“Nefarious characters” may be behind the Sea-Tac cyber attack: Authorities at the Port of Seattle have not explained who or what is beyond the Saturday cyber attack hampering day-to-day airport operations. The only clue so far comes from Sea-Tac spokesperson Perry Cooper, who said at a Monday news conference that “nefarious characters” may have been in its system early Saturday morning. (I’m picturing a tall, lanky man with a thin zagging line of mustache, shoulders draped with a cape, and identity obscured with black domino eye mask.) Airport security is working as normal, but Wi-Fi is still out and baggage services are disrupted. The airport tweeted last night that those traveling internationally should arrive extra early.
Civil trial for BLM protester killed on freeway began Monday: The question in the civil case brought by the family of Summer Taylor, a 24-year-old Black Lives Matter protester killed on I-5 in 2020, is not whether a tragedy took place, but who is responsible. The Taylor family blames the state’s transportation department and Washington State Patrol for not closing a freeway exit off Stewart Street. The open exit allowed driver Dawit Kelete to enter up the off ramp and accidentally plow into protesters, striking and killing Taylor. The state’s lawyer assigned blame to both Kelete, sentenced last year to 6 ½ years in prison, as well as Taylor for being on the freeway at all.
Hand recount begins in Washington’s land commissioner race: Before this is over, state election officials will count about two million votes by hand, and conclusively determine if Democrat Dave Upthegrove or Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson will advance to the general election this November and face former Republican congresswoman Jamie Herrera-Beutler. At the last ballot drop, Upthegrove led Pedersen by only 52 votes. As of 2 p.m. yesterday, King County had recounted 52,000 of its 560,000 ballots without finding an error.
Sue Bird gets a street: On Monday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell renamed a small stretch of 2nd Avenue North outside Climate Pledge Arena “Sue Bird Court” (ha). In her 21 years and 19 seasons with the Seattle Storm, Bird became the team's all-time leader in points and steals; set also league records for most assists and games played. Bird attended the ceremony with her partner, the soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who was also honored over the weekend when her former team retired her jersey at Lumen Field.
The city of Seattle renamed a street “Sue Bird Court” in her honor 🙌#WNBA pic.twitter.com/J5fLUqF3eD
— PlayersTV (@ThePlayersTV) August 27, 2024
Person shot, killed on King County bus in Des Moines: Local police said a fight turned into a shooting Monday afternoon on a bus near Pacific Highway South and South 216th Street. Authorities did not provide a description of a suspect they said is on the loose, and the King County Medical Examiner’s office has not publicly identified the victim.
Israel allegedly detained and tortured Palestinian healthcare workers: A new report from Human Rights Watch details the alleged torture, rape threats, and denial of medical care from Israel that doctors, nurses and other medical personnel said they have experienced since the war began in October. One paramedic said he was chained to the ceiling and shocked with electricity at the Sde Teiman detention facility. Another said he saw a man bleeding from “his bottom” after three soldiers allegedly raped him with the muzzles of their assault rifles. Human Rights Watch said the medical workers were held without charges or explanation for anywhere between a week and five months. Human Rights Watch said the “arbitrary” detainment of 310 workers exacerbated Gaza’s health crisis. In the last 320 days, Israel has killed 40,000 people in Gaza.
Go ahead, burn it: In a Monday speech, Donald Trump said the US should restrict the first amendment and throw people who burn the American flag in jail for a year. “‘They say, Sir, that’s not constitutional.’ We’ll make it constitutional,” he said. They say that for a reason! In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of a protester arrested for burning the American flag outside the Republican National Convention in Dallas, and against the Texas state law banning the desecration of the US flag. Congress tried banning flag burning with a constitutional amendment in 2006, but the vote failed by a single vote.
Trump: "You burn an American flag, you go to jail for one year. Gotta do it. You gotta do it. They say, 'sir, that's unconstitutional.' Well make it constitutional." pic.twitter.com/qM7oNCQxQk
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 26, 2024
Democrats sue Georgia election board: The lawsuit challenges two rules the state’s board recently adopted. They require election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before certification and allow individual members of county boards to look at “election related documentation created during the conduct of elections.” The plaintiffs claim the policies enable local election officials to chase any perceived election irregularity, introducing chaos and “substantial uncertainty in the post-election process.” Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who as you can remember promoted lies about a stolen Presidential election, praised the three board members who ultimately backed the rules as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.” (Victory for whom?)
$$$: According to The Washington Post, the nation’s 50 biggest political donors dropped a collective $1.5 billion into this year’s election cycle, with most of the money coming from Republican-leaning elites and going to political action committees. Railroad magnate and heir Timothy Mellon gave more than anyone in America. He donated $125 million to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN INC. to support Trump, and wasted $25 million more on AMERICAN VALUES 2024, a super PAC supporting RFK Jr’s foiled campaign.
Court rules Florida can ban and restrict trans care: Two Trump-appointed Judges on the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit lifted an injunction against Florida's gender-affirming care law, allowing the state to ban care for minors and restrict it for adults while Florida appeals its loss in District Court. The judges, Britt Grant and Robert Luck, ruled that the Florida legislature acted in good faith when it passed SB 254 and was not based on “invidious discrimination against” transgender people. The lone dissenter, Judge Charles R. Wilson drew the opposite conclusion, writing that the lower court had sufficient evidence that the law was motivated by anti-trans discrimination. Grant and Luck's seven page brief essentially reversed US District Court Judge John Hinkle’s 105-page ruling that found the law unconstitutional.
Here's my full report at Law Dork on the Florida anti-trans law order: https://t.co/ZkTEfQf7JW
— Chris “Law Dork” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) August 27, 2024
A tragic day for Mariah Carey: The singer’s mom Patricia and sister Alison both died this weekend, on the same day. Carey has said that her mother, an opera singer trained at Juilliard, had been both an inspiration to her and source of pain. Alison, mostly estranged from Carey, had died at 63 from liver failure. In a statement to People, Carey said that she was heartbroken.