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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Two Pacific lamprey have made history in Oregon
Two Pacific lamprey have made history. The eel-like fish made it past the Soda Springs Dam on Oregon’s North Umpqua River. It's an important milestone as the region deals with climate change.
“The access to cool water habitats are going to be pretty important in the future," said Bob Nichols, the fish forest program manager for the North Umpqua National Forest.
Nichols says the current hope is that more lamprey will be able to reach more habitat north of the dam.
Pacific lamprey are a culturally important food for indigenous people and are a source of some traditional medicines.
Biologists think, in this case, one lamprey may have followed the other because if its pheromones. That can help guide lamprey to good spawning habitat.
Read the full story on this milestone here.
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Kent teachers threaten strike if contract not reached Wednesday
Kent School District and its teachers union have until Wednesday night to reach a contract for school to start on time Thursday.
A mediator from the state Public Employment Relations Commission sat down with the two sides Tuesday to help them reach a deal.
Kent Education Association Vice President Layla Jones said the district needs to boost pay to reflect inflation and the teacher shortage, and to ease staff workload by lowering class sizes and case loads.
“We're also looking at wraparound supports, those mental health services provided by counselors, behavior support, making sure we're having nurses in our buildings to help take care of our kids, just, you know, those basic things that our students need, especially coming out of a pandemic," Jones said.
District spokesperson Faith Sisley declined an interview request but referred to the district's website, which said the district has already "offered similar increases to our neighboring and regional districts who have recently completed their bargaining processes and keeps teacher salaries competitive."
Seattle and Federal Way Schools are also still in contract talks, but with longer runways - those districts have two weeks to go before the first day of school.
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The dual narrative around Dan Price: Today So Far
- We're slated for a third La Niña winter in a row. That's rare. But what could it mean for the Northwest?
- Dan Price is known as a CEO saint in the headlines and on social media. But those closer to him have varying perceptions.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 23, 2022.
Three La Niña winters in a row?! That's rare, and it's what we are facing heading into the winter ahead.
“It is unusual,” assistant state climatologist Karin Bumbaco told KUOW, further noting that state weather records only go back 73 years. “This has only happened two other times in that 73 record. The winter of 2000-2001 was a third La Niña, that was a triple-dip La Niña event. The other one was the 1975-1976 winter.”
The Northwest is currently in a La Niña pattern that is expected to continue through December, January, February (aka "winter"). It means Washington state can expect colder-than-average temps during that time — probably about 1 degree or 1.5 degrees lower, according to Bumbaco.
Just so you know, this does not mean snow ... but it could also mean snow. La Niña makes it colder, but it doesn't guarantee precipitation. At this point, there are equal chances of snow or no snow this winter. Best to just be prepared ahead of time.
Take those two other triple back-to-back La Niñas that Bumbaco mentioned above. In 2001, we had an extremely dry winter with low snow pack; the region entered a drought after that. In 1976, it was wetter than normal and we entered spring with above average snow.
However the coming winter plays out, Bumbaco tells KUOW that she does not expect an anomalous season like the extended cold spring we just had, which was about three degrees colder than normal.
In case you're curious, in the more near-term, the Climate Prediction Center expects above normal temps over the next three weeks. September looks fairly normal with chances of above average precipitation for the Olympic Peninsula and north Puget Sound. Hear all of Bumbaco's climate and weather insights here.
Maybe you know Dan Price because he’s the CEO who took a pay cut to give his employees higher salaries so they can live in a city like Seattle. Maybe you know him because of the recent allegations of abuse and assault. Or maybe you just know him as that guy who looks a lot like that painting of Jesus that was on your grandparent’s wall … just me?
Price has built a bit of an online persona. For lack of a better term, he feels like an “influencer,” promoting that CEOs be compassionate and look out for their employees — such as pay them decently. He initially made headlines when he established a $70,000 minimum wage at his Seattle-based company Gravity Payments. New York Times technology correspondent Karen Weise has been skeptical of Price’s persona for a while now, and tells KUOW’s Seattle Now that there is more of a dual narrative going on, depending on who you ask.
