KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
Have any leads or feedback for the KUOW Blog? Contact Dyer Oxley at dyer@kuow.org.
Stories
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Premier climate study frozen by Trump administration as researchers get the boot
The Trump administration has put the nation’s most comprehensive climate study on hold and told hundreds of scientists working on it that their services are no longer needed.
An estimated 400 researchers, most of them academic experts volunteering to produce the sixth National Climate Assessment, received a brief email from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the White House office which oversees the production of the assessment, thanking them for their service.
“At this time, the scope of the NCA6 is currently being reevaluated,” the email states. “We are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles.”
“How incredibly disappointing,” said Kristie Ebi, a global health researcher at the University of Washington and, until Monday, a coauthor of the assessment’s chapter on air quality. “Every country in the world is doing some version of a national climate assessment.”
“To remove all of that information is going to put people, communities, businesses, in difficult situations, unable to take actions that are needed, which ultimately then will mean more people, more places, more businesses will be harmed,” Ebi added.
RELATED: West Coast governors: We will defend our climate policies against Trump attack
Congress mandated in 1990 that a National Climate Assessment be put out every four years by scientific experts to provide a comprehensive look at climate change, its impacts, and potential solutions.
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Tacoma man charged with sabotaging power grid 6 times. No neo-Nazi link found
A Tacoma man has been charged with sabotaging six electrical substations in western Washington in 2022.
Zachary Rosenthal, 33, is charged with conspiring to destroy the high-voltage equipment in Oakville, Puyallup, Toledo, Tumwater, and Woodland, Washington, in 2022.
The attacks did thousands of dollars of damages to Washington’s power grid.
“From what we can tell, the motive was to knock the power out and then attempt to burglarize local businesses and ATM machines,” assistant United States attorney Todd Greenberg told KUOW.
Investigators found no evidence tying Rosenthal or his co-conspirators to any extremist groups, Greenberg said.
In 2022, white-supremacist groups had been circulating instructions on how to sabotage electrical infrastructure, with the goal of hastening the demise of the federal government and inciting a race war.
Pacific Northwest utilities reported a surge of substation attacks to the FBI in 2022, with at least 15 attacks in six months, as KUOW and OPB previously reported.
At the time, FBI’s Portland Field Office said that the power-grid attacks in Oregon and Washington were carried out using firearms, hand tools, flames, and chains, “possibly in response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure.”
RELATED: FBI warned of neo-Nazi plots as attacks on Northwest grid spiked
In July 2024, Rosenthal was charged, along with Nathaniel Cheney, 30, of Centralia, with attacking substations in Oregon City and Clackamas, Oregon. That month, Rosenthal was also indicted for allegedly stealing 24 guns from All That Glitters Jewelry & Loans, a pawn shop in Milwaukie, Oregon, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A trial on the Oregon substation attacks is scheduled for November 3.
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Police hiring bill advances in Washington, requiring mix of state and local funds
Washington state is closer to providing new state grants for cities and counties to hire more police officers following a bipartisan vote in the state Senate on Wednesday. But it’s not clear how the funding in the latest bill will compare with Governor Bob Ferguson’s call for $100 million in hiring grants in the 2025 to 2027 operating budget.
Under HB 2015, in order to access state grants for police hiring and training, local jurisdictions must also implement their own sales tax to fund criminal justice programs. The bill authorizes most local jurisdictions to raise sales taxes for this purpose by .1% without voter approval.
But Democratic backers said the bill’s intent was to shore up the entire system, not just police ranks.
“That is what a comprehensive strategy to address criminal justice issues looks like,” Sen. Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond) said on the Senate floor Wednesday. She added that the local sales tax “allows the cities and counties to have some skin in the game.”
The local tax provides a revenue stream to retain the new hires once the grant has been spent, but the local funds could also go towards public defenders, reentry programs, and a broader array of “criminal justice purposes,” the bill states. The bill also conditions the grants on agencies having completed prescribed trainings at the Criminal Justice Training Center.
“There has to be more than just police on the streets,” said Rep. Debra Entenman (D-Covington), the bill’s primary sponsor, at a committee hearing in February. “What we really want to do is make sure that the programs we have in our communities around public safety include a larger definition of public safety."
After some amendments, the bill attracted bipartisan support in the Senate, passing 30 to 19. Sen. Jeff Holy (R-Spokane), a retired police officer who sponsored an alternative bill, called it not a solution but a start. He credited Ferguson for championing police hiring.
