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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Rain finally puts an end to wildfire season in Western Washington
The 2022 wildfire season in Western Washington is over, thanks to the rain the region has received since Friday.
"Areas around the Bolt Creek fire, specifically the 14,000 acres the fire had burned so far, received between two and four inches of rain over the past week which is plenty to saturate the ground, to get through those dense canopies all the way down to the understory, and it really has halted the spread of the fire," said Matthew Dehr, a meteorologist with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
RELATED: Wildfire season gave Washington a break in 2022
Dehr said that the Bolt Creek fire, as well as others west of the Cascade Mountains, are not expected to grow and more. Fire crews are still keeping an eye out for flare ups in the area, however, and ground crews are watching our for landslides and falling trees along Highway 2.
"There are a lot of very damaged trees in that area now," Dehr said. "I mean it's 14,000 acres, it's quite a large area that got impacted by the fire so, luckily, we have not seen any landslides or debris flow in that area yet. However, we do continue to get rain."
The Department of Natural Resources says that stretches along Highway 2 are at risk of debris flow. There may be road closures in the future.
The Bolt Creek fire burned mostly on U.S. forest land that hadn't burned in the last century. It required a large firefighting response for about 41 days, in Snohomish County.
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Court says Everett's bikini barista dress code is unconstitutional
Everett's dress code targeting bikini baristas is unconstitutional, according to the latest ruling on the issue, which has been working its way through the courts for years.
The Everett Daily Herald reports that the U.S. District Court in Seattle found that the dress code violates equal protection clauses of the United States Constitution, as well as Washington state's constitution.
RELATED: Are bikini baristas a Pacific Northwest phenomenon?
The controversy over bikini baristas in Everett has gone back and forth for years. The conflict goes back to 2009 when the police department opened an investigation into a chain and uncovered prostitution, as well as indecent exposure.
The city eventually passed a dress code ordinance for the coffee stands in 2017 that ordered workers to cover up. Baristas responded with a lawsuit, arguing that their clothing represents speech. A court paused Everett's dress code while the case continued.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle sided with the city in 2019. Now, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington has weighed in. It concludes the city's rules are unconstitutional.
The new ruling published last week states the ordinance was shaped by gender-based discrimination, adding it "‘encourage(s) a humiliating, intrusive, and demoralizing search on women, disempowering them and stripping them of their freedom.”
The ruling further states: "This Ordinance clearly treats women differently than men by banning a wide variety of women's clothing, not just pasties and g-strings, or bikinis. The restrictions are so detailed they effectively prescribe the clothes to be worn by women in quick service facilities. In sum, the City has failed to demonstrate how this disparate treatment of women is substantially related to the achievement of the Ordinance's stated objectives."
RELATED: Inmate wants graphic undercover bikini barista videos, city of Everett fights back
The most recent court conclusion grants, and denies, parts of the city's request for summary judgment. Most of the plaintiff's claims were dismissed, except for the argument around the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The city and the plaintiffs are ordered to now meet and discuss how to proceed.
Angela King contributed to this report.
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Praying Bremerton coach will be back on the field in 2023
The Bremerton High School football coach whose religious freedom case was upheld by the United States Supreme Court could be back on the sidelines by March 2023.
Attorneys for Joe Kennedy and the school district agreed in court to reinstate the former assistant coach, according to NPR. The court also ordered the district to not interfere with or prohibit Kennedy from offering a prayer. It is not clear yet how exactly his post-game prayers will resume.
Both sides have been ordered to submit their wording for the final order by Nov. 8. There is also the issue of paying for Kennedy's legal costs over the past six years. Kennedy has the option to request the district pay for them.
The Bremerton School District raised concerns over Kennedy in 2015 after hearing about post-game prayers he was conducting on the football field. Players would join the public employee on the field, and some told officials they felt pressured to join in, despite their differing views, in order to gain favor with the coach, and in turn, playing time in the game. The district attempted to make accommodations, but Kennedy ultimately resigned from the job (he was not fired) and took the matter to court.
Courts sided with the district all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided earlier this year that Kennedy should be allowed to pray on the 50 yard line.
