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
-
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will not run for re-election in 2024
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee will not run for re-election in 2024, opening the gates for a new Democratic candidate after three terms in office.
Inslee announced Monday morning that he is "ready to pass the torch," and will not seek a fourth term.
RELATED: What will Jay Inslee's legacy be after 12 years as governor?
According to a statement from Inslee:
“Serving the people as governor of Washington state has been my greatest honor. During a decade of dynamic change, we’ve made Washington a beacon for progress for the nation. I’m ready to pass the torch.
“Our last decade of Washington’s storied history is one of growth and innovation. I am proud to have played a role in our state’s leadership on so many fronts. We’ve passed the nation’s best climate policies, the most successful family leave benefits, the best college scholarship programs, a more fair legal justice system, and the most protective actions against gun violence. We’ve shown that diversity is a strength worth fighting for. This has been ten years of dynamic success.
“As governor, I have seen my role as inspiring our state ever forward and ever higher. I’m gratified to be able to say that this approach has worked to improve Washingtonians lives in many ways and many places.
“Now is the time to intensely focus on all we can accomplish in the next year and a half, and I intend to do just that. I look forward to continued partnership with legislators and community leaders to address Washington’s homelessness crisis, speed our efforts to expand behavioral health services, continue our fight against climate change, and continue making Washington a beacon of progress for all.”
Inslee's statement Monday further touted a list of accomplishments while in office, including climate policies, navigating the Covid-19 pandemic, and fostering a positive business and worker-friendly economy.
State Republicans countered Inslee's announcement within hours, arguing that the governor has made "several egregious missteps," abused emergency powers, wasted taxpayer funds, and failed to adequately address the homelessness crisis. The state GOP further blamed Inslee for his "allowance of protestors to take control of an entire city block in Washington's largest city, leading to deadly outcomes," referencing 2020's CHOP zone in Seattle.
"It's time to turn the page on the disastrous Inslee era in Washington State," Washington State Republican Party Chairman Caleb Heimlich said in a statement. "For over a decade, Governor Inslee has taken our state in the wrong direction. His decision to not seek a fourth term presents an opportunity to elect a Republican governor who will put Washingtonians first and prioritize the needs of our communities."
RELATED: Prominent Dems are eyeing a run for governor in 2024
Continue reading » -
Did the pandemic change Seattle's retail spaces?: Today So Far
- Poet Billy Collins is commonly spotted around Bainbridge Island, yet he's not a resident. Why does he frequent the island so much?
- A look at the Northwest spring and summer weather ahead.
- As Seattle area emerges from the pandemic, retail spaces are filled up in most of the region. Part of this is a shift to local neighborhoods.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for April 28, 2023.
A bit of a local secret is that rather well-known people are often spotted on Bainbridge Island. It's not like people are being swarmed by crowds wanting autographs, but it's an aspect of the island I picked up on while working as a newspaper reporter in the area.
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to interview famed poet Billy Collins while he was helping raise funds for the emerging Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. He comes with a range of impressive credentials: U.S. poet laureate, Mark Twain prize winner, etc. I thought it was pretty cool, but when I mentioned this to an island friend, the response was: "That guy? I know him. I grew up with him coming over to dinner parties all the time."
I've boarded a ferry to Bainbridge Island alongside actor/comedian Chris Kattan, who went to high school there. Blues Traveler's drummer, Brendan Hill, runs a cannabis store on the island, and Nirvana's original drummer Chad Channing hails from Bainbridge. There's a long list of other notables with island connections: Authors David Guterson and Rebecca Wells, Russell Johnson, aka "the professor" on "Gilligan's Island," actress Elizabeth Mitchell ("Lost," "ER," "The Expanse"). But all these folks are, to some degree, locals.
