KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
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Washington AG Brown's 3 takeaways from birthright citizenship SCOTUS hearing
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown attended oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on whether nationwide injunctions blocking President Trump’s birthright citizenship ban should be allowed to stand while cases challenging the ban move forward.
Brown, who obtained one of the injunctions against the executive order, was in court Thursday alongside attorneys general from several other states. He spoke with KUOW after the hearing.
Brown said he was encouraged to hear many of the justices express “pretty explicitly that they thought the president’s order was unlawful and unconstitutional."
"It was great to be there," Brown said. "It was obviously a packed courthouse.”
He said the three hours of oral argument were unusual for the court.
“You could see the justices really struggle with the issue about the scope and propriety of nationwide injunctions in general, and then specifically in this case,” Brown said.
He said concern over the increasing use of nationwide injunctions by individual judges “is not a partisan issue.”
But Brown said they are necessary in this situation. “In this particular case I think the absurdity of the argument was really laid bare,” he said, given that babies born to people who are undocumented immigrants or visiting the U.S. on temporary visas could lose their right to citizenship depending on the state where they’re born.
According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration "asked the justices to limit the nationwide orders to the individuals or states involved in the litigation while those cases make their way through the court system, or to at least allow the relevant federal agencies to begin developing plans and issuing public guidance for banning birthright citizenship if Trump’s effort eventually passes legal muster."
Brown said he makes no prediction on how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the use of these nationwide injunctions. But he did offer three takeaways from oral arguments:
- “Justice Alito, viewed as probably the most conservative justice on the court — or he and Justice Thomas certainly – he was also clearly struggling with the Department of Justice’s arguments because I think he recognized that no matter what, they’re going to end up back here in front of the Supreme Court. At one point he said, 'What is the point of what you’re doing here? Why are we having this debate on this case rather than on the merits at the heart of the issue.' To hear Justice Alito voice a lot of skepticism about that surprised me.”
- “Justice Sotomayor made an analogy to the Second Amendment and protections for gun owners in America and said, ‘What if President Biden or any other president had come in and said all firearms are illegal and Americans can’t possess them.' Are you arguing that the only way we would get relief on that is if individual gun owners brought their cases to district courts or in some sort of class action, rather than a nationwide injunction to protect the Second Amendment? And the Department of Justice tried to defend such an argument; they argued that it could be done quickly, and gun owners would get relief quickly. But I think that really gets to the heart of what is kind of a silly argument, you just change the subject area.”
- “Then there were a couple moments when the Department of Justice would not say unequivocally that they would abide by circuit court rulings on this issue or others. Because their argument was essentially that this needed to work its way through the courts and the circuits and Justices Kagan and Sotomayor and Barrett all sort of asked, ‘Will you follow if the Second Circuit weighed in on this issue against you?’ And [Solicitor General John Sauer] said, ‘Well, generally we would,’ but not unequivocally. So that to me was pretty surprising to hear the Department of Justice hedge their argument on whether they’d follow a circuit court, but that is sort of the logical extension of what they’re saying.”
Brown said the challenge to Trump's executive order filed by Washington state and joined by three other states is scheduled to go before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in June. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle was the first federal judge to block an executive order by the second Trump administration.
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Snohomish firefighters' religious discrimination lawsuit over Covid vaccine mandate awaits 9th Circuit decision
They call themselves the “Snohomish Eight” — eight firefighters suing Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue over alleged religious discrimination. The plaintiffs say the department mishandled their requests for religious exemptions to Washington state’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
The case has been heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Legal experts note that in recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court strengthened the rights of employees seeking religious accommodations.
David Petersen is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit and has been a firefighter EMT with Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue for 17 years. Petersen describes his work as a calling by God that began at age 11, when his grandfather collapsed and Petersen performed CPR on him until paramedics came.
“Probably a week later the same paramedic came by the house and said, ‘You saved him. What you did saved his life,’” Petersen recalled.
In 2021, though, Petersen and his wife felt that their faith was calling them to another decision: to reject the Covid vaccine. Lauren Petersen said she wrestled with this decision.
RELATED: 1 in 10 Americans say the COVID-19 vaccine conflicts with their religious beliefs
“I didn’t like the answer, ‘Do not take it. Do not inject yourself,’” she said. “I actually had a lot of prayer like, ‘I don’t know if I trust this.’ Because I knew that doing this, our income would be gone.”