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How things are going with Starbucks' union talks
Seattle coffee giant Starbucks resumed negotiations with employees seeking to unionize some of its stores this week, however, Noam Scheiber who covers workplace issues for The New York Times tells KUOW that the bargaining did not last long.
"Company officials got upset that union representatives were trying to broadcast the session on Zoom, and were upset that they were trying to record the session. So they all ended pretty quickly," Scheiber told KUOW.
Scheiber says unionization efforts have slowed in recent months, and it's unclear whether union employees will achieve concessions in writing.
Starbucks has approximately 9,000 company-owned stores across the United States. Employees at about 250 stores have voted to unionize over the last year. Starbucks responded by increasing benefits and pay at non-union stores.
The National Labor Relations Board is exploring those actions. The company says federal law prevents it from offering certain benefits to unionized stores during bargaining.
Read Scheiber's full conversation with KUOW here.
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Jayapal asks for a mulligan: Today So Far
- Congressmember Pramila Jayapal is asking for a do-over after a letter was sent to President Biden this week.
- There was a lot of talk about the Mariners' success recently, but it's not the only Seattle team that has reached great post-season heights this year.
- Fall has struck us fast. The sun will set after 6 p.m. for the last time tonight, until March 2023.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for October 26, 2022.
Mulligan! Congressmember Pramila Jayapal is asking for a do-over after a letter was sent to President Biden this week.
Jayapal led the letter effort that included the signatures of 29 other lawmakers. In general, they requested that Biden switch up his strategy around the war in Ukraine. The lawmakers asked for a more "proactive diplomatic push" for a cease-fire and felt that direct negotiations with Russia could be needed.
But ... after the letter was delivered and made headlines, Jayapal asked for it back, with a sort of "let's just forget about this" kind of vibe. Basically what happened was that there was pushback from fellow Democrats. The midterm elections are just around the corner and some Republicans are running on the position that the U.S. shouldn't be writing blank checks to Ukraine. There was some concern that the Democrats' messaging would be conflated with GOP positions.
"The proximity of these statements created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats, who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people, are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian forces," Jayapal said in a statement. "Nothing could be further from the truth .... As such, it is a distraction at this time and we withdraw the letter.”
In her statement, Japayal accepted full responsibility for the incident and said that the letter was drafted months ago and was released without "vetting." The letter did seem timed for this part of the year, however, since it did mention how the Russia/Ukraine region would be heading into the colder months. Read more here.
There was a lot of talk about the Mariners' success recently, but it's not the only Seattle team that has reached great post-season heights this year. The OL Reign competed in the first playoff game for the National Women's Soccer League last weekend. More than 21,000 fans attended the game.
OL Reign won't be moving forward this season, but its fans remain elated about the progress the team has made in its 10 years. It started playing games at a stadium in Tukwila, then Memorial Stadium in Seattle, then Cheney Stadium in Tacoma. Now, the team is kicking on Lumen Field.
"The silver lining was that people from Tacoma and Olympia and further south in the Sound really came out for the Reign in an awesome way," said Jai Hillard, with the Reign's Royal Guard, the team's fan club that beats drums and chants during games. "And now that we've moved back to Seattle, and we're at Lumen Field, you see that there are just so many people from all over who come to the games."
Read more here.
Fall has struck us fast. The sun will set after 6 p.m. for the last time tonight, until March 2023.
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Vice President Harris gets charged up about electric buses with Sen. Murray
It was a veritable who's who of Democratic leadership spanning Seattle to D.C. Wednesday. And it was all about electric buses.
The crowd included Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Patty Murray, Gov. Jay Inslee, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.
Murray was promoting the results of her Clean School Bus Act that was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“Building new, clean electric buses and getting them on our roads is good for our kids, our economy, and our planet,” Murray said. “That’s why for months, I pushed to pass my Clean School Bus Act. Because this is just one way we boost an economy-wide transition to clean energy. We’ll be making these clean buses here in America, creating good-paying jobs—all while promoting clean air and better health outcomes for our kids. It’s a win-win-win.”
The act is budgeted for $5 billion over five years to help school districts replace fossil fuel busses with electric models.