Collins on the other hand, grew up in New York and lives in Florida. Still, he frequents the island's golf course, checks out records at Winslow's Backstreet Beat, or apparently attends dinner parties as if he's just a neighbor from down the street. He'll be there this weekend, helping raise funds for the island's performing arts center. Why does Collins hang out on Bainbridge Island so much? What's the connection? The short answer is that it's all about "gemütlichkeit." But for the full, non-German answer, read here.
That brings up a curiosity? Any local notables like this that you have spotted frequenting our small towns? Let me know at dyer@kuow.org.
Talk of Seattle's vacant stores and boarded up shop windows has been common over the past few pandemic years. That conversation might have been incomplete and missing an important piece of nuance. The Seattle area's more suburban neighborhoods, like Northgate or Alderwood, don't seem to have any problem filling up retail space. In fact, as KUOW's Joshua McNichols reports, the Seattle metro area has a very low retail vacancy rate of 2.6%.
This fact may be a part of the ongoing story around downtown Seattle, where a lot of effort is being put toward revitalizing the area and getting more people to visit again.
Elliot Krivenko, an analyst with real estate data tracker CoStar, tells KUOW that one factor behind all this is that people are spending less time downtown, and more time in their own neighborhoods, where they can live and work. At the same time, malls in places like Northgate and Alderwood are being remodeled. The old Sears at Alderwood is now an apartment building.
Huh, who would have thunk it? Living and working in the same area. Well that's interesting. And if you think I'm being sarcastic ... it's because I am. This is not to take away from the challenges facing downtown Seattle, but perhaps a lesson that has come out of the pandemic is the experience of living, working, and thriving in your local community (instead of driving, parking, working, driving, parking, sleeping). Maybe that's a lesson that can help downtown moving forward.
Read McNichol's full story here.
Continue reading » -
Gemütlichkeit. Why is poet Billy Collins so often spotted on Bainbridge Island?
If you're strolling around Bainbridge Island at just the right moment, you just might cross paths with poet Billy Collins. Perhaps he'll be taking a swing at the Wing Point Golf Course, perusing used books and vinyl at Backstreet Beat, or grabbing a bite at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
Yet, Billy Collins is not from Bainbridge Island.
"Bainbridge Island is a special place," Collins said. "I think I've given five readings there. I'm a repeat offender. Not a fixture, but more than a tourist. I'm a regular. I hang my hat in Winter Park, Florida, a nice little nineteenth century town with brick-lined streets and Spanish moss that looks like ZZ Top monsters coming at you at night."
Collins has a lot of titles. Former Poet Laureate of the United States (2001-2003), distinguished professor, New York State Poet, Norman Mailer and Mark Twain prize winner. When the New Yorker recently published a profile on him, it was about his life as a Floridian. "Bainbridge Island resident" is not among the list. But, did you spot him? There there he is, walking the aisles at the Town and Country Market.
Beyond poetry readings, Collins has done fundraisers for the island's art museum, the performing arts center, and other local arts and cultural causes. This weekend, he's lending his profile to raise money for the Buxton Center.
Continue reading » -
Warm, cold, and warm. The Western Washington weather ahead
After an unusually cold spring thus far, Western Washington is expected to see high temperatures in the 70s on Friday and Saturday.
Don't get used to it, though. This summery snap will be short-lived. Here is a look at the Northwest weather ahead.
State Climatologist Nick Bond said a ridge of high pressure is developing, albeit temporarily. Translation: Warm, sunny weather.
That high-pressure system will get the Seattle metro area close to 80 degrees on Friday, April 28, likely breaking the current 76-degree record for the day. The warmth will stick around through Saturday, too, before highs dip back into the 60s on Sunday.
The late April warmth comes despite the fact that this spring has been one of the coldest on record in Seattle, according to the National Weather Service. Bond said that's likely to continue for a while longer, gradually warming up to relative seasonal norms.
"The month of May doesn't look to be spectacular one way or another," he said. "But as we get later into spring, then chances are, we're going to be on the warm side. Last year, that didn't occur by any means. In the month of May, we had almost four inches of rain — more than double what we usually have."
