Herbold's exit kicks off 2023's election news: Today So Far

• Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold announced she is not running for reelection in 2023.
• The Troyer trial continues, and Sheriff Ed Troyer has finally weighed in.
• Tell me why Seattle is "fun."

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for December 12, 2022.

Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold has charted a course out of City Hall. Herbold just announced that she is not going to run for reelection in 2023, opening up District 1 for a new contender.

What's interesting about Herbold's announcement is that she justified her exit with a bit of an argument: Activists and progressive groups are going to target officials who don't exactly align with them, aiming to knock them out of the primary elections. As an example, Herbold points to the 2021 Seattle city attorney election. After more than a decade in office, Pete Holmes was ousted in the primary, leaving voters with two very different options — someone who wanted to tear down the system and defund police, and a Republican. The Republican won.

In Herbold's case, she voted for Seattle's recently passed budget, which doesn't significantly defund the Seattle Police Department. She is concerned that groups like the Solidarity Budget will work to oust her and open the election to two bad candidates. Herbold argues that a fresh progressive candidate is more likely to pull in the votes. Read more here.

The Troyer Trial continues today. Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer is expected to take the stand again and be cross examined by state attorneys. Troyer took the stand on Friday and made his case, in his own words.

“The reason I’m here testifying is the media’s made me out to be a racist and the state’s made me out to be a liar," Troyer said.

Troyer said a lot. You can read more here. In short, he basically disagrees with the story that has been spread so far. He says he was following an erratic driver in a car with its headlights off, and that he didn't know the driver was Black until he got out of the car and confronted Troyer. The sheriff says that he didn't know that the driver, Sedrick Altheimer, was delivering newspapers.

“He was screaming at me, I heard words like, ‘I’ll take you out,’” Troyer testified.

The trial has now set up competing accounts of what happened that morning. Tacoma Detective Chad Lawless says Troyer backtracked his statements from his 911 call, which claimed Altheimer was threatening him. Troyer says he never backtracked.

Altheimer's account is also different. He says he always drives with his high beams on, and Troyer said the car's lights were off. Troyer also testified that hours after the incident, Altheimer came to his home, got out of his car, and started yelling. Altheimer testified that he merely drove by and threw a newspaper in his driveway. Troyer does not subscribe to any newspapers.

Today, the state will get a chance to cross-examine Troyer.

Finally, I'm keeping my call open to all TSF readers out there with opinions on whether or not Seattle is "fun." What is fun about Seattle? Bellevue? Tacoma? Western Washington? However you feel about Seattle, our region doesn't deserve to be ranked 22nd on a list of most fun US cities. I think we can do better. So speak up with your reasons why our area is fun and email me at dyer@kuow.org.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

When KUOW's Diana Opong opted to cover a ballet story in Seattle, she didn't realize that it would affect her beyond the who, what, when, where. This story leapt beyond her expectations. (Courtesy of Diana Opong)

DID YOU KNOW?

I recently saw an advent calendar based on Hans Gruber's fall off of Nakatomi Plaza (because despite what some Scrooges out there say, "Die Hard" is most certainly a Christmas movie). Advent calendars are getting creative. But what is an "advent calendar" anyway?

As NPR recently explained, the concept evolved, mostly around Germany, over a few hundred years. "Advent" was a period of time around December for Christians, dating back to the fourth century. Some folks believe that the season was a lead up to January baptisms. Christmas became more of a thing over the coming centuries and advent became more associated with that holiday.

In Germany, families started lighting candles to mark the days of the advent, or they hung up devotional images. In 1851, the first advent calendar sold in Germany. It was hand-carved wood and marked the days. Paper versions became popular in the early 1900s, and treats such as cookies began to show up on each day. At this point, the calendar appeared as we would expect it today — you open up a small door on each day and find something inside.

But then the Nazis came along and banned anything fun, such as advent calendars. They only allowed such calendars with their party's symbols and propaganda. Of course, WWII didn't end well for them, and Germans got back to printing traditional advent calendars. Those caught the eyes of American soldiers who brought them back to the states. By the 1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower was using them. Then, toss a company like Cadbury into the mix, and you have the annual Christmas product that is popular today. Now, advent calendars are marketing goldmines, containing everything from chocolate to beef jerky, beer to makeup, dog treats to fishing gear.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

NASA's Artemis I returns from the moon with hopes to get astronauts back there soon

The Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California at 9:40 a.m. PT, marking a successful phase one of NASA's Artemis program. Artemis 1 traveled 1.4 million miles, circling the moon, and returned within 25 and a half days, a feat no other human-rated spacecraft has achieved.

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