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.
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Remaining vigilant: King County on the lookout for voter intimidation
Despite a recent warning from President Biden about a rise in threats toward election workers and voters heading into the midterms, the head of King County elections says she's seen misinformation but no threats of violence, so far.
"We haven't seen any reports from concerned voters about intimidation in this election, but we are asking voters to contact us if they do see anything out there at the drop boxes," said Elections Director Julie Wise.
During a speech this week, President Biden blamed extremist Republicans for intimidating voters and election officials.
We must "speak as a country and say there's no place for voter intimidation or political violence in America," Biden said.
But Wise says her office is also not seeing threats or harassment of election workers.
To prevent the potential for harassment and election disruption, the elections office is working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to review building security and make sure office workers and volunteers are prepared come election night next Tuesday.
Even though the election prep has run smoothly so far, Wise says it's challenging for election workers to be accused of undermining the very system they're working so hard to uphold.
"It's a heartbreaking time as an election administrator when you're being accused of felonies, throwing away ballots, vote flipping," she said.
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Seattle faces deteriorating economic outlook
There's some bad news for the Seattle economy as widespread inflation continues to cause concern.
Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts Director Ben Noble says the city's overall economic outlook has worsened since August.
"Economic conditions have continued to deteriorate and expectations about future conditions have also deteriorated," Noble said.
Noble says the updated forecast shows the city's revenue will drop by nearly $80 million over the next two years.
Seattle City Council budget chair Teresa Mosqueda says this breaks down to a $64 million decrease in Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) revenues, a decrease of $9.4 million in general fund revenues, and a net decrease of $4.5 million in revenues from Seattle's Sweetened Beverage Tax.
“Today’s revenue forecast demonstrates the instability and insufficiency of the existing revenue streams to meet the growing needs of Seattle’s residents and the inequities exacerbated by Covid-19,” Mosqueda said in a statement. “We will respond with urgency and compassion to this new revenue forecast by continuing to craft a budget that focuses on core city services, avoids austerity, and invests in a more equitable economy. Today’s revenue forecast news amplifies the need for more long-term, sustainable, progressive revenue for future budgets to ensure we can meet the needs of our city’s residents, infrastructure and local economy.”
Mosqueda's office also said the council will now need to push out its usual budget timeline. So the council's balancing package will now come out on Nov. 14. A final vote is now set for Nov. 29.
“Updating our budget calendar will give us the time needed to account for the updated revenue forecast in our balancing package, in an intentional and thoughtful way,” Mosqueda said.
Mosqueda commented that newer progressive revenues will be needed to keep Seattle afloat, pointing to the JumpStart tax as an example.
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Seattle and Washington state's future plans to address homelessness
People are protesting the Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's plan to increase homeless camp removals in the city.
“What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!" a crowd chanted outside of Seattle City Hall Wednesday night.
Demonstrators gathered to protest Harrell's proposed budget. It includes millions of dollars to expand the Unified Care Team, the city's group that leads homeless camp clearings in Seattle.
Activist Tye Reed said camp removals lead to people being displaced and moved around town.
“This government has never worked for the average person, has never worked for working class people. We can make our voices heard and they still don't have to care," Reed said.
The mayor says the team provides necessary outreach for people experiencing homelessness.
The Seattle City Council is currently considering the mayor’s budget and will vote on it by the end of November.
At the state level, Gov. Jay Inslee is laying out his legislative strategy to address homelessness: Speed up the development of housing.
Speaking at a press event Wednesday, Inslee said he will propose a new digital permitting platform, as well as a program for building housing specifically along transit corridors.
"One of the things we need to do is find some additional places to build more housing," Inslee said. "We have some of our zoning rules now that are an unnecessary restriction on housing, and I look forward to working with legislators."
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Abortion rate falls in Idaho, but rises in Washington and Oregon: Today So Far
- A Seattle detective had an awkward, and scary, encounter with undercover King County Sheriff's detectives.
- How Seattle police investigated allegations against Raz Simone will be included in an ongoing court case.
- You may notice billboards going up around Washington soon, stating “Dear abortion seeker, you are welcome here. From Washington.”
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for November 3, 2022.