But what does all of this mean for the upcoming summer?
"Well, you shouldn't extrapolate from what's happening now," Bond said. "With all the information that we have at hand, it does look like this summer is going to be on the warm, dry side."
Of course, that's been the trend for years now under our ever-changing climate.
"This [summer] will probably not be an exception."
Don't forget, it's still cold some places
The current warmth isn't all fun in the sun, though. Folks looking to escape the heat in the mountains or waterways should be aware of a few things.
The Northwest Avalanche Center issued a warning that the warm-up and rapidly melting ice are going to create dangerous conditions in the mountains, especially in the lower elevations of the Olympics and the Cascade. Cornices, or snow cliffs, could be unstable, too.
By the way, Crystal Mountain is extending its lift operations until May 21, thanks to some late winter snow.
Rapid snow-melt also means our local rivers will continue to run cold even though it will be warmer in the lowlands.
RELATED: NW spring doesn't start until this happens...
For example, temperatures in the Snoqualmie River Basin are running between 37 and 44 degrees right now, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"It's kind of tempting [to] take a quick dip, but people can get into trouble really fast when they get into cold water," Bond said. "And it turns out in Western Washington, the month with the greatest number of drownings is May. That is partly because we can get some warm weather, but the waters are still really cold."
Continue reading » -
Vacant storefronts are common downtown but rare in Seattle suburbs
The pandemic was tough on retailers. Vacant storefronts are still common in downtown Seattle and its surrounding neighborhoods.
But further outside the city center, in places like Northgate and Alderwood, retail spaces are not vacant. In fact, vacancy rates in the greater Seattle metro area are hovering around a record low rate of 2.6%.
Elliot Krivenko is an analyst with CoStar, a company that tracks real estate data. He says the reason for the low vacancies is that old, suburban shopping centers are being redeveloped.
“We have an old Sears in Alderwood Mall that is now a new apartment building, where a Sears used to be.”
A lot of these redevelopment projects are centered around future light rail stations like Northgate. The redevelopments there include retail, but they’re no longer all about retail, because they include office space and apartments.
Krivenko described a redevelopment project near Lynnwood's light rail station that will include offices and apartment buildings, along with a movie theater and retail spaces.
“It’s a very significant redevelopment of that retail into a mixed use community that will really fit in well with that transit station once it opens.”
The Seattle metro area has an extremely low amount of retail space per capita, relative to other metro areas, Krivenko says.
Another reason retail vacancy rates are low outside the downtown core, he adds, is that people are spending less money in downtown Seattle, instead spending more money in the neighborhoods where they live and now work remotely.
Continue reading » -
Seattle mourns loss of two food and drink pioneers
Seattle’s food community lost two pioneers this past week: Ron Zimmerman, co-owner of Herbfarm, who put Seattle on the national scene, and Rachel Marshall, who introduced her love of ginger beer to the city.
The Herbfarm was already practicing farm-to-table cooking long before it became a popular dining concept. That’s because the property was a farm and sold herbs. It belonged to Zimmerman’s parents.
In 1986 Zimmerman and his wife, Carrie Van Dyck, took over the operation and started offering lunch as a way for customers to learn about herbs and ways to cook with them. Responding to demand, they added dinner. Over time Herbfarm earned national acclaim for its seasonal multicourse dinner.
The Seattle Times reported Ron Zimmerman died last Thursday. He was 75 years old.
Seattle’s love for ginger beer can be traced to Rachel Marshall, who created Rachel’s Ginger Beer in 2008. Marshall learned about ginger beer while living in Europe. After her return to Seattle, she started making her own, through trial and error.
Marshall built a following through word of mouth, through her bartender friends, and connections while selling at farmers markets.
But it wasn’t just her ginger beer that made Marshall stand out. Friends and former colleagues have remarked on her compassion and her ability to connect people together. Rachel Marshall died unexpectedly on Monday at age 42.
