🐝 New native bees for Washington

Alaska Airlines Website Went Down… Again

Alaska is having a rough month, in a series of rough months. On Wednesday, a Microsoft Azure outage took down several of its systems, including its website and app. This came after last week’s IT outage, which grounded flights for eight hours and interrupted travel for more than 50,000 people. Wednesday’s outage created delays, but did not lead to flight cancellations. [Seattle Times]

• Plan Ahead Seattle: While there’s not much travelers can do about IT outages, you can make travel easier by checking light rail service alerts ahead of time, or subscribing for regular updates from Sound Transit and…
• Use Spot Saver: I swear this is the best thing SeaTac has ever done. You can skip the security line for free by booking a Spot Saver appointment ahead of time. Appointments do fill up, so I recommend doing it in advance. It’s like pre-check, but without the cost or giving anyone your fingerprint. [Port of Seattle]

🧊 Another Local ICE Arrest: Two people were arrested by ICE in Issaquah in the last two weeks— one while dropping her child off at preschool last week, another on Tuesday when she arrived to work at McDonald’s. Issaquah City Councilmember Kelly Jiang told KING she’s urged state legislators to pass more protective laws. Mayor Mary Lou Pauly has suggested an allocation of $50,000 in the budget for immigration services. [KING5]

🤒 Washington Marks Its 12th Measles Infection: King County Public Health has confirmed a new measles case in an adult who may have exposed others to the virus at several public locations across Renton, Tukwila, and Kent. This person is believed to have contracted measles while on the same flight as the confirmed case announced on Oct. 17. [King County Public Health]

• Where In Renton, Tukwila, and Kent? This chart has a list of public locations and times where the person sick with measles spent time while contagious.
• Tracking Public Exposures: Last week, the state launched a map for tracking measles.
• Getting a Booster: Measles is highly infectious, so if you’re thinking about getting a booster or have never been vaccinated for it, here’s what to know.

💰 Impact of H-1B Visa Policy Spreads: H-1B visas are most commonly associated with the tech sector, but non-profits also use them to hire workers. The new $100,000 fee associated with the visa has created uncertainty for many specialized workers. Before the new fee, it cost between $2,000 and $5,000 for an employer to sponsor the visa. Now? It’s unclear for local non-profits if the new fee will apply. And that’s left prospective employees in paperwork limbo. [KUOW]

🐝 Eight New Bee Species Identified: Whew, after that run of news, we need a win. Here’s one for biodiversity: this year, Autumn Maust, a University of Washington research scientist, added eight new bee species to a list of our state’s native pollinators. [Columbia Insights]