Week in Review: Amazon, OceanGate, and childcare

Bill Radke discusses the week’s news with PubliCola’s Erica Barnett, Wild West newsletter author Eli Sanders, and political analyst and contributing columnist Joni Balter.

Investigators are trying to figure out what happened to an ocean submersible built by an Everett company. The vessel was carrying its pilot and four paying passengers toward the wreckage of the Titanic when it imploded, killing all five people aboard. The pilot was Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of that Everett company - OceanGate Expeditions. Rush had been open about not adhering to all the industry standards for deep diving crafts. What is the lesson?

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit this week claiming Amazon "tricked" customers into subscribing to its Prime program. Regulators also claim Amazon made it hard to unsubscribe from Prime. The lawsuit comes on the heels of an investigation launched by Senator Bernie Sanders into conditions in Amazon warehouses. How did Amazon allegedly trick and trap people?

This week, the office of Seattle's mayor told the Seattle Times that the city's senior deputy mayor is leaving. Monisha Harrell had been a court-appointed monitor of the Seattle Police Department's federal oversight. She was appointed to the job by her uncle, Mayor Bruce Harrell. Why is she leaving?

PubliCola first reported that a Seattle Police officer who drove into and killed a pedestrian in a SLU crosswalk in January was driving 74 miles per hour right before he ran into her. The Seattle Police Department says he was responding to a 911 call. The speed limit on that street in that area is 25 miles per hour. Was the officer following the rules and who's getting the blame?

A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation says that the average annual cost for center-based toddler care is $14,355 in Washington state. Axios noted that in WA state it costs more to put a toddler in daycare for a year than it does to pay a UW student's tuition. The new capital gains tax is designed to raise money for Washington’s child care and early learning programs. How much will the capital gains tax help?