Meet State Senator Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley), chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, and sponsor of the teen abortion and revenge porn bills.
  • Washington State Legislature
  • Meet state senator Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley), chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee and sponsor of the teen abortion and revenge porn bills.

Lawmakers Try to Rein In Teenage Uteruses: They're too free, some state senators say. In order to make it even more difficult for teens to access reproductive healthcare, Senator Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley) and friends introduced a bill on Monday that would require parental notification for minors seeking an abortion. More on that later.

At Least They're Considering Upping Civil Penalties for Revenge Porn: Senator Padden is sponsoring another bill suggesting that people whose intimate photos have been posted online without their consent should win up to $10,000 from revenge porn operators in civil cases. The bill still wouldn't make revenge porn itself a criminal offense.

And Did You Hear That the Feds Cracked Down on Revenge Porn? Last week, the Federal Trade Commission banned a revenge porn operator from posting nude photos online without explicit consent. This is a big deal; it's the first time the FTC has taken a stand against these bastards.

You Can Buy Weed from a Vending Machine, Starting Today: Geekwire reports that something called a ZaZZZ machine will debut inside the Seattle Caregivers dispensary this week. This will be Washington's first pot vending machine, and it stocks edibles, as well as medicinal and recreational products. (Hopefully it is located near other vending machines with quality snacks.)

Fun fact: The agency responsible for Orca cards, Sound Transit, has a mascot named Zap Gridlock. This is Zap Gridlock.
  • Sound Transit
  • Fun fact: The agency responsible for Orca cards, Sound Transit, has a mascot named Zap Gridlock. This is Zap Gridlock.

Find Out if You Qualify for a Discount Orca Card, Because Bus Fares Are Increasing: An ORCA LIFT card would charge $1.50 per ride if you make less than 200 percent of the federal poverty line, or $23,340. It goes into effect March 1, before Metro tacks on another $0.25 to regular fares. Learn more here.

A King County Sheriff's Deputy Allegedly Threatened Girlfriend's Life: The deputy was arrested Sunday morning and prosecutors are still deciding on charges, according to the Seattle Times.

Amazon Might Turn Some RadioShack Stores into Amazon Shacks: Bloomberg reports that Amazon is in talks with RadioShack, which is filing for bankruptcy, to buy some of their stores. But other than the Fire phone, what would one sell in an Amazon store? Maybe pictures of things you can also... buy online?

Obama to Announce New Rules on Mass Spying Today: The White House will schedule regular reviews on how the National Security Agency spies on foreign leaders, the New York Times reports. Intelligence analysts will have to delete "private information they may incidentally collect about Americans that has no intelligence purpose" within a five-year time frame, and the administration will add some limits on the use of national security letters, legally binding demands for information on individuals that come with a gag order.

This cah is pahked in Boston, where snow is dampening whatever fun Patriots fans may have been having.

Boston's Super Bowl Parade Is Going to Be Snowy and Miserable: Hehe. Hehehehehehehehe. Here.

Boston, By the Way, Is Still the Worst City on the Eastern Seaboard: This is a fact.

Fidel Castro Has New Pictures to Prove He's Alive: The pictures are supposed to be from January 23, and Fidel doesn't look half-bad.