“There is a lot that they say is true,” Weise said. “That they do have this minimum wage, I believe it’s now $80,000 a year. People talk about feeling empowered at the individual level, they are not micromanaged, they talk about having great colleagues, a mission to help small businesses.”
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Stay out of the water at Seattle's Howell Park and Madrona Beach
King County officials are warning people and pets to stay out of the water at Howell Park, Madrona Beach, and the stretch of Lake Washington shoreline between the two parks.
A sewage spill Tuesday morning is behind the warning, which also applies to the street-end parks at East Olive and East Pine streets.
See a map of closed Lake Washington beaches due to high bacteria levels here.
Meanwhile, Gene Coulon, Matthews, Meydenbauer Bay, and Newcastle beaches along Lake Washington remain closed because of high bacteria levels in the water.
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King County health officials tracking E. coli outbreak with unknown source
Public Health Seattle and King County is investigating an E. coli outbreak, which it says has sickened at least seven people among the county's east African communities. The source of the bacteria is currently unknown.
The seven patients are between 11 months and 35 years old. Six have recovered. Four were hospitalized.
The first case of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli was reported in December 2021, but the last six were reported since June 2022. Health officials also say that most patients reported eating different types of meat, from goat to ground beef.
While health officials cannot rule out multiple contamination sources, genetic fingerprinting indicates that all seven people have the same strain of the bacteria, which means they likely got sick from the same source.
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Seattle's school bus routes uncertain ahead of new school year
Seattle has about two weeks to go before the new school year starts, but families are waiting to find out if school bus routes will be up and running this fall.
Seattle Public Schools sent a letter to families Monday, warning them that it is still dealing with a bus driver shortage. Districts across the U.S. are dealing with similar issues. The bus driver shortage in Seattle led to the district suspending 142 routes in October 2021.
Families will find out if their routes will be affected by driver shortages before the new school year begins on Sept. 7. School officials are reminding everyone that students can ride King County Metro, Sound Transit, and other transit services for free.
With a two-tiered (staggered) school bell schedule, school officials say there is an increased need for bus drivers. The district back-tracked on plans to create a three-tier system, which it said would improve drive times/routes, after parents spoke out.
The district announced earlier this year it secured new transportation contracts with First Student and Zum — school bus companies — which are still trying to get up to full staffing levels themselves. The district says, once more drivers are hired, suspended bus routes will be reinstated.
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West Coast states band together to fight methane pipeline expansion
California, Oregon, and Washington have joined forces to push back against a methane pipeline along the West Coast.
“This project undermines Washington state’s efforts to fight climate change,” said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. “This pipeline is bad for the environment and bad for consumers.”
On Monday, Ferguson filed a motion opposing an expansion of a pipeline known as the Gas Transmission Northwest. It flows through Washington, Oregon, and California. Ferguson is arguing that the proposal is counter to Washington's efforts to battle climate change.
The pipeline is a subsidiary of Canadian company TC Energy. The company is currently asking for federal approval of the pipeline expansion. According to the AG's Office, this proposal would result in 150 million cubic feet of additional methane gas moving across the Northwest, each day. The gas is intended to be sold in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California. Ferguson argues that about 3.47 million metric tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted from this project each year, for 30 years.
"This is equivalent to adding 754,000 cars on the road each year until 2052," the AG's office states.
Ferguson calls the proposal a "stealth expansion" of the pipeline. He argues that the expansion is not required to meet the energy needs of the region, and is rather an effort to expand market share. The other West Coast states align with this argument.
“The West Coast is experiencing very real impacts of climate change and leading the climate fight, so it is fitting that Oregon, Washington, and California band together on this joint motion asking (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to take a hard look at this pipeline proposal,” said Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called on the commission to deny the pipeline expansion or at least to look at what he called "the inadequacy of the environmental review" for the project.
