KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
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Stories
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University of Washington students join pro-Palestinian campus protest movement
University of Washington students have organized a pro-Palestine protest camp on the northeast side of the Seattle campus' Quad.
As of Monday morning, a couple dozen people were at the camp, speaking out against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The camp is part of a growing movement at university campuses across the United States.
UW's Quad, normally quiet in the morning, was punctuated with student chants.
"Stop the war machine!" the protestors shouted. "Don't cry, we won’t let you die."
UW students protesting the war in Gaza are calling on the university to divest from Boeing, which organizers said has aided and profited from Israel's occupation in Gaza.
RELATED: Pro-Palestinian encampments and protests spread on college campuses across the U.S.
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This carless Seattleite has a vision for the city's 'holistic' transportation future
Without a car, people can find themselves walking on the shoulder of a road, steering their wheelchair out into traffic, and commuting longer and farther via transit.
Anna Zivarts wanted to highlight those experiences when it comes to transportation planning in a new book, titled "When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency."
Across Seattle, Zivarts can point to features that make travel easier and safer for people without a car – and places where they are sorely lacking.
RELATED: Seattle has a long road ahead to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2030
One of the better examples is the University of Washington light rail station, a hub for walking, biking ,and transit.
"In talking to folks who don't drive, living near light rail, that is sort of the dream, right?" Zivarts said. "Having this kind of access."
It does have its problems, though. Pedestrians must cross several lanes of traffic to reach their buses. And the cost of housing in some of these vibrant neighborhoods puts them out of reach for the people who most need that connectivity.
RELATED: How will your life change when Bellevue's light rail opens?
Meanwhile, other neighborhoods are more affordable but lack infrastructure for non-drivers. Zivarts said hundreds of housing units are about to come online farther south, at the intersection of Rainier Avenue South and I-90, where planning is underway for a new Judkins Park light rail station. But she said the area needs major safety upgrades for transit riders and pedestrians.
"Crossing Rainier and crossing the on-ramps, not very pleasant, super unsafe," she said. "Rather than this freeway-car funnel right there, how can this be a neighborhood?"
Through her work at Disability Rights Washington, Zivarts has tried to advocate for the estimated quarter of the population that doesn’t drive cars, due to age, income, disability, or other reasons.
RELATED: Is King County’s Flex commuter van a flop? We tested it out
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Bellevue's light rail is rolling. Will a Seattle connection arrive in time for the World Cup?
As Bellevue celebrates its first light rail line this weekend, regional leaders are celebrating, too, but perhaps for different reasons. Sure, opening up new transportation options on the Eastside is a big deal, but also, the new light rail line comes along ahead of a major deadline for the Seattle area — the World Cup in 2026.
“We have got to be ready for 2026," King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci told KUOW's Kim Malcom while standing in the newly opened South Bellevue station.
RELATED: How will your life change when Bellevue's light rail opens?
"Our goal is to open this entire line in 2025. But at the latest, we have to be ready for 2026. There are so many hotels in east King County that will be full of people coming from all over the world to see the World Cup. We need them to be able to use this amazing, fast, reliable transportation to get there and back. It'll just make that experience so much better."
Light rail opening in Bellevue is a milestone for the region. It's the first time this form of transportation has opened outside of the Seattle line that has been running for years. It will provide a major east-west connection between the region's most populous areas — communities that currently send considerable numbers of car commuters across two Lake Washington bridges. It also marks the first in a handful of new connections for the light rail system in a relatively short period of time.
There is a range of new light rail access coming online in the next couple of years. Trains will start running up to Lynnwood in August 2024, extending rail beyond Seattle's Northgate station. Light rail down to Federal Way is expected in 2026.
RELATED: After 16 years and $3 billion, Lynnwood light rail set to open this summer
"After this opening, the next one will be to Lynwood, and then to Federal Way," Balducci said. "And I would be excited if I were them because it will be here before you know it."
The extension to Federal Way will add 7.8 miles of rail south of Seattle, and will also activate stations in Kent and Des Moines. The three new stations will have parking to accommodate 3,200 vehicles.
Bellevue's light rail line was originally intended to connect to Seattle, across the floating I-90 bridge. That would connect Bellevue to Mercer Island, and Judkins Park in Seattle. But that portion of the line has been plagued by construction mishaps and delays. Balducci, who sits on the Sound Transit Board's expansion committee, said that they have decided to stay with the current construction contractor to get the job done sooner than later. After that, "we are going to have to work through who's responsible for the workmanship problems, and who pays for which aspects. That will all have to be worked out in a negotiation or ultimately in court."
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Everett reports 3 fentanyl overdoses in young children in 1 week
The Everett Fire Department said in a statement Thursday that this week the city’s firefighters have responded to three suspected fentanyl overdoses in very young children, one of them fatal.
