Politics takes a back seat in the news today, even on Shift, as the major league baseball season begins anew at the local baseball stadium near you.

Go Mariners!

You might think that the daily stories about youth violence in and around Seattle might motivate local Democrat politicians to re-consider some of the soft-on-crime policy changes they have been pushing the last few year. But if you knew King County Executive Dow Constantine, you’d know that he’d rather fight than admit error, so FOX 13 reports he “is pushing for a groundbreaking change in the juvenile justice system: the abolition of detention centers for teenagers by 2028. However, the path to achieving this ambitious goal is riddled with questions about its feasibility.”

For the West Seattle-dwelling executive, wants his legacy to be “Initiative Care and Closure, which is encompassed by six recommendations, including a respite and receiving center. King County prosecutors described the concept of ‘no locks, no cells’ as inspiring and revolutionary.” Those that might have to deal with the lack of locks,  point out that of the 40+ teens being held now, some “are currently detained for several crimes including murder, assault, robbery or gun crimes.”

You can read on to see how King County Councilman Reagan Dunn provided a different approach to KIRO Newsradio, suggesting that the “fact that the county is still considering placing violent felons in unlocked facilities is preposterous and a glaring danger to our communities” here… FOX 13, KIRO Newsradio.

Sometimes the extremists in our state’s environmental movement allow their commitment to themselves (and taxpayer money) to eclipse their professed concern about the environment.  An example of such hypocrisy comes from the Washington State Standard as “(E)nvironmentalists and tribal leaders want Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to veto a $25 million earmark in the state capital budget for deploying the next generation of nuclear reactors.”

These major Democrat campaign donors don’t like these “dollars are set to go to Energy Northwest, a consortium of 28 public utility districts and municipalities that is in the midst of a yearslong effort to develop and, if feasible, deploy small modular nuclear reactors at a site in central Washington.” It turns out that the Democrat donors won’t get any of that $25 million, so they are resorting to such nutty claims as nuclear energy being “too late to be part of the solution to climate change” to support their veto demand.

Democrat gubernatorial candidate and State Senator Mark Mullet is pushing back on his party’s major donors, pointing out Washington “can’t get to our emission reduction goals without SMNRs (small modular nuclear reactors) in the mix.” You can read on to see how a state which already gets 10% of its renewable power from nuclear energy can expand on that success if Gov. Inslee vetoes his donors’ request this time… Washington State Standard.

Shift last month highlighted the unintended consequences being pushed on gig workers in Seattle, like lost work and less pay, thanks to the last City Council mandating a new “minimum wage” on the industry. It turns out that raising prices for food delivery raises the prices charged to customers, so fewer people had food delivered. Food delivery drivers, among others, pushed back on the new regulations.

But there are still defenders of the gig workers losing their living if it advances a liberal agenda. That’s according to an op-ed writer from the Latino Community Fund in the South Seattle Emerald, suggesting that if only “the app corporations truly cared about the Seattle economy, they would eliminate excessive fees and stop fighting”. You can read on how KGW/KING 5 is reporting the city is more likely to change the silly regulations that the laws of economics are to be repealed… Shift, South Seattle Emerald, KGW.

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