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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WA Dems criticize GOP for defending Trump before charges are made public
Lawmakers are responding to former President Donald Trump's indictment in a New York court.
He was indicted by a grand jury for his alleged role in covering up hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
The Washington State Democratic Party said in a tweet, "Trump was a criminal before, during and after his time in office."
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Seattle) said nobody is above the law, including presidents — whether Republican or Democrat — and she's criticizing Republicans who say the indictment is politically motivated.
"They're undermining our legal system and our rule of law," Jayapal told KUOW's Paige Browning. "And I think that they will have a responsibility if this blows up in a similar way to the way that the insurrection was incited and blew up."
In a tweet, the Washington State GOP accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of "weaponizing the justice system to go after political opponents" and "seeking political vengeance instead of focusing on protecting the public."
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane) was among those criticizing the indictment.
“We are in uncharted territory," she said in a statement. "Even the appearance of this being politically motivated is doing irreparable damage to the trust and confidence in our justice system. President Trump must receive the same right to due process as every other American.”
Jayapal argued the case has gone through the proper legal process thus far and that critics are making judgements before all the facts are known. As of Monday, the indictment was still sealed, leaving the exact charges and evidence against Trump unknown.
"I think that it is extremely dangerous for my Republican colleagues to be criticizing this indictment, when they don't even know the details," she said. "I don't think we can divorce the statements that Republicans are making right now, that Donald Trump is making right now from the increased violence that we have already been seeing and that we will continue to see."
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Mayor Harrell 'swings for the fences' with big, proposed property tax hike to fund affordable housing
Bruce Harrell wants to triple a Seattle property tax to raise nearly a $1 billion to fund affordable housing.
In making the announcement on Thursday to a room filled with hundreds of affordable housing developers, Harrell admitted it’s a lot of money.
“That's a bold investment that reflects our city's combined urgency and an understanding of the challenge in front of us,” Harrell said.
The anticipated price tag for residents starting in 2024: around $380 a year on the median home, up from the current cost of around $114 a year, based on current home values.
Harrell hammered home his case for the tax proposal with a baseball metaphor to mark the Mariner’s opening day game on Thursday.
“We need to swing for the fences. The housing levy is the tool that we can count on to make a difference, not just by building units but by giving people a place to call home,” he said.
Seattle currently funds thousands of units of affordable housing with the housing levy voters last approved in 2016. That levy expires this year.
Among other things, the new Seattle Housing Levy would fund 3,000 new affordable units as well as pay for supportive housing. It would also provide funding to maintain existing units.
Critics like Councilmember Alex Pedersen say Seattle housing taxes are already too high, and that this isn't the only property tax hike on the table this year.
The Seattle City Council will take up Harrell's proposed levy next. If the council approves it, the housing levy could be on the Seattle ballot this fall.
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What do you think of the word 'landlord?': Today So Far
- Seattle birders hatch new name.
- What do you think of the word "landlord?"
- Former Starbuck CEO (as of last week) Howard Schultz was in front of a Senate committee this morning.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 29, 2023.
The group formerly known as "Seattle Audubon" has hatched a new name: Birds Connect Seattle. That's the name of Seattle's birding organization after months of engaging in a process to change its title. Seattle is among a wave of cities where bird-watching groups are nixing the name "Audubon" for its association with John Audubon, a guy connected to racism, slavery, and anti-abolition. He also didn't watch birds as much as he shot them.
The naming committee sifted through hundreds of proposals after hearing from more than 1,000 people. I previously suggested "The Murie Society" as a potential new name for this organization, based on Margaret Murie who was born in Seattle and was an important figure in developing the Wilderness Act and establishing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (she also reportedly spent her honeymoon bird watching). Birds Connect Seattle, however, had a few rules for coming up with its new name. Among them: no eponymous names, and no "society." It didn't want "society" because group members felt it wasn't inclusive enough. That pretty much meant that names like "The Murie Society" weren't gonna happen.
Which, OK fine, but that still doesn't explain why my other ideas didn't make the cut. What's wrong with "The Seattle Awesome Society," "Seattle Bird Nerds," or "Birds and Brews"?! Read more here.