“The City of Everett is deeply concerned about the increasing fentanyl overdoses that involve young children," the statement reads. "Even a small amount of fentanyl residue can be lethal to children, as the drug can be more potent to a baby or toddler's smaller body and lack of opioid tolerance. Pills can look like candy to children, especially when they're brightly colored.”
Firefighters were able to revive two children, aged 6 and 11 months, with the overdose reversal medication Narcan, but a third child, aged 13 months, died.
“The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct a positive identification of the child, as well as determine the official cause and manner of death,” the statement said.
RELATED: Report: China continues to subsidize deadly fentanyl exports
Dr. James Lewis, the health officer for Snohomish County, called the three incidents “a complete tragedy” and said he’s scrutinizing the available data “trying to think of ways we can work to prevent this from happening in the future.” Snohomish County reports opioid overdose deaths on a dashboard.
Lewis said deaths among children aged 15 and under remain extremely rare.
The county had no such deaths in 2020 or 2021. But in 2022 there were four, and two more so far this year before the Everett Fire Department’s announcement.
Lewis said nonfatal overdoses in young children are also a growing concern.
“We do hear from partners that there is increasing nonfatal overdoses as well, which can obviously be very traumatic and scary both for the infant and for the family,” he said.
RELATED: Curriculum about fentanyl, other opioids could come to WA junior high classrooms
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Stranded baby orca swims free after being trapped in a BC lagoon for 5 weeks
The baby orca known as Brave Little Hunter is swimming free after spending weeks trapped in a lagoon off of Vancouver Island. But work is not finished to ensure the wellbeing of the calf.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada reports that Brave Little Hunter — aka kʷiisaḥiʔis — was able to swim out of the lagoon early Friday morning.
RELATED: Why are these killer whales increasingly showing up in the Salish Sea?
"Five weeks ... there's been a lot of ups and downs, twists and turns, given the death of mom, and figuring out the best way to approach the situation, and recognizing that the animal was likely nutritionally impacted," said Paul Cottrell with Fisheries and Oceans Canada at a press event Friday afternoon.
In late March, the calf became trapped in the lagoon with its mother, known as T109A3. The pair swam into the lagoon during high tide and became stuck when the water retreated. The mother did not survive as the water levels declined. The calf, however, has remained in the lagoon ever since and officials with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, along with members of the Nuchatlaht First Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation, have attempted to rescue it.
An attempt to get the calf out of the water and onto a truck failed on April 12.
On April 25, during a high tide, a rescue crew with members of the Nuchatlaht First Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation used an inflatable vessel and sea lion meat to coax the calf out of the lagoon. It took time, but it worked.
"Yesterday, with moving the calf to the causeway, so close to getting her (out of the lagoon), unfortunately she didn't (leave) and it was a low tide," Cottrell said, noting they watched the calf overnight. "Then at about 2:30 a.m. ... we actually saw her disappear and we believe that she went through. We confirmed that this morning."
In the early morning hours of April 26, Brave Little Hunter made her way out of the lagoon entirely. She was soon spotted swimming in the Espinosa Inlet, heading toward the Esperanza Inlet.
RELATED: Orcas are actually not one species, but three
The mission now is to reunite Brave Little Hunter with her extended orca family. Rescue crews are working to encourage the calf to swim toward more open water, however, it is not exactly known where she is. Crews are monitoring the location of other Bigg's killer whales in the region.
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Counting down to ‘All Aboard!’ East Link: And it still has that new (light rail) car smell
It's been years in the making and finally, light rail is officially opening in Bellevue Saturday. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm went to the South Bellevue Station to get a closer look and talk to King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, who championed the project on the Eastside.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Kim Malcolm: The East Link extension was supposed to cross Lake Washington into Seattle. That's not where we're at right now. So why is opening just this section still a big deal?
Claudia Balducci: We will ultimately connect to Seattle. But there's been some rework needed on the I-90 bridge segments. That left this entire Eastside segment of eight stations over six and a half miles completed, ready to go, but unable to connect yet to (Seattle). It was really important to me that we put it to use.
The voters are investing in this system, it's ready to go. There are a lot of reasons people would travel this segment. There are big employment centers and activity centers, and frankly, it's better for Sound Transit. Mothballing stations for a year without use would be more expensive and more difficult than putting them to use for the public. So, this just made sense.
What have you been hearing from East-siders about the opening of this line?
When I first came out and said we should open the stations that are ready to go, it was the most popular thing I have ever proposed. People love the idea they are ready to ride. They've been waiting a long time, and it's very exciting for folks to come and ride it. I see smiles on people's faces, and they haven't even gotten on board yet.
Traffic is an issue everywhere. Talk a little bit about commuting, and what you think is going to happen here.
