Bear Gulch Fire 100 Percent Contained: Over five months, the fire (likely caused by humans) burned 20,000 acres. Areas inside the perimeter may continue to smolder for a while, and debris may flow onto Forest Service Road 24 and the areas around Lake Cushman, but itâs donezo, reports KING 5.
Trumpâs Homeless First Strategy: A Trump administration policy change could endanger âhousing firstâ programs to address homelessness. Stable housing for hundreds of local households and $41 million for programs in Seattle in King County are in jeopardy. This is dumb as hell. Housing First may not always be implemented perfectly, or even well, but data shows low barrier housing works better than high barrier housing when implemented correctly. Roughly 170,000 people nationwide could end up homeless again. This does not solve homelessness.
Past Got Your Tongue? Trump told reporters that if a measure that ordered the Justice Department to publish the Epstein Files crossed his desk, heâd sign it.
He May Get His Chance: Today, the House will vote on a bill just like that. If this happens, count on a push alert from every website on earth.
Joseph, Donât Take the Handles: Joseph Emerson, the off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut a jetâs engines on a 2023 passenger flight, has been released on time served. Federal prosecutors had asked for a year in prison for nearly killing 83 people. Heâll be on probation for three years. Emerson, whose friend had recently died, claimed he hadnât slept in over 40 hours. He believed he was daydreaming when he went for the controls, he said. Emerson pleaded guilty to the federal charges, and no-contest to state charges.
Mariners Re-sign Josh Naylor: For $18.5 million, heâll stay with the team another five heartbreaking seasons. Weâre glad. To Mariners management, I have only one thing to sayâŚ
Tough Guys Can Be Sensitive, Too: The wood chapel outside the Northwest African American Museum is an art piece by former Seahawk defensive lineman Michael Bennett. Jas Keimig has more on âNight Chappelâ and Bennett in the Seattle Times.
Another Terrible Whale Story: Scientists euthanized a young humpback whale beached near Yachats, Oregon. It sucks. Thereâs no moral to this story other than to stay away from derelict crab fishing lines if youâre a humpback whale in his prime. Iâd tell people not to leave behind their derelict crab lines, but they wonât.
Weather: Thereâs a 30 percent chance of rain before 1 p.m. on this mostly cloudy day. Some clouds and patchy fog tonight.
Cosmic Delight: If the clouds roll away, we may see the Leonids meteor shower tonight. Theyâre gone by the 30th (and may stay gone until 2099) but theyâre just coming off their peak.
Diva Down:Â Cloudflare, a software company that helps companies handle traffic, experienced an outage this morning. It took a chunk of the internet down with it.
UN approves US Peace Plan for Gaza: Trumpâs plan will deploy an international stabilization force to Gaza for two years, which is meant to secure border areas, protect civilians and disarm non-state groups like Hamas. Trump will oversee the force. Arab states pushed for a late addition: a tentative, ambiguous reference to a future Palestinian state once Gaza is rebuilt. UN Chief Antonio Guterres said it was an important step toward long-term peace. Russia and China abstained from the vote. Hamas, which would be disarmed under the plan, rejected the measure. It said it wonât disarm and that the plan undermines the Palestinian right to self-determination.
A Little War, for Balance: Trump isnât ruling out sending troops to Venezuela. He isnât ruling out diplomacy with President Nicolas Maduro either. Though weâre off to a rocky start there, buddy. Accusing Maduro of running a cartel without credible evidence and extrajudicially killing people off his shore doesnât inspire warmness.
Wow, but duh: Ninety-seven percent of the 614 immigrants arrested in Chicagoâs immigration raids (Operation Midway Blitz) had no criminal record, according to Department of Justice records. Trumpâs claims that his agency is going after the âworst of the worstâ are obvious bullshit.
Woke Pope: Pope Leo XIV urged countries at COP30, the UN climate summit in Brazil, to take urgent climate action. Godâs creation is âcrying out in floods, droughts, storms, and relentless heat,â he said. (Over that volume, I imagine God is hard to hear.) COP30 is in its second week. Weâre not participating. The Trump regimeâs official stance is that global warming is a hoax.
About Time: David Richardson resigned as acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Heâs best known for being a do-nothing loser. Employees told the AP heâs hard to reach, even in an emergency. Do we see the problem here? He returns to the private sector, where his un-talents will be better appreciated.
A quick song for your Tuesday: Take it away, Tony.