RELATED: Washington schools set to deploy new electric buses
"Who doesn't love a yellow school bus?" Vice President Harris said. "It's part of our experience growing up. It's part of nostalgia and the more of excitement and joy of going to school, to be with your favorite teacher, to be with your best friends, and to learn."
"In America, today, 25 million children go to school on a yellow school bus. Today, 95% of our schools buses are fueled with diesel fuel which contributes to very serious conditions that are about health and about the ability to learn."
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Bellevue Casket company has cameo in new Taylor Swift video
Taylor Swift debuted her latest music video for her new song, “Anti-Hero,” last Friday. To the surprise of a Bellevue-based company, it had an unexpected cameo.
Halfway through the video, there’s a funeral scene where Swift emerges from a casket. The casket is the Orion series from Bellevue direct-to-consumer company, Titan Casket.
“We had no clue,” Titan Casket co-founder Liz Siegel said. “When a production needs a casket for something, they'll just go online like anybody else. And that's how the production company found us. They purchased the casket, and we saw that it was for an entertainment company. So, I had a few conversations back and forth with them kind of telling them about the casket and how to use it properly. They shared with us that it was for a big music video. That was all we knew.”
That purchase happened in July and Siegel never heard anything else from the production company. Then, when Swift released her video, an employee pointed out that the casket in the video was the one the production company had purchased this summer.
Titan co-founder Josh Siegel is using this 15-minutes of fame to spread awareness to a larger issue: Most consumers purchase caskets from funeral homes without realizing they have more options.
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Washington's HIV prevention program just ran out of money
There's a big problem with Washington state's HIV prevention program for uninsured people. It's called PrEP DAP and it just ran through a whole year's worth of funding in only three months.
On top of that, it will stop supporting clients on Dec. 1.
Elizabeth Crutsinger-Perry, who directs the infectious disease program at the Washington state Department of Health, says a sudden rise in prices for generic medications surprised her and her staff.
"Typically, we can monitor these programs on a quarterly basis and feel fairly confident that that no significant edits or changes would need to be made in three months," she said. "That clearly was not the case in this three months."
Crutsinger-Perry says the monthly cost per patient rose from around $50 to more than $1,300. And insurance plans did not pick up the extra costs.
She says her program is also short staffed, and got a surge of patients from other programs.
A national program called Ready, Set, PrEP may be an option for people kicked off PrEP DAP.
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Value Village goes before Washington Supreme Court
Washington's case against Bellevue-based thrift store chain Value Village is now before the state's Supreme Court.
The state claims the thrift store ran misleading advertisements that made it appear to be a nonprofit. That's not true, according to Value Village attorney Jim Grant who spoke before the justices Tuesday.
"There is not a single ad, in this case, that the state has identified at issue, that has to do with advertising for a product and then sort of tacking on some sort of claim about charity," Grant said.
Grant said that the company partners with nonprofits, and their ads were intended to direct people to donate to those organizations. Shopping at a Value Village does not directly support nonprofits, which is now spelled out on the corporation's website.
The state is treating this as a consumer protection case. State lawyers read some of the advertisements before the court, which they argue were deceiving.
One stated: "shopping great deals and good works ... in one outfit."
A lower court already ruled against Value Village in 2019. That ruling, however, was appealed and ultimately overturned.
No word on when the state Supreme Court will make its decision.
Value Village is based in Bellevue and has stores throughout the United States and Canada.
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Looking under the hood of Congressional campaigns: Today So Far
The race for Washington's 3rd Congressional District is tight. It's unclear who will win out in the end, and give their party some weight in DC. But looking closer under the hood of these campaigns, it's about a lot more.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for October 25, 2022.
"I don't know. I certainly would not put my money on any candidate," Troy Brynelson told Seattle's Morning News.
Brynelson covers southwest Washington for Oregon Public Broadcasting. Listening to his insights into the race for the 3rd, this is proving to be one of the most unique campaign competitions I've ever seen. At the core of the race are a handful of issues the candidates are hyping to voters. Brynelson says that abortion rights and the economy are the top two being discussed. In that regard, the campaigns are very similar to most other races around Washington state. But beyond the issues is nuance. Underneath talking points is a tug of war over ideology and extremism. That is causing support for these candidates to fly all over the place.
