Slog AM: Ballots Dumped at Golden Gardens, Netanyahu Plans West Bank Operation, Bird Flu Ravages Utah Mink Farm 

Train kills man in wheelchair: Moments before a BNSF freight train hurtled through a downtown Puyallup crossing, a couple in a car noticed a man in an electric wheelchair stuck trying to cross the tracks. A man jumped out of the car, tried to lift the wheelchair from the tracks, and, when that didn’t work, attempted to free the man from his seatbelt. The train came too fast. It struck and killed the man in the wheelchair.  

One year with the use of force tool: Last year, the Washington Data Exchange for Public Safety (WADEPS), a tool that tracks police use of force statewide, launched. If you’ve ever wanted to see how our police departments behave, now you can. This year, according to WADEPS, there have been 1,200 uses of force statewide. KING5 reports that these range from police “shootings to police releasing a police dog on a subject.” Eight people have died from use of force this year and there have been no officers disciplined. Only about 80 percent of the 218 departments in the state have their data represented here, though they’re all required to do so. Reports can also be inconsistent depending on the month. 

Ballots discovered in Golden Gardens dumpster: King County Elections confirmed that two USPS bins full of ballots were tossed in a dumpster at Golden Gardens. They recovered 92 ballots and have reissued them to voters. The US Postal Inspection Service is investigating. 

RIP Tom Skerrit: Seattle’s favorite actor, Tom Skerrit, known for playing Captain Dallas in Alien, an enlistee in M*A*S*H, and the sheriff from Picket Fences, died from natural causes Thursday. He was 93. 

The weather: The sun keeps chasing away that rain that was in the forecast earlier this week. It will be mostly sunny today. Perhaps those rain drops will come this weekend, but I am afraid to promise anything. 

Another Pacific Ocean hurricane: Hurricane Vance—no, not the vice president—is hurtling toward Mexico and could make landfall as a Category 3 storm. 

Netanyahu ramps up West Bank operation after Israeli soldiers killed: Two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians were killed in an exchange of fire in the West Bank. According to the Israel Defence Forces, two Palestinian assailants and an automatic rifle opened fire at a checkpoint near Hebron. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims this was an attempted terrorist attack. He’s now preparing a full closure of the West Bank and preparing to go house to house, seize weapons, and demolish houses. Human rights groups say Netanyahu is using the attack as an excuse to justify tougher measures against Palestinians ahead of Tuesday’s election where Netanyahu is on the ballot. 

Oh, really? The White House reports that First Lady Melania Trump has brokered a cease-fire deal between Russia and Ukraine in the Ukrainian city of Oreshky. 

Suspicious: Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, wants answers. Last Saturday, during the No Kings March, Meta allegedly suspended the official No Kings Instagram account. Public Citizen has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get to the bottom of the block. 

Trump supports that terrible Ramaswamy ad: This week, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy funded an attack ad on his Democrat opponent, Amy Acton. The ad features Acton’s estranged mother calling her a liar, saying Acton has “serious problems with the truth.” Acton has not seen her mother since 1978, when she testified against her stepfather for physically and sexually abusing her and her brother for years. She was 12. Many people—even Republicans—have denounced the ad, calling it a real low even for modern politics. Not Trump or his camp. Trump called it “powerful” and told Ramaswamy he should thank God for the ad. 

German far-right party has been wooing Trump for a decade: Not to steal Hunter’s thunder, but here is some Nazi news. A data leak from the far-right German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) shows efforts to court Trump and the MAGA movement starting a decade ago. Their closest line to Trump during his first presidency was through Steve Bannon. So far, during Trump 2.0, they’ve continued contact with those close to Trump. 

A long read for your Friday: “The Art of the Deal: Jared Kushner’s Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations—Including More Than $700 Million in Transfers”

Bird flu rages at Utah mink farm: Remember how bird flu has been ravaging American livestock for the past four years? But it’s been okay the disease can’t spread among humans and cause a devastating pandemic deadlier than COVID-19? Well, the flu has been ravaging a mink farm in Utah. Mink could be that intermediary host species that could incubate a bird flu mutation that ends up spreading to humans. The farm has not culled its mink. The state and federal government have been bungling the response to this infestation—and trying to keep it quiet. Read ProPublica’s report here. 

Meanwhile, the measles outbreak continues. The US Centers for Disease Control reported that there were 4,588 cases in the country as of Thursday. Yet, the CDC has denied a request from Washington and California to validate a new “rapid, high-volume measles test in preparation for major outbreaks.” It denied the request due to “competing priorities.”

We’ll end on a song: My friends are getting married tomorrow. Congrats, John and Isabelle!

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