Well this was awkward, and probably pretty scary too. A Black Seattle detective had to call for backup while a truck was aggressively tailgating her on the road. Patrol cars sped to her location and pulled the truck over to find out that the tailgaters were undercover King County Sheriff's detectives.
This all happened in 2021, on the anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death. The Seattle detective was undercover, keeping an eye on demonstrations. So were the deputies in an unmarked white truck, though they were primarily charged with security around light rail stations. The deputies saw the detective driving around the protest and, according to them, recognized the car from previous demonstrations. So they took it upon themselves to follow the car, driving aggressively behind it. The deputies called this “an obvious, overt follow,” basically a move to get someone suspicious to leave the area. From the Seattle detective's perspective, she could have been followed by counter protesters, like Proud Boys rumored to be in the area.
The incident has prompted an investigation into the deputies' methods. Read about that here.
In other Seattle police-related news, the case against hip-hop artist Raz Simone is moving forward and SPD will be included. Previously, it was not known whether SPD's investigation methods would be included in the case against Simone. Now, a judge's conclusion states that the way police investigated may have emboldened Simone. As things proceed, how police investigated the series of allegations will be a part of the court case. Read more here.
You may notice billboards going up around Washington soon, stating “Dear abortion seeker, you are welcome here. From Washington.” This is part of an effort from Pro-Choice Washington that is following up on the Supreme Court's controversial Dobbs decision in June.
"There are a lot of anti-abortion access and abortion rights billboards, and you don’t really see the side that is about health care," Kia Guarino, executive director of Pro-Choice Washington, told KUOW.
Washington and Oregon are known for protecting abortion rights, however, neighboring Idaho has considerably tightened and restricted abortion access. That has led many to worry that women will start crossing state lines for medical care. An early look at some numbers appear to back up that concern.
In Idaho, the number of abortions per month has fallen by 48%. The same rate has increased in Washington state by 5%, and in Oregon by 18%. Read more here.
Correction: The initial version of this newsletter stated that undercover officers and deputies were covering protests amid 2020 CHOP. Instead, they were covering demonstrations in 2021 around the anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death.
AS SEEN ON KUOW
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A Full House of candidates: Today So Far
While you're considering your votes, start with the boring candidate. I say that because I watched “Full House.”
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for November 2, 2022.
You have until 8 p.m. next Tuesday to turn in your midterm ballots. About 22% of ballots have already arrived at election offices. Stuart Holmes, the state's acting director of elections, tells KUOW that he expects 70% of ballots to be returned this year and that we're slated to see similar returns as the 2018 midterms. For the rest who are still putting pen to ballot, here’s a thought to consider as you research your votes: Start with the boring candidate.
I say that because I watched “Full House.”
In our modern era of hyper-partisan tribes, sensational speculation, and hot-button issues, “boring” is a good place to start, like a political palate cleanser. Which brings me back to “Full House.” Yep, the '80s / '90s sitcom that anchored TGIF TV. The Tanner kids in “Full House” are a lot like us voters.
They start an episode with a problem that needs fixing. Now, they could go straight to dad, good ol’ Danny Tanner, but he's a square and no fun. So instead, the kids cycle through a handful of more engaging personalities to fix the problem.
- Uncle Joey is funny, entertaining, and has an array of cartoon voices. He knows when to tell you to “cut it out.” Does he have a solution? Maybe. Maybe not. This is a guy who thought putting three diapers on a baby means that you only have to change it a third of the time.
- Uncle Jesse is the cool candidate. He holds your attention with panache and the confidence of Elvis. He understands that everybody should “have mercy” every now and then. But he's not too book smart, and is more interested in fixing his hair than your problems.
- Aunt Becky is out on "vacation" for a couple months after scouting colleges for the twins.
- If none of the previous candidates work, then we have a problem. At this point, conditions are tense enough for the worst of the worst to swoop in and take advantage. This is when candidate Kimmy Gibbler shows up. She's odd and a bit crazy, but she's a fast talker with a lot of gumption that grabs attention. When she's finished, you have gotten bad dating advice, your TV is busted, and she's passed out drunk. But at the time, the Tanneritos were desperate and figured, “What the heck?”