Speaking of naming things, what do you think of the word "landlord?" Bill Radke's latest Words in Review episode focuses on "landlord" and questions whether the term is still relevant.
The word "landlord" comes from old, old English feudal systems (and French). This was back when there were kings and knights and nobility. Lords were appointed to oversee land, and the people living on that land were serfs or peasants doing the work. Today, that has evolved and we just say "landlord" for a property owner who rents to another person. We have a lot of words like this. While on Week in Review, I mentioned that "mortgage" originally meant "death pledge," and "tragedy" is derived from "goat song." The word "girl" used to just mean a little kid, but now we have gender associated with it. Whiskey comes from a Gaelic term meaning "water of life."
Ayda Cater rents a house in Seattle, and told KUOW's Joshua McNichols that she doesn't like the term "landlord." She adds that she doesn't feel like she's living like a "lord" (as a renter in this area, I can add that I don't feel like a lord either).
“I liken the housing market to a food market, a grocery store,” Cater said. “Would you call your grocer your 'foodlord'? I sure wouldn't."
There is an effort in Washington (and other states) to shift from saying "landlord" to "housing provider," which technically works. But then again, parents are housing providers. People know exactly what a landlord is. So if we're searching for specifics, I had a few ideas to throw out there.
- Room-meister or lease-meister: Due to strong association with funk-meister, landlords should become familiar with Parliament-Funkadelic.
- Managing director of human storage facilities: Now this is specific and hits the mark. And let's be honest, most of the new apartments around Seattle would be adequately described as "human storage."
- Accommodater: Derived from "accomodations." The problem would be getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice stuck in your head whenever you say it.
Former Starbuck CEO (as of last week) Howard Schultz was in front of a Senate committee this morning, answering allegations that the coffee company engaged in union busting. In short, Schultz denied any of that was happening.
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More than half of people in Thurston County's 2023 homeless count were unsheltered
Thurston County's homeless population is at least 749 people, on any given night.
That's according to preliminary data from the county's 2023 point-in-time homeless count conducted on Jan. 26, and reported by Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
The numbers reflect a count of unsheltered people, folks staying in shelters, or those in transitional housing programs. There were 50 people staying in transitional housing, and 274 people in emergency shelter. More than half of those counted, 425 people, were unsheltered. This group was counted in sanctioned/unsanctioned encampments, RVs, vehicles, doorways or "other places not meant for human habitation."
In 2022, Thurston County counted 766 people, based on a count held on Feb. 24 of that year. The majority of those counted in 2022, just like this year, were unsheltered. Thurston County Public Health points out, however, that 2022's count was "based on an abbreviated survey," while 2023's was more extensive.
Thurston County's numbers for 2022 and 2023 are down from 2021, when 1,145 people were counted as experiencing homelessness. A total of 995 were counted in 2020.
Nearby King County no longer does a point-in-time count, but service providers are taking a longer term tally. Data for 2022 should be released in April.
A previous version of this story reported that 792 people were counted in Thurston County's point-in-time count for 2023. This post has been updated to reflect that Thurston County Public Health and Social Services later adjusted that number to 749 people counted.
Dyer Oxley contributed to this report.
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The numbers are in: Washington's carbon credit auction raised nearly $300M
Washington state's first ever carbon credit auction raised nearly $300 million, according to the Department of Ecology.
This is the first year Washington has implemented its new cap-and-invest program. The first auction for those credits was held in February.
RELATED: Washington state starts 2023 with ambitious new climate efforts
Major polluters in the state cannot surpass a certain pollution amount, unless they buy credits to offset their emissions.
The first auction was highly competitive. A total of six million credits were sold. The final auction price reached $48.50 per ton of carbon dioxide. Added up, the total comes to $299,983,267.
The proceeds go toward funding climate mitigation programs and clean energy projects. The Department of Ecology notes that how exactly the money is used is "subject to appropriation by the Legislature."
Dyer Oxley contributed to this blog post.
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Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall graduates from police academy
King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall took the stage Tuesday with 29 other graduates of the basic law enforcement certification program at the Washington State Criminal Justice Commission in Burien.
Cole-Tindall was appointed sheriff last year, but her certification had lapsed during nearly 20 years in administrative and civilian roles. So, she had to return to the academy as a recruit.
