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
-
Seattle's new zoning rules dial up tension around preserving tree canopy
Environment
Lake City residents April Cowgill, left, and Carlen Luke in front of the Douglas Fir slated for removal by developers in January 2025.KUOW/Amy RadilSeattle is currently mapping how it will grow over the next 20 years. Mayor Bruce Harrell wants to double the city’s housing capacity, with the hope of bringing down costs. But as residential neighborhoods open up to new types of housing, the city’s environmental impact statement predicts “moderate tree canopy loss” as a result.
Tree advocates say the city can achieve its density goals while retaining existing trees for their climate and health benefits. But developers oppose those rules and city officials say rather than restrict new development, they hope to plant more trees on public land and rights of way.
RELATED: Homelessness continues to get worse. Should Seattle, and the U.S., still embrace 'Housing First'?
Next month, city officials will forward the first piece of legislation to the City Council to implement the zoning update. It will focus on allowing duplexes, fourplexes, and other new types of housing in neighborhood residential zones, in accordance with a new state law. Then in May, the city will forward the second piece of legislation focused on denser buildings in neighborhood centers.
Tree advocates say these changes are coming on top of the city's recent ordinance that gives developers greater ability to remove even so-called “exceptional” trees, those 24 inches across or greater.
Craig Bachmann is a master arborist based in Seattle who has consulted on development projects.
RELATED: As Seattle loses tree canopy, a city council bill may let developers cut down more
Continue reading » -
Former Seattle US Attorney sees ‘painful’ parallels between his firing and current moves by Trump
Law & Courts
In this Tuesday, March 27, 2007 file photo, former U.S. Attorney John McKay teaches a class at the School of Law at Seattle University in Seattle.The George W. Bush administration’s firing of Seattle’s U.S. Attorney John McKay and eight colleagues back in 2006 prompted criticism and an investigation that found political motivations played a role in some of the cases. An inspector general’s report could not rule out that McKay’s refusal to criminally investigate voter fraud in Washington State’s 2004 governor’s race factored into his dismissal.
In the years since that volatile episode, McKay has taught at Seattle University’s law school and done pro bono legal work for the Northwest Justice Project.
At the time, “it was painful for me and others to go through it,” McKay said in an interview. “But it looks like we’re about to go through that pain again. And my hope is that [the conversation] will focus on the important role of the independence of prosecutors.”
The Trump Administration’s decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams has led to the resignation of Manhattan’s interim U.S. Attorney and the lead prosecutor in that case.
RELATED: 3 top U.S. prosecutors resign over order to drop NYC Mayor Eric Adams corruption case
McKay said he's torn to hear of these resignations, because the work of federal prosecutors is so important.
“I hope people of competence and integrity will find a way to stay. But I totally understand if at some point it becomes necessary to resign rather than to commit what they see is an unlawful act. I think that’s what’s happening," he said. "So I’m proud and a little bit scared at the same time.”
This week the Trump Administration also removed Tessa Gorman as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, along with terminations of other U.S. Attorneys around the country. However, Gorman remains on staff as an assistant U.S. attorney.
Continue reading » -
Washington state clean-energy funds re-frozen by Trump White House
Environment
CM Heating technician Saul Benitez installs an electric heat pump in Shoreline, Washington, on July 28, 2023.KUOW Photo/John RyanMore than $500 million in federal funding for clean energy in Washington state is being held up by the Trump administration.
Washington state leaders say Trump officials have ignored court orders to release that congressionally mandated funding.
Most of the money was intended to help the state’s low-income and moderate-income residents adopt climate-friendly technologies like solar panels and heat pumps.
“Thousands of low-income families will be impacted,” Washington State Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyen said. “You will see sky-high heating bills and drafty homes with no relief in sight because some of these funds are frozen.”
Washington Commerce officials said they were not notified the state’s $156 million “Solar for All” grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been frozen a second time. They only noticed when they were unable to withdraw cash from their federal account.
“Solar for All was suspended, technically was open, and then, as of this morning, was suspended again,” Nguyen said Thursday.
Nguyen said a $3 million grant to help local communities devise strategies for decarbonization was also newly frozen as of Thursday morning.
RELATED: Trump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow
At least $92 million in funding for electric-vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling stations along major highway corridors in the state has been frozen, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“Washington’s and WSDOT’s commitment to decarbonization and electric vehicles remains strong,” spokesperson Barbara LaBoe said by email. “WSDOT will continue to make investments necessary to create a robust, reliable charging infrastructure available to all citizens throughout the state.”