By now, a lot of TSF readers are wondering why I'm pulling a metaphor from a 30-year-old family sitcom that most folks barely remember. Here's the main take away: A lot of time and anguish could have been saved if the Tanner kids just went to the boring candidate first, Danny Tanner. He's not exciting. He has no catchphrases. He’s just clean. Danny is boring, but he’s the straightforward one who usually tells you what you need to hear, whether you want to hear it or not.
This metaphor can be stretched across a lot of sitcoms. "Good Times" — Don't go to J.J. "How I Met Your Mother" — watch out for Barney. "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" — leave Jazz at the door. "Arrested Development" — well, maybe not this one.
We voters generally want our problems to be taken care of within the span of 30 minutes and perhaps with some entertainment along the way. That works great for TV, but not politics. In reality, voting is the start of a much longer story that goes beyond the ballot box. If you care about issue X, voting is great, but progress is more often the result of persistent effort. It’s a story arc that spans an entire season, maybe more. It’s more like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but we won’t go into that now.
I can’t tell you who the boring candidate is (and as someone who works in news, I'm certainly not going to start telling folks who to vote for). Every election is different and a boring candidate might not be the right choice. Sometimes there isn’t a boring candidate on the ballot, and sometimes the cool or funny candidate will do just fine. Boring is just a good place to start; a decent exercise for considering issues and candidates.
What I can tell you is that KUOW has already done some great reporting in the lead up to the midterms. If you’re looking for election insights, check out the following articles:
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Following Dobbs decision, abortion rates rise in Washington and Oregon
The number of abortions per month in Washington increased by 5% after the Supreme Court's June decision that overturned Roe v Wade.
Oregon saw a much larger increase — 18%.
The data comes from a national effort, called #Wecount, that has been tracking changes in access to abortion since the Dobbs decision.
In Idaho, where a near total ban is in effect, the number of abortions fell by about half — 48%.
Nationwide, the number of legal abortions dropped by 6% following the high court's decision.
Research has shown that women who seek an abortion and can’t get one are more likely to live in poverty and more likely to continue to be exposed to domestic violence than women who do obtain abortions.
Read the full story at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
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Some progress made on Washington's backlog of sexual assault kits
A new report shows that Washington state is making some progress clearing its backlog of sexual assault kits.
Data from 2019 revealed the Washington State Patrol had approximately 9,000 untested kits in its possession at the time. The the State Auditor's Office says the number is down to 6,000, according to an audit from January 2022.
The auditor's office notes the pandemic slowed down efforts to get more sexual assault kits tested. The latest report states that 74% of kits received since 2015 have been tested by the state patrol.
State Auditor Pat McCarthy has committed to another audit of the testing process in the future to determine whether the backlog has been eliminated, and if improvements can be made.
“The Washington State Patrol has taken the right steps, but eliminating the backlog of untested sexual assault kits will take more time and it is still absolutely necessary,” McCarthy said in a statement. “We encourage the Patrol to continue its work, and we will return to this important subject again in the future.”
In 2019, the state Legislature enacted a package of reforms intended to eliminate the testing kit backlog.
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GOP leader Kevin McCarthy visits Washington to help Joe Kent
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy quietly visited southwest Washington earlier this week to raise money for a former political foe: Congressional candidate Joe Kent.
Kent has recently been outspent by his Democratic opponent, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
McCarthy visited the area on Monday. Aside from his stature nationally, McCarthy's visit is notable for another reason — he and Kent had been at odds.
Kent has denounced mainstream Republicans at every step of his campaign, and has said he would not vote for McCarthy to be the next Speaker of the House if Republicans win a majority.
But Kent has softened his stance on McCarthy lately, and he's relatively short on cash.
In this final month, Kent has spent about $400,000. His opponent, Gluesenkamp Perez, has spent $1.5 million.
Still, political pollsters say Kent is favored to win next Tuesday.
McCarthy also threw nearly $200,000 directly in support of Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, before Kent edged her out in the primaries.
Read the full story at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
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Why the wave of voting reform measures in the Northwest?
It’s a Tuesday night and there’s a small party going on in a back room of the Pike Place Market. Take a left at the pig statue, go up some stairs, through a hallway and you’ll find yourself in a little library full of more than a dozen people eating pizza.
