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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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Democratic state attorneys general sue Biden administration over abortion pill rules
A coalition of state attorneys general is suing the Food and Drug Administration, accusing the agency of excessively regulating the abortion pill mifepristone.Mifepristone was approved in 2000 to induce first-trimester abortions in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington state by a dozen Democratic state attorneys general, asks the FDA to lift additional layers of regulation above and beyond those for typical prescription drugs.
It accuses the FDA "singling out mifepristone...for a unique set of restrictions," and asks the court to declare the drug to be safe and effective, and invalidate the additional regulation, known as a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy.
Updated February 24, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET
The suit comes as a federal judge in a separate case in Texas is considering whether to overturn the FDA approval of the abortion drug, setting up the possibility of conflicting rulings by different federal judges.
An FDA official says the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation. [Copyright 2023 NPR]
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WA lawmakers eye ban on 2-mile-long trains
Legislators in Olympia have advanced a bill to limit the length of freight trains.
The bill, approved by the House Transportation Committee Thursday afternoon, would prohibit most trains over 7,500 feet long. Trains up to 10,000 feet — nearly two miles — would require extra crew members and special approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.
Advocates say the move would reduce the danger of rail accidents.
The Norfolk Southern train that derailed and spilled hazardous chemicals on Feb. 3, sickening people in East Palestine, Ohio, was more than 9,300 feet long.
“I still don’t have an answer to the question if what happened in Ohio can happen here,” Rep. Debra Entenman (D–Kent) said at a hearing on Tuesday. “Sounds to me like the answer is yes, and I would like to prevent that.”
“In Western Washington, we’re seeing 10,000-plus-foot trains almost every day,” said Herb Krohn with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers. “Longer trains are harder to control.”
Representatives of BNSF and Union Pacific railways testified against the bill, saying it would reduce energy efficiency and increase shipping costs.
“There’s no direct correlation between safety and the average length of a train,” Johan Hellman of BNSF Railway said.
The federal government is responsible for most regulation of trains, but there are no federal limits on train length.
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What would draw you to live in downtown Seattle?: Today So Far
- What would get you to move to downtown Seattle?
- Mayor Harrell focuses on crime, homelessness, affordability, and more in 2023 State of the City speech.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 23, 2023.
If you don't already, what would get you to live in downtown Seattle?
That's a question KUOW's Joshua McNichols recently put forth in his Downtown Reimagined series. For some folks he spoke with, it was about what the area could offer their family, with kids. For others, safety was the top issue. Different folks have different ideas, but I can tell you the number one thing that would get more people to live in downtown Seattle: affordability.
When I returned to the Seattle area a few years ago, I went apartment hunting (because you can't get a liveaboard spot in this city anymore). I found one spot I could afford, and it was downtown — a small room in a two-bedroom apartment. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that this second bedroom was a former hallway in a remodeled building. The hallway used to be the front entrance to the apartment, but it was upgraded with a loft bed bolted into the walls. That made space for a small closet underneath. An accordion door closed it off. If you laid down to sleep on the loft bed in this room, you could open that accordion door and look directly into the kitchen. I learned, quickly, that's what downtown affordability looks like in Seattle. (I opted not to take the apartment.)
A quick, anecdotal look through Craigslist posts shows that, if you're lucky, you can find a downtown "deal" in the $2,000 range. You're more likely to find rents in excess of $3,000 or $4,000 per month, should you need two bedrooms, because ya know, families are a thing. While you can find better rents outside of downtown, maybe even a unicorn apartment, Seattle generally has an affordability problem. Assessments vary depending on the source, but they all say the same thing: It's expensive around here. One recent assessment states that the cost of living in Seattle is 68% higher than the national average. Another assessment states housing is 114% more expensive than the national average.
Add that up and it's easy to see how Seattle has gotten itself into a few of its modern woes. For many, many years, Seattle has relied on a particular downtown lifestyle — work in downtown, live in Issaquah, and commute. Basically: "Come get some money, leave some of that money, and get the hell out. Where? Don't care, just make sure you leave some of that money before you drive out of town. Also, climate change sucks, so why are you driving so much?"