County Executive Dow Constantine, who sat in the crowd of officials and cadets' family members during the ceremony, stood to present Cole-Tindall's diploma. Her mother then pinned a star-shaped sheriff's badge onto her uniform.
Constantine appointed Cole-Tindall to the role of permanent sheriff last May, making her the first Black woman in that job. She'd been serving as interim sheriff while the county sought a long-term candidate for the role.
At the time of her appointment, she said she would need to return to the academy to renew her basic training. She'd spent much of the last two decades in non-officer roles, overseeing union negotiations for King County and directing the civilian oversight body for the sheriff's office.
Partway through the 19-week training course, Cole-Tindall told KUOW that she struggled at times to keep up with the much younger recruits in her class.
“I am much older than many of my classmates and some days it’s hard, you know, I’m bumping up to 60 here, so it’s tough, right?” she said.
Her training included hands-on tactics and firearms, as well as the legal cases that guide police work. Her undersheriff ran the sheriff's office on days when she was offsite at the academy.
Ultimately, she said, training for a total of 720 hours with young recruits will be a benefit to her as a leader.
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Attack ads challenge property sales tax proposal in Washington state
The Washington Association of Realtors is trying to kill a proposed tax hike on property sales.
The Democrat's bill in Olympia would generate money to support low-income housing. But according to a report by the Washington Observer, the realtors group is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on attack ads to defeat it.
"Making housing more expensive to increase affordable housing just doesn't make a lot of sense to us," said Nathan Gorton, a lobbyist with the Washington Association of Realtors.
"Our focus here is on homeowners and protecting homeowners," he said. "We know that homeowners right now are feeling stretched."
The Democrat's bill features a 1% tax increase, but only on amounts a little more than $5 million. The bill would also let local governments like Seattle raise taxes slightly on all real estate sales by .25 percent.
Earlier this year, government affairs manager Penny Lipsou testified on behalf of King County in support of the Democrats' proposed real estate tax hike.
"This bill will create additional progressive revenue at both the state and local level to address out housing crisis," Lipsou said.
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Audubon no more. From now on, Birds Connect Seattle
Formerly known as Seattle Audubon, Birds Connect Seattle will be the name of the city's birding organization moving forward.
According to a statement from the organization, the concept of "connection" was consistently brought up throughout the renaming process. It further says that birds connect across families, hemispheres, and habitats.
"We wanted a name that spoke to that idea, something simple and approachable, that immediately identifies the core of our mission and required no further explanation," Executive Director Claire Catania said Tuesday. "Rather than a barrier, this new name represents an open door for communities to join us in our mission to advocate and organize for cities where people and birds thrive."
Birds Connect Seattle spent eight months coming up with its new name. It announced in July 2022 that it would be changing its name due to its connection to John James Audubon, for which many Audubon Societies are named after. Audubon owned, sold, and bought enslaved African Americans through his general store in Kentucky and was very anti-abolition.
“Knowing what we now know and hearing from community members how the Audubon name is harmful to our cause, there is no other choice but to change," Catania said at the time. "...The shameful legacy of the real John James Audubon, not the mythologized version, is antithetical to the mission of this organization and its values."
After engaging with focus groups, launching a public survey, and receiving hundreds of emails and phones calls, the organization had input from more than 1,000 people. A committee was convened in January to consider a list of 263 name suggestions. The committee opted to nix any eponymous titles. It also avoided any suggestions with "society" in them, feeling that it wasn't inclusive. It also didn't want to use academic terms like “avian” and “ornithology.” That eventually led to lists of 50, 11, and then three potential names. Staff ultimately picked the final choice. Read more about the process here.
Birds Connect Seattle is not the first organization to pivot away from the name "Audubon." NPR reports that the former Audubon Naturalist Society near Washington, D.C. already changed its name to Nature Forward. Chicago Audubon is in the process of changing its name. Portland is also coming up with a new name. The National Audubon Society has opted to keep its original name.
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Remembering Remo Borracchini, whose cakes graced celebrations around Seattle
For generations his cake creations were synonymous with birthdays, weddings and graduations. Remo Borracchini of Borracchini’s Bakery in Seattle’s Rainier Valley died this month.
