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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Stories
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King County cooling shelters activated as temperatures rise this weekend
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority says a number of facilities will be doubling as cooling centers as temperatures rise this weekend.
RELATED: Seattle-area weather is hot, but the water is still dangerously cold
Cooling shelters include the White Center Community Center, the Compass Day Center, and the Mary's Place Day Center, just to name a few in Seattle.
Several others are also opening up on the eastside, as well as in Burien, Federal Way, Renton, Kent, and Snoqualmie.
Check here for a full list of cooling centers throughout the region.
King County Metro drivers will give customers a free ride to those centers.
Also keep in mind that most local malls and libraries will also double as cooling spaces.
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Republican Yakima doctor enters 2024 Washington governor’s race
Dr. Raul Garcia of Yakima has entered the race for Washington governor in 2024.
"My family and I are honored to announce my candidacy to become the next governor of Washington," Garcia said in a statement. "I am here to bring health to our state, to bring present, effective, and efficient leadership, and to create a government by the people of different walks of life and united by one common goal, to restore the safe and prosperous lives of our Washington families."
According to a press statement from Garcia's campaign:
"Growing up in an authoritarian regime gave Raul the passion and appreciation for public service. He realizes Washington needs fresh leadership to revitalize our state. He founded Opportunity for Washington as a non profit, nonpartisan effort promoting education and change. He also founded the Partnership for Food Security in 2020 to promote vaccination, particularly among the Latino community. His desire to educate and change people’s attitude towards the positive future of this great state and our great country continues every day."
Garcia was born in Cuba. He lived in Madrid, Spain, before moving to Miami at the age of 11. In Washington state, he has worked as a trauma and emergency medicine physician. He is currently the medical director of Toppenish Hospital. Garcia lives in Yakima with his wife Jessica and five children.
Garcia's name may sound familiar to Washington voters, as this is not his first time running for governor. Garcia ran in the 2020 primary for governor and came in fifth in the primary election with 5.4% of the vote. In that primary, Garcia was beat by Tim Eyman (6.4%) and Joshua Freed (8.9%). Republican Loren Culp ultimately advanced from the primary with 17.4% of the vote.
Garcia previously ran as a moderate alternative to more extreme candidates on the 2020 ballot. Despite coming in fifth in the primary, Garcia received endorsements from moderate Republicans such as former Attorney General Rob McKenna, former Sen. Slade Gorton, and former Gov. Dan Evans. During the 2020 race, he also faced criticism for his lack of voting since 2012 (he said he was previously discouraged by Republican losses in the state), and a DUI incident from 2014 (he said he had not slept for 70 hours at the time but acknowledged his mistake).
More recently, Garcia objected to the state's handling of the pandemic, saying that Washington was using "political science" instead of science to make decisions. In 2021, he called for the state to reopen.
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Seattle-area weather is hot, but the water is still dangerously cold
Extreme heat is in the forecast for the Seattle-area this weekend and early next week. Tempting as it might be to go jump in a local lake, health officials warn that the water isn’t safe yet for swimming
Just because temperatures will reach the 80s this weekend (and maybe even 90 by Monday), that doesn’t mean the the region's waters have warmed up yet.
“The lakes are in the 50 degree range right now, rivers are upper 30s, maybe low 40s. They're going to be fast, cold, very dangerous," said Tony Gomez who manages violence and injury prevention for Public Health — Seattle & King County
Gomez says recent snowmelt in the mountains will add to local rivers’ chilly temperatures. He’s encouraging people to really limit how long you spend in the water if you plan to take a dip, even for experienced swimmers.
“The danger with the cold water is that a good swimmer who's good in the swimming pool can quickly become incapacitated. Muscles just don't work at that same cold temperature,” he said.
When people plunge into icy water they often take a big gasp, often gulping in a mouthful of water, he warns. Anything longer than a quick splash can increase a person’s chances of becoming sluggish in the water and potentially drowning.
“So you might be OK for a couple of minutes, but then we've seen a lot of drowning and drowning survival cases where at the two-, three-, four-minute mark they're in trouble, they need help," Gomez said.
Gomez says drowning is the number one cause of death for children ages 1 through 4 in King County, and the third highest cause of death for kids under 17.
“In King County, 29 people drowned last year in preventable situations so, you know, it's almost twice as many as the 16 that lost their lives in 2018,” Gomez said.
If you have to take a quick dip, Gomez strongly encourages to always wear a certified life jacket — a pool floaty won’t save you. He also reminds folks that beach parks do not have lifeguards right now, and probably won’t until summer when staffing will be limited.