This leaves a Seattle rental market fit for Frasier Crane, and not so much the barista serving him coffee at Café Nervosa. I doubt any of the "Singles" cast could afford to live in that Capitol Hill apartment anymore (certainly not Cliff). And I hope the Hendersons held on to that Wallingford house, because at this point, they'd have to move in with Harry. Lower the rents, and they will come. Read the full story here.
Such issues were among the topics Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell focused on in this State of the City address this week.
“Candidly, my direction on our housing levy is simple: We must give the voters of Seattle the ambitious — and achievable — plan that lives up to the scale of the housing crisis and does more than ever to prevent homelessness,” Harrell said in his address.
According to KUOW reporter David Hyde, that translates to, "Building affordable housing is expensive, and the price tag for this one could be big."
Seattle has slated $250 million for affordable housing in its current budget. The mayor also said that it's possible to change zoning codes so that current office spaces could be converted to living spaces. And he indicated that an affordable housing levy could be on an upcoming ballot.
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Dan Strauss will seek re-election to Seattle City Council in 2023
Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss will run for re-election this year.
In a statement announcing his 2023 campaign, Strauss said Seattle is experiencing "another rebirth" after a decade of growth.
"This work is already underway, the proof-of-concepts have already been tried, the prototypes are currently being used, and now we are scaling these plans city- and District 6-wide," Strauss said. "Born and raised in this city, I know where we have come from, and I see the horizon of the next growth spurt that our city will take to the world’s stage — all while taking care of our own backyards.”
RELATED: A highly charged public meeting in Seattle's Greenwood — but don't you dare record it
Strauss represents District 6, which covers much of Seattle's northwest neighborhoods, such as Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, and Green Lake. Strauss, who was first elected to the council in 2019 with 56% of the vote, and officially took office in January 2020, will run for a second term.
“During the past four years, we’ve been hit with a pandemic, an exploding homelessness population, a racial reckoning over policing practices, increasing crime rates, and a shortage of housing,” Strauss said. “I’ve worked hard to help improve northwest Seattle, and I have an ambitious plan to tackle Seattle’s problems."
In his announcement, Strauss laid out a list of accomplishments, leaning heavily into law enforcement and public safety. He noted that he's supported fully funding the Seattle Police Department's staffing and hiring plans, holds weekly meetings with law enforcement and local residents, and created a public safety coordinator position for Ballard.
Strauss has also said in the past that he supported defunding SPD by 50%, and wanted to discuss how that would break down.
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Idaho bill would bring back execution by firing squad
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho could bring back firing squads as a method of execution under legislation introduced by a panel of lawmakers Wednesday.
The state eliminated its never-used firing squad option in 2009, but has been unable to secure the drugs needed for lethal injection executions. Only Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina currently have laws allowing firing squads if other execution methods are unavailable, but a judge has put South Carolina’s law on hold until a lawsuit challenging the method is resolved.
In the bill sponsored by Idaho Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Republican from Nampa, firing squads would be used when lethal injection isn’t available. Skaug noted that the state canceled the planned execution of Gerald Pizzuto Jr. late last year after Idaho Department of Correction officials said they were unable to get the chemicals needed for lethal injection.
Pizzuto has spent more than three decades on death row for his role in the 1985 slayings of two gold prospectors.
“The way it stands now, they may never get those materials for the lethal injections,” Skaug told the House Ways and Means committee. “This is a rule of law issue: Our criminal system should work and our penalty should be exacted.”
By Rebecca Boone, Associated Press
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Next steps for Seattle's (passing) social housing initiative
Seattle’s social housing initiative is leading by 14% and the final vote tally could be certified next week. What are the next steps?
Initiative 135 proposes to set up a public developer in Seattle City Hall. This office would create or buy housing, which would accommodate a range of renters — from low income to those earing as much as 120% of the area's median income.
Three things are happening now. There’s a scramble to line up money, people, and space. Officially, this work begins after certification of election results, but some people are preparing now.
