Talking vaccines, legislation and GameStop this week

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut editor-in-chief Knute Berger, creator of the Wild West newsletter Eli Sanders and Crosscut political reporter Melissa Santos.

Last night, a failing freezer meant a bunch of Moderna vaccine doses were in danger of thawing out and expiring at 5:30 this morning. So UW medicine got 800 doses, and Swedish Hospital got 600 , and calls went out on social media. At 1am people lined up to get vaccinated, and while essential workers and people over 65 were first in line, once they were done medics started vaccinating whoever was left. Is this how vaccine distribution should be handled?

Plus, if you've been on the internet this week, you might have noticed a lot of people talking about the videogame retailer GameStop. A surge in trading drove GameStop’s value up by more than $10 billion on Wednesday alone. All because of a reddit forum called Wall Street Bets. Hedgefund managers aren't happy - but do we want them, or reddit forums, controlling the stock market?

Speaking of big companies, this week Amazon asked federal regulators to block a number of shareholder proposals that call for the company to do things like curb hate speech and offensive content, boost diversity in hiring, and change the workplace conditions of warehouse workers. Even if the proposals did got through, they would likely be rejected, as previous ones have been. So why bother trying to block these petitions at all?

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Olympia are debating a number of proposed bills, including multiple ones on police reform, and a potential wealth tax. How likely are any of these bills to pass?

Finally, those lawmakers in Olympia often walk past a statue of Marcus Whitman that sits inside the Capitol. Another statue of him is inside the federal capitol, and there is of course also a well regarded college named after him in Walla Walla Washington. But should there be? Is it time to let Whitman, a colonizer and missionary, go?