Longtime residents will remember Borracchini’s cakes covered in his signature Bavarian cream frosting. But many also remember his kindness and generosity.
Daughter Nannette Heye remembers a bride calling the bakery in tears. Her reception with 200 guests was about to start, but no cake. The cake, from another bakery, didn’t show up.
“My dad had taken that call,” recalled Heye. “And he said you go and shake the hands of your guests. I will be there in 20 minutes.”
He took a cake that was prepared for a different wedding later that day and rushed it to that reception.
“He set it up and he gave her a hug," Heye said. "He didn’t charge her for it. He said, 'You’ve been through enough, just enjoy your day.'”
Then he rushed back to the bakery to make a new replacement cake.
Heye said her father was born into the profession. His parents baked bread out of a brick oven in the family home in South Seattle. At a young age he started baking with them. It was all he wanted to do.
“When he got to high school as a freshman, the truant officer, when he was absent from school knew exactly where to find him,” Heye said. “She’d come from Franklin [High School], she’d come down to the bakery and find him right there, baking bread with his folks.”
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Fisher Investments pulls out of Washington in wake of capital gains tax decision
A wealth-management company says it's pulling its headquarters out of Washington state in the wake of the state's Supreme Court decision around capital gains taxes.
In a seemingly sarcastic statement, Fisher Investments says: "In honor of the Washington State Supreme Court's wisdom and knowledge of the law, and in recognition of whatever it may do next, Fisher Investments is immediately moving its headquarters from Washington state to Texas."
The move is expected to be completed by June 30.
RELATED: Education advocates hope capital gains ruling helps WA schools
Fisher Investments is based in Camas, Washington. The company's headquarters will relocate to Plano, Texas. Fisher is an independent money management firm, founded by billionaire Ken Fisher. The company notes that it manages more than $197 billion in assets globally, and more than $156 billion in private investments. The Seattle Times reports that Fisher employed about 1,800 people in Camas in 2020 (it employs 3,700 globally).
The company has multiple offices around the globe, including sites in Tampa, Florida, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany. The current headquarters switch up is not the first time Fisher Investments has made such a move due to local laws and regulations. When it began construction on its current 120-acre Camas headquarters in 2011, it was part of a move out of California to seek better business regulations, Bloomberg reports, further noting that Fisher is now part of a wave of companies relocating to Texas. That state has fewer business regulations, no income taxes, and lower costs of living.
Washington's Supreme Court upheld the state's capital gains tax last week, under the argument that it is an excise tax and not an income tax. The decision comes shortly before taxes are due in April, making 2023 the first year the capital gains tax will be collected.
Washington's capital gains tax is targeted at profits over $250,000 on assets like stocks and bonds. Retirement accounts and property sales are not included. The Supreme Court's decision has spurred fears that Washington lawmakers could pursue an income tax.
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Reflecting on Seattle's Bumbershoot: Today So Far
- What does Bumbershoot mean to local artists? You?
- Street parking just got a bit more expensive in Seattle.
- Some local hospitals are going to keep masking rules after the state's mandate ends in April.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 28, 2023.
My last big memory from Bumbershoot is R.E.M. performing at Memorial Stadium. That was about 20 years ago. That's to say that I've only checked in on Seattle's big festival every now and then over the years (the exorbitant ticket prices didn't help much). This year, however, is the festivals' 50th anniversary and it has, perhaps, the most impressive lineup in recent memory.
Sunny Day Real Estate for starters is a pretty big deal. Not to mention Sleater-Kinney, Dandy Warhols, Beverly Crusher, Band of Horses ... I could go on and on. King Youngblood is also slated to perform.
"My earliest memory of Bumbershoot, I must have been maybe 3 or 4 years old," King Youngblood frontman Cameron Lavi-Jones told KUOW's Mike Davis. "And my folks were actually playing Bumbershoot. Funny enough, Bumbershoot is the place where I discovered that I wanted to do music for the rest of my life. I was very young. And my parents were in this band called The Song Catchers that was playing Bumbershoot. It was this 20-piece Native American jazz, rock, and blues infused band back in the 1990s. I had gone everywhere with them because me and my folks, we didn't have a lot [of money]. So, no day care or nannying."