“Expanding the capacity of this pipeline would have significant environmental and public health impacts and is out of step with state and federal climate goals – and FERC can’t honestly say otherwise," Bonta said. "The reality is, when we expand gas infrastructure, it’s all too often minority, low-income, and Indigenous communities that pay the price. I urge FERC to comply with the law and not allow this expansion to move forward.”
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The best time to make an impact in your city: Today So Far
- A small town protest, years ago, serves as a lesson for Seattle — right now. Now is the time to speak up and be engaged Seattle.
- Washington state reports its first pediatric case of monkeypox.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 22, 2022.
Nearly 10 years ago, a small group of protesters lined a corner along Highway 305 at the edge of downtown Bainbridge Island. They were objecting to a proposed, small shopping center there, anchored by a drug store, that would require many trees to come down.
Cars honked at folks on the side of the road, holding signs chiding the developer and encouraging people to "say no to sprawl." At one point, a local teen climbed up one of the trees and camped out for a couple days in defiance of the bulldozers. Locals even wrote a reggae song about her. The crowd grew, and people cheered each other on. Suddenly, a lot more islanders were interested in this tree-lined corner.
But nothing about the issue was sudden. And if you live in Seattle today, this Bainbridge Island moment serves as a lesson for you, right now.
There were many reasons for islanders' objections: increased traffic or the impact to neighboring homes. There was nothing wrong with these opinions. I personally enjoyed a vision of the island that was more natural and with fewer strip malls. And I knew some of the good people standing on that corner; I sympathized with them. But I couldn't help but shake my head at the protest — their timing was way off.
I was a reporter on the island at the time. I had covered the many meetings — months and months prior — at city hall where the developer went through design reviews, and public comment meetings. Not a lot of protesters showed up for that, or engaged in the local news about it. Sure, there were objections and criticisms. The comment that sticks out most during that time was a resident arguing that a drug store maybe wasn't needed, so they asked if they could get a Trader Joe's instead. That was the time to speak up. It was also time to speak up years before, when the city drafted the its zoning codes, the boarders of its maps, and designated that land for such development. By the time a picket sign showed up in the heat of the moment, it was much too late. Today, there is a drug store and a medical facility on that land.
Seattle — right now is your time to speak up. The city is accepting public comment as it updates its comprehensive plan. And hey, I get it. City hall procedures and jargon never sound appealing. But if you care about the issues facing Seattle, this is where you make an impact — when local leaders meet at city hall. This plan will set the tone in Seattle. It guides development, and charts a course for the city to grow.
A quarter of a million people are expected to show up in Seattle over the next 20 years. Where will they live? How will they live? These concerns come as the city already faces a range of issues: affordable housing, displacement, rising rents, and more. The answers to a lot of this will be in the comprehensive plan.
The results will be felt years from now. You might see people lining a Seattle street objecting to high rise apartments, or more single-family homes, or trees coming down, or shopping centers, etc. They'll shout NIMBY and YIMBY, and a few yet-to-be invented names. But by that time, it will likely be too late. The ink will have long dried on the comprehensive plan by then.
Seattleites can submit their input on this issue here. Public comment ends at 5 p.m. today. KUOW's Joshua McNichols took a deep dive into this extensive issue. Check out the full story here.
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'Seattle's just a great comic book city': Here's what you missed at Emerald City Comic Con 2022
Emerald City Comic Con brought thousands of fans, artists, creators and celebrities to the Seattle Convention Center over the weekend.
Soundside Producer Jason Burrows was there, and brings us this audio postcard.
Like countless other events, Emerald City Comic Con was forced to adapt to because of Covid.
In March 2020, the convention was postponed to later in the summer due to rising case numbers. The rescheduled in-person event was cancelled and a virtual event was held instead.
A smaller Emerald City Comic Con returned in December 2021, but now, the gathering is seeing attendance numbers almost at pre-pandemic levels.
It's a welcomed return for Canadian comic book writer Jim Zub.
"I have missed the energy. Seattle is a great city," Zub said. "The show's always so well done. And it's a really good balance between the general pop culture stuff, but with a nice comic book and art focus."
