The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham First Things First: I'm writing this whole thing today without having watched the Severance finale so none of you better spoil shit. That goes for the entire internet, too. I 'm out here dodging land mines for you and I want you to know that.  Public Education in the Balance: Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday calling to dismantle the U.S. Education Department. He believes the Education Department, which Congress created in 1979 to help ensure equal access to education, is "wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology." Trump would rather return control of education to the states, however it's unclear under that model how the billions of dollars overseen by the Education Department would be distributed. Under this administration? I could only assume it would be badly. While Trump made the order, it's likely impossible to dismantle the Education Department without an act of Congress. Unfortunately, our Congress seems to be made of senseless freaks, so we'll see what happens.   Washington Leaders Stand Tough: Washington Sen. Patty Murray won't let Trump dismantle public education without a fight, she said. "Not on my watch," Murray claimed. Washington public schools rely on federal dollars to run—about 7 percent of school funding comes from the federal level. Without those funds, essential functions could stutter. Murray vowed to take this fight to the courts if need be. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal said states should be prepared to "double down" on investments in public schools to gird against whatever the impacts of Trump's fight against public education are.  Tax Season: Finally. Washington state Democrats unveiled a series of proposals to fix our $15 billion budget shortfall over the next four years. According to KUOW, one of the biggest proposals includes a "$10 tax on every $1,000 worth of a person’s 'intangible assets' like stocks and bonds." Another proposal is modeled after Seattle's JumpStart tax on large companies' payroll expenses. The state would put a 5% tax on company payroll expenses that exceed the Social Security taxation threshold. In other words, only companies with $7 million or more in payroll costs would have to pay the tax. Don't get too excited to eat the rich, though. Gov. Bob Ferguson would have to approve these bills and he has been pretty coy when it comes to considering new taxes. If he cares about fighting for public education, then Ferguson may not have the luxury of being tax-shy.  Some Weather for You: Cloudy and wet. What else did you expect? Cybertruck Pieces Keep Falling Off: Usually, when you have a car you expect most of the parts on it to stay attached and not fly off into the road, "increasing the risk of a crash." This is not the case with groundbreakingly ugly Cybertruck. According to Tesla, the cantrail, an exterior trim panel, in most Cybertrucks has the tendency to "delaminate and detach from the vehicle" and cause dangerous situations. So, America's least favorite car company is recalling all 46,000 Cybertrucks manufactured between November 2023 to February 2025. At least it will be easy to find the cars in need of recall because again, they are so, so, so ugly.  Good for Them: Tesla owners are trading in their cars at record levels in the nearly three months since Trump and Elon Musk took over the Oval Office. Make Musk's wallet hurt! Uh Oh: The president might deport you and put you in a super prison if you dump your Tesla. Trump threatens to put American citizens on deportation flights to a slave prison in El Salvador[image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 21, 2025 at 5:47 AM The Mind Virus More Toxic Than Measles: An unvaccinated six-year-old child died from measles in Texas. Her parents, who are Mennonites, then filmed an anti-vaccine propaganda video with anti-vax advocacy group Children’s Health Defense. If that group sounds familiar, it's because Robert F. Kennedy Jr., our new secretary of health, used to run it before he ran for president. In the interview, the mother, said, "Absolutely do not take the MMR [vaccine]... The measles wasn’t that bad." Her reasoning is that even though measles killed one of her kids, her other four children only had mild cases of measles, something she attributes to the untested supplements she gave them provided by Veritas Wellness. Pentagon Briefing for Musk: Apparently, the Pentagon planned to hold a briefing for Elon Musk on the military's plan for any sort of war with China. Once news broke that Trump’s unelected advisor was briefed on highly classified information, the Pentagon and Trump denied that the meeting was about military matters. But if the meeting was run by the military, how could it not involve military issues? Make it make sense.  Flights Halted at Heathrow: London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest travel hubs in the world, grounded flights today after a fire engulfed a nearby electricity substation, knocking out power. Around 1,300 flights go through Heathrow each day. As many as 290,000 passengers have been impacted by the closure. Plus, delays may extend for days to come.  A fire broke out at a substation near London’s Heathrow Airport, sending fireballs into the night sky, a video obtained by Reuters shows.[image or embed] — Reuters (@reuters.com) March 20, 2025 at 11:46 PM Travel Warnings for the U.S.: As more European travelers face detention upon arrival into the United States, more countries are issuing travel warnings to their citizens about the risks of coming here. Both Britain and Germany warned their citizens that they may not be guaranteed entry into the US. Denmark advised transgender travelers that there are only two gender options available when applying for a U.S. visa: male or female.  Good News for Supersonics Fans? For whatever reason, the recent $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics could pave the way for an NBA league expansion and a return of NBA basketball to Seattle. I simply do not care enough to parse this so here's a link.  Avast me Hearties: Pirate's Booty Snacks founder Robert Ehrlich entered the mayoral race in the tiny New York town of Sea Cliff with only one week until the election. He lost to Elena Villafane, the incumbent who had been running for her third term unopposed until Ehrlich got a bee in his bonnet about being mayor. Villafane beat him 1,064-62. He stormed into Village Hall and "presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor, demanding access to office space, and declaring that the entire Village staff was fired effective immediately but could reapply for their jobs," according to a statement from the village. Ehrlich refused to leave, calling the results "rigged." According to village officials, this was the first time they'd ever heard of Ehrlich engaging in any sort of civic context.  A Song for Your Friday: If you haven't heard Danielle Ponder, then what are you doing? She's a public defender-turned-musician and, whew, this voice. Goosebumps. She performed live on KEXP two years ago. You can watch that here. ...read more read less