Good Morning! We\u2019re starting the day with some sun, but Charles Mudede will be happy to know that the skies will be overcast again by the afternoon. We likely have rain tomorrow and Saturday, so this morning, soak up enough vitamin D to get you through to Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But first, the news.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump in China: Trump and his merry band<\/a> of business executives and lily-white advisers are in China for talks with President Xi. Xi came in hot, warning that if issues around Taiwan were handled poorly, it could lead to conflict and \u201can extremely dangerous situation.\u201d He also warned Trump to not fall into the \u201cThucydides Trap\u201d<\/a> in the two countries\u2019 relationship. (The \u201cTrap\u201d refers to Athenian General Thucydides\u2019s writings about the Second Peloponnesian War, in which Athens saw the rise of Sparta\u2019s power, and felt they had to attack them because they were gaining strength.) China clearly fancies itself to be Sparta, and has been using the analogy for more than a decade to insist that the \u201ctrap\u201d isn\u2019t inevitable, it\u2019s a choice. I\u2019m taking bets on how much of that analogy Trump was able to follow.\u00a0<\/p>\n Judge Breaks Trend: On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered<\/a> the Trump administration to return Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata to the United States. They deported the 55-year-old Colombian woman to the Democratic Republic of Congo in April. Trump has been cutting deals with other countries, often in Africa, to deport people when he isn\u2019t allowed to send them back to their home country (usually because the person is at risk of persecution there). But in this case, the Congo had told the Trump administration that they wouldn\u2019t take Zapata because they couldn\u2019t provide her the medical care she needed. This is a rare instance of a judge reversing a deportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Medicaid Alert: VP Vance announced<\/a> on Wednesday that the Trump administration plans to withhold $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid payments from California because the state allegedly \u201chas not taken fraud very seriously.\u201d He also said the feds plan to audit all of the state-level watchdog agencies that are supposed to be finding Medicaid fraud, forcing them to prove that they\u2019re \u201ceffectively and aggressively\u201d combating Medicaid fraud, or they\u2019ll also lose funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump Wants His Presidential Library to Be a Hotel: And it\u2019s very possible that\u2019s not constitutional. According to a lawsuit<\/a> filed in Miami, the land was donated to the state to become a library, not a for-profit hotel with a 747 Air Force One on the first floor (which might sound familiar to anyone who commutes on Denny Way). And because it will likely be a for-profit business, it might violate the Constitution\u2019s domestic emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from accepting money or gifts from the states.<\/p>\n A Rose by Any Other Name: Will be just as painful, but might get better treatment. The AP reports<\/a> that PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) is now officially known as PMOS (polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome). Researchers say the old name reduced a complex hormonal disorder to cysts and ovaries, which has led to missed diagnoses and inadequate treatment. Now let\u2019s do it with endometriosis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Suspect in UW Stabbing Turned Himself in: On Wednesday, SPD released images and a description of a man that they believe stabbed and killed a 19-year-old trans woman in UW off-campus housing, and according to police, he turned himself into<\/a> Bellevue police late last night. He\u2019s since been transferred to SPD custody and then King County jail.\u00a0<\/p>\n Boeing Pays Up: On Wednesday, a jury demanded<\/a> that Boeing pay $49.5 million to the family of Samya Rose Stumo, a 24-year-old who died when a Boeing 737 MAX plane crashed in Ethiopia in 2019 (the second deadly MAX crash in just a few months). Boeing had already reached an agreement with the DOJ to avoid criminal prosecution, and settled dozens of lawsuits out of court with other victims\u2019 families. Only one other case has gone to trial, which found Boeing liable for $28 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n SAM Workers Unionizing: On Wednesday morning, Seattle Art Museum workers announced that their union, Seattle Art Museum Workers United, which represents more than 100 employees, was affiliating with the Washington Federation of State Employees\/AFSCME Council 28. In a letter delivered to SAM CEO Scott Stulen and the Board of Trustees, SAMWU said it wants \u201csustainable and respectful wages,\u201d \u201cjust-cause\u201d protections, improved healthcare, PTO, and other employee benefits; and a workplace culture of \u201cinclusion, trust, and accountability,\u201d Stranger contributor Jas Keimig reported<\/a>. They\u2019re giving SAM leadership until May 27 to voluntarily recognize the union.<\/p>\n The Lawyers Aren\u2019t Alright: And neither are the judges in Washington State. A new report from the Washington State Bar Association found that the stress associated with being a judge, lawyer, or law student is brutal on their mental health. \u201cWashington state judges report they can\u2019t sleep at night because of the decisions they make in court and threats to their families,\u201d the Seattle Times reports<\/a>. \u201cNew lawyers stress over long work hours and law school debt. And 55 members of Washington\u2019s legal community took their lives between 2018 and 2023.\u201d The state Bar Association\u2019s board of governors are now tasked with figuring out how they should help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Protest at Public Safety Meeting: For the first time, the Office of the Inspector General went in front of City Council this week to present the results of the Sentinel Event Review of SPD\u2019s behavior at Cal Anderson last Memorial Day weekend, where police officers violently arrested counter protesters who were rallying against the Christian supremacist event. One officer was caught on body cam footage saying: \u201cWe\u2019re going in this time with guns blazing and all our pieces in place\u2026 We are past talking to people; we\u2019re here to fuck people up now.\u201d On Tuesday, half a dozen protesters, including two people who said they were brutally arrested by SPD at the event, temporarily shut down the meeting. After two long recesses, Committee Chair Bob Kettle eventually switched to a remote meeting. We\u2019ll have more on the meeting this week on The Stranger.\u00a0<\/p>\n