“I am tickled Governor Ferguson is paying attention to this,” Holy said before the Senate vote. “He’s actually paying attention to the priorities of government, finally someone is able to work with us on the things that some of us just find bread and butter, [which] are so necessary.”
But both Democrats and Republicans were torn.
Sen. Phil Fortunato (R-Auburn) said the new local sales tax presented a conundrum.
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What will it take to restart refugee admissions? Seattle judge presses Trump's DOJ for details
In a hearing Wednesday, a federal judge in Seattle said he's seeking a timeline for the Trump administration to "turn back on" the system of refugee admissions for those already approved to travel to the U.S. before President Trump's order suspending the program.
U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead indicated his upcoming order could include concrete steps to gauge the government's compliance, after refugee resettlement organizations accused the government of "open defiance" of the court's earlier rulings.
Refugee resettlement organizations said the administration has not resumed processing for refugees with conditional approval to enter the U.S. before President Trump took office, despite court orders to do so. At the same time, they say the Trump administration has directed refugee assistance with record speed to white Afrikaners in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Trump administration maintained that a recent appeals court ruling did not require them "to take steps to facilitate the entry" of those refugees with conditional approval to enter the U.S..
Whitehead did not issue any orders from the bench but indicated he is seeking information to address that particular group of refugees.
“I want to make sure there is framework by which the court can gauge compliance and hold the government accountable if necessary for non-compliance," he said.
Whitehead pressed Benjamin Mark Moss, the DOJ attorney representing the Trump administration, for details on restarting refugee processing and added that the details shouldn't be hard to obtain.
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Another baby orca spotted with Northwest's endangered J Pod
Another baby has been born to the Northwest’s endangered orca population.
A Center for Whale Research crew spotted the baby, still ruddy from the womb, from a boat near Victoria, British Columbia, on Sunday. It is the fourth calf born to the southern resident orcas since December. Two of the four have died already.
RELATED: Endangered orcas’ circle of life: one baby dies, another is born
Researchers say the first year is perilous for young whales, especially those born to first-time mothers. Sunday’s baby, designated J63, is the first for its 21-year-old mother, known as J40 or Suttles.
Michael Weiss, the center's research director, said observers have not seen enough of this young whale yet to gauge how well-nourished or healthy it is.
"We see no specific causes for concern at this time; the body condition of young calves is very hard to assess from the boat," Weiss said in an email. "We'll be able to say more once we can see if the calf is 'filling out' over time."
About half of southern resident newborns do not survive to their first birthday. Two-thirds of pregnancies end in miscarriage.
RELATED: Grieving orca mom carries dead calf on her nose for fifth day
Researchers say, with just 74 whales, each birth is vital to the survival of the endangered orca population.
In a statement, the Center for Whale Research called the latest birth "a sign of hope for this endangered community."
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Boeing settles 2 wrongful death lawsuits over 2019 Ethiopia Airlines crash
Less than a day before jury selection was scheduled for two lawsuits against Boeing, the aerospace company settled with the families of the victims.
The cases — Belanger v. Boeing and Lewis v. Boeing — were brought by two families who lost loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019 aboard a 737 Max 8. A total of 157 people died — including 46-year-old Darcy Belanger and 39-year-old Antoine Lewis — when the plane crashed minutes after it took off from the Addis Ababa airport.
RELATED: Grilled by Senate, Boeing CEO admits to 'serious missteps' on safety
"I'm happy for our client," said Mark Lindquist, the Tacoma attorney representing the Belanger family. "She stood her ground. We are satisfied with the resolution, accountability, and closure."
The terms of the settlements are confidential. There are also cases pending for 18 other families. Another trial stemming from this crash is slated for July. Boeing also still faces a lawsuit from the Department of Justice.
Investigations into the Ethiopian Airlines crash confirmed that Boeing's MCAS software played a role in the crash. An error in the flight program caused the plane's nose to repeatedly dive.
Investigations also found that pilots were not adequately trained on the MCAS program. The same conclusions were issued for the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash in the Java Sea that killed 181 people on board. The incidents prompted a worldwide grounding of all 737 Max 8 planes for nearly two years.
Antonio M. Romanucci with of Romanucci & Blandin represented the Lewis family. Both attorneys, Romanucci and Lindquist, are also representing victims from the 737 Max crash in 2018, and passengers from the more recent Boeing door plug incident out of Portland, Ore.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Tens of thousands rally against Trump, Musk in Washington state ‘Hands Off’ protests
Throngs of demonstrators gathered Saturday in dozens of cities across Washington state, and around the country, to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk.
