The Stranger’s morning news roundup.
by Hannah Murphy Winter
Rinck Pulls Off a Miracle: We might get some progressive revenue in the ass-backward city, and Mayor Harrell is actually on board. (Look at him talking about progressive taxation at the podium!) Yesterday afternoon, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck introduced a plan to restructure Seattle’s tax code. Called the Seattle Shield Initiative, it would shift one of our key business taxes (the B&O tax) so it only taxes the highest-grossing companies in the city, at a higher rate. It manages to do two essential things at once: reduce the tax burden on small businesses that are likely to struggle more as Trump sows more chaos, and raises more tax dollars from our bigger businesses, bringing in an extra $90 million to our struggling city budget. The Chamber of Commerce is already mad about it, which is usually a good sign. Changing the tax code isn’t a fast process, though, especially if we don’t want it to turn into a slush fund. To move forward, the City Council will have to vote to approve it before the primary on August 5. If they do, we’ll get to vote to implement it in the November election.
Wilson Claps Back: Mayoral candidate Katie Wilson won’t give Harrell the win here—and for good reason. As part of her work with the Seattle Revenue Stabilization Workgroup, Wilson had proposed a similar progressive revenue option in 2023, but the Mayor never acted on it. “In the absence of leadership from Mayor Harrell, Seattle is lucky that Councilmember Rinck has stepped up to propose new progressive revenue to help sustain vital services that our residents depend on,” she wrote in a press release. “It’s disappointing that it takes the threat of being unseated for our mayor to do the right thing. We need a mayor who will responsibly manage the city budget and lead on progressive revenue every year they are in office, not just in an election year.”
The Weather: We’ve got some clouds and a little rain. It’s just Seattle getting it all out of her system so she doesn’t dump on us over the weekend.
Reykdal Saves Dolly’s Library: Did you know that Dolly Parton founded a project called the Imagination Library that mails children a book a month for the first five years of their lives for free? We didn’t either! Until the state legislature slashed the state funding for it in the last budget. But never fear, Chris Reykdal, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, swooped in with funding, so 120,000 kids will still get to participate in this literacy program. I’m glad someone had the good sense to not fuck with Dolly during Pride month.
SCOTUS Disappoints, Again: This morning, the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional for states to cut off Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood. To be clear: no federal dollars have ever gone to abortion care, because our pearl-clutching representatives can’t bear to be implicated in reproductive healthcare. These are public dollars that would go to spooky scary things like cancer screening, pregnancy and STI testing, and birth control. The ruling determined that patients can’t sue over a key provision in Medicaid law that allows patients to choose their own qualified provider.
Brace Yourself for More: We’re coming to the end of the Supreme Court’s term, and they still have six cases left to decide, including Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship, a Texas case trying to ban kids from seeing online porn, and a religious freedom case that could allow bans on LGBTQ books in public schools. They’re all coming in tomorrow. Let’s fucking go.
Speaking of SCOTUS: It’s the tenth anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage the law of the land. Just in time for the Christian Evangelical Right to start gunning for it again.
Family Sues SPS: The parents of a former Nathan Hale High School student are suing Seattle Public Schools, alleging the district failed to protect her from months of antisemitic harassment. The lawsuit, filed this month, shows photos of swastikas drawn around campus, and says that students told her “Hitler’s plan should have worked.” Meanwhile, they claim, the school didn’t even send out a building-wide email addressing the swastikas popping up all over the building. The school didn’t respond to the Seattle Times, saying they would address all of the claims in court filings.
Melt ICE: Federal employees picketed outside the federal building yesterday, demanding that ICE get the hell out of their workplace. “I’ve been very disturbed to see my workplace turned into a war zone by ICE,” Caroline McConnell, who works at the federal building, told KIRO Newsradio. “A federal building is supposed to be a safe place where the people can come and receive services and be treated with respect. It should not be a place of terror, but ICE has turned my workplace into a place of terror.” According to their union, federal employees reported being shoved, intimidated, harassed, and stared down by ICE agents. Who put that in their job description?
I Hate Us Sometimes: Since the November election, Democrats have argued that Trump won because we had such low voter turnout. But new data from Pew Research has some bad news: if more people had showed up, Trump would have done even better. Turns out, Kamala lost because millions of young, nonwhite voters who historically would have voted for the Dem in the race, voted for Trump. We’ve got a year until the midterms, so the party needs to get their shit together, and fast.
Pete Hegseth Is Mad: After the media criticized Donald Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites—and multiple outlets and officials doubted their success—Defense Secretary Hegseth, who insists the strikes were “the most complex and secretive military operation in history” and a “resounding success,” lashed out at the media during a press conference and read aloud quotes from sources that news outlets did not include in their coverage like a disappointed Dad chiding his son about his report card. Not how journalism works, Pete-O!
The Space Curse Continues: Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have broken up. Space changes people.
Go Do Something Gay Today: Specifically, go to the Perfume Genius show at Showbox. Mike Hadreas is a Seattle native and he and his partner Alan Wyffels have been making beautiful gay shit together for 15 years. “I’m looking forward to seeing this album performed live because, in my head, people dance to it like the girl in Sia’s “Chandelier” video,” EverOut staff writer Shannon Lubetich writes. “Get there early, the show opens with Gothic-inspired rock artist Storefront Church, who’s a friend of Phoebe Bridgers.” Want a taste before you go? Try this delightfully unhinged music video from their single with Aldous Harding.
