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Slog AM: King County Council supports keeping youth prison, Boeing tire blowout, special counsel charges Donald Trump again

Good morning! Today is expected to be a beautiful, cool day with light wind and some sun. Maximum temperature 20 degrees.

Goodbye forever, Goodwill: Goodwill stated that crime was driving them out of South Lake Union and University Avenue when they announced the closure of two of their stores. They seem to prefer to focus on that rather than the fact that rising wages and rents have also driven them out. They don't want to have a conversation about not wanting to pay their workers higher wages.

Time for back-to-school shopping: While some parents, teachers and students are going to the various big box stores to buy pencils, folders and those ridiculously expensive calculators, advocates and teachers have already started talking about what the Washington State Legislature should invest in our education system. In the Photo by : Emerald's In his Back-to-School series, Oliver Miska laid out the “Big 5” priorities that advocates want to see consensus on in our House this session: increasing funding for special education, meeting K-12 transportation needs, adjusting materials and administrative costs for inflation, more equitably distributing state funds to high-poverty districts, and passing progressive revenue so our school funding does not continue to come from a regressive tax structure.

Speaking of children: Despite the King County Exec’s commitment to close the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center by 2028, the County Council unanimously passed a nonbinding council motion Tuesday to keep the youth prison open and operating. The motion was originally introduced by Councilman Reagan Dunn, who claims it is necessary to address a “major youth crime problem.” Even King County Councilman Girmay Zahilay, a longtime critic of youth incarceration, voted for the measure, though he introduced language making clear he would prefer alternatives to incarceration. Still, they should all be ashamed of themselves for passing a motion that feeds the '90s narrative that kids should be locked up, especially as conditions in youth prison continue to deteriorate. Some of the rhetoric from public commenters yesterday was disgusting, including a eugenics argument about how some kids don't inherit the gene for empathy.

Renovation of the Pink Elephant car wash: While it's not Mayor Bruce Harrell's fault that the giant pink elephant no longer guards the entrance to downtown Seattle from Aurora Avenue, it's quite poetic that his administration has decided to celebrate the construction of a new skyscraper, the 45-story Sloane Building, to take the elephant's place. Goodbye, Seattle icons, yay, Seattle real estate interests. The project is owned by Holland Partner Group, whose top executives have maximized campaign contributions to Harrell, DisinvestmentSPD pointed out this.

Tire blowout at Boeing: On Tuesday, a tire on a Boeing 757 exploded in Atlanta, killing two workers and seriously injuring another. The tire blew while workers were performing maintenance. I'm really not sure if the fault for the explosion lies with Boeing, Delta, another organization, or just bad luck. But regardless, the Daily Beast has compiled a list of all the other “high-profile” Boeing-related incidents in the past year.

Trump staff compete at Arlington Cemetery: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Arlington Cemetery on Monday to pay his respects to the soldiers buried there and to mock Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her involvement in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. During the campaign visit, two members of Trump's team “cursed and shoved” a cemetery official who tried to prevent employees from filming in the cemetery, according to NPR. Only cemetery employees are authorized to film or take photos in the cemetery.

Speaking of Trump: New charges have just been brought against him. According to CNN, US Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a new charge against Trump. He claims that Trump attempted to rig the 2020 election. Smith limited his accusations against the president after a US Supreme Court ruling declared presidents immune from most criminal prosecutions.

Becoming a parent sounds really terrible: A new report shows that parents suffer more from “stress, money worries and loneliness than their childless peers” and almost half “can barely function, Politico writes. US Health Secretary Vivek Murthy recommends a bailout for parents. Literally, the government should give parents more government help in the form of child tax credits, early childhood education programs and more paid leave.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton raids Democrats: According to CBS, Texas AG Paxton ordered law enforcement officers to search several homes of Latino Democrats while claiming to be investigating voter fraud. Law enforcement officers searched the homes of members of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest and largest Latino civil rights group in the country. The organization called the searches illegal. I call them authoritarian and crappy.

And finally the accident: If you haven't seen The Accident on Netflix, I can't really recommend it, as I haven't seen it either. But the show's plot revolves around the parents of several children who nearly float away in a poorly secured bouncy castle. Enjoy the comedic horror of the titular “accident” scene.

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