Week in Review: Crime prevention, cold weather and trade wars

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with The Stranger’s Chase Burns, political analyst and contributing columnist Joni Balter, and South Seattle Emerald’s Mike Davis.

Seattle’s new mayor is making good on his promises to focus on crime prevention and tent clearing. He’s directing police to focus on violence and disorder in “hotspots” like Little Saigon. How is it different from what Mayor Durkan was doing? Back to the office is part of this equation too. How does the return to work and crime intersect?

With the handful of cold days recently, local officials again this winter took steps to keep people living outside safe. Did the Harrell administration handle it any differently than the Durkan administration? Also, Seattle’s eviction moratorium will end at the end of the month. Why didn’t the City Council override this?

Washington state’s forecasters predicted a $5 billion hole in our state’s two-year, 2021-2023 budget, but instead tax revenues for the two-year period are now projected to come in $7 billion higher than expected, not $5 billion lower. Why does the state have more money than we thought? Also, Majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature on Tuesday narrowly beat back a third attempt to squelch a new tax they proposed on gasoline and diesel exported to neighboring states from Washington refineries, and those neighboring states aren’t happy. Why are we doing this now?

Singer and songwriter Mark Lanegan passed away Tuesday at the age of 57. As a member of Seattle’s Screaming Trees, Lanegan played a significant role in the development of the grunge era. He also released 12 albums during his solo career. What is the difference between Seattle GenX musicians and musicians today?