First, the money. Some startup funds will come from the Seattle City Council. How soon? The people behind the initiative say they they’re entitled to it this spring when council members solidify their mid-year "supplemental budget," but funding may get pushed to the fall budget. Which timeline occurs depends on how aggressive Seattle's elected leaders want to be about getting the new publicly-owned social housing developer started.
More money could come from Olympia this session. Rep. Frank Chopp (D–Seattle) has promised to put in a "member request" for a budget line item after the election results are certified.
Early estimates suggested that startup costs would be less than $1 million. An analysis by City of Seattle staff put the amount around $750,000, about the cost of a single–family home in Seattle.
But it's unclear at this time whether that would pay for the full 18 months of the startup's operational costs, or just for a couple extra city staff members to oversee administration. Board members, the majority of whom are renters on modest incomes at the most, are guaranteed compensation for their time. And computers and desk space aren't free, either.
Right now, the City of Seattle is on the hook to pay for 18 months of all overhead costs, minus whatever Olympia provides.
Later, the social housing provider will need a lot more money from the city — or from the state — to actually start buying property.
Tiffani McCoy, who heads Advocacy for Real Change, led the “yes” campaign for I-135. She said if no one steps up with that kind of money, there's a backup plan: another initiative.
“If we as the coalition of House Our Neighbors have to go to the voters and put forward a funding source on our own, because the mayor and the city council won’t act, even after this decisive vote, then that’s what we will do,” McCoy said.
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Seattle renames block to honor D'Vonne Pickett Jr.
The city of Seattle renamed a block on Union Street for community activist and business leader D'Vonne Pickett Jr., Wednesday. Pickett was fatally shot last October in the Central District.
D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way runs from 21st to 22nd Street in the Central District. The block had a lot of history for Pickett, who, along with his wife Keanna Pickett, ran a shipping and mailing business called "The Postman" less than a half mile away.
It’s on the corner of 21st and Union where Pickett met Bernando Mendoza, who runs a food trailer with his family called "Fonda El Costeño." He's been in the Central District for several years. Mendoza says Pickett would grab a bite to eat at his family's food stand from time-to-time.
RELATED: Remembering D'Vonne Pickett Jr., a pillar of Seattle's Central District
“Yo platique con él, buena persona,” Mendoza said, “siempre nos ayudaba, incluso nos hizo varios signs para la traila.”
Mendoza says Pickett was a good person, always helping, even making some of their signage.
A few yards away from Fonda El Costeño, a crowd of family and friends were present as the street sign honoring Pickett Jr. was unveiled.
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Hydropower in western U.S. resurges after hitting 20-year low
Hydropower production in the western United States increased 13% in 2022, bouncing back after falling to a 20-year low the year before.
A long-lasting drought has been reducing the flow of water over dams, and the energy they produce, in much of the West.
With 145 large federal dams, Washington state is the nation’s leading producer of hydropower.
More snow and rain in 2022 fueled a 17% surge in power production in Washington, including a 19% increase at Grand Coulee Dam, the nation’s largest producer of hydropower.
Hydroelectricity generation at rivers in Oregon jumped 19% during the 2022 “water year” from October 2021 to September 2022.
“Water year 2021 was especially dry in Eastern Washington, most of Oregon, and most of Idaho,” Assistant Washington State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco said in an email. “2021 also featured an exceptionally dry spring and of course the record-breaking June heat wave.”
The 2022 power surge in Washington and Oregon helped the western electrical grid rely a bit less on the fossil fuels that are driving climate change and worsening droughts and heat waves. The more hydropower that enters the electrical grid, the less climate-damaging fossil fuel has to be burned to keep the region’s lights on.
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Would you put olive oil in coffee?: Today So Far
- Starbucks' latest innovation is putting olive oil in coffee. Would you drink it?
- Days are getting longer, but it's still dark and cold these days. So try making your home a little more homey.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 22, 2023.
Starbucks wants to put olive oil in your coffee. Upon reading that, you likely had one of two responses: "Um, OK, interesting," or "Gross!"
