Scarf climate: I’m attempting to turn out to be a scarf-wearing girlie and as we speak’s a fairly good day to assist solidify that identification. The morning will begin out cloudy with temperatures within the low 40s. Then the solar will peak out round 11 am and temperatures will steadily rise to a excessive of 46 round 2 pm. Then, as these items are inclined to go, the temperatures will drift again down because it will get darkish. Feels like scarf climate to me!
California replace: Southern California remains to be very a lot on hearth. As of this morning, the fires, which embrace the record-breaking blaze in Palisades and one other historic inferno in Eaton, have killed a minimum of 5 folks, compelled tens of 1000’s beneath necessary evacuation orders, destroyed a minimum of 2,000 constructions, and burned greater than 27,000 acres. Whereas lots of the fires stand at 0% containment, firefighters made headway in a single day to comprise the Sundown hearth, which triggered evacuation orders in Hollywood final evening.
Metropolis price range’s matter: Forward of the massive wildfire outbreak in Southern California, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reportedly minimize greater than $17 million from the fireplace division’s price range. Based on the NBC4 report, many of the $17 million was absorbed by slicing hearth division administration positions, however $7 million in variable time beyond regulation needed to be axed. Nonetheless, a Politico report discovered the declare concerning the price range cuts, which unfold like wildfire (sorry) on social media, was not fairly as black and white because it appears. From Politico: “The town was within the strategy of negotiating a brand new contract with the fireplace division on the time the price range was being crafted, so further funding for the division was put aside in a separate fund till that deal was finalized in November. In truth, the town’s hearth price range elevated greater than $50 million year-over-year in comparison with the final price range cycle, based on Blumenfield’s workplace, though total considerations concerning the division’s staffing stage have endured for a lot of years.”
Most succinct fact-check I’ve learn of how LA Fireplace Dept’s price range wasn’t lately minimize — the truth is, the alternative — from @politico.com. However that misinformation unfold anyway. www.politico.com/information/2025/01…
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— Ali Vitali (@alivitali.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Take the fucking bus: Native media is complaining about elevated visitors and packed parking tons within the wake of Amazon’s new return-to-office mandate. Nonetheless, the Seattle Division of Transportation is monitoring the state of affairs and probably not noticing an enormous inflow of visitors in comparison with this time final 12 months. However now’s nearly as good a time as ever to remind you that taking the bus is superior and the extra of us who do it the sooner we will all get the place we have to go!
Now, Ashley, take it away!
Mayor Bruce Harrell’s oopsy: On Tuesday, Harrell despatched out a launch celebrating the Metropolis’s progress on police recruitment. He boasted about how, for the primary time since 2019, the Seattle Police Division (SPD) had employed extra officers than it misplaced and the variety of deployable officers had elevated by 141 in a single 12 months. Unbelievable, you would possibly say. And also you’d be right. The mayor needed to ship out a follow-up press launch to say that the whole variety of deployable officers solely elevated by about 20 in comparison with 2023. Additionally good to notice that whereas the variety of hirings did surpass separations from the police division in 2024, they solely surpassed the variety of separations by one: hiring 84 cops and dropping 83. They usually promptly misplaced an officer within the first couple weeks of January by firing Kevin Dave, so I’d name {that a} draw. However no, we must always rejoice spending a further $96 million on a brand new police contract and a pair million in 2024 to spice up promoting for cops, in addition to creating everlasting hiring bonuses, all so as to add a further 20 cops. Wonderful fiscal accountability, Mayor Harrell.
Thanks, Ashley! Again to me.
Somebody needed to do it! The Seattle Instances is suing the Seattle Police Division (SPD) for delaying public information requests, denying the general public transparency assured by state legislation. SPD’s information come particularly slowly as a result of a 2017 coverage allowed the division to “group” requests made by a single individual into one, even when these requests had been made months aside. So every new request empowered SPD so as to add larger and larger delays and punish journalists with sturdy, recurring curiosity, because the Seattle Instances’s lawyer argued. In 2023, SPD agreed to reform the grouping observe in order that it could solely group requests inside 8 weeks of one another. Nonetheless, the lawsuit alleges SPD stopped complying with that settlement someday final 12 months.
ICYMI: Did you see that Council Member Cathy Moore went on somewhat tirade within the first council assembly again? The Metropolis Council is beginning to speak concerning the One Seattle Complete Plan (lengthy overdue! you, Mr. Mayor) and there’s going to be so much—so much—of debate as evidenced by Moore’s impassioned and kinda complicated remarks. To be sincere, I don’t know what to make of it. She’s mad about affordability. And whereas it’s true that we can not merely construct our manner out of the housing disaster, I don’t assume she has a lot authority to speak about affordability…
I’m sympathetic to cries for affordability greater than the market urbanist Moore has in-built her head, however this falls flat when it appears CM Moore is poised to rollback renters rights and he or she launched the Chamber’s different to the social housing funding initiative. https://t.co/8N4Jr7Tzyk pic.twitter.com/RXchOBHSXT
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) January 8, 2025
Oh! Elected officers in Cle Elum are contemplating declaring chapter, a transfer that’s “virtually extraordinary for cities in Washington,” based on the Seattle Instances. The town is financially fucked as a result of late final 12 months an arbitrator dominated Cle Elum owes $22.2 million to a developer after repeatedly violating an settlement associated to a plan to construct almost 1,000 properties close to downtown. That’s some huge cash contemplating the town’s price range is about $5 million a 12 months.
The brand new minimal wage is an effective factor truly: Conservative media has spent lots of time these first days of 2025 attempting to assemble a story that the brand new minimal wage is destroying small companies. If a enterprise has already closed this 12 months—earlier than many individuals have seen their first paycheck of 2025—and the enterprise is blaming the brand new wage, which they’d a ten-year warning about, know that they’re misplacing blame. They need to be mad at their landlords for making it too costly to lease a industrial area; or at restrictive zoning legal guidelines that tamp down growth, depriving their neighborhood of extra folks and thus their enterprise of extra prospects; or, at themselves for getting an excessive amount of avocado toast, or no matter conservatives inform younger folks once they complain about cash.
Fascinating timing: ABC Information reported that Supreme Court docket Justice Samuel Alito talked to President-elect Donald Trump on the cellphone simply hours earlier than Trump’s legal professionals filed an emergency request asking the justices to halt sentencing in his legal hush cash case. Actually appears like Trump was calling to inform his conservative cronies what to do, however Alito says they didn’t talk about the case. He claims he was calling as a job reference to assist one in every of his former legislation clerks get a place within the new administration. To be sincere, that excuse doesn’t consolation me. Feels like purpose to make somewhat commerce! The court docket is anticipated to resolve on Trump’s request by Friday morning.
América Mexicana: After President-Elect Donald Trump mentioned he’s going to alter the identify of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum jokingly prompt renaming North America to “ “América Mexicana.” She mentioned, “That sounds good, no?”
On this present day in music historical past: Backstreet Boys member AJ McClean was born. Pleased forty seventh birthday, man. This ones for you!