It’s a gathering of the most committed members and leaders of Fair Vote Washington, a group pushing for a big change to elections.
They’re celebrating years of hard work that might finally pay off. This November, Portland, Seattle, and three counties in Washington and Oregon are considering ranked choice voting.
These proposals vary area to area – Seattle’s ranked choice looks different than Portland’s, and Seattle will consider ranked choice voting alongside a thing called "approval voting" – but they all reflect a dissatisfaction with who elections choose.
Take one of the partygoers at Pike Place – Patricia Raftery. The story of how she discovered Fair Vote is a great one for parties: She was chasing an escaped peacock at the Mill Creek Festival and ran past a guy at the Fair Vote booth, who told her which way the peacock went. Forty minutes later, with the peacock caught, she came back and said “Hey, that ranked choice voting thing. I’ve heard about it. Tell me more.”
Here’s roughly how he explained ranked choice to her: You pick your favorite candidate as #1, but you also get to pick your second favorite and third and etc., if you want. If your favorite doesn’t get enough votes, your second favorite vote could still count.
Raftery wasn’t sold immediately, but when she attended an info session and learned more about it, she began to think it could solve her misgivings about the two-party system.
“The two major candidates, I almost never liked either of them, and there would almost always be a third or fourth candidate that I really liked,” Raftery said. “But when you looked at the numbers, you might as well just throw your ballot away. But with ranked choice voting, that wouldn't be the case.”
Nationwide frustration with both the Republican and Democrat parties is at its highest in recent years. This year, the Pew Research Center released the results of a survey showing people who have unfavorable views of both parties is at 27%. In 1994, when they began asking that question, it was just 6%.
In Oregon and Washington specifically, a lot of third party candidates are running this year. While few are likely to win, some are popular enough they’re making races tighter for Democrats and Republicans.
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AG files suit to block $4 billion pre-merger payout to Albertson shareholders
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit Tuesday to prevent Albertsons from paying $4 billion to its shareholders before a proposed merger with Kroger can be reviewed by state and federal regulators.
Ferguson said the “special dividend” payment would undercut Albertsons’ ability to compete during the time government regulators are scrutinizing the proposed merger.
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, will be followed by a temporary restraining order, which, if granted, would prevent Albertsons from making the dividend payment until the lawsuit is settled. A hearing on the restraining order is expected later this week.
Last month, Kroger announced plans to buy Albertsons for $20 billion. Part of that deal included the $4 billion payout to Albertsons’ shareholders, which was scheduled to occur Nov. 7.
But last week, a bipartisan group of attorneys general from six states asked Albertsons to delay the pre-merger payout until a review could be completed. They say the payout, which amounts to almost a third of Albertsons’ market value, would impede the company’s ability to remain competitive while the merger is under review.
If approved by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, the merger of the two grocery giants is expected to close in early 2024.
Albertsons and Kroger operate more than 300 stores in Washington, including 80 in the Seattle area. Albertsons has groceries under its own name as well as Safeway and Haggen. Kroger owns Fred Meyer and QFC. Nationwide, the two companies have almost 800,000 employees and close to 5,000 stores across 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Ferguson’s lawsuit points out that, although Albertsons is publicly traded, a large portion of its stock is controlled by a private equity consortium, Cerberus Capital Management, which bought Albertsons in 2006. The firm helped finance the 2015 purchase of the Safeway chain and took Albertsons public in 2020.
According to Ferguson's suit, “paying out $4 billion will mostly benefit this private equity consortium, which controls Albertsons.”
In a press release, the attorney general said the payout could reduce grocery inventories and impact Albertsons’ workers over the next year.
“Paying out $4 billion before regulators can do their job and review the proposed merger will weaken Albertsons’ ability to continue business operations and compete,” Ferguson said. “Free enterprise is built on companies competing, and that competition benefits consumers. Corporations proposing a merger cannot sabotage their ability to compete while that merger is under review.”
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A year of GRIT in Tacoma: Today So Far
- Tacoma's GRIT pilot program has been paying people a guaranteed income for nearly a year now. How has it been going?
- Washington's pandemic state of emergency has ended. Did you notice?
- Takeaways from the Schrier / Larkin debate.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for November 1, 2022.