“It's looking like we're still going to be challenged by a lifeguard shortage in some cases some funding shortages and we're not likely to have the number of lifeguarded beaches we historically had,” he said.
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Homeless man charged with derailing Tacoma oil train
Pierce County prosecutors have charged a 65-year-old homeless man with derailing an oil train as it approached the Port of Tacoma.
The mile-long train, with 105 railcars, was rolling into a switchyard Tuesday morning when it jerked to a stop as its emergency braking system kicked in.
The BNSF Railway train conductor told Tacoma Police he walked back to see what had happened and saw a man, later identified in police reports as Ramong Alcedo Frett, moving a large switching lever on the tracks back and forth.
“The conductor yelled at the defendant to stop and the defendant started to walk away,” according to the police report.
Then the conductor saw that a tanker car carrying crude oil had derailed. It stayed upright, and no oil spilled.
“There were no injuries or hazardous materials of any kind released and our main line was unaffected,” BNSF spokesperson Lena Kent said in an email.
Herb Krohn with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, the union representing BNSF engineers and conductors, said the Tacoma railyard area known as “Bullfrog Junction” often has dangerous trespassing incidents.
“There's been a lot of problems with the large number of homeless encampments in that area,” Krohn said. “There was an individual who climbed onto an engine two years ago with a machete.”
According to Pierce County charging documents, Frett has violent criminal convictions in at least three states.
Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams on Wednesday ordered that Frett be held without bail at Pierce County Jail and be given an examination to see if he is mentally competent to stand trial.
Frett’s public defender, attorney Steven Avila, declined to comment on the ongoing case.
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After spate of fires, Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood grieves lost community center
This week saw another significant fire in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood, in a vacant building on Lake City Way. On that same day, a group held a memorial for the neighborhood’s shuttered Lake City Community Center, which was closed after another fire in April.
Srijan Chakraborty is the co-executive director for the Hunger Intervention Program, which is part of a partnership with the nonprofit Sound Generations that has offered meals and programming to seniors at the community center three days a week.
After the fire on April 18, Chakraborty said the program moved to Lamb of God Lutheran Church nearby.
“We had existing partnerships and they have been great about inviting us and giving us this opportunity and the space. So we were lucky to have the space by the next day without much notice at all,” he said.
But Chakraborty said people were upset about the fire, and after the scramble to maintain the meals program, they finally had time this week to specifically grieve that loss.
“There’s a lot of memories in that building," Chakraborty said. "So it just felt right that we needed some event to let the building go, because we know it’s not going to open anymore.”
People related stories and memories of the center, where the program for seniors has been in place for over a decade and offers menus and translation in Mandarin, Spanish, and English.
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SIFF acquires historic Seattle theater Cinerama
During opening night at the Seattle International Film Festival, SIFF announced that it has acquired the Cinerama movie theater in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, and will reopen the theater later this year under a new name.
The announcement was made during the opening night celebration of the 49th annual festival, which runs through May 21.
Terms of the sale, from the estate of former Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, were not disclosed.
"We are honored to take on stewardship of this historic theater," SIFF Executive Director Tom Mara said in a press release. "So many of us have experienced the magic of this theater, and we are excited to carry on the vision and impact that Paul Allen started so many years ago."
The Cinerama first opened in 1963. It faced demolition in the late 1990s, but Allen purchased and renovated the theater, which went on to host blockbuster and independent films and became a landmark for film lovers in the downtown core.
It went through a massive renovation in 2014 to make it "the best movie theater in the world." It was updated with a new laser projector, modern sound system, leather seats, local food offerings, and a liquor license.
In February 2020, Cinerama abruptly closed. Moviegoers were told that the theater was shutting down for another round of renovations. Employees were laid off at a staff meeting. Theater officials said it would reopen later that year. By then, the Covid pandemic had emerged and theaters were not open. Cinerama's future has been uncertain ever since.
Cinerama will now become the fourth theater operated by SIFF.
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The Democrats have started the race for Washington governor: Today So Far
- With two Democrats running to be Washington's next governor, the state's gubernatorial race is on.
- What about the state Republicans?
- Also, what's up with the word "gubernatorial?"
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 11, 2023.
The Democrats have started the race for Washington's next governor.
Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz has officially announced that she is running. Technically, Attorney General Bob Ferguson has only announced an exploratory campaign, but we all know where that is headed. He was ready to run for governor in 2019 before Inslee went for a third term. And it's not like his exploratory team is going to come back with polls showing voters suddenly don't like chess players. So we have two prominent Washington state Democrats aiming for the governor's office. This boils down to folks inevitably calling Ferguson "Fergy" in conversation, and me increasing the number of times I have to copy edit the extra "l" out of "Hilary" in future coverage of Franz.