The National Institutes of Health found the Covid vaccine reduced rates of infection, and dramatically lowered rates of disease severity and death from the virus. Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue said it couldn’t allow employees who declined the vaccine to continue to provide patient care and it didn't have alternative work to offer. So instead it negotiated an agreement with the union to place those seeking exemptions on unpaid leave.
While on leave, David Petersen went to work for neighboring agencies that allowed unvaccinated employees. But because of mutual aid agreements, he still found himself working alongside his old colleagues.
“They would all come up to me on separate fires and ask, ‘What is going on, why aren’t you back?’ And my only response is, ‘I don’t know,’” he said.
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Microsoft to lay off nearly 2,000 employees in Washington state
Microsoft announced thousands of layoffs Tuesday, many of which will affect employees in Washington state.
In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson said the cuts are “necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace."
RELATED: Microsoft turns 50. A look back at everything from the Altair to the Zune
The company plans to lay off 1,985 workers in Washington, according to a state filing. This is part of a broader 6,000-person company wide layoff, first reported by GeekWire, which amounts to a 3% workforce reduction.
Microsoft has already been culling workers based on performance over the past year.
The company didn’t respond to questions about whether artificial intelligence played a role in the latest layoffs. But at an event last month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said up to 30% of the company’s code is being written by AI.
Microsoft just reported a net income of more than $25 billion for the last quarter, beating Wall Street expectations.
RELATED: Microsoft turns 50. AI, job security, and the future of the tech industry
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High-capacity gun magazine ban upheld by WA Supreme Court. Opponents could seek SCOTUS review
The Washington Supreme Court has upheld the state’s 2022 ban on sales of large capacity magazines containing more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
While the Washington State Attorney General has praised the decision, lawyers for the gun store in the case say they're considering a petition to the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court for review.
The 7-2 decision stems from a challenge by Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso, Washington, which argued that the ban violated right to bear arms in the state and U.S. constitutions. The law banned the sales and purchase of large capacity magazines in the state but allowed for the possession of existing ones.
A majority on the court found that the large capacity magazines “are not ‘arms’ within the meaning of either constitutional provision.” The opinion states, “By restricting only magazines of a capacity greater than 10, the statute effectively regulates the maximum capacity of magazines, leaving the weapon fully functional for its intended purpose.”
They said while ammunition is a necessary and integral component to operating a firearm, the magazines are more like “containers” which the state argued are added to make weapons “more capable of mass murder.”
Washington’s candidates for attorney general in 2024 faced off on opposite sides of this legal challenge. Democrat Nick Brown worked to maintain the ban, both in private practice and then once elected last year. Republican Pete Serrano’s Silent Majority Foundation represented Gator’s Custom Guns in their fight against it.
Now-Attorney General Nick Brown hailed the decision Thursday, calling it “a reaffirmation for the fact that we can continue to advance gun safety measures in Washington, and do it consistent with the Washington State Constitution and Second Amendment.”
He added, “This decision will mean more safety, more lives saved in Washington, so it’s great.”
For Serrano's part, he said he was disappointed with the majority opinion but excited by the dissenting opinion authored by Justice Sheryl Gordon McCloud and joined by Justice G. Helen Whitener.
The dissent refuted the majority opinion’s definition of “arms,” which Serrano called the crux of the case. The dissent said gun magazines of all sizes are indeed “arms” as defined in recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the ban “regulates conduct that is presumptively protected by the Second Amendment.”
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Weezer to bring intergalactic concert to Seattle for Bumbershoot 2025
Bumbershoot has released its two-day lineup for 2025, boasting Bright Eyes, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Aurora, Digable Planets, Murder City Devils, Janelle Monáe, Car Seat Headrest, and more. Weezer will bring its "Voyage to the Blue Planet" concert as the opening night headliner.
Bumbershoot is Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 30-31. Check out the full two-day concert lineup for Seattle Center below.
Weezer is slated to land its "Voyage to the Blue Planet" concert (aka the Blue Album tour) in Seattle to headline the show.
RELATED: Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party will go 21+ this year. Here's the lineup
For 2025, Bumbershoot organizer New Rising Sun is partnering with Daydream State, the organizer of Capitol Hill Block Party, for special "Big Gulp" tickets that will provide access to both festivals. Big Gulp buyers must be 21 and older since this year's Capitol Hill Block Party is a 21-plus event. Bumbershoot is all ages. Big Gulp tickets will be available starting May 9 and cost $340.