I've had a chance to ride it, and the thing you notice when you get on is it goes very smoothly and very quickly through a relatively congested part of the region. There's no way you could get from here to there as quickly by any other means, not by car, not on the freeway. This is the fastest way to get between these points.
The connection over the I-90 bridge has been pushed back for at least another year for a variety of reasons. Is there going to be accountability for that delay?
Yes. I'm a chair of the Sound Transit Board System Expansion Committee, which oversees our capital projects. We decided to stay with the current contractor to complete the bridge. That was the best, fastest, most reliable way to actually get the project done, in our view. When it's over, we are going to have to work through who's responsible for the workmanship problems, and who pays for which aspects. That will all have to be worked out in a negotiation or ultimately in court.
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Seattle cop accuses Chief Diaz of ‘predatory behavior’ and ‘grooming’
This story was updated to include a statement from Chief Adrian Diaz's personal attorney.
Four female Seattle police officers notified the city on Thursday that they intend to sue for sex discrimination, harassment, and hostile work environment.
The four women are Lt. Lauren Truscott, Officer Valerie Carson, Officer Kame Spencer, and Officer Judinna (Jean) Gulpan. They’re asking for $5 million in damages.
Allegations of harassment extend to the chief. “Chief [Adrian] Diaz seemingly engaged in predatory and discriminatory behavior,” wrote Sumeer Singla, attorney for the four women. Singla is a former assistant city attorney for Seattle, and provided counsel to the police department.
RELATED: 10 female cops speak out about sexism, harassment within the Seattle Police Department
Specifically, Diaz appeared to show interest in Officer Valerie Carson, Singla wrote, beckoning her for long chats at the end of her work shift in public affairs. “Chief Diaz’s practice became a running joke amongst his security detail, because they could not leave either.”
Diaz also commented on Carson’s dresses and high heels, according to the tort, and asked her to drive alone with him on New Year’s Eve 2020. Carson, uncomfortable, asked that his security detail be present.
“Ms. Carson thought it was odd that the SPD chief would want to go out alone with a female patrol officer on one of the busiest and hectic nights in the city without a security detail,” the tort reads. After some persistence, Diaz agreed to bring his detail, the tort says.
The chief also offered to do handy work at Carson’s house. She declined.
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Seattle's street trees have something to tell you
Taha Ebrahimi pointed to a golden chain tree along a street in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. It's the widest of its kind in the entire city. But golden chain trees have slowly disappeared from Seattle over the decades.
“These seeds ... these are actually poisonous," Ebrahimi told KUOW's Paige Browning on an episode of Seattle Now.
RELATED: Seattle passed a tree protection law last year. So why did a 'protected' cedar get the ax?
"In the 1960s, Seattle Children’s Hospital considered golden chain to be the biggest threat to children in Seattle. And now there are only 338 golden chain street trees in the city, probably for that reason.”
Golden chain trees have bright yellow flowers that droop when they bloom. They're among a wide variety of street trees in Seattle — trees planted along sidewalks or at least 10 feet from a curb. They're one of the reasons Seattle is so green. But such trees are more than decoration. Aside from the shade and noise damping benefits they provide, trees tell stories. They hold history. It's a history Ebrahimi says anyone can find sprouting throughout the city.
Street trees of Seattle
Like many did when the pandemic hit in 2020, Ebrahimi started taking neighborhood walks. She’d pass one tree, then another, very different varieties, and started wondering how, and why, they were there.
Luckily, Seattle has an online tree database for such curious minds. It helped, but it has its limits. So Ebrahimi called up Arthur Jacobson, author of “Trees of Seattle” and got him to join her on what became street tree walks.
“Together, we’d be walking and validating this data and it became obvious that a lot of the data was wrong," Ebrahimi said. "We found out about 22% of the city’s data was wrong.”
That put Ebrahimi on a mission: To accurately track Seattle’s street trees. It also added up to her new book, “Street Trees of Seattle.”
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Washington's high-capacity magazine ban will stay put as court battle continues
The sale of high-capacity gun magazines will remain illegal in Washington state while a court fight over the ban continues to play out. That’s according to a decision issued Thursday by Washington state Supreme Court Commissioner Michael Johnston.
The ruling stems from a 2022 state law banning the sale, import or distribution of gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
RELATED: Here's the new plan to boost background checks for guns bought at shows or online
Last fall, Washington’s attorney general sued Gator's Custom Guns, a dealer in Cowlitz County, for what it calls “egregious” violations of the law. The shop allegedly continued to sell high-capacity magazines more than a year after the ban went into effect.
But the gun dealer is pushing back, and says the law is unconstitutional. Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Gary Bashor agreed with the firearms dealer earlier this month, and struck down the law. Judge Bashor wrote in his opinion that the law violated both the federal and Washington constitutions.