Those were the two responses I got from the KUOW newsroom when I ran a quick, informal poll. Though some folks submitted and voted for a third option: "Distraction from recent bad press."
Today, I have blended a spoonful of olive oil into my coffee and I am drinking it as I write this newsletter. My initial reaction? Coconut oil is better. Also, butter is better. I generally put one of those in my coffee each morning. A lot of people do. Adding a form of fat (like cream) is not new to the coffee world.
Starbucks isn't simply adding olive oil to straight coffee, as I did. Its Oleato line is a handful of coffee drinks that include olive oil among their ingredients, like a latte, a cortado, or even an espresso martini. Oleato debuts today in Milan, Italy. It will brew up at U.S. locations this spring, then Japan, the UK, the Middle East, the moon, and beyond.
The way Starbucks makes it sound, Oleato is so new, it will change the coffee world as we know it. But as stated above, it's not entirely new (seriously, coconut oil is way better). But with any new product comes branding! As Starbucks puts it, CEO Howard Schultz had a couple inspirational trips to Italy. In 1983, he saw how Italians embraced coffee and wanted to bring that experience to the USA. We can't deny that Starbucks has since dramatically changed coffee culture across the world.
On a more recent trip to Italy, Schultz says he discovered another quirky cultural trait — taking a spoonful of olive oil each day. He tried it himself and quite liked it. Then, like a mad scientist, he poured that olive oil into his coffee and crafted a concoction that will change the world! Schultz then leaped from his bathtub and ran through the streets of Milan yelling, "Oleato! Oleato!" Wait, hold on ... I'm getting my world-changing legends mixed up.
Actually, it resulted in Starbucks' Oleato coffee drinks.
“I was absolutely stunned at the unique flavor and texture created when the Partanna extra virgin olive oil was infused into Starbucks coffee,” Schultz said in a statement announcing the new coffee line. “In both hot and cold coffee beverages, what it produced was an unexpected, velvety, buttery flavor that enhanced the coffee and lingers beautifully on the palate.”
At this point in my cup of coffee, I can confirm that olive oil does add a buttery flavor. I should point out, though, that there is another thing you can use to add a buttery flavor to coffee — butter.
I'm reminded of another coffee-branding legend, also from a Seattle company. Bulletproof Coffee says its roots go back to a trip its founder Dave Asprey took to the mountains of Tibet. After a tough trek through harsh conditions, Asprey was served a tea drink that had yak butter in it. And snap! He was invigorated. It gave him wings! (Wait, stop, that's actually Red Bull; it's hard to keep all this branding straight). Asprey returned to the United States to expand upon this revitalizing concoction and today we have Bulletproof Coffee, which contains butter and MCT oils (coconut oil).
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Key takeaways from Mayor Harrell's upbeat 2023 State of the City address
In his second State of the City address as mayor, Bruce Harrell used the Space Needle as a metaphor to talk about his vision for the future, sounding optimistic and upbeat about the progress his administration has made and where Seattle is headed next.
But Harrell also pointed to some grim realities that the city is facing and his plans to address them. Here are the biggest takeaways from Harrell’s address.
Renewed focus on the city’s drug crisis
Last year, according to Harrell, nearly 600 people died from drug overdoses in Seattle.
“These are our sons and daughters. These are our brothers and sisters. These are moms and dads. These are people in our city. These are human beings who need treatment and care,” Harrell said.
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Lead or formaldehyde in your makeup? WA lawmakers want to eliminate them
Some lipsticks and foundations sold in Washington state contain lead, and some body lotions and hair products contain formaldehyde, according to the state ecology department. Lawmakers in Washington state want to change that.
Washington's Legislature is considering banning the manufacture and sale of cosmetic products that contain formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing agents, certain amounts of lead, and some other chemicals. If the bill becomes law, those cosmetics would be gone from store shelves in Washington by 2026.
“Many ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products are associated with cancer and developmental and reproductive harm,” said Megan Liu, with the organization Toxic-Free Future, during a public hearing about the bill. “And women of color are disproportionately exposed to harmful chemicals in their cosmetics.”