You can work a full-time job around Western Washington these days and still not make ends meet. Most folks know this. Beyond the traditional thinking of spending a third of income on rent, putting away money elsewhere, and so on, is the local reality of out-of-reach rents, and ever rising costs of living. Not to mention the inflation that has recently struck.
This creates a unique pocket of people: those with jobs, but who don't qualify for assistance like food cards, etc. That's why Tacoma has been conducting an experiment — guaranteed income. Since December 2021, 110 Tacoma families have received $500 a month. The program is called "GRIT" (Growing Resilience in Tacoma). There were no strings attached, though participants had to be ALICE households (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). Such families earn above federal poverty limits, but still can't afford regular expenses like child care, transportation, or housing.
"It's been a massive help for getting myself back on my feet, because before I joined the program I felt like I was barely making it," Geno Rosario told Seattle Now.
Rosario is a single father. He used some of the funds for tutoring for his son amid pandemic shutdowns. Before the program, he notes that small incidents would dramatically affect day-to-day life.
"Like a flat tire or my son's unexpected insulin refills, small things that would normally be small for other people, would just trip me up and set me back for, sometimes, weeks or months at a time."
Abigail Lawson is the director for Tacoma's guaranteed income pilot. Data for the first six months of the pilot was recently released, providing the first peek into how it has worked so far.
"Families are using the funds, the guaranteed income, for food or hygiene products, for mechanical repairs, for tuition expenses, for after-school programming like football or soccer, tutoring, things like that," Lawson told Seattle Now.
"It contradicts, directly, a lot of the narratives that float around guaranteed income, that say that it stimulates laziness and disincentives work, etc. We've seen the opposite. We've seen that (for) families, it has lit the spark of their own self-empowerment, and we're seeing families really work to better their situation, fix up their credit, so they have longer term financial wellness."
Tacoma's GRIT pilot will end on Dec. 15. Check out the full Seattle Now discussion here.
As of today, Washington state is no longer in a state of emergency over the Covid pandemic, and the governor's last few emergency orders have expired. Did you notice? Me neither. That's probably because most orders have already phased out, or because most folks don't work in settings where masks will still be required (health care, clinics, etc.).
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Seattle is suing marketing firm over opioid crisis
Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison is suing McKinsey & Co., a firm that worked with opioid producers Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson.
McKinsey and Co. worked as a consulting firm for the pharmaceutical companies as they marketed opioid drugs like OxyContin, starting in 2007.
Seattle filed its lawsuit on Oct. 31. The city argues that the firm played a significant role in promoting the drug and misleading the public about its safety with "aggressive and deceptive marketing."
According to Seattle's City Attorney's Office, the work McKinsey did "exacerbated our city's homelessness and mental health crises, and wrought havoc on communities across Seattle."
RELATED: Fentanyl is a great drug for cartels. But those blue pills are killing King County
"The opioid crisis in Seattle is responsible for hundreds of deaths every year, so many of which are among our city’s most vulnerable, and often overlooked populations," Davison said in a statement. "We can never bring back the loved ones lost to addiction and overdose, but with this lawsuit, we are taking another step towards holding the people who fueled this crisis accountable.”
The city attorney blames the rise in illegal opiates, such as heroin and fentanyl, on the preceding rise in prescription opioids.
Davison's office also notes that the city of Seattle has spent millions of dollars as a result of the opioid epidemic, pointing to a three-month period in 2017, when Seattle spent $906,000 for its fire department to respond to 453 calls for opioid-related emergencies. The attorney's office also argues that Seattle spent $800,000 to clean up homeless encampments that same year, "nearly all of which contained hypodermic needles used to inject opioids."
Seattle's lawsuit comes less than a month after other cities, such as Portland and Philadelphia also sued McKinsey and Co. for its role in the opioid crisis.
Seattle also sued Purdue Pharma in 2017 over the opioid crisis and received a $183 million settlement.
“Opioid addiction is one of the most pressing issues facing our society today," Davison said. "In addition to the significant harm it is doing to individual lives, it is also contributing to the increase in misdemeanor crime. We cannot meaningfully address public safety in our city if we do not also address the impact that opioids like heroin and fentanyl are having in our communities.”
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