Continue reading » -
Why are so many students moving to Orting?: Today So Far
- King County gave millions to programs to prevent youth violence. But little has been known about what happened after that.
- While cities like Seattle and Bellevue face declining enrolment, Orting doesn't have enough room for all its new students.
- What programs should be cut as schools face budget gaps?
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for April 27, 2023.
Guns, money, restraining orders, felony charges, accountability (or lack thereof). There is a lot going on in Ann Dornfeld's latest story on the relationship between King County and the community organizations it funds to prevent youth violence.
There's too much to cover here, so I'm just going to give you a peek, based on the intro to the story.
Khalid Adams, 39, burst into his ex-girlfriend's home last November, where he forced his ex's new boyfriend to lay on the floor while he held him at gunpoint. It was a tense situation. What Adams didn't know was that an 18-year-old boy was hiding behind a nearby bed, with a gun. That boy took action, fired upon Adams, and wounded him. Adams is now in King County Jail.
Adams' dayjob was at Community Passageways, which receives funds from King County. He worked as a "violence interrupter." The organization is dedicated to mentoring young people, and providing an alternative to youth incarceration. Addressing violence and crime outside of a court is a big part of the effort. That's where a violence interrupter helps. Yet, despite this role, Adams had a restraining order against him at the time he kicked in his ex's front door with a gun. KUOW found a few other staff members with similar orders.
And that 18-year-old boy who fired the shots — he was a participant in Community Passageways' programs, where Adams worked to prevent youth violence.
The situation is not isolated to this one incident from last November. Dornfeld reports that the county has slated millions to fund these organizations, yet it doesn't monitor how successful they are or who is being hired to work with youth. The county has only recently started requiring the groups to keep some records indicating who they are helping. Read the full story here.
Washington's school districts are facing a lot of challenges these days, but those challenges vary.
Seattle, Bellevue, and other nearby school districts face declining student enrollment. In turn, that means a decline in funding. Seattle alone needs to fill a $131 million budget gap. About 42 miles away, out past Puyallup, is Orting, Wash., where schools are scrambling to tackle another mounting challenge — too many students.
Over the past three years, Orting has experienced a 20% rise in student enrollment. That's significant for a small town of about 9,000ish people. Of course, that number is based on the 2020 population count, before the pandemic prompted many folks to move beyond big cities for more room and affordable living. Orting's elementary school is now relying on portable buildings to accommodate the load. It also converted part of its gym into a classroom. Despite not having the same problems as the Seattle area, Orting is also seeking millions. In its case, it wants $150 million to build more school buildings.
There's a similar story in Sumner and Bonney Lake. It's hard to track down answers around this issue, but KUOW's Sami West has done a great job rounding up a few. For example, she reports a "healthy migration" from King County to Pierce County in recent years. Check out the full story on Orting and local school challenges here.
Continue reading » -
Seattle leaders propose ban on public drug use, but others oppose the idea
Some Seattle officials want a new local law to ban drug use in public places, such as city sidewalks and parks.
"Seattle's hands-off approach to people using illegal drugs in public has resulted in rampant street crime and a death toll rivaling that of Covid-19 in Seattle," Councilmember Sara Nelson said Thursday.
The proposed measure would make public drug consumption a misdemeanor in Seattle. Fellow Councilmember Alex Pedersen and City Attorney Ann Davison also back the idea and spoke at a media event Thursday morning.
The text of the ordinance cites 589 overdose deaths in Seattle during 2022, up from 342 deaths in 2021. It argues that public drug use harms public perceptions of safety, and is associated with drug trafficking, gun violence, and property crimes.
In a statement to KUOW, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell did not say whether he supports the new city drug proposal, and worries about policies that would recreate the war on drugs. See Mayor Harrell's full statement below.
RELATED: What Washington lawmakers say is behind drug possession bill's last-minute failure
Councilmember Lisa Herbold said Thursday that she will not support any local ordinances addressing drug possession. She is hoping for a fix to come down from the governor and state lawmakers. She adds that she supports Mayor Harrell's current approach to getting drugs off the street. See Herbold's full statement below.