We've already covered Ferguson's run. Franz's announcement this week follows a similar formula — local and personal, family history, with adequate bragging about accomplishments. She's leaning heavily into environmental issues, as well as local cost-of-living woes.
"While our planet changes, our laws don't keep up. On climate and across the board, we are paying the price. Wages are slow to rise. Housing is through the roof. Child care is out of reach. This is the harsh reality for too many in our state," Franz says in her first campaign video.
There is still plenty of time for more Democrats to enter the mix, which is likely. But with these two prominent gubernatorial candidates, Democrats will have to consider whether they prefer someone who does well in a tie, or a candidate who does well in a cowboy hat. She's a little bit country, and he's a little bit, well, Ferguson is more like Devo I suppose. So that metaphor doesn't exactly work, but you get the idea.
By the way, while we're on the subject, what's the deal with the word "gubernatorial?" Read more about that below.
The recent news means that the Democrats are so far dominating the conversation around Washington's next governor. What about the Republicans? I've previously covered the GOP angle in all this. In short, Republicans have a positive outlook toward 2024. So far, however, no prominent Republicans have indicated they will consider a gubernatorial campaign. Yes, there is Semi Bird, who announced his run way back in November 2022. Still, there is not a lot of chatter on that end of the spectrum. There was talk about potential for Republican Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier, but he has indicated that he's not interested.
Former Washington Congressmember Jaime Herrera Beutler is another GOP name that has been tossed around. KUOW's David Hyde recently caught up with her in Leavenworth. She said that she hasn't "closed any doors" when it comes to a potential gubernatorial race, but also hasn't made any decisions around it.
Washington's current Gov. Jay Inslee is still on the job and recently cancelled the Covid-19 vaccine requirement for state employees. As TSF covered earlier this week, even more pandemic-era measures are falling away. Starting today, the state's vaccine requirement for employees to stay in their jobs is nixed, meaning a population of folks no longer have to find religion to stay at work.
With the recent move, Washington aligns with the federal government, which also just dropped its own vaccine requirement. State employees who were fired or resigned over the vaccine rule will now be welcome to reapply. Also, employees could get $1,000 if they opt to stay up-to-date on their Covid shots. Read more here.
AS SEEN ON KUOW
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No more blinking lights at night, Washington wind turbines to go dark
Those blinking red lights seen on wind turbines will have to go dark in Washington, unless there’s an airplane flying nearby.
That's because Gov. Jay Inslee just signed a bill that restricts the nighttime use of the lights for both new and old wind farms.
The flashing lights on wind turbines are supposed to keep aircraft safe and help to avoid collisions, but state Rep. April Connors (R-Kennewick) said they’re distracting for drivers on the ground.
“Over 100,000 people live within six miles of the turbines in numerous fast-growing residential communities, mostly inside city limits,” Kennewick resident Paul Krupin said at a public hearing earlier this year, in reference to a proposed Horse Heaven Hills renewable energy project.
As more wind farms are built, Rep. Connors said she worries about light pollution. She’s been pushing for wind farms to add detection radars, so the lights come on only when necessary. A bill was passed last session that does just that.
Gov. Inslee signed that bill into law Tuesday, but he vetoed certain provisions — one giving counties local control, another requiring the rules to start immediately.
These types of air detection radars are already used in Wyoming, New Hampshire, and North Dakota. Similar measures have been taken for wind farms in Germany.
Some renewable energy organizations lobbied against the measure, arguing that it is expensive to retrofit existing wind farms.
Existing sites have until 2028 to update their lights. For new wind projects, the rules take effect in July.
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Lost in the supermarket merger: Today So Far
KUOW looks into the "State of the Cart" as the grocery business evolves, customer habits change, employees are in the middle, all as Kroger and Albertsons attempt a massive corporate merger.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 10, 2023.
Many years ago, I was in an interview for a job at the Borders Books in downtown Portland. At one point the hiring manager pointed to my application.
"I was looking for a reference, but I see that you worked at Washington Mutual, and Hollywood Video, and another video rental store before that," he said, pointing to the retail experiences I had at companies that had since gone bankrupt and no longer existed.
"Yeah, they're not around anymore, but I do have numbers for you," I said. "And I promise you, I'm not bad luck!"
We laughed and I ended up getting the job. Two weeks later, they announced that the downtown Portland Borders was closing.
A lot of companies go down because of bad business decisions, especially during times of changing technology and customer habits. I watched some bad decisions in real time at some former employers. As I read Ruby de Luna's recent series, "State of the Cart," I can't help but think that the grocery industry is in the middle of such a time, and company leaders are now trying to make the best decisions so they don't go the way of Hollywood Video. At the same time, there are the customers to consider.