Since 2023, Washington state has been charging major polluters to keep emitting climate-harming gases. The state-run auctions of pollution permits have brought in $3 billion — money to be spent mostly on fighting and preparing for climate change and helping communities overburdened by pollution.
Continue reading » -
Valentine's forecast calls for frigid temps in Western Washington, chance of snow, ice to the south
An aerial view of downtown Seattle and Eastlake are shown as the sun goes down on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerCold temperatures continue to grip Western Washington, with wind chills as low as 10 to 20 degrees north of Seattle and all the way down to 15 degrees below zero in the mountain passes.
The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a series of cold weather advisories until noon Thursday for the entire stretch of Western Washington along Puget Sound from the Canadian border south to Tacoma.
Those cold weather alerts are coupled with a winter weather advisory for a rain-snow mix moving into the area from the south Thursday afternoon into the evening.
The NWS advisories calls for up to two inches of wet snow through Friday evening in the Southwest Interior, Hood Canal area, and Lower Chehalis Valley, including the cities of Shelton, Montesano Elma, McLeary, Tumwater, Lacey, and Olympia.
Wet snow and wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour are expected until Friday morning in the East Puget Sound Lowlands including the cities of Monroe, Enumclaw, Maple Valley, Bonney Lake, Woodinville, and Prairie Ridge. Accumulation in those areas is expected to be up to an inch.
Continue reading » -
'The purge has begun.' Environmental justice workers locked out of EPA Seattle office
Environment
A crowd gathers outside of the Jackson Federal Building for a rally to "save the civil service," on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerNine Environmental Protection Agency employees in Seattle have been put on leave by the Trump Administration because they work on environmental justice.
Their jobs involve helping communities that breathe, eat, and drink more than their fair share of pollution.
Communities near major pollution sources like airports, factories, and oil refineries often have higher proportions of people of color, lower incomes, and shorter-than-average lifespans.
On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency had put 160 employees who work on environmental justice and 11 who work on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility on leave.
“The previous Administration used DEI and Environmental Justice to advance ideological priorities, distributing billions of dollars to organizations in the name of climate equity,” Zeldin said in a press release. “This ends now.”
Zeldin’s statement said EPA “will be good stewards of tax dollars and do everything in our power to deliver clean air, land, and water to every American, regardless of race, religion, background, and creed.”
EPA officials did not respond to interview requests for this story.
RELATED: EPA employees who work on environmental justice are put on leave
“The purge has begun at EPA,” said former agency employee Helen Bottcher.
Bottcher retired from the Seattle office in 2023 and has been volunteering with the employees’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1110.
Bottcher said the nine employees were locked out of their Seattle offices and electronic access to EPA systems on Thursday.
Continue reading » -
Stop international work, Trump administration tells ocean agency
Environment
A destructive bomb cyclone above the Northeast Pacific Ocean approaches the Canada-United States border on Nov. 19, 2024.The Trump administration has told the federal government’s ocean and atmosphere scientists to stop their international work.
Word came down verbally in all-staff meetings throughout the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday: All “international engagements” were on hold.
Staff were told to stop having discussions or meetings, real or virtual, on international topics.
The edict included directions not to email or work with “foreign national colleagues,” according to WIRED, which first reported it.
NOAA employees told KUOW that career officials with the agency struggled to interpret the edict and tell employees which specific activities were prohibited.
“[The agency] is seeking guidance currently on whether or not email exchanges regarding science are included in this,” an internal document obtained by KUOW said.
All the following “engagements” are on pause indefinitely until political appointees atop the agency can review them, according to an internal NOAA document:
• International travel or meetings
• Virtual meetings on international topics
• Bilateral meetings
• International working group or expert group meetings
Continue reading » -
Seattle City Attorney’s Office says it's ending its year-long feud with municipal judge
Law & Courts
Seattle Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi was elected to the bench in 2022.City of SeattleThe Seattle City Attorney’s office said it will once again allow a municipal court judge to hear criminal cases, after sidelining her for several months.
Last March the Seattle City Attorney’s office said in a statement they had “serious concerns” about Seattle Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi’s “conduct and rulings.”
City prosecutors said they would file so-called “affidavits of prejudice” to remove Judge Vaddadi from every criminal case going forward. (Attorneys routinely seek to remove judges from particular cases, but for the city attorney to deprive a judge of all criminal cases was unusual.)