“Hands Off” was the rallying cry that progressive organizers chose for the protest — meant as a pushback on the presidential administration’s tariffs, deportations, cancellations of federal grants and programs, and other executive actions.
In suburban Bothell, hundreds of placard wavers lined both sides of Bothell Way Northeast for blocks. In Shoreline, hundreds more waved along busy Aurora Avenue North as passing drivers honked in support.
In Everett, organizers estimated at least 3,000 people joined the protest, the largest ever on the plaza outside the Snohomish County Courthouse.
“I wasn’t expecting this many people,” Indivisible Snohomish County organizer Naomi Dietrich told the Everett crowd. “I should have, but I wasn’t.”
“I believe this day will make history,” Dietrich said.
The state’s biggest protest was in Seattle. People marched toward the Space Needle from a nearby Tesla dealership — the site of weekly protests against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk — and from Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill.
Attendees' homemade signs displayed a mix of anger, anxiety, and creativity: “Fight for our Democracy,” “Protect Due Process,” and many more personal insults directed at current occupants of the White House.
Ten-year-old Sinan, whose parents asked that his last name not be used, made a sign proclaiming “Education Rules, Unlike this Guy,” and depicting Trump as Caligula. Sinan said education is important, “So we can learn what happened, history, so we don’t repeat it.”
Organizers included the progressive activist group Indivisible. Seattle Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat, addressed the crowd at Seattle Center, as did leaders of nonprofit and labor organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Planned Parenthood. Democratic Representatives Suzan Delbene and Rick Larsen spoke in Everett.
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Trump’s rhetoric breeds 'unprecedented' threats, federal judge in Seattle says
A federal judge in Seattle is calling on President Trump and his supporters to tone down hostile language toward the courts.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said calling judges names and threatening to seek their impeachment has resulted in an unprecedented number of online threats to judges themselves. Those get forwarded to the U.S. Marshals Service for investigation.
“Never have we been under the kind of volume of threats and need for [U.S.] Marshals to really research where is this threat coming form. Is it from this country or out of the country? Is it credible or not credible? And they’re working really hard,” he said.
RELATED: Federal judge who drew Trump's anger picks up new case against administration
Lasnik said he’s speaking publicly because he is not presiding over any of the lawsuits filed in Seattle challenging Trump’s orders on everything from refugee admissions to transgender health care for minors. And while threats have always been an occasional concern, he said it’s been hard to see his newly appointed colleagues on the bench in Seattle, including Jamal Whitehead and Lauren King, targeted after they placed Trump’s executive orders on hold.
“Right away they were subject to a lot of hostility online,” Lasnik said. “I tell them, ‘I feel for you, and especially for your families.’ It’s not easy for the families to see what your reaction is, and to worry about their own safety.”
His colleague Judge John Coughenour also reported a swatting attack in which someone sent sheriff’s deputies to his home after he blocked Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship.
In 2020, the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was shot and killed at her home by a self-described "anti-feminist" lawyer, according to The New York Times.
Lasnik said the Marshals have instructed court employees on how to keep safe.
“We’re having training, we’re having alerts,” he said.
Lasnik pointed to his employee badge.
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Victim of alleged transgender hate crime ‘distraught’ at news of second attack
A Seattle man already awaiting trial for one hate crime charge has now been charged in a second case stemming from a University District encounter last Thursday. Prosecutors described both incidents as unprovoked attacks on transgender women.
The victim of the first attack was Lexi Young, a transgender woman who has worked for the past year as a fare ambassador for Sound Transit. Charging documents allege that while Young was working on Sept. 14, 2024, the accused man, Andre Karlow, mocked her, calling her a slur for LGBTQ people when she approached him to seek proof of payment in the Chinatown-International District light rail station.
Karlow then boarded the train as Young tried to photograph him. Charging documents say Karlow “then stepped back off the train and punched Young in the face unprovoked.”
The King County prosecutor charged Karlow with a hate crime for targeting someone based on their gender expression and sexual orientation, because he allegedly used the slur and told the victim to "‘put some bass in your voice.'"
RELATED: Trump suspends $175 million in funding to University of Pennsylvania over trans athletes
Young said after the case was filed, she wasn’t aware that the Northwest Community Bail Fund had posted $3,000 cash bail to secure Karlow’s release. But even if she had known, Young said she assumed that someone awaiting trial on a hate crime assault charge, a felony with a maximum of five years in jail and a $10,000 fine, would have a strong incentive not to commit further offenses.
When Young learned this week that Karlow was also charged in the more recent attack, she said she was distraught that he may have hurt another person.
“It really gave me the sense that he just does not have any remorse,” Young said.