Tickets are already on sale for Bumbershoot 2025, with weekend passes starting at $225 (and don't forget that service fee and tax). Single day tickets start at $125. Kids 10 and under get in for free.
New Rising Sun hypes this year's Bumbershoot as a "fearless mix of fan favorites and the next big thing."
According to a statement: "Saturday sets the stage with headline performances from California legends Weezer, indie-favorites Car Seat Headrest, and Bright Eyes. On Sunday, we shift into the ethereal sounds of Aurora, the electric charisma of Janelle Monáe, and the synth-pop pioneer Sylvan Esso. The weekend will also feature must-see sets from rising icons like Indigo De Souza, punk prodigies The Linda Lindas, and the Seattle punk heroes The Murder City Devils. Chicago rapper Saba will bring his lyrical genius to the stage, while Tennis enchants listeners with their retro-pop charm. Featuring everything from Real Estate’s jangly rock to the iconic ‘90s jazz rap group Digable Planets, Bumbershoot promises a weekend of musical discovery, nostalgia, and a good time."
Bumbershoot's other annual attractions will also return, including:
- Culinary features include Cocktail Corner, VineShoot, and BumBEERshoot, as well as offerings from local restaurants.
- Vanishing Seattle will have an exhibition at at the ANT Gallery. Living art and free-range artists can be expected throughout the festival.
- Comedy will be performed at SIFF.
- The Recess District will have a half-pipe skate program.
- The Fashion District will host runway shows and a fashion marketplace.
- The Witch Temple will be around (for all those folks who like to say they're "spiritual but not religious").
- Pole Pavilion
- Wig Farm
- Large-scale contemporary art sculptures will be at the Century 21 District, located at the Pacific Science Center.
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Sugar, we're going down to emo night: Why the genre’s thriving in Seattle and beyond
Move over disco night. Forget about '80s dance night. Emo night has taken over clubs throughout the Seattle region, and frankly the United States. Fans young and old(ish) pack clubs to dance and scream to a lineup of their favorite emo music.
But what even is emo to begin with?
This article comes from the emo episode of KUOW's arts podcast "Meet Me Here." Listen to the full episode below.
This all started when I went to play some pinball at a bar in Tacoma and found that there was a $10 cover at the door. It was emo night. Now, I love emo music. Sunny Day Real Estate has been in the background much of my life. I'm partial to Jawbreaker and can always go for some Mineral. You know, emo music. So I paid 10 bucks.
RELATED: Under the bridge. Seattle's renegade raves
The emo night underway was "This Party Sucks," which regularly transforms Tacoma's Airport Tavern into a passionate night of fans swaying and screaming to the music. They knew every lyric and sang with their eyes closed. They didn't just dance, they felt it, as if they all were in on a shared memory, connected through each song. It was a real scene.
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King County lawyers vow to defend 'rule of law' from misinformation and intimidation
The Washington State Bar Association is calling on its members to act as ambassadors for the rule of law, and to combat misinformation about the legal system. The organization kicked off its Rule of Law Ambassador Program Thursday with public ceremonies in which lawyers reiterated their oath to uphold the U.S. and Washington state constitutions. More than 300 attorneys took part Thursday at the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
King County Superior Court Presiding Judge Ketu Shah administered the oath.
“I fundamentally believe that it is this rule of law that allows us to disagree but still resolve our disagreements peacefully and move forward," Shah said. "I think as a society we should all care about that.”
None of the speakers mentioned President Trump or his administration by name during Thursday’s event.
“For us, the rule of law is non-political,” Shah said.
But the administration’s actions were the clear motivator. Many of those packing the courtroom like retired attorney Joan Kalhorn said they came to send a signal to the Trump administration.
“Given the fact that right now the administration is not abiding by court orders, I think it’s really important to say, ‘No, absolutely not.' And this is one way to do that,” she said.
RELATED: Two major law firms sue Trump administration over executive orders targeting them
Kalhorn cited the administration’s deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, despite a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return. Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen who the administration said was sent there as the result of an “administrative error.”
During the ceremony, judges from various levels of the state judiciary took their seats behind Shah.
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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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