The city attorney and municipal court adjudicate Seattle's criminal misdemeanors.
To balance out the municipal court’s workload, the court reassigned Vaddadi to review traffic and parking infractions. Vaddadi is a former public defender who began serving a four-year term at Seattle Municipal Court in January 2023.
But the city attorney’s office said at a court hearing Friday they had softened their position. When a judge asked a city prosecutor whether they are still seeking to remove Judge Vaddadi from all criminal cases the attorney, Ghazal Sharifi, said no.
“It’s my understanding that the municipal court is assigning criminal cases to Judge Vaddadi right now,” Sharifi said.
Tim Robinson, a spokesperson for Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, said the office’s new head of the criminal division wanted to “find a way forward” after the dispute. He said they will no longer bar Judge Vaddadi as a matter of course but will look at each case individually.
Lisa Foster, a spokesperson for Seattle Municipal Court, confirmed that the city attorney has now allowed some cases to be assigned to Judge Vaddadi, but said they aren’t yet enough to restore Vaddadi to her previous role.
“The court has seen cases filed without the affidavit. Cases are being assigned into Judge Vaddadi's courtroom. It is still a small number of cases, so she has not yet resumed seeing a full calendar in her courtroom and her current assignment remains in infractions,” Foster said.
On Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Brian McDonald dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the Seattle City Attorney, which claimed that city prosecutors were misusing their discretion by effectively unseating an elected judge. McDonald said the ability to remove a judge from specific cases is available as a matter of right to each party.
Continue reading » -
Action, comedy, and Beastmode. 'Love Hurts' is classic movie theater fun
Arts & Life
Ke Huy Quan and former Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch in a fight scene for "Love Hurts," slated to be released in movie theaters in 2025.Courtesy of Universal Pictures"Love Hurts" is a short and sweet punch-em-up movie with plenty of extravagant, over-the-top displays that add up to a simple good time. Don't overthink it. Just have fun.
And yes, Marshawn Lynch is quite good in it and will make Seahawks fans proud (he's even credited as Marshawn "Beastmode" Lynch).
RELATED: 'Y2K' does for Millennials what 'Dazed and Confused' did for '70s kids
In "Love Hurts," Marvin Gable is a quirky, fun real estate agent with a passion for selling homes to families. But he receives a card on Valentine's Day that sets in motion a series of events, forcing him to confront his past — a past filled with blood, mayhem, death, and all the other vicious attributes of a highly skilled gangster hitman. It all brings him back to old love and various bad guys, including Lynch. Each scene is not only punctuated by kicks, bullets, and blood, but also a bit of laughter.
"Love Hurts" is the latest offering in the "I used to be a badass, now I'm a mild suburbanite, but wait, I'm getting sucked back in and have to be a badass again" genre.
It's a small genre that has become crowded ever since 2014's "John Wick" (dog-loving suburbanite embraces his former life as an uber-violent assassin to get revenge). That film essentially ushered in our modern era of highly choregraphed violence built on top of a mysterious underground universe.
"Love Hurts" is brought to us by the same production company that gave us "John Wick," and also "Nobody" (a timid office worker gets no respect, but perspectives change when he is thrust back into is old ways as a deadly government assassin), and "Violent Night" (Santa Claus used to be a brutal warrior, but now he delivers presents and joy to children, however, you guessed it, he's forced to get brutal again).
There is really one main reason to watch a movie like "Love Hurts": The ballet of stunts, choreography, and violent spectacle across the screen. This ballet is quite enjoyable in this movie. While this brand of action has become common these days, "Love Hurts" stands out. Fights and stunts are not just about blood and guts, but also playful jokes. It brings to mind the antics of a Buster Keaton movie or a Jackie Chan film.
A lot of this could be credited to the fact that Ke Huy Quan leads this movie. After high profile roles as a kid in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Goonies," Quan continued to work in the film industry as a stunt and fight choreographer, skilled in taekwondo (before returning to acting a few years ago). In other words, he can really hit the ground running with a movie like this and raise the bar.
Continue reading » -
Olympia protest joins national day of action in state capitols across the USA
After a viral online organizing campaign, hundreds rallied in Olympia Wednesday, protesting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk as part of a national day of action.