"One of the things that both things candidates do is they talk a lot about the economy and the future of the southwest Washington working class," Brynelson said. "But that's about as local as it gets, particularly for Joe (Kent). These are very national issues that he is trying to raise with voters."
Kent rode in on a wave of friction between Republican incumbent Congressmember Jaime Herrera Beutler and the local GOP. She lost the primary in August. It is believed that her vote to impeach former President Trump is responsible for her loss, and paved the way for Kent to take her place as the GOP candidate in the 3rd District. Beyond hyping the national issues that Brynelson points out, Kent is leaning into culture war politics, from immigration and border security, to anti-Covid vaccine stances, and doubts about how Jan. 6 went down. He is backed by Trump, and as it turns out, former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard.
Another factor for voters to consider, as I've previously pointed out, is the company that has been found in Kent's orbit.
Challenging Kent is Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who lives in rural Skamania County and runs an auto shop in Portland (which, yes, makes my headline for this newsletter a pun!)
"All of a sudden you have a Democrat who largely is gaining a ton of momentum for being the opposition. Take nothing away from Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and the campaign she is running, but she was virtually an unknown going into July and August, and now people are willing to stand behind her because they realize what they are up against," Brynelson said.
"The Marie Gluesenkamp Perez campaign is being very deliberate on showing they are getting a lot of support from moderate Republicans. Some of the largest benefactors for Jaimie Herrera Beutler, now that she cannot participate in the general (election), have now turned their attention to Marie and are willing to support her against Joe Kent. Some of these benefactors are raising six figures ... so she is touting a lot of Republican and independent support right now."
And then you have the voters. Even that is hard to pin down. For example, Brynelson points to one GOP voter he has been following in the area. He was a Herrera Beutler supporter, and also voted for Trump, initially. But the chaos Trump caused, tweet-by-tweet, was too much for him. While he didn't vote for Biden, he was happy Trump was gone.
The race for the 3rd Congressional District may have some typical right/left breakdowns, but there is a nuanced shift of support these days among the candidates. We'll have to wait until Nov. 8 to find out how this plays out.
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Jayapal reverses course on Ukraine letter sent to White House
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and 29 other House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden Monday, asking him to change his strategy surrounding the war in Ukraine. On Tuesday, they took it back.
The letter stated that the House members favored direct negotiations with Russia, as that region heads into the cold winter months. They also wanted a "proactive diplomatic push" for a cease-fire, adding that the United States is not in regular talks with Russia.
Jayapal led the effort behind the letter.
President Biden has said in the past that he will leave it up to Kyiv to decide whether it wants to negotiate with Russia.
Following Monday's letter, some Democrats pushed back against their colleagues, calling on them to state that they still support the president and Ukraine, The Washington Post reports. The letter also comes shortly after Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy said that if Republicans gain control of the House in the midterms, they aren't going to write a blank check for Ukraine.
RELATED: Ukrainians keep a wary eye on U.S. midterm elections, fearing a loss of support
On Tuesday, the Democratic lawmakers said they wanted to reverse course and take the letter back. In a statement, Japayal said that the letter was drafted months ago and was released without "vetting." Jayapal said the message was being conflated with GOP stances on the war. She accepted full responsibility for it.
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Washington students doing worse in math and reading after pandemic years
Washington's fourth and eighth grade students rank 27th in the nation when it comes to reading and math proficiency, according to the 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress.
The report, from the National Center for Education Statistics, also shows that students in both grades are doing worse in math than they were before the pandemic, and eighth graders are doing worse in reading.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal says that, while students in other states, like Montana, had better test results, this was an inevitable side effect of the pandemic.
"Every state essentially saw similar reductions, within a certain statistical significance," Reykdal said. "I think the pandemic is all we can label it now and not particular strategies. I would point out we were above the national average before and we remain there, it's just everyone went down quite a bit."
Most states, except for Utah and some military-run schools, saw student proficiency scores in math and reading drop.
See results of the reports here and here.
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