Screaming at the sky: Yesterday, the Governor of Idaho signed a bill that makes it a felony to help a minor travel across state lines to get an abortion without a parent’s permission. They call it “abortion trafficking,” and it could put you in prison for up to five years. The law is a first for this shithole country (wow, so creative!), so hopefully Planned Parenthood or someone will probably challenge it in court. We shall see. In the meantime, donate to your local abortion fund here. 

Baltimore sex abuse: A new state report alleges that more than 150 Catholic priests and other church leaders in Baltimore sexually abused more than 600 children over the course of 80 years, mostly without consequence. One priest admitted to molesting more than 100 children himself. Baltimore Archbishop William Lori posted an apology to the victims online, promising no more coverups.

Just putting these wise words out there: Dan Savage has commented on sexual abuse scandals at churches countless times. Every time he drives home the point that the right is afraid of the wrong people.

Tax the rich! Now that the state Supreme Court is cool with capital gains, Seattle elected leaders told KUOW that a local tax on capital gains could help fill the City budget’s jumbo revenue gap. Try to contain your excitement. This isn’t a real proposal just yet. Tax whiz Council Member Teresa Mosqueda said a capital gains tax is just one of many proposals on the table for the almighty progressive revenue stabilization work group. We probably won’t hear much more about a citywide capital gains tax or any other tax proposal until the work group puts everything into a slideshow for the council in (probably) May. 

Economic cooldown: According to the Seattle Times, the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program didn’t perform as well in 2022 as it did in 2021. The MHA requires developers to either build a certain percentage of affordable housing within their projects or pay a fee per square foot to fund them somewhere else. Developers made 66 affordable units as part of MHA in 2022, which is a 38% drop from 2021. The City also generated 1.5% less revenue from the developer fees. 

And now to Ashley for an important update:

Man charged in Elijah Lewis’s shooting death: On Wednesday, King County Prosecutors charged 35-year-old Patrick F. Cooney with murder in the second degree and assault in the first. Both charges carried a firearm enhancement. Murder in the second degree can result in a life sentence. Prosecutors allege Cooney shot and killed Lewis, a 23-year-old community advocate and entrepreneur, who was driving with his nine-year-old nephew to a monster truck show. The nephew was shot in the leg.

According to charging documents, the nephew told police that he and his uncle had pulled onto East Pine Street when something happened that caused Cooney, who was riding an electric scooter, to yell at them to “watch it.” Lewis then told the man to shut up, the nephew said. The next thing the nephew remembered was Cooney pulling something out and hearing shots. Prosecutors said Cooney shot at the car five times. 

CCTV caught part of the incident, including the man prosecutors believe to be Cooney walking in the direction of the car with a gun in his hand, according to the charging documents. However, the actual shooting happened off camera. Cooney’s next court date is his arraignment scheduled for 8:30 am April 19.

Thanks, Ashley! Back to me :)

She tried to warn us: As Mudede wrote on Monday, the HBO show The Last of Us will film its second season in Vancouver, B.C. even though the video game it's based on is set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle for the coming storyline. Council Member Sara Nelson is not happy!

Nelson’s been on a crusade to make it easier to film in the city. Last year, she created the Seattle Film Commission to recommend policies and incentives to make Seattle a more desirable filming location. She told KIRO 7, “I hope that ‘The Last of Us’ is the last time this will happen. We need to have film and TV series that are set in Seattle produced in Seattle.”

More on Mitnick: If you caught the story last week, lefty District 4 City Council candidate Matthew Mitnick got called out by former campaign staff for alleged "abuse" and "wage theft." The campaign denied the allegations and described them as attempts at extortion and defamation. I have an update from Mitnick.

Per the OG story: A former campaign manager told The Stranger that he did not pay her on time. Yesterday, Mitnick told The Stranger that the former campaign manager can expect a check by the end of the week. He sent over emails from the campaign treasurer to verify.

As I previously reported, the campaign ran into trouble trying to unlock a huge pot of money by qualifying for Democracy Vouchers, allegedly because the former campaign manager did not process them quickly enough. It delayed payments for the entire staff, but current workers told me they were all aware that their pay would be somewhat dependent on fundraising. Mitnick sent more text logs to show the former campaign manager also understood the potential instability. Check it out.

Rest In Peace: Over the weekend, a dead gray whale washed up on an island in Pierce County. Now, biologists and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife found that the poor whale died of blunt-force trauma, probably from getting hit by a boat. If a boat I was on killed a whale, I don't know how I would go on. 

Welcome back:

Damn civility politics: Three Tennessee state Democrats face removal after leading a protest on the House floor that called for stronger gun control in the wake of yet another school shooting. Seems like a reasonable reaction to nine-year-olds getting shot and killed at school, but Republicans did not like that shit. They claim the protest broke the State House rules and will vote on their removal today. 

ICYMI: Earlier this week, a 57-year-old man drove through a community meal hosted by Food Not Bombs outside of a homeless shelter in downtown Reno, Nevada. He killed a homeless woman and injured two longtime volunteers. The suspect told cops he did it on purpose. With that in mind, today is a good day to support mutual aid in your neighborhood.

My friend told me that you might like this. Be mad at him if you don’t!