"Honestly, I just think Seattle is a great comic book city," Zub added. "They're into it. They like the books. Don't get me wrong, the movies are great, the TV shows, and all the pop culture related stuff is great. But I'm here for the comics. And so many people here in Seattle are too. They love the books. They want to talk about the specific stories and the art, and that is really special. As amazing as it is that this stuff goes into the wider pop culture sphere, it is great to still be making comics and have people appreciate those for their own medium."
The weekend was like a homecoming for many, but for others, it was their very first time in the Emerald City, like Brooklyn-based comic artist Sunny Sponder.
Sponder showcased some sugar-inspired craft creations at his booth .
"When I decided that I wanted to be an artist alley artist, I wrote down a list of everything I love," Sponder said. "And one of the lines was Cinnamon Toast Crunch, so I had to figure out how to make art out my favorite cereal. I made these cinnamon pins."
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Seattle sweeps homeless camp from Interurban Trail
Seattle's Interurban trail looks a bit different now that the city has removed several tents, and trash, from along the path.
Before last weekend, dozens of tents lined the trail in the Bitter Lake Neighborhood in North Seattle.
Farrine Mathews lived in a tent there for more than three months.
"We had a little community, you know I was actually one of the people that went from tent-to-tent and try to get people involved with each other," Mathews said.
Mathews said city crews moved in quickly and threw a lot of things away, including a community table where people shared supplies.
"A local Church put it in and it was just somewhere you could bring food and put it in there, or you could come and get food, there were books in there sometimes, or tampons, or toilet paper," Mathews said. "Just random things and they took it out."
After the clearing, Mathews hauled her few belongings to a tiny house.
Hear more of this story on KUOW's Seattle Now.
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The spoiled dogs of KUOW's audience
Washington state has the third most-spoiled dogs in the USA. So we asked our KUOW readers for photos of their spoiled dogs.
From dressing up for local festivals to special cakes, and even a preference for listening to KUOW while humans are away — we have some spoiled dogs.
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Grant County deputies intervene when guns show up at crowded concert
UPDATE: Aug. 24, 2022
Grant County Sheriff’s Office is back-tracking a recent assessment this morning. Officials now say they no longer believe a mass shooting was intended when an armed man was arrested outside the Gorge Amphitheater last Friday.
It is still unclear why the man reportedly loaded two handguns from the rear of his car and lingered outside the concert. The Sheriff's Office didn't say exactly why it changed its mind about the man's suspected intent, but says it is still investigating the case. The man has since posted $10,000 bail and will be in court again next month. He has pled not guilty to one count of possession of a dangerous weapon and one count of unlawful carrying or handling of a weapon.
Deputies took him into custody after concert-goers said they saw him placing two loaded pistols in his waistband. They also said he was asking what exit people would use once the concert was over.
According to a statement from the Sheriff's Office:
"Detectives have interviewed (the man) and have served search warrants on two vehicles. While the investigation is not yet finished, what we can say is that we now don’t feel that his intent was to cause a mass shooting.
We remind everyone: If you see something, say something. The concertgoers did the right thing by reporting suspicious activity, and we appreciate their involvement."
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Aug. 22, 2022
Grant County Sheriff deputies believe they may have prevented a mass shooting amid a sold-out Friday night concert at the Gorge Amphitheater.
They arrested a 31-year-old man — a resident of nearby Ephrata — outside the gates of the amphitheater. He had two loaded pistols on him — one hidden in his waistband.
Event security were alerted to the man's presence when concertgoers allegedly witnessed him inhale a gas from a balloon, before loading the firearms in the trunk of his car. He then asked passersby what exit people would be using once the event was over. He never entered the concert grounds, however.
Deputies disarmed the man outside the venue and took him to jail. The Grant County Sheriff's Office notes that there were approximately 25,000 people attending the concert, the Bass Canyon electronic music dance festival.
The main lesson that deputies are promoting from this incident: If you see something, say something.
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