Again to Bobness: Bob Ferguson issued three govt orders on his first day as governor. The primary directed the Division of Well being to collect specialists, medical doctors, and policymakers and provide you with a plan to strengthen our sturdy reproductive well being legal guidelines. The second informed state businesses to look at, streamline, defer, or remove varied rules on housing, allowing and new development. The third directs the state to hurry up the allowing course of and can refund utility charges when the state misses deadlines. The Seattle Occasions experiences Ferguson reiterated his three prime priorities throughout his inauguration speech, that are housing affordability, common free lunch, and public security.
Not for you: After rising the ability and dimension of the state lawyer common’s workplace for 12 years, Ferguson needs to remove tens of tens of millions of {dollars} from the workplace to cowl the state’s price range hole. New Legal professional Normal Nick Brown says that may instantly influence the workplace’s capability to tackle civil rights and antitrust circumstances. As AG, Ferguson aggressively fought the Trump administration. With Trump coming into workplace with extra energy, and severe threats of mass deportation, it appears counterintuitive to uninteresting the state’s finest defensive weapon. Republicans preferred what they heard in Ferguson’s inaugural speech. Ferguson didn’t point out local weather as soon as and stated he wasn’t there to “defend authorities. I’m right here to reform it.”
Governor Ferguson’s Inaugural Ball tonight is hosted by the Chamber of Commerce; with a swearing-in speech that made no point out of taxing the wealthy to fund providers all of us use, many Washingtonians could ponder whether his financial agenda is as nicely.
— Shaun Scott 🌹🤝 (@eyesonthestorm) January 15, 2025
Navy physician sentenced for sexually abusing sufferers at JBLM: Maj. Michael Stockin, an anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was sentenced to 13 and a half years in jail Wednesday. Final week, he pleaded responsible to 36 counts of abusive sexual contact and 5 counts of indecent viewing. Between 2019 and 2022, 41 sufferers accused Stockin of fondling or watching their genitals for no medical purpose. Stockin confronted a 330-year sentence earlier than taking the plea deal.
Bus $$$: The federal authorities granted King County $79.7 million to launch the Metro RapidRide I Line to broaden speedy service to Renton, Kent and Auburn. Officers say we’ll have the ability to hop on in 2027.
Climate: Nothing thrilling. Anticipate temperatures within the mid 30s, low 40s and showers.
Ceasefire: Israel’s 15-month assault on Gaza, which killed not less than 46,000 Palestinians—and probably as many as 64,000—since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault, might cease this week. Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to cease the battle and alternate hostages. It is anticipated to start Sunday, though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a last-minute “disaster” is holding up Israel’s approval. For the reason that deal’s announcement, Israel has killed not less than 72 folks in Gaza. President-elect Donald Trump and Biden each declare credit score for the deal. They shouldn’t be so proud. The US provided cash and weapons that made Israel’s battle doable and has all the time had outsized energy and affect over the destruction and indiscriminate killing. The timing, so near Trump’s inauguration, is attention-grabbing. Sometime, we’ll know who did what and why. If the ceasefire holds, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Financial institution will nonetheless dwell in a fundamentally-unequal state.
LA fires replace: Firefighters there nonetheless cope with “excessive hazards and the potential for hearth progress,” as one Cal Hearth official informed CNN. Significantly harmful situations have waned, however forecasters stated the Santa Ana winds might choose up subsequent week. FOX11 Los Angeles reported this morning that the mixed efforts of fireplace crews from California, the nation, Canada, and Mexico haven’t but contained the large and harmful Palisades (22% contained) and Eaton (55% contained) fires which have killed 25 folks and left hundreds extra homeless. LA landlords have accomplished their half by jacking up the value of lease.
How do the LA fires examine to the nice Seattle hearth? KUOW mapped it out. TL;DR: means, means larger, and our hearth destroyed a lot of previous Seattle. Los Angeles is so sprawling that maps can distort our notion of how a lot has burned.
Ship within the clowns: Our senators are evaluating Donald Trump’s picks to guide federal businesses. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Pam Bondi, Trump’s choose for lawyer common who held the place in Florida. Bondi wouldn’t say if Biden legitimately gained the 2020 election, or rule out probes of Trump’s political enemies. Trump’s CIA nominee John Ratcliffe informed senators he wouldn’t hearth folks based mostly on their perceived political opinions or let politics skew the company’s findings. (If Ratcliffe signifies that, he might not be round for lengthy).
Talking of politics and intelligence: Speaker of the Home Rep. Mike Johnson eliminated Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner as chair of the highly effective Home Intelligence Committee. Turner supported Ukraine and disagreed with Trump’s stances on international coverage, and pissed off the correct when he voted to reauthorize a surveillance invoice final 12 months (dangerous, to be clear). Johnson stated the “intelligence group and the whole lot associated to [the committee] wants a recent begin.” The Mar-a-Lago-friendly Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas is predicted to exchange Turner, in line with CNN, however it’s not official.
Senate affirmation hearings proceed at present for Scott Bessent, the billionaire who could change into treasury secretary, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s choose to dismantle lead the Environmental Safety Company. Committees will even query former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Inside and Scott Turner for Housing Secretary. Outdoors witnesses will communicate on Bondi.
So lengthy, Joe: In a farewell tackle to the nation, President Joe Biden warned the concentrated financial energy of oligarchs and the rising “tech-industrial complicated” threatens democracy in America. This a lot is obvious, however what has his administration accomplished to curb these harmful and highly effective forces, which extended financial ache, class resentment, and political instability have partly enabled? Biden didn’t ship on his central promise that his presidency would return the nation to normalcy and finish the chaos of the primary Trump administration, which quieted just for a second. Oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos may have prime seats for Trump’s inauguration.
President Joe Biden used his farewell tackle to the nation Wednesday to warn of an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy taking root within the nation and of a “tech-industrial complicated” that’s infringing on Individuals’ rights and the way forward for democracy. pic.twitter.com/O1UfbOKaQB
— The Related Press (@AP) January 16, 2025
The opposite President: Poor Steve Bannon. He gained’t kick “evil” Elon Musk out of the Trump administration earlier than Inauguration Day in any case. The New York Occasions experiences Musk, the richest man on this planet who makes billions from federal contracts, is predicted to have workplace area within the White Home to run his and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE). It’s unclear if Ramaswamy may have workplace area or the identical privilege and noteworthy entry to the president. We should always in all probability cease calling DOGE a division. Departments are congressionally-authorized components of the federal government. DOGE is an advisory fee. We nonetheless have no idea precisely the way it will work, what it is going to do, how a lot it could lower, what authority it must make cuts, and so, a lot else. Because the Occasions famous, it’s unclear how Musk’s place will work together with our felony battle of curiosity legal guidelines and authorities transparency legal guidelines. However perhaps we’re coming into our “it-doesn’t-matter-actually” period.