Governor Jay Inslee issued a proclamation to temporarily rename the 21 vessels in the Washington State Ferry fleet after Seattle Mariners’ players and staff for as long as the team remains in the 2022 Major League Baseball playoffs.  It ought to bring comfort to stranded ferry riders knowing that the cancelled sailing was scheduled to be on the M/V Eugenio Suárez (normally the M/V Yakima) as they sit on the Anacortes dock waiting for the next sailing. Cancelled sailings have become more frequent due to staff shortages brought on by the governor’s partisan and unscientific vaccine mandate, which resulted in 132 state ferry workers losing their jobs.  Instead of watching the games at home with their family and friends, ferry riders might be forced to listen to the contests in their cars while waiting for a ferry that has enough crew members to cross Puget Sound waters.  (Washington State Department of Transportation media release and The Center Square)

Has the mass exodus of Seattle police officers allowed a sexual predator to continue his terrorization of the University of Washington neighborhood? After the release of a surveillance photo of the suspect in a sexual attack over the weekend at a UW sorority, others have come forward to say he looks like the man who attempted to break into their homes last spring.  One former UW student said the man appears to be the same individual who attempted twice (in May and July)  to break into the home she shared with 14 other women. She said she filed reports, along with security video showing the suspect, with the Seattle Police Department, but has never heard back from them.

A leaked memo to then-Interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz in June revealed that the SPD’s sexual assault and child abuse unit had stopped assigning detectives to new sexual assault cases that had adult victims.  This was due to more than 400 well-trained and diverse police officers leaving the department because of the anti-police actions and policies of Seattle City Councilmembers. So while the SPD had considerable evidence to investigate the crimes, there just wasn’t enough police personal available to conduct the investigation and possibly arrest the man who continues to threaten and attack women in the University District. (MyNorthwest and Seattle Times)

The Tacoma City Council voted 6-to-3 to ban homeless encampments within 10 blocks of any temporary or permanent shelters within the city.  Those who do not leave after being warned could be fined $250 and face possible jail time. Councilmember John Hines proposed the motion and said the intent was to encourage those who are homeless to seek services which are available.  The councilmember said, “While we have much more to do to address homelessness in Tacoma, I am proud that our City Council has taken this initial step to respond to the impacts of encampments across our community.”

Meanwhile the liberal homeless “advocates” who work diligently to enable those who are suffering on the streets, continue to push their hate-filled demagoguery towards those who oppose large homeless encampments taking over neighborhoods. One of these enablers immediately wrote a self-righteous letter to the editor stating that those councilmembers who supported the ordinance will “have long and successful careers ahead of them in a country becoming populated by amoral politicians trading fear for votes.” (Q13 Fox News and News Tribune letters to the editor)

A new study by WallotHub determined that Seattle and Tacoma are near the bottom of the list of American cities for being safe.  Out of 182 urban communities in the country, Seattle ranked 148^th and Tacoma was 158^th.  The study not only considered crime data, but also took into account financial safety and natural disaster risk.  It was just a couple of decades ago when both cities were almost always near the top of studies and surveys which compared how “livable” it was in American cities. It’s not a good trend.   (Q13 Fox News)

If snow shuts down Seattle schools for a day or two this winter, it will mean public school students will still be in class over the July 4^th holiday due to the illegal strike conducted by the Seattle Education Association (teachers’ union) last month. The Seattle School Board approved a new school calendar for the 2022-2023 school year, and the new last day of school is scheduled for June 30^th.  Yet if winter weather causes cancelation of classes, then the new calendar has make-up dates scheduled for July 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th.

The need for a new school calendar was the result of the  illegal strike conducted by the teachers’ union in September which cancelled classes for five days. The subsequent new contract contributed to the Seattle Public Schools being $190 million overbudget.  It is currently believed the district will be forced to cut education programs while also asking the legislature to have state taxpayers partially pay for the record-breaking budget deficit.  Both the disruption of the school calendar and the cutting of programs will likely continue the trend of reduced enrollment in the state’s largest school district, which has already experienced a nearly 10% drop in the number of enrolled students over the past couple of years.  (Axios and KING5 News)

A group of local scuba divers have teamed up with a group of sonar and remote camera experts to begin the process to clean up a 1970’s environmental project which is now causing harm to marine habitat in Puget Sound.   Fifty years ago, in an effort to create reefs to support fish wildlife, over 500,000 used tires were dumped into Puget Sound and Hood Canal.  It has recently been determined that the tires are emitting poisons which threaten sea life, including salmon. The group is now mapping the location of the tires and once this is done, they will seek state funding to remove the tires. (KOMO News)

The Douglas County Public Utility District voted this week to accept bids for the construction of a hydrogen plant and fueling station.  Bids need to be received by the PUD by November 21^st. This is the next step in the long process the PUD has taken to be one of the national leaders in the construction of such facilities.  Hydrogen fuel is created through a process that separates the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water through electrolysis. The PUD will use excess energy created by its Wells hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River to make the fuel.  The facility will be built on property recently purchased by the PUD in the Baker Flats area just north of East Wenatchee. (KHQ Radio and Douglas County Public Utility District)

More information has been revealed in the latest scandal involving a non-profit’s mismanagement of a homeless shelter in Spokane. It was made public this week that an employee of the Guardians Foundation embezzled more than $118,000 in taxpayer funds and charitable contributions which were meant to run two homeless shelters in Spokane.  The group’s CEO said they began an internal investigation earlier this year and in May the group hired attorneys to provide counsel to the group. The employee confessed in August to the crime, yet Guardians did not attempt to reach the Spokane Police Department until late September.  Reports do not indicate why it took the organization so long to report the problem either to city administration or the police department. (KREM – TV)

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