Young said she was also shaken to learn that the victim in the more recent attack sustained more severe injuries, including broken teeth, a bruised and swollen eye, and pain in the abdomen. That incident occurred in Seattle’s University District on Thursday March 27, 2025. While Karlow has been arrested and charged, police are investigating the possible involvement of three other men.
According to charging documents, the victim of the more recent attack said she passed a group of men on University Way Northeast who called her a “drag queen” and said to “take your makeup off.”
The victim turned, asked the men what they had said, and tried to photograph them. The men punched and kicked the victim. Ultimately the victim ran into a restaurant to ask for help. The men allegedly followed her but were gone by the time police arrived.
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Eid moves one step closer to becoming a Washington state holiday
Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, two holidays celebrated by nearly 100,000 Muslims in Washington state, is one step closer to state recognition.
On Monday, the state House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma) that adds Eid to a list of holidays that are unpaid but have cultural or historical significance.
RELATED: Muslims in Gaza pass a somber Eid al-Adha on the brink of famine
Rep. Osman Salahuddin (D-Redmond) is the first Muslim serving in the state House.
He introduced a companion bill in the House after thinking back to his childhood years, learning about other winter festivals like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.
“And when Eid came around it was sort of an afterthought of communal celebration,” he recalled.
Salahuddin said state recognition is about more than just acknowledging a community’s culture and significance.
RELATED: Muslim students in Seattle face choice between graduation and Eid al-Adha celebrations
“It helps us cherish our constitutional freedoms as Americans for religious practice, freedom of religion, and to be able to practice our faith, however we choose,” he said.
The bill’s passage comes at a time when Muslims continue to experience prejudice, according to a 2024 survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Washington.
The bill now heads to Gov. Bob Ferguson's desk for his signature.
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More cuts coming to the National Weather Service
At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a six-foot-wide balloon filled with hydrogen lifted off at the tiny Quillayute Airport, between soggy Forks, Washington, and the western edge of the Olympic Peninsula.
The balloon release was triggered remotely by the National Weather Service office in Seattle.
Before popping more than 100,000 feet high in the upper atmosphere, the weather balloon gathered and relayed data on the severe thunderstorms then building over Western Washington—a rarity in the region’s temperate maritime climate.
With that real-time data, forecasters could predict the evening storms would be less dangerous near the population centers of Puget Sound than on the Olympic Peninsula.
Weather balloon flights—and the forecasts they inform—would become less frequent nationwide under a plan revealed internally on Thursday.
The balloons, currently launched every 12 hours from locations around the world, would only go aloft once a day from any location that loses 15% of its staff, according to National Weather Service plans reviewed by KUOW.
Offices that lose more than 35% of their staff, due to firings, resignations, or retirements, would no longer launch weather balloons and would only update forecasts once a day.
“On a day like last Wednesday, if you just had one forecast, I don't think that would have cut it, right?” said Seattle Weather Blog founder Justin Shaw. “Because you're talking about damaging hail and all these kind of things.”
The Trump administration aims to cut 20% of all staff at the weather service, employees were told at an all-hands meeting Thursday, according to one employee who requested anonymity to avoid retribution.
Jobs are to be cut by April 18, though where the cuts would be made remains unclear.
RELATED: Snow or no? Northwest’s water outlook gets murky with federal cuts
Currently, 96 National Weather Service probationary employees nationwide are on administrative leave after being fired then reinstated under a court order.
USA Today reports that staff shortages have already forced balloon launches from at least 11 locations to be curtailed. The Weather Service launches balloons from 100 sites throughout the United States and the Caribbean.
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Trump critics in Seattle push back in court — and head for the streets
While protests against President Trump's second administration were initially muted in Seattle and Washington as challenges to his executive orders moved through federal courts, the state is emerging as a hub of activist resistance to the administration.
Last week in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, hundreds of people packed a meeting that Seattle’s Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal dubbed the "Resistance Lab."
“We thought we’d have a couple hundred people, and we had 850 people sign up," she said. "We had to stop people from registering because we didn’t know if we had room."
RELATED: Federal employees in Seattle rally against mass Trump administration layoffs
Jayapal said the purpose of these ongoing sessions will be to strengthen the nonviolent resistance movement. Erica Chenoweth, a professor and director of the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard University, told the group Trump’s attacks on judges and universities, and scapegoating of immigrants and transgender people fits the profile of authoritarian leadership. Chenoweth also said that under the second Trump administration, protests have been smaller — but also more numerous and frequent than during Trump’s first term in 2017.
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