(Alleged) torture really racks up a steep co-pay.
(Alleged) torture really racks up a steep co-pay. POOL / GETTY NEWS IMAGES

Amazon announces free one-day shipping for Prime members: Because two days was just way too long to wait for that Roomba you’ve always wanted. Following a record high financial report, Amazon is stepping even harder on the necks of their competitors like Walmart and Target in the convenience arms race. Most online retailers offer two-day shipping so now Amazon is going to do what others might not have the money to do.

What isn’t mentioned: Is how bad one and two-day shipping is for the environment. In order for that life-size cutout of Sigourney Weaver to get to you it has to go on a truck, then a plane, then at least two more trucks. When things have to ship really quickly, these trucks and planes don’t have time to fill up with packages and end up driving to their destination half-full (or half-empty).

Clark County ready to announce the end of the measles outbreak: It’s been 42 days since the last-confirmed case of measles, which is two incubation periods, so officials are fairly certain the outbreak is done. The CDC says that we’ve reached almost 700 cases this year alone, which seems like a lot for a disease that we’ve already cured. President Trump even called for people to vaccinate against measles, despite being one of the loudest voices in the country erroneously linking vaccines and autism.


Seattle judge says he will not step down: Despite calls from City Attorney Pete Holmes and Department of Public Defense Director Anita Khandelwal to quit following what they say is a pattern of unprofessional and unethical conduct. Judge Ed McKenna allegedly pressured Holmes and prosecutors to recommend more jail time for defendants and played politics with the defendant of one case, the Seattle Times reports.

The EPA is weakening clean water standards again: And this time they’re helping out their buddies at the Defense Department. Military bases have two main exports: soldiers and toxic waste. When that toxic waste gets into the drinking water supplies, then they’re on the hook to clean it up. So their friends at the EPA are proposing to make it easier by weakening the standard for what it means for water to be contaminated for one class of chemicals called PFAS. These toxins have been linked to kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, thyroid disease, and a whole bunch of other ailments most everyone would want to avoid.

It’s so sunny I almost wrote this outside: But instead I curled up in a blanket on my couch. Lot’s of sun today so try to find those sunglasses that you haven’t needed in a while.


The US economy is still growing: The first quarterly report of the year shows a 3.2% bump in gross domestic product (or GDP for those savvy readers). Apparently, fears of a widespread economic slowdown were overblown, despite a winter chock-full of GDP-killing events like the polar vortex and that several-week-long government shutdown. Economists still think these numbers are inflated, so the real growth rate is probably a bit lower than 3.2%, but at least it’s not negative!

North Korea pulls some shameful shit: Otto Warmbier was a University of Virginia student arrested and detained in North Korea in 2016 and was ultimately sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. He fell into a coma due to what some US officials believe to be mistreatment and torture by North Korean police. He died shortly after arriving back in the US. The Washington Post reported yesterday that North Korea demanded the US pay $2 million to cover Otto’s medical care in the country before they would be allowed to fly him back to the US. The report says that the US envoy did sign the pledge but it is not clear if the Trump Administration actually paid it. That sounds a lot like a ransom to me.

Biden asked Obama not to endorse him: He told reporters he thinks whoever wins this primary should win on their own merits, not because they have the biggest Democratic heavyweight in their corner. That's either a very smart political move or a very dumb one. If anything, it's a nice little wink-wink nudge-nuge that Biden is pals with Obama.


A New Zealand man is charged with sharing video of mosque shooting: He has pleaded guilty and faces up to 14 years in prison. The man allegedly sent it to a friend and instructed him to add crosshairs and a kill count to the video. New Zealand officials are cracking down not only on guns but the online nature of this shooting and how the shooter's actions were broadcast worldwide.

Now listen here you $#!%: Here's a little Ween to start you morning.

The best Seattle entertainment options this weekend include: The experimental-music-heavy Seagaze Festival, the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, and Independent Bookstore Day.