"An Oregon child-welfare investigator concluded that Ed Murray sexually abused his foster son in the early 1980s, leading state officials to assert that 'under no circumstances should Mr. Murray be certified' as a foster parent in the future, according to public records obtained by The Seattle Times."

"The investigation by Oregon Child Protective Services (CPS) of Jeff Simpson's allegations determined them to be valid -- meaning the agency believed Murray sexually abused Simpson, the records show.

"'In the professional judgement of this caseworker who has interviewed numerous children of all ages and of all levels of emotional disturbance regarding sexual abuse, Jeff Simpson has been sexually abused by ... Edward Murray,' CPS caseworker Judy Butler wrote in the May 1984 assessment."

Ed Murray, who is openly gay, has heretofore been an effective chief executive for the city of Seattle. But the now-public record obtained by The Seattle Times completely contradicts his repeated public assertions that Oregon CPS and the Multnomah County (Portland) District Attorney's office had long ago dismissed Mr. Simpson's charges as completely unfounded.

The evidence shows that Oregon CPS caseworkers and Multnomah County prosecutors had obviously done no such thing. Quite the contrary, actually. Through the course of their respective investigations, they had instead come to believe the veracity of then-15-year-old Jeff Simpson's accusations. While Ed Murray had not been charged in the case, his personal credibility has nevertheless now been undermined:

"It was Jeff's emotional instability, history of manipulative behavior and the fact that he has again run away and made himself unavailable that forced my decision. We could not be sure of meeting the high burden of proof in a criminal case -- of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. However, this in no way means that the District Attorney's Office has decided Jeff's allegations are not true."
- Dep. District Attorney Mary Tomlinson, to Oregon CPS caseworker Judy Butler (May 15, 1984)

The first round of Seattle's municipal elections is scheduled to take place on August 1 of this year. But while Ed Murray is not a candidate for re-election this fall, due in large part to these abuse allegations, his continued presence in City Hall through the remainder of his term is likely problematic at this point. Let's hope he does the right thing here for the good of his constituents and the city he loves, and resigns his office.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners behind Game of Thrones, have a new drama series in the works with HBO. Titled Confederate, the new show will take place in an "alternate timeline" and chronicle "the events leading to the Third American Civil War," according to the network's press release. "As the brilliant Game of Thrones winds down to its final season, we are thrilled to be able to continue our relationship with Dan and David, knowing that any subject they take on will result in a unique and ambitious series," Casey Bloys, who runs programming for HBO said in a statement. "We have discussed Confederate for years, originally as a concept for a feature film," added Benioff and Weiss. "But our experience on Thrones has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO." No premiere date or casting information has been announced.

Columbia University has settled a gender bias lawsuit brought by a male student who said the school failed to protect him when a female student called him a rapist and carried a mattress around campus to dramatize her pain.

I've read about some terrible college kangaroo court decisions in cases involving alleged sexual assault but in this case Columbia found that the alleged rapist did nothing wrong.  I guess his complaint was the school allowed the woman to carry a mattress around campus which led many to believe he assaulted her.

Really good.