For Kroger and Albertsons, the decision is to merge, but it hasn't come without criticism. The two grocery giants want to combine forces to better withstand the competition from the likes of Walmart, Target, and Amazon. A big issue here is that online ordering is a growing customer preference. If I'm being honest, I'm one of those customers who likes ordering groceries on an app and having them delivered.
Diane Martin Rudnick would disagree with me. She tells KUOW that shopping at Fred Meyer is an adventure, watching for discounts, finding new food, making the best deals. My wife Nina is a big fan of Costco — a big fan. For years, as a single guy, I never understood Costco. There was never any way I was going to eat that much broccoli. Now, with a wife, a ma-in-law, and a dog, I've started to come around. Still, for Nina, a Costco trip is about wandering and exploring, and I still feel there are better things to be doing with my time than scanning aisles. Though, one thing I can relate to with Diane and Nina is hunting for the best deals. That usually involves a multi-store strategy across Costo, Freddies, Safeway, Trader Joe's, and more.
Many worry that if Kroger and Albertsons merge, better deals and unique finds will be harder to come by. Access to food is another consideration. Albertsons also owns Safeway. Kroger operates Fred Meyer and QFC, among others. That's a lot of grocery brands moving under one company, which could control prices and products across them all. When Albertsons bought out Safeway in 2015, communities noticed a change. Many stores closed as a result. Bellingham's Birchwood neighborhood lost its Albertsons, causing a food desert to emerge. Locals have since organized a weekly food share program to help ease the strain.
On one side of this there are grocery companies aiming to keep up with the times. It's likely that more and more people will be ordering groceries online moving forward. This is going to happen. Just as Netflix changed the video rental industry, social media changed news media, and Amazon changed just about everything else in our lives, grocery companies are faced with important decisions as the business evolves. Back in the day, the video store trip was an experience, but it couldn't hold up against convenience and now there are no more Hollywood Videos. Amazon carved into the bookstore market, and many stores didn't survive the online revolution, or were forced to adapt to the Amazon way. I think these lessons from history are on the minds of grocery store officials these days.
On the other side of this are people who aren't going to, or cannot, move their shopping habits online. Some simply cherish their neighborhood store and the community that crosses paths there. When QFC closed in Wedgwood, it left a massive hole in that neighborhood. When Albertsons closed in Birchwood, it created a food desert. And as much as I personally like ordering groceries online, I have to admit that there is something lost. Going to a video rental store was superior to watching movies on Netflix. It just was. Don't believe me? Go stream the classic, critically-acclaimed Northwest series "Northern Exposure" right now. Or perhaps try "Dogma," "Cocoon," "Spice World," "The Abyss," or any episode of the iconic series "Xena: Warrior Princess." Good luck with that.
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With 'epic' announcement, Hilary Franz enters race for Washington governor
Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz has entered the race to be Washington's next governor. The Democrat announced her campaign Wednesday morning, targeting the issues of climate change, the state's cost-of-living woes, and lagging wages.
"Our reality is changing, 'once in a lifetime' is now 'once in a month'," Franz said in her announcement video. "And while our planet changes, our laws don't keep up. On climate and across the board, we are paying the price. Wages are slow to rise. Housing is through the roof. Child care is out of reach. This is the harsh reality for too many in our state."
When Gov. Jay Inslee announced last month that he would not be running for a fourth term, a handful of Democratic names were rumored to replace him, and Franz was among them. Attorney General Bob Ferguson was also expected to run. He announced an exploratory campaign for the governor's race in early May.
RELATED: Hilary Franz, Commissioner of Public Lands, on wildfires and forestry
So far, no prominent Republicans have announced their intentions to run for governor, though the state GOP does say it is optimistic about its chances in 2024.
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AI help wanted: Job openings mentioning GPT increase by 80% since last year
It’s only been a few months since ChatGPT debuted, but already the technology has transformed the professional landscape.
The shift is obvious to anyone looking for white collar work. Since this time last year, LinkedIn job postings mentioning GPT have increased 79%. Today, 33 times more LinkedIn posts mention GPT or artificial intelligence than they did last year.
That’s according to Microsoft’s new Work Trends Index, an annual report released Tuesday. Microsoft surveyed 31,000 people in 31 countries and analyzed data from its workplace software and LinkedIn platform for the report.
Much ink has been spilled about the threat of job displacement by generative artificial intelligence, the technology powering ChatGPT and other services. It’s not hard to see why. ChatGPT has an uncanny ability to write functional code, mimic the tone of news outlets, and even create works of art.
