John Ryan

Stories

• Shell Ready To Try Again With Rebuilt Oil-Spill Dome

  The Arctic Challenger left Puget Sound's Bellingham Bay Wednesday night and arrived at a deep-water anchorage near Anacortes, Wash., Thursday morning. The barge is part of Shell Oil’s fleet of vessels aimed at exploring the Arctic Ocean for oil.

  Dec 14, 2012 at 12:00 am
• 

  UPDATE: Congressman Seeks Answers In Arctic Oil-Spill Gear's Failure

  A KUOW investigation has led a top congressman to demand answers about Shell Oil's underwater accident this fall in Puget Sound.

  Dec 05, 2012 at 12:00 am
• 

  Sea Trial Leaves Shell's Arctic Oil-Spill Gear "Crushed Like A Beer Can"

  Shell Oil has been building and testing equipment designed for the Arctic Ocean here in Puget Sound. In September, a key test of underwater oil-spill equipment was a spectacular failure.

  Nov 30, 2012 at 12:00 am

• 2012 Election Breaks Campaign-Finance Records

  Some of the results may not be known for weeks, but the most expensive election ever in Washington state wrapped up Tuesday night.  Fifty-six bucks.  If you're a registered voter in Washington state, that’s what was spent by candidates and their surrogates trying to win your vote in state, local and federal races this year. That could be enough to buy a tank full of gas, a big bag of groceries or a nice dinner for two. Instead, it bought you a bunch of sternly narrated ads, glossy flyers and robo-calls.The hotly contested governor's race racked up the biggest bill, at more than $40 million.Fans of initiatives to legalize gay marriage and charter schools also spent more than $10 million each. Much of those campaigns' war chests arrived in chunks of six or seven figures, either from local billionaires or national political outfits.All told, more than $200 million has flowed into this election in Washington—more than any other in state history. This year's election was also one for the record books at the national level, with $6 billion spent nationwide.  "We saw a lot of evidence of that in our mailboxes and TV commercials," said Lori Anderson with the Public Disclosure Commission. The PDC tracks the money in state and local politics in Washington and during election season, that means tracking political advertising."That's what all that money was spent on," said Anderson. “And I think we're all glad that's coming to an end.”For the past 20 years, state law has limited direct contributions to candidates. But for ballot measures and for groups spending money independently of a given campaign, the sky's the limit."When you limit direct contributions, I think you're always going to see a rise in independent spending," Anderson said. "Money always finds a way."Anderson says the full extent of this year's campaign cash may not be known for a couple of months, since campaigns can keep raising money until January. 

  Nov 07, 2012 at 12:09 am
• 

  Campaign Cash Maps Show Cracks In Washington's Cascade Curtain

  You may have seen maps of the United States divided into red and blue, based on whether Republicans or Democrats got the most votes in each area. What would it look like to map how campaign contributors vote with their dollars?The first map below does just that for Washington state. It follows the money to show how each ZIP code in the state has voted with its collective pocketbook in this year’s federal elections. Have people in that ZIP code contributed more money to Democratic (blue) or Republican (red) efforts?Zoom in on the map for more detail. Click on any shaded ZIP code to see how much money was spent on this year's federal elections -- and how the money split between Democrats (and their committees, super PACs and other surrogates) and Republicans (and their various surrogates).The political money follows the voting pattern long familiar to the state's political observers: mostly blue west of the Cascades; mostly red to the east. But exceptions abound, with the east side of Lake Washington, rural parts of Snohomish and Whatcom counties and much of southwest Washington leaning red. Much of north-central Washington and scattered pockets throughout eastern Washington lean blue.According to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., 2012 is the most expensive election in the nation’s history. Here in Washington state, residents have poured more than $60 million into this year’s congressional and presidential elections. Overall, Washington state contributions toward federal campaigns have strongly favored Democrats and their surrogate organizations over Republicans and theirs ($33.7 million vs. $18.6 million).A simple blue-versus-red map doesn’t show where the big money has come from. Last week KUOW mapped and zoomed in on the 10 Washington ZIP codes -- all fairly wealthy areas around Seattle -- that have spent at least $1 million to influence this year’s federal elections.This next map shows only those ZIP codes that gave at least $50,000 in this year’s federal elections (again, zoom in or click on a shaded area for more details):Some ZIP codes dropped out of this map because they have much smaller populations than others. It’s also apparent that some ZIP codes have a lot more cash available to throw at political campaigns: wealthy neighborhoods in Seattle and its eastern suburbs, for example. Here’s how the money maps out if we only include ZIP codes that gave at least $250,000:Finally, the last map shows ZIP codes that have spent at least $500,000 on this year's federal elections. Note how the northern and eastern neighborhoods of greater Seattle dominate the state map, while south Seattle and south King County, typically more diverse and less wealthy than areas to their north, have fallen off the map. (Zoom out to see the two ZIP codes in Clark County that also gave more than $500,000.)People can try to exercise or gain political power in any number of ways: voting, volunteering and spending money, to name a few. With rising inequality and fewer restrictions on in the influx of cash into our federal system of elections, it's gotten easier to use cash in pursuit of political power.Even so, few people exercise that power.Washington has 3.85 million registered voters, with some 3 million of them expected to cast votes in this election. That's about 40 times the number of Washingtonians who have made campaign contributions -- of any size -- this election cycle, according to Federal Elections Commission data. At least as far as federal campaign contributions go, it appears that political power in Washington state is concentrated in a small number of hands. And a very small number of ZIP codes.PostscriptYou may have noticed that some areas are unshaded in all the maps. Those areas either made no federal campaign contributions, made none that could be assigned to the two major parties or (in a few instances) were simply missing from the U.S. Census Bureau geographic data we used to generate these maps. All maps were produced by KUOW using Federal Elections Commission campaign-finance numbers as of Oct. 15, 2012.

  Nov 06, 2012 at 9:44 am

• Political Donations From 3 Big Washington Employers Favor GOP

  Businesses have poured millions of dollars into political contributions this election season. But you may be surprised to learn that in Democratic-leaning Washington, the state’s three largest employers tend to favor Republican candidates.

  Oct 31, 2012 at 12:00 am

• Elusive Evergreen State Professor Found In Chile

  Washington state is heading south in its quest to recover the largest ethics fine in state history. As KUOW reported this spring, a former Evergreen State College professor has evaded efforts to collect the $120,000 fine against him.

  Oct 01, 2012 at 12:00 am
• 

  Safety And Suicide At Western State Hospital

  Western State Hospital in Lakewood is the largest psychiatric institution in the Pacific Northwest. Its mission statement says the hospital: ... provides a healing environment free from danger, fear, hurt, injury, coercion, or intimidation for people with psychiatric disabilities. ... Through vigilant attention and effort, WSH ensures a safe haven.

  Sep 07, 2012 at 12:00 am

• Through The Cracks: The Life And Death Of Megan Templeton

  In the past decade, a dozen Western State Hospital patients have killed themselves. More than a hundred others have tried. Megan Templeton was the most recent. In April, she hanged herself in her hospital room. She had turned 20 the day before.

  Sep 06, 2012 at 12:00 am
• 

  Emerald City keeps losing its greenery

  Seattle has lost an area of trees about the size of Green Lake, or 1.7% of its tree canopy, since 2016.