1. Hillary Clinton’s big victory last night was powered by her strong showing in cities and, in particular, among African American voters, scoring 70 percent support among African American voters in Illinois, for example.

Clinton won Cleveland 63-36, Cincinnati 60-40, Chicago 54-46, Miami 75-24, Kansas City 52-46, and St. Louis (including Ferguson) 55-44.

Black votes matter.

2. Bowing to pressure from angry drivers, the Washington State Department of Transportation will lift evening and weekend tolling on I-405.

The only dissident voice in a decision otherwise supported not only by Republicans, but by cowed Democratic state lawmakers and governor Jay Inslee? Community Transit, the Snohomish County transit agency.

Their support for preserving exclusive toll lanes, outlined in a March 14 letter, makes sense. Travel times for bus commuters have improved under the new tolling program.

The letter, signed by Community Transit’s planning director Joy Munkers, addresses the populist backlash to the tolling program, noting, “For 22,000 people to sign a petition certainly indicates a strong sentiment.” However, Junkers goes on: “The daily average of 44,300 vehicles in Express Toll Lanes is also a strong statement that drivers are not forced to use ETLs, but choose to do so of their own volition.”

The letter notes that ETL revenues are 3.7 times higher than anticipated , “another strong indicator that ETLs are working for many drivers.” And then, revealing her bias for keeping buses moving, she adds more evidence of success: “The transit times savings in the first quarter are an average of six to seven percent.”

And I'd add another success: The point of Express Toll Lanes wasn't to make single occupancy vehicle commutes easier, it was to make carpooling and taking public mass transit the better choice. 

3. Another contrarian letter on a headline issue? A bunch of Seattle state legislators signed on to a letter opposing the Occidental street vacation for the SoDo arena. 

In the March 14 letter to city council, legislators wrote:

We write to urge you to oppose the planned right-of-way vacation of Occidental Avenue S in Seattle’s Duwamish Manufacturing/Industrial Center. This action is intended to pave the way for a professional sports arena in the south downtown industrial area. We understand the strong desire to bring professional basketball back to our state and strongly support that intended goal. However, that must not come at the expense of middle class jobs, which are largely created by our maritime, manufacturing, and industrial sectors.

The site of the proposed street vacation represents the crossroads of international trade, manufacturing, and transportation interests that together form a key economic engine for our state. This area serves multiple stakeholders, including our state’s agricultural interests and other exporters located outside Puget Sound.

The Seattle legislators who signed the letter are: state representative Jessyn Farrell (D-46, North Seattle), state representative Noel Frame (D-36, Ballard), state senator Bob Hasegawa (D-11, Beacon Hill), state representative and former Seattle port commissioner Gael Tarleton (D-36, Ballard), and state representative Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-37, Southesast Seattle).