"A patchwork quilt of different laws across the state would have unwelcome unintended consequences," she said.
Washington state currently has a misdemeanor law against possessing drugs like fentanyl or heroin, but it's a temporary law that expires July 1. The state Legislature failed to act to replace it during the session that ended last week. The state's law that had previously been on the books was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in 2021. The conclusion is known as the Blake decision.
In a Statement to KUOW, Mayor Harrell said:
Continue reading » -
NRA joins legal fight challenging Washington's assault weapons ban
Less than 24 hours after Gov. Jay Inslee signed Washington's ban on assault weapons into law, three lawsuits have emerged that aim to challenge the new law in court.
On Wednesday, the National Rifle Association joined the legal fight with its lawsuit, Banta vs Ferguson, filed in the Eastern District of Washington. The NRA argues the ban is "blatantly unconstitutional."
“Instead of arresting, prosecuting and punishing criminals, Gov. Inslee is focusing on restricting the rights of law-abiding Americans who use these rifles for a variety of lawful purposes. The people of Washington deserve better,” said Aoibheann Cline, Washington state director of the NRA-ILA, in a statement.
“The Supreme Court long-ago ruled that states cannot ban firearms that are in common use," Cline said, further commenting that AR-15 style rifles are among the most popular products sold in the United States, and are therefore common.
The NRA is also arguing that Washington's prohibition goes further than other states that already ban assault style firearms, and includes some types of shotguns and pistols.
The Silent Majority Foundation has also filed a lawsuit over the assault weapons ban. As with other lawsuits, the SMF seeks a restraining order, which would temporarily halt enforcement of the ban.
SMF filed its lawsuit in Grant County Superior Court on behalf of two gun stores, Guardian Arms and Millard Sales, along with residents Ted Hile, Paul Hill, Jaxon Holman, Michael McKee, Nathan Poplawski, Edgar Salazar, and Brina Yearout.
According to a statement from SMF:
"SMF received interest from potential plaintiffs around the state, but decided to bring the action in the county from which a majority of interested plaintiffs resided. The overreach of SHB 1240 was evidenced from the widespread interest from individual citizens who wished to challenge the prohibitions, as well as the outpouring of interest from firearms dealers, law enforcement and military veterans, disabled individuals who will no longer be able to purchase accessories and parts to modify weapons they use for self-defense, and democratic voters who think the state has gone too far under the auspices of public safety.
The provisions of SHB 1240 will do nothing to curb crime, and only impair the right of law-abiding citizens to continue purchasing the most commonly owned type of firearm in the country. Semiautomatic firearms have been in widespread use for more than a century, and are as American as baseball and apple pie."
Continue reading » -
Seattle's tech job landscape is evolving: Today So Far
- We all knew it was coming. Immediately after Washington's assault weapons ban became law, a lawsuit was filed.
- Tech workers around Seattle are finding employment elsewhere as large companies continue to announce layoffs. But there is some nuance amid the numbers.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for April 26, 2023.
You may have noticed a lot of tech companies have been shedding workers nationally, and in the Seattle area. That trend is not looking to ease up anytime soon.
"I think it's quite possible there are more to come," UW Policy Professor Jacob Vigdor told Seattle Now this morning. "I think that there are quite a few tech companies that are kind of having a reckoning right now. We are coming out of an era that was marked, among other things, by low inflation and low interest rates. That made it easy for companies to expand rapidly. Interest rates are much higher now, inflation is higher, and now companies are finding it harder to finance expansions. They are having to go back and rethink a lot of the areas where they are doing business and that process, I don't think is complete yet."
RELATED: Amazon cuts 9,000 workers in latest round of layoffs
The resulting impact on the local economy has been mixed. As KUOW's Kim Malcolm reports, King County's unemployment is among the lowest in the nation at 2.5%. Professor Vigdor notes that despite the many tech layoffs locally, "a lot of those workers are actually managing to find employment without too much effort."
