Morning! Everyone should expect a dreary weather day, with a chance of showers before 10 am, followed by a brief pause, and then another chance of showers after 11 am. On the whole, the National Weather Service says the day will be partly sunny with a high near 53 degrees. No eclipse today, but I hope everyone enjoyed the one yesterday:

Superior Court sides with Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi: On Friday, a King County Superior Court judge found that SMC Judge Pooja Vaddadi acted legally when she disqualified an assistant city attorney from prosecuting a case. As I reported, the case appeared to spark Republican City Attorney Ann Davison's office decision to start disqualifying Vaddadi on all criminal cases moving forward. The higher court's ruling is embarrassing for Davison; sucks when you use public funds to take something petty to court and fail.

Rather than prove anything in court, Davison's office has chosen to sideline Vaddadi using a mechanism that requires very little evidence to eliminate her as a judge. Her office still can't point to any cases to back up the claims of anti-prosecution bias they made against Vaddadi at the end of February. But I just sent another email to the CAO asking for the case numbers, so we'll see what they say.

Washington State Supreme Court pauses ruling on high-capacity magazine ban: On Monday, a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge ruled that Washington's ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines was unconstitutional. Attorney General Bob Ferguson asked the state Supreme Court to allow the ban to stay in place while his office appeals the lower court's ruling. The WA Supreme Court obliged, and so the ban will remain in effect until the court hears arguments. In 2022, Washington State lawmakers made it illegal for Washington gun shops to sell magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds at a time.

Full Tilt scales down to just Columbia City location: After the death of Full Tilt owner Justin Cline, his wife and Full Tilt co-founder, Ann Magyar, announced that the business plans to remain open in Columbia City but will stop most of its other operations. In the announcement, Magyar thanked the community for embracing the business. "But now Justin is gone, and it just isn't the same without him. It's time for Full Tilt as we know it to end," she wrote. 

 
 
 
 
 
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WA State GOP files even more initiatives: The WA GOP now wants to end Washington's sanctuary city protections, return to the days of being able to evict people without reason, and repeal a bill that seeks to phase out gas service among other things, according to the Seattle Times. Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington State Democrats, called the series of initiatives the WA GOP has filed this year a "ploy" to bolster Republican turnout. For those three latest initiatives to make it to the ballot, Republicans need to secure a little more than 300,000 signatures in three months. Unfortunately, that's not that hard, and they'll probably succeed.

Speaking of repeals, delivery app companies love the $5 fee: Even if the Seattle City Council rolls back minimum wage protections for delivery drivers, the companies refuse to guarantee they'll end the $5 delivery fee they imposed, according to Eater Seattle. They've only promised to "explore" ending fees. The apps suck. They've created an unprofitable business model, and the only way they can survive is by bullying cities into allowing them to skirt minimum wage law.

Trump heads to criminal court: The former president may face four criminal trials ahead of Election Day this year, and the first up starts next week, according to CNN. This one has to do with falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to Stormy Daniels in 2016. Not the most interesting of the four cases, which accuse him of falsifying business records, hiding classified documents, and scheming to overturn the 2020 election. 

Switzerland's lack of climate policies violate human rights: The European court of human rights has said that Switzerland's lack of strong climate policies has violated the rights of some of the country's older women, according to the Guardian. The court calls itself the "conscience of Europe," which like, OK, calm down. In any case, the court said that the Swiss failed to combat climate change and that other members of the Council of Europe have a legal responsibility to take action on the issue. 

Speaking of the climate: In March, the temperature in Antartica rose by 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit over its seasonal average, according to Mother Jones. As scientists pointed out, that's "tolerable" for somewhere with sub-zero temperatures, but it's like Seattle going from 50-degree days to 151.3-degree days. I mean, it's really not good. Meanwhile, the Washington GOP's out here like, "Grrr don't make us slowly phase out gas stoves, so mean of you, grrrrrrr." 

Missouri prepares to execute Brian Dorsey: Dorsey killed two people in 2006 while in a "psychotic state." His current attorneys have argued he received ineffective counsel during his original trial. About 70 prison staff members, including a former warden, asked for the Governor to stay Dorsey's execution, according to the Washington Post. But Republican Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied the request. He's scheduled for execution at 6 pm EST Tuesday. 

Revisiting Peep Show: Someone the other day reminded me about the song "Flagpole Sitta" by local band Harvey Danger, whose frontman you may remember from his years of writing and editing here at the Stranger, and it took me a second to realize I recognized it because it's the intro theme to Peep Show, which I'm now rewatching. I was going to just drop the "Flagpole Sitta" music video, but I wanted to link to my favorite clip from a different show staring the same people. Really took you all on a journey.