYMI: We made the ultimate guide to the City. You can read everything online, and I know we would appreciate the clicks, but I would recommend tracking down a copy in the wild. They’re literally all over the place, so just leave the house and you’ll run into one. Then, flip to the cool checklist of 99 things to do in Seattle, tack it on your wall, and see if you can beat me to completing them all. I live a very full and exciting life, so good luck keeping up!

Out now! How to Seattle: 99 Things to Do Before the Big One Takes Us All

Because Seattle is doomed. The Pacific Northwest is riddled with fault lines and active volcanos. One day the Cascadia subduction zone will snap.https://t.co/T3VuS6Z5fV pic.twitter.com/hy40NObyVU

— The Stranger 🗞 (@TheStranger) May 22, 2024

Hey, Seattle Public Schools (SPS)! Just checking in. KUOW wrote that some of your students have been asking the district FOR MONTHS to please move their graduation date because SPS planned graduation week for the same week as Eid Al-Adha, one of the biggest Islamic holidays. The school board suggested hosting a separate graduation for students celebrating the holiday, but the kids say that feels exclusionary, and I totally agree. The district did not respond to KUOW’s request for comment, which does not make me very hopeful that the district will change, especially so close to the ceremonies. 

Big decisions: Later today, Sound Transit’s governing board is expected to decide where to put the SLU light rail station. If you thought the station was already set, you would be right. But the power-players at Amazon and Vulcan lobbied to put the station on 5th Avenue rather than on 7th Avenue. The Seattle Times broke down the pros and cons of both station placements. If Sound Transit places the station on 5th, then they avoid some short-term traffic congestion during construction, but they ultimately lose 3,000 riders each day and make it harder for commuters to get to work with the physical barrier of Highway 99 between the station and most jobs. If Sound Transit places it on 7th, then riders will have better transfers and regional connectivity, but Amazon thinks that the traffic from construction will kill business in SLU. 

Storm wins BTW: Last night, the Seattle Storm—the only basketball team this City needs if you ask me—beat the Indiana Fever and the Caitlin Clark with a score of 85-83.

WHAT A WIN ⛈️⛈️⛈️ pic.twitter.com/zk0PrFVqek

— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) May 23, 2024

Shocker: Failed GOP candidate Nikki Haley said that she will vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. Not surprising, but it is a shift for Haley. In January, Haley told CNN that Trump and President Joe Biden are “equally bad.” But yesterday, in her first public remarks since dropping from the primary, Haley said Trump “has not been perfect,” but Biden “has been a complete catastrophe.” Guess you got ham up your disapproval when you’re trying to pick off someone’s supporters. 

Can they do it? The campaign to fund social housing by taxing businesses that pay anyone more than $1 million set their sights high this weekend, aiming to collect 10,000 signatures in just three days at Folklife. Tiffani McCoy from House Our Neighbors told The Stranger that they’ve hit the halfway mark in collecting 35,000 signatures to get on the ballot. She said I-137 could still make the November ballot, but the council may sit on it and let it go to February. Even though HON has won a special election in the past, that’s not exactly ideal, since turnout tends to be lower in those elections. But the quicker they can turn in the signatures, the harder it would be for the council to delay the measure until February. So, if you see the I-137 crew around, hear them out!

3 days until Folklife! We are in the final stretch of signature gathering for I-137. We will be gathering signatures from Seattle voters for I-137 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Sign up and help us reach our 10k signature goal this weekend. https://t.co/hhtm6VTzss pic.twitter.com/08Pa8bSfvG

— HON- SIGN I-137 fund social housing🏘️🌲 (@houseRneighbors) May 21, 2024

This guy and his flags: After news broke that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flew an inverted American flag outside his house, new photos show an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flying outside a beach home Alito owns. That flag was another symbol carried by rioters on January 6, 2021. Democrats continue to call for Alito to recuse himself from matters related to former President Donald Trump over the apparent show of solidarity with the insurrectionists. That’s cute. 

Iowa: Officials say five people were killed after a tornado tore Greenfield, Iowa earlier this week. According to the AP, the tornado was “so destructive that it took authorities more than a day to account for the area’s residents.”

Back to the bargaining table: Families of hostages put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal with Hamas by releasing video footage of captive female IDF soldiers. Within hours, Israeli officials promised to revive negotiations. Israel has denied several deals with Hamas because they stipulated the return of the hostages on a ceasefire, which seems like a win-win if Israel’s whole thing is bringing their citizens home and not annihilation of the Palestinian people for the sake of conquest. 

Booooooo: Harvard University will deny 13 students their degrees at commencement today because they participated in the school’s pro-Palestine encampment. The students can still go to the ceremony, and Harvard may give them their degrees after faculty takes another look in an appeal process.

Karaoke: I asked Twitter what my new, hot girl karaoke song should be. This is what Seattle Channel host Brian Callanan suggested.

The Stranger