Of course, there is some nuance amid these numbers. Tech workers may find that the job scene won't be quite the same as it ever was. The glory days of working in an office lounge, sipping whatever free drink was in the company stocked employee fridge, may or may not come back. And then there is the pay to consider.
For example, Vigdor points to a friend he knows who was laid off. That person ended up going to work for Alaska Airlines, which would not traditionally be thought of as a tech company. Yet, the company does have tech needs.
UX researcher Naomi Johnson is one such tech worker who was recently laid off in Seattle. Johnson is taking time to find a job that is the right fit, but is also finding that appropriate next step is difficult.
"I would definitely say there are a lot of openings, but a lot of them, I'm not familiar with the company they are at, I'm not familiar with the field they are in," Johnson said. "I'm really grateful that Washington state now has most of these listings have a salary range on them. I'm looking at the numbers and I'm realizing there is no way I am going to be anywhere close to the salary I had previously. I'm looking at a minimum of a 25% pay cut for sure, and I wouldn't be shocked if I ended up taking a 50% pay cut."
Get the full story on today's Seattle Now.
We all knew this was coming ... because I wrote about it on Monday when I said that gun rights organizations were locking and loading lawsuits aimed at challenging Washington's new assault weapons ban.
It didn't take long for those groups to pull the trigger on those lawsuits. And bad news: I have run out of gun puns, yet this issue is likely to stretch on for months as the lawsuit works its way through the legal system.
Continue reading » -
'Yes' vote for King County crisis care levy leading in early ballot results
Voters in King County are saying "yes" thus far to a tax levy that would fund five behavioral health crisis care centers in the region.
On Wednesday morning, the $1.25 billion proposal (proposition 1) was leading with 54% of the vote. After another day of ballot counting, the numbers barely budged. On Thursday morning, it was 55% in favor, 45% against.
A total of 24% of registered voters have turned in their ballots.
If the tax levy officially passes, the owner of a $700,000 home will have to pay an additional $120 each year in property taxes. The crisis care funding would last more than nine years.
At a ballot drop box in Renton earlier this week, voters were split on the idea. Some agreed that the region needs more mental health facilities. Others felt that taxpayers are already under too much financial strain. Property taxes in King County have risen more than 6% this year, compared to last year.
The ballot count is expected to change over the week, as more votes are counted. Check back for updates.
RELATED: King County has no walk-in mental health crisis centers. This levy aims to change that
Continue reading » -
Swim Seattle works to teach all children how to be safe in water
The city of Seattle is launching a swimming program with the goal of addressing the racial disparity in youth drowning deaths. Registration for the pilot program, called Swim Seattle, opens May 16.
Katie Wolff is an injury epidemiologist at the University of Washington who focuses on injury prevention and research. Part of that work includes researching firearm injuries and drowning. Nationwide, Black and Native children drown at rates more than twice as high as those of white children, she said.
“And we think that a lot of that is because of a difference in access to instruction and water safety,” she said. “It probably goes back to sort of historical and generational barriers to access to recreational swimming facilities, to beaches, to pools.”
Every year in Washington state, an average of 17 children and teens drown, according to Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center. Nationwide, drowning remains a leading cause of injury-related death in children.
Wolff said teaching young people how to swim, especially in a region like ours, is important.
“Especially when there's a lot of open water like there is in a place like Seattle, you have to contend with things like waves and currents,” she explained.
Seattle’s pilot swimming program will take in 250 children, and will be held throughout the city's different public pools. It’ll prioritize families who show a financial need.
Wolff called Swim Seattle a solid first step. As children get older, she thinks it’s a good idea to develop other water safety skills that are more proactive, like spotting the silent signs of someone who’s drowning, and knowing how to help.
People can sign up for Swim Seattle through their local city pool, online, or by calling 206-684-8020.
Continue reading »