At such a young age, Lavi-Jones found himself on stage that day.
"I distinctly remember from that show, and that feeling and emotion from Bumbershoot, that was when I knew that I wanted to do music for the rest of my life."
Mike also chatted with Seattle rapper Sol about what Bumbershoot has meant to local artists. As we look toward the festival's 50th anniversary, what has Bumbershoot meant to you? Let me know at dyer@kuow.org.
Street parking just got a bit more expensive in Seattle. The city takes a look at parking volumes across neighborhoods and adjusts rates three times a year. After looking into data from January, the Seattle Department of Transportation thinks rates need to be hiked up a bit, as much as $1 in some areas. SDOT says it found "an increase in parking activity."
As I've pointed out before in TSF, Seattle manages street parking by raising or lowering prices along various stretches of road. Raise the rate and fewer people will park in a spot, or stay as long, and this will free up the space for more people to park.
I'm personally not sure that people parking in a city like Seattle truly care about 75 cents here or $1 there. And is it just me, or does it feel like the city is forgetting a group of people in this approach? Like, people with jobs. SDOT recently said its parking pricing strategy "supports businesses and helps drivers find parking without circling the block multiple times." That is great for shoppers, and I want them to get where they're going. What this doesn't account for is commuters who are required to be at work for much longer than a quick shopping trip. I won't lie, and I've said it here before, I personally do a midmorning dance whenever I come into the office — run out to my car and move it across the street to park for a few more hours. I see others out there dancing along with me. It feels like the sort of parking plan that would be designed by Sam in "Benny and Joon." I should point out that this assumption is a bit anecdotal. Who knows how many of us are dancing in the streets around lunchtime?
One of the last remaining pandemic emergency mandates is ending in April — the requirement for masks at health care facilities, like hospitals. Some hospitals are going to keep up the requirement, however.
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One WA police chief's argument for changing state vehicle pursuits law
Since 2021, Washington's police departments have had strict rules around when they can, and cannot, chase after suspects in cars. The police pursuit policy has become a hot topic in Olympia and state lawmakers are debating a change that would loosen these restrictions.
"I think the law and the legislators need to realize that there needs to be flexibility and decision-making capabilities at the local level for law enforcement to serve their communities as best as possible," Fife Police Chief Pete Fisher told KUOW's Angela King. "The state's responsibility is to set a framework through which local jurisdictions can work."
Current law requires that officers have reasonable suspicion to pursue someone they believe may be driving under the influence, or probable cause to pursue someone who might have committed a violent or sexual crime. The thinking behind the current law was that police chases are dangerous, even for bystanders.
Opponents argue that it has led to fewer people stopping for police because they know they can get away. A compromise bill recently passed out of the state Senate that would allow pursuits in more situations.
For Chief Fisher, this issue is complicated. Fife already required these high standards, even before the 2021 law was passed. That's because Fife is a fairly small town with high traffic, a potentially dangerous combination in the event of a high-speed police chase.
Yet Chief Fisher doesn’t think the current limits should be for every police agency. He argues that the rules are too stringent and need to be scaled back. Fisher says the changes lawmakers are currently debating would move the law in a "positive direction," though they are relatively small adjustments.
"The changes are not because police chiefs and sheriffs want to see more pursuits," he says. "We think it will have a little bit of a chilling effect on those people that are choosing to run now, that didn't do so before the legislative changes ... It's a matter of making good decisions to have quality law enforcement that has a level of accountability."
Not everyone agrees.
Some Republicans rejected the bill to amend current law because it would still prohibit pursuits related to stolen vehicles. And there were Democrats who voted "no" because they say law enforcement should use other means besides high-speed chases to stop people who are committing crimes.
Sen. John Lovick, a Democrat, recently defended the proposed changes.
"I know there are fears out there, but I think legislation like this can bring our community together and help our law enforcement professionals do the job that they are hired and that they are trained to do," he argued, speaking about the compromise bill that recently passed out of the state Senate.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the requirements of the state's police pursuit policy. The original article said "probable cause" is required for officers to engage in vehicle pursuits. The current law actually has a lower bar for pursuit when it comes to driving under the influence, when "reasonable suspicion" is required.
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