News For Reasonable People

The move by Texas to bar Covid-19 vaccine mandates by businesses sets up a clash between the state and the Biden administration, leaving employers caught in the middle. On one side, Monday’s executive order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott forbids any private entity to require its employees or customers to get vaccinated. On the other hand, the Biden administration is working on requirements that priva...

President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged the private sector to help ease supply chain blockages that are threatening to disrupt the U.S. holiday season and said the White House plans a nationwide overhaul of the clogged system. Biden said the Port of Los Angeles would join the Port of Long Beach, two of the country's busiest, in expanding round-the-clock operations to unload an estimated 500,00...

In what the president of Seattle's Police Guild calls an "unprecedented move,” the department moved to "Stage 3" operations Wednesday. That means detectives and other non-patrol units will serve as first responders to 9-1-1 calls. The department has already lost more than 300 officers in the past year, and hundreds more could face termination next week if they don't comply...

Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic. The COLA, as it's commonly called, amounts to $92 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates released Wednesday by the Social Security A...

Two of the biggest employers in Texas, American Airlines Group AAL, -1.56% and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, -0.78%, have said they would not follow the executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the Lone Star State, because, as federal contractors, they are bound to comply with President Joe Biden’s requirement. The news highlights the clash between th...

A Washington State trooper, who was forced to step down after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, explained why he told Democrat Governor Jay Inslee to "kiss my a--" after serving the public for 22 years.  Robert LaMay joined "Fox & Friends First" on Monday to discuss his decision to resign, the vaccine mandate, and his concern over the future of the state.  "When we...

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is planning to suspend as many as 142 school bus routes Monday following the vaccinate mandate deadline for school employees.  SPS attributed the reduction in routes to a driver shortage with their third-party vendor, First Student. Third-party contractors working with public schools are also subject to the mandate.  Some groups of students will keep their bus routes a...

Seattle police patrol cars were photographed with Gadsden flags hanging from their windows ahead of Washington state’s vaccine mandate going into effect.  "Some officers plan on taking time off to decide what they will do long term. They don’t seem eager to stay with SPD. Others explained that they are going to leave the SPD by the end of the year as a result of this," KTTH radio show ho...

The federal eviction moratorium did little to slow filings amid the pandemic and debt has piled up on both sides. The moratorium may have helped millions of people who lost their jobs during the pandemic, but it did not wipe away their bills.  Despite the moratorium, FOX43 Reveals that landlords filed thousands of evictions against tenants who owed rent. However, those landlords may never see the...

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed a law that requires large California retailers to maintain gender neutral toy and childcare sections.  The new law, Assembly Bill 1084, requires that retailers with 500 or more employees in the state of California “maintain a gender neutral section or area, to be labeled at the discretion of the retailer, in which a reasonable selection of the items and toys fo...

The days are quickly ticking down to next Monday's deadline when most Oregon and Washington teachers, health care workers and public employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Especially in more conservative swaths of the Pacific Northwest, elected officials remain fearful of a "mass exodus" of firefighters and health care professionals. They are trying different avenue...

Business and civic leaders on Thursday called for immediate action and investment to address the mental health and substance abuse crisis in downtown Seattle. Executives from Amazon.com Inc., Vulcan Inc. and Weyerhaeuser Co. were among the approximately five dozen signers of the letter, which the Downtown Seattle Association sent to the City Council and Metropolitan King County Council. It was ful...

Tesla says it will relocate its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas, though the electric car maker will keep expanding its manufacturing capacity in the Golden State. CEO Elon Musk gave no timeline for the move late Thursday when he addressed the company’s shareholders at Tesla’s annual meeting. Musk noted that cost of housing in the Bay Area has made it tough for many people...

Drivers heading south on U.S. Route 183 in Austin, Texas, have become familiar with a billboard urging city police officers to relocate to Spokane, Washington, to become deputy sheriffs and collect a $15,000 bonus.  The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has targeted Texas’ capital city, already in a personnel crunch as the homicide rate reached a record high, along with other jurisdictions that rece...

The Seattle City Council on Monday unanimously voted in favor of a resolution supporting the decriminalization of psilocybin and other psychedelics. The resolution, which is nonbonding and serves only as a recommendation to the Seattle Police Department, declares "that the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone engaging in entheogen-related activities should be among The City of Sea...

Portland officials are rolling out a novel strategy to curb gun violence: traffic barrels. City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has ordered the Portland Bureau of Transportation to install the traffic-calming devices across a six-block area in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood that has been plagued by shootings — some of which have been linked to high-speed drivers. In a statement, Hardesty admitted...

Workers at a local Starbucks store said they feel like they are at the mercy of a man who has repeatedly threatened employees and customers, prompting managers to shutter the location for a few days because of safety concerns. According to Seattle police, the workers are worried the man who has been terrorizing them would once again be released from jail and return to the store at First Avenue and...

Drivers heading south on U.S. Route 183 in Austin, Texas, have become familiar with a billboard urging city police officers to relocate to Spokane, Washington, to become deputy sheriffs and collect a $15,000 bonus.  The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has targeted Texas’ capital city, already in a personnel crunch as the homicide rate reached a record high, along with other jurisdictions that rece...

The Seattle City Council on Monday unanimously voted in favor of a resolution supporting the decriminalization of psilocybin and other psychedelics. The resolution, which is nonbonding and serves only as a recommendation to the Seattle Police Department, declares "that the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone engaging in entheogen-related activities should be among The City of Sea...

Portland officials are rolling out a novel strategy to curb gun violence: traffic barrels. City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has ordered the Portland Bureau of Transportation to install the traffic-calming devices across a six-block area in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood that has been plagued by shootings — some of which have been linked to high-speed drivers. In a statement, Hardesty admitted...

Chinese property developer Fantasia Holdings failed to repay a $206 million bond payment due Monday, said the company, just two weeks after it said it had no liquidity issues. The missed payment adds to the already immense strain on China's real estate sector, which has been left exposed to the $305 billion credit crunch from property giant Evergrande, the most indebted company in the world....

The Facebook whistleblower who leaked tens of thousands of pages of internal company research revealed her identity on "60 Minutes" on Sunday and clearly walked viewers through what she sees as the main problem with Facebook and the actions of its leadership. Her name is Frances Haugen, and she's a 37-year-old data scientist who formerly worked on Facebook's civic-integrity tea...

Interim Seattle police Chief Adrian Diaz is urging department staff to get vaccinated ahead of the city’s COVID-19 vaccination deadline for city workers, warning of a possible staffing challenge if they fail to do so. In a letter to staff Friday, Diaz said the agency has to assume it has hundreds of unvaccinated individuals based on current vaccination information submitted to the department. “Thi...

Throwing darts is a classic pub game, but many Washingtonians prefer throwing something else: axes. Now the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board is aiming to toss new rules at businesses that mix alcohol with axes. At its recent meeting the board set the process in motion to develop new rules for liquor-licensed businesses that want to offer axe throwing as entertainment. “For the record, I’...

Portland firefighters will soon have access to bulletproof vests while on the job. The decision was spurred by a “changing landscape” and more calls that increase the possibility of firefighters being involved with aggressive patients and bystanders, according to Portland Fire & Rescue spokesperson Terry Foster. Purchasing the vests was discussed by the agency’s safety committee and supported...