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[/media-credit]The Seattle Police Department just can’t get itself out of the Bad PR spiral they’ve been in for the last couple of years. Just when things seemed to be leveling out for a couple of minutes, today brought a new low for the department. After an internal investigation led to the arrest of an officer who had been in the service for 21 years, he was suspected of stealing cocaine from the Evidence Unit — crack cocaine had been in his possession at the time of arrest. The officer was released on his own recognizance after the arrest, and was found hours later, suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound; he died at Harborview Medical Center later in the afternoon. [Publicola, Seattle Times]
The Washington State Supreme Court today ruled that our state legislature has not performed its duty in paying for basic education; talking about reform while slashing the budget for education without providing for an alternate income source for the services that would be affected. The result of this negligence could be witnessed at area schools in lower income neighborhoods. [KOMO]
The Washington State Legislature was under scrutiny from another angle, as Governor Gregoire’s stated desire to legalize same sex marriage revealed a chasm in Olympia in terms of enthusiasm to tackle the governor’s latest initiative. The usual sources are saying it would create an ‘unnecessary distraction.’ “The last thing we need to do is be down here in turmoil over social issues.” The same ‘social issues’ they will happily bring up come election season. [KIRO (archived)]
Despite the fear-mongering witnessed in the buildup to 520-bridge tolling, traffic analysis taken a week after D-Day show that while patterns have shifted greatly during the last 7 days, it has also helped to ease the way along several typical pressure points. The situation will continue to be studied in the months and years ahead. [Publicola]
While 2011 was the year of “It Gets Better,” Dan Savage latest act of civic duty, recently attention has come back around to his first: The redefinition of Santorum; this is due to the success the politician has received in Iowa during the recent caucus. our favorite Facebook headline of the last 24 hours: “Romney Squeezes Out Santorum.” [Seattle PI]
And now, for your viewing pleasure, “Pingu’s The Thing“, a 2-minute claymation version of John Carpenter’s classic scifi/horror movie. For those unfamiliar with the original, keep the kiddies away, wear headphones, as there is some mildly disturbing graphic violence rendered by cute animated clay characters. Enjoy.