"This is happening in 50 states across all of America right now," a man said into a blowhorn in front of the crowd. "We shouldn't have to be out here. We shouldn't have to be facing fascism right now, but here we are."
RELATED: Seattle businesses join nationwide 'day without immigrants' strike
The demonstration was part of a series of protests objecting to President Trump’s actions in office, so far in his second term. Organizers planned the events at state capitols across the country.
Word of the protest spread rapidly across social media in the days leading up to the event. Demonstrators told KUOW they found out about the protest through TikTok and Reddit.
The event was promoted at the national level by Political Revolution and Build the Resistance / 50501.
Kyle Bozich, aka Blue, was one of the local organizers of the Olympia protest.
"The core tenets of 50501 are, number one, to impeach Trump, to remove him from power; to investigate the actions of Elon Musk; and to raise awareness for the American people about the illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional actions of just a few people that seem to be gaining power relatively quickly in this country," Bozich said.
Continue reading » -
'Nothing to stress about.' Sea-Tac back to normal after snow and ice cause delays, canceled flights
Planes lineup for runway clearance at Sea-Tac International Airport.A day after more than 100 flights were canceled at Sea-Tac International Airport due to winter weather, officials said Tuesday things are running smoothly and are largely back to normal.
"We’re doing fine with keeping the airfield clear," said Kassie McKnight-Xi, aviation communications and marketing manager for the Port of Seattle. "You might see delays and cancellations, but that’s very common given how many flights we have every day. Nothing out of the ordinary right now."
On Monday, 105 flights were canceled at Sea-Tac after a wintery mix of rain, ice, and snow hit Western Washington, combined with below-normal temperatures.
RELATED: Sleetless in Seattle: City gets little rain and no snow this dry January
An additional 386 flights were delayed Monday, but McKnight-Xi pointed out that those delays could be as little as five minutes.
Cold air and a mix of precipitation will continue through the end of the week, according to the National Weather Service. Snow is predicted at Sea-Tac Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs in the upper-30s and lows hovering in the high-20s overnight into the weekend.
But accumulations are expected to be minimal, with around a half-inch of snow Tuesday night, and maybe another inch or two Wednesday into Thursday.
For now, McKnight-Xi said flights are operating and airport officials continue to monitor weather conditions.
"Things are moving along just fine," she said. "It's nothing to stress about."
Continue reading » -
How will Seattle prepare for potential Trump cuts?
Government
FILE - President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.AP Photo/Evan VucciThe Seattle City Council wants to get ahead of the rapid-fire changes coming out of Washington D.C.
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, citywide Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck says the city has watched him issue a "flurry" of executive orders.
Rinck is spearheading a new Council committee focused on following executive orders and coordinating a local response to potential funding cuts, particularly to housing, public safety, and transportation services.
RELATED: Trump rescinds freeze on federal funding
"We need to start planning and acting as though the disappearance of these federal grants is a real possibility for our community," Rinck told KUOW.
The Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes will be chaired by Rinck, with District 5 Councilmember Cathy Moore acting as vice-chair.
Rinck proposed the Committee, which was then approved by Council President Sara Nelson, who thanked Rinck in a statement Friday.
RELATED: Lawsuit challenges Trump’s suspension of program that helps detained immigrants
"We’re all seeing the chaos and uncertainty in Washington, D.C. but we’re focused on stability here," Nelson said. "Our constituents deserve to know that we are not only paying attention, but have a viable plan to protect our people, community resources, and basic government services."
Continue reading » -
University of Washington names new president, to begin summer 2025
Education
The University of Washington Board of Regents announced Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 that it selected Robert. J. Jones to be UW's 34th president. He will begin his new role in August.University of WashingtonWith University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce leaving her position this year, the university has now selected her replacement.
Robert J. Jones will become UW's 34th president, starting Aug. 1. In a statement, Jones said he is "beyond excited" about the new job.
"I'll see you soon, and go Huskies," Jones said in a statement.
RELATED: UW enters federal agreement to improve response to discrimination claims
"Education changes lives," he said. "I know this because it changed mine, and throughout my career I've worked to open doors for more students to have the same life-changing experience. I am so deeply committed to the UW's mission of partnering with communities so that more people can share in the benefits of university research and innovation."
The University of Washington Board of Regents announced its selection Monday, noting Jones will be the first Black president to lead the institution and has a "barrier-breaking personal journey."
Jones is currently chancellor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The UW position will be his third role leading a university.
Continue reading »