Tonight's news round-up includes updates on Washington's new facial covering requirement, Kentucky and New York's primary elections, and Momiji's donations to Black-led organizations. But first...
Demand 50%, get 5%: Mayor Jenny Durkan has proposed cutting the budget for the Seattle Police Department by $20 million in the last six months of this year. That $20 million cut represents about 5% of SPD's 2020 budget, per the Seattle Times' David Gutman. ("The mayor proposes slashing about 5% of the Seattle Police budget this year and a hiring freeze on new officers next year until a new plan is developed 'reflecting community priorities for public safety.'")
The announcement was made during a presentation (slide below) to the Seattle City Council today: Many demonstrators have asked for the SPD to be defunded by 50%. While Durkan is only proposing a 5% cut, Gutman notes that "Durkan has also asked the police department to prepare models of what 20%, 30% and 50% budget cuts would look like." Crosscut's David Kroman has more (with no paywall) here.
Something to note in Kroman's reporting: "Durkan said she wants to pause construction on a downtown streetcar that would connect the city’s two existing lines."
Kentucky, New York, and Virginia are holding primaries today: The big races to watch are Democrat Amy McGrath vs. Democratic Rep. Charles Booker for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat in Kentucky. Democratic leadership overwhelmingly prefers McGrath, but her performance has been shaky. The other race to watch is the AOC-like Jamaal Bowman vs. longtime New York Rep. Eliot Engel in the Bronx. Here's Bowman:
Bringing the movement to the polls with my future Congressman ✊🏿🗳️ pic.twitter.com/6NpqUiQF6p
— Sochie Nnaemeka (@sochiesays) June 23, 2020
When will we know the results from these races? "The Associated Press is expecting a large number of absentee votes in New York and Kentucky, which will delay the tabulation of full results until at least June 30," writes the New York Times. Catch their live election updates here.
So how is today going? Uhhh...
Voters are being locked out in Kentucky.
If you’re in line don’t go anywhere. https://t.co/NeRNwuPjnw
— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) June 23, 2020
Kentucky has ONE polling place for 616,000 voters.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 23, 2020
Mitch McConnell has allowed the bill to restore the Voting Rights Act to sit on his desk for months to reap the benefits.
THIS IS CLEAR VOTER SUPPRESSION.
Dozens of voters were locked out when a polling place in Jefferson County, Kentucky closed its doors at 6:03 pm: Rep. Charles Booker's campaign team requested an injunction to let the polling place stay open until 9 pm. The judge partially agreed and let the polling place stay open until... 6:30 pm.
The Frye Art Museum will furlough its staff this summer: Not a huge surprise, but the announcement came today. Museums aren't allowed to open until Phase 3, which could take a while... Click Jasmyne's tweet for the full press release:
Looks like @FryeArtMuseum will be furloughing/reducing hours for their staff this summer. This comes after @iheartSAM announced a similar move last week. https://t.co/l92jiJGret pic.twitter.com/YkXdinLivo
— jasmyne keimig (@jasmynekeimig) June 23, 2020
When will King County enter Phase 3? It might take a bit. Phase 3 will allow restaurants and taverns to open to 75% capacity, theaters to operate at 50% capacity, and libraries and museums to reopen, among other things. (Nightclubs and large events are not allowed until Phase 4.) But experts believe we'll be in Phase 2, which King County was approved to enter at the end of last week, for some time: “I suspect we’re going to be in Phase 2, or some sort of modified Phase 2, for a while because there’s limits on what we can do with physical distancing and masking," Dr. John Lynch told Crosscut's Hannah Weinberger, emphasizing our need to vastly improve contact tracing before we're ready to move on to additional phases.
I continue to be so worried about these nightclubs and queer bars that can't open until Phase 4: I understand the delay, but Washington state has always seemed anti-nightlife to me. COVID is going to really kill it. Will we even be able to hit Phase 4 before the "second wave"? Happy Pride!
If the second wave hits before Phase 4 and nightclubs can't reopen until after the second wave......
:( i'm never gonna shove a dollar in a jockstrap at Pony again https://t.co/jvpPadmEx5
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) June 23, 2020
Porn star Ron Jeremy has been charged with assaulting four women in WeHo since 2014, reports LA Times: "Jeremy, whose legal name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, was charged with three counts of forcible rape and one count of forcible oral copulation and sexual battery."
Barricades at CHOP come and go: The demonstrators have been recentering around the East Precinct and away from 10th and Pine, where many of the recent shootings have occurred. But there's little agreement over how to structure the barricades:
Barricades really do come and go at #CHOP https://t.co/AyJ3SAb9Fr pic.twitter.com/6JyogL30NJ
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) June 23, 2020
One thing is consistent: Honey Bucket's dedication to hauling our shit.
Honey Bucket still slipping around barricades to service the porta potties pic.twitter.com/d0SbP2cfIc
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) June 23, 2020
Mask 4 mask: Starting Friday in Washington state, it will be a legal requirement to mask up in indoor public places and outside where you can't maintain six feet of social distance. Not wearing a mask is punishable by a misdemeanor. Read more on Gov. Inslee's announcement from Nathalie Graham here. A reminder:
I keep thinking about this, via Oregon gov's office pic.twitter.com/Q9KtPw47fS
— Chase Burns (@chaseburnsy) June 21, 2020
It looks like Americans will continue to be barred from entering the European Union when it reopens July 1. "That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States," writes the New York Times. There are expected to be exceptions, like for repatriations or "essential travel."
A follow-up on Momiji: Yesterday, a person in CHOP recorded Momiji's general manager calling a Black woman the n-word and then getting into a physical fight with her and other women. The man was quickly fired by Momiji's ownership team, who posted apologies and announced their intention to donate to various BLM-related groups:
The groups did not accept the donations: WA-BLOC and Creative Justice both received a $5,000 donation from Momiji, but the groups returned the donations and released a statement online. "We are calling on Momiji to use the $10,000 that was originally donated to WA-BLOC and Creative Justice to pay reparations to the Black womxn who was subjected to hate and abuse by Momiji’s former general manager," concludes the statement. "Restitution is owed to the person who was directly harmed." We're following up on this story and will update as available.