The state ecology department said in the hearing that products marketed to Black people and immigrant communities tend to have higher levels of concerning chemicals. In particular, hair-straightening products are associated with uterine and breast cancer.
“This bill ensures safer cosmetics are available in Washington,” said Holly Davies, a toxicologist for the state health department. “It will also reduce toxic exposures on consumers, especially consumers living in communities that are already overburdened by pollution. The Department of Health is particularly concerned about reducing people's exposures to lead as there's no known safe level of lead.”
Liu said some retailers, including Sephora, Target, Walmart, and Ulta Beauty, have already committed to selling cosmetics free from toxic chemicals — so such products do exist.
Industry spokespeople at the hearing argued that formaldehyde-releasing agents are not the same thing as formaldehyde.
And state Rep. Mary Dye (R–Pomeroy) said that banning those agents would hurt low-income people by forcing them to replace cosmetics more often.
“We all are very concerned about making sure our products are safe,” she said. “Preservatives are important to keep the products safe from dangerous and hazardous bacteria and mold. For those that cannot afford to throw away unused products … these preservatives give a longer shelf life.”
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Is there AI in your art?: Today So Far
- A recent Consumer Reports assessment found high levels of toxic heavy metals in popular chocolate bars.
- Air India's recent Boeing purchase has gotten a lot of attention, and for a good reason.
- Where is the line between original work and AI art?
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 21, 2023.
A recent Consumer Reports assessment found high levels of toxic heavy metals in popular chocolate bars. Two products on the heavy metal list come from Seattle company Theo Chocolates.
Before you get depressed over the cruel world taking chocolate away from you (and in turn reach for something else that probably isn't healthy, either), a UW Medicine dietitian tells KUOW that there is no reason to freak out.
“I would say, especially for pregnant women and children, probably not more than an ounce a day of dark chocolate of these ones that are found to have a little bit higher levels of lead and cadmium," Judy Simon said. "These heavy metals are ubiquitous, they're in the air, they're in the soil."
In other words, don't gorge for hours on chocolate. Just have a small treat. Such moderation is probably good advice for most (guilty) pleasures in life — sweets, beer, Maury Povich, social media, orange mocha frappuccinos and gasoline fights.
The heavy metals that Consumer Reports found in 28 products were lead and cadmium, which in large amounts and over time can be harmful to people. It's written a letter to various companies asking them to address the issue. Read the full story here.
Air India's recent Boeing purchase has gotten a lot of attention, and for a good reason. Boeing has had a hard time in recent years, with federal investigations and software problems. The company was laying off workers even before pandemic slowdowns.
So the sale of 737 MAXs, 787 Dreamliners, and 777X jets is great news for the company. In total, Air India ordered 290 Boeing jets. The order will support more than 1 million jobs. Read the full story here.
In the world of Star Trek, there are holodecks — rooms that create a holographic world that people can interact with. In this futuristic version of storytelling, people don't often read books, watch movies, or play video games. Instead, they actively take part in a story, moving through holographic versions of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, catching a crooner's concert at a Las Vegas lounge, or just hanging out in a small Irish town with quirky locals. Someone wrote these "stories," but the computer has to take over to make them happen, adapt to the real people, adjust plots, introduce new characters, and so forth. So who is actually writing these futuristic tales? The human or the AI? Star Trek once got even more complex when a ship's holographic doctor grew beyond its program and wrote a story on its own. But future publishers refused to acknowledge any rights to the story because they did not consider a hologram, an AI, a real person.
These sci-fi scenarios were written for TV back in the 1990s, and take place a few hundred years from now. But in reality, these questions and ethical issues are happening right now. AI is getting artistic.
KUOW arts reporter Mike Davis has taken a look under the hood of a few creative artists who incorporate AI into their work, starting with Karl Stedman. He isn't an author. At least, he wasn't an author. All it took was seven hours and ChatGPT and he is now published. Unlike countless writers who struggle over pages and plot points for months to years, Stedman used AI to assist with the writing, and then further used AI to illustrate the book. The first story is about AI tech on a spaceship that desires to make its own decisions, so it rebels against the human crew.
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