But Microsoft says workers should be less concerned about losing their jobs and more focused on learning the skills needed to leverage the technology, like how to write prompts. Of the managers surveyed, just 16% said they expected AI to reduce their headcount while 34% predicted the technology would boost productivity.
As a major investor and partner with OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT, Microsoft has reason to present an optimistic view of the technology. The company has been developing a wide range of AI products, including its yet-to-be-released New Bing search engine and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft is rolling out new Copilot features Tuesday along with the release of the Work Trends report.
Generative AI does open up a wide range of opportunities for white collar work. The average worker surveyed by Microsoft spends 57% of their time on tasks that could be automated, like email, chat, and meetings. That amounts to two full workdays, leaving just 43% of their time for creative projects. Some 70% of workers said they would delegate as much of that work as possible to AI.
“The volume of data, emails, meetings, and chats has outpaced humans ability to process it all,” said Microsoft’s Jared Spataro in a video accompanying the report.
“Somehow, it's easier than ever to communicate but it's harder than ever to keep up.”
But that doesn’t mean fears of job displacement are unfounded. A recent report from Goldman Sachs economists found about two-thirds of current jobs across the U.S. and Europe could be partially automated and about a quarter could be done entirely by AI.
"The data is clear,” Spataro said. “As work evolves with AI, we need to evolve too."
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How hot will it get around the Seattle area this weekend? Today So Far
- Seattle-area weather is about to heat up. But how hot it will get depends on where you are located.
- We're about to go through another pandemic transition.
- Seattle is nixing right turns at many red lights in downtown, but the city likely won't stop there.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 9, 2023.
If you're like me, you are ready to get out your umbrella — the sun is out, and it's about to get hot. Yes, I just said that. I've gotten over my shame about using an umbrella to shield myself from the vile sun like a modern vampire (hisss!).
We've had a recent warm stretch, but even higher temps are in the forecast for later this week. Parts of Western Washington are likely to experience temperatures above 80 degrees this weekend, even 90 degrees.
The forecast is changing daily. Some say Sunday will be the hottest, others say Monday. This also depends on where you are located. It's looking less and less likely that Seattle and some other areas will hit 90 degrees. As of this morning, however, the forecast for places like Renton, Olympia, Tacoma, and my neighborhood, states that the 90 degree mark could be reached Sunday/Monday.
The National Weather Service reports that it's normal for Seattle to get a couple of days above 80 degrees in May. Seven days were above 80 in 1958, which is the record. Seattle has never experienced a 90-degree day before May 17 (which happened in 2008). So if the city (or Sea-Tac Airport where the official weather records are taken) hits 90 degrees this weekend, it would set a new record (weather records go back to 1945 at Sea-Tac). Read more here.
The forecast comes amid a few other weather headlines. April was one of the coldest on record. Still, an El Niño season is expected this summer, which generally means warmer than normal sea temperatures, and in turn, warmer and drier conditions in our area. Then again, as KUOW's John Ryan reports, despite warming ocean waters globally, West Coast waters have recently stayed cooler than the 30-year average.
I recently got an unexpected letter in the mail from my insurance company. Folks around Washington have likely received something similar. In short, it was an update about pandemic-related services and coverage. This is because the USA is about to go through a transition of sorts. It sounds like a big deal, but really, it's an organizational change. A lot of services that were covered by the government the past few years will now be covered by insurance companies. Things like vaccines, treatments, and tests.
"It's not as if you're going to wake up on May 12 and the ability to access vaccines, or therapeutics or tests etc. will all of a sudden not be there," Washington's Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah recently said.
It's probably worth noting that, while I write above, this as an "organizational handoff" from the government to insurance companies, things could be different for folks without insurance.
Seattle and Washington state ended their Covid emergencies in late 2022. The World Health Organization ended its own Covid emergency declaration last week, noting that Covid has been on a downward trend globally, allowing "most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19." It should be noted that some experts estimate another omicron-level surge is possible within the next couple years, but the level of probability around that varies (5-30%). The University of Washington will end its own Covid vaccine requirement for students and staff on June 12. This also means that the university will end its contact tracing and notification policy. Students and staff will no longer be required to report positive Covid cases.
On Thursday, the federal Covid public health emergency will expire, which is why all those insurance letters have been sent out. KUOW's Kate Walters has been covering this transition for a couple weeks now. She recently noted that this Thursday will officially close the chapter on the Covid pandemic. History books will state that it lasted three years, three months and 11 days. But just like the infamous 1918 flu, the Covid pandemic will not truly be ending soon. It's going to be with us, seasonally. So will booster shots, and mutations, etc. Generations will grow up with it, just as we all grew up hearing about the flu.
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