Wally Wentz, the owner of Gator's, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that decision caused "mayhem" in his store as people rushed to buy hundreds of those magazines.
"My wife was handing out bags to people as they came in the door," Wentz told OPB.
But it didn't last long. The state filed an emergency motion to put the law back into place as it appeals that decision.
Hours after Judge Bashor’s ruling, the state Supreme Court issued a temporary stay until the commissioner could take a closer look and hear arguments from both sides.
RELATED: An $8 rifle spurred a change to Washington's background check law. Here's how
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Sue Bird returns to the Seattle Storm — as an owner
Seattle Storm superstar Sue Bird is returning to the basketball team, as an owner, less than two years after she retired from the game.
"As a player, I poured my heart into every game for the Seattle Storm, and now, as part of the ownership group, I am thrilled to continue contributing to the growth of the game,” Bird said in a statement.
RELATED: Seattle Storm retires Sue Bird's jersey
“Investing in women’s sports isn’t just about passion; it’s smart business," she said. "It’s about recognizing the immense talent, dedication, and market potential our league has always had. Force 10 Hoops and the Storm have been at the forefront of this for decades. Together, we’re not just shaping the future of basketball, but also paving the way for a more equitable and inclusive society.”
The team is owned by Force 10 Hoops, which announced Bird's arrival to the ownership group Wednesday, April 24.
“We are thrilled to welcome Sue into the ownership group after a storied career on the court,” Seattle Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel said in a statement. “Her knowledge of the game and the league, her ever-expanding business acumen, and her dedication to the Storm organization, make her a superb addition to the ownership group.”
Bird played for the Seattle Storm for more than 20 seasons. In that time, the team won four WNBA championships. Bird represented the USA in the Olympics, earning five gold medals, and she played in 13 All-Star Games. Her jersey number 10 was retired in June 2023.
The Storm's next season begins on May 14.
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Washington state hospitals are still losing money, leading to 'heartbreaking decisions'
Hospitals in Washington state are still losing money, a downward trend that started during the pandemic. And as they try to cut costs, patients are seeing the effects.
“Over the course of the last year, we've seen hospitals make what seem like mundane but also heartbreaking decisions about service reductions and closures,” said Cassie Sauer, the CEO of Washington State Hospital Association. “If you're someone who's looking for care, it can be a really big deal that your hospital now has less capacity.”
RELATED: Financial losses slow for WA hospitals, but concerns remain
Part of the problem is that the cost of providing care has risen because of inflation; the cost of supplies, drugs, and energy have all increased, as have staff salaries. But payments to hospitals from Medicaid and Medicare have stayed the same.
“We have a very expansive Medicaid program,” Sauer said. “The state has not kept pace with paying a reasonable amount for that care.”
The percentage of Washington residents on Medicaid and Medicare is growing, Sauer said, as the state expands its Medicaid program and the population ages.
RELATED: Washington hospitals continue to report financial losses
On top of that, a recent cyberattack cost some of the state’s hospitals millions of dollars.
Another problem for hospitals is the shortage of space at facilities like nursing homes. Because nursing homes in the state are generally already full, patients who are ready to be discharged from hospitals but need ongoing medical care may not be able to leave. Instead, they wait in hospital beds, taking up space that would otherwise go to someone else. Plus, once patients no longer need hospital-level care, the hospital doesn’t get paid for continuing to care for them.
“It’s bad for hospitals and it’s bad for patients,” Sauer said. Hospitals aren’t meant “for a long-term stay. … You don't get to be outside. You don't get to have social time with your friends. You're eating all your meals in the same room.”
RELATED: 50 years ago, many psychiatric hospitals closed. Did that cause today's mental health crisis?
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Shoreline's secret garden faded into history. The community wants to dig it back up
Who knows how many times Kathleen Lumiere had walked by the dilapidated house in her Shoreline neighborhood before she noticed them? It was on a pandemic-era walk when they could no longer be ignored — plums, peeking over a fence. And they were enticing.
"They were ripe and delicious looking ... and delicious, in fact," Lumiere told KUOW's Seattle Now. "And I was like, ‘Oh, wow. This in an amazing, amazing place.'"
RELATED: What Ciscoe Morris says you should know about spring gardening around Seattle
To the casual observer, the property had long decayed. Paint was chipping off the house with boarded up windows. Blackberry bushes and vines had advanced over the surrounding area. But Lumiere explored and spotted more fruit trees. She found herself returning to the disheveled lot at 16034 Greenwood Avenue North, again and again. There was more than meets the eye to this place.
"It had really, really good soil — my dad was a horticulturist, so I could tell that the soil was amazing," Lumiere said. "It didn't make any sense that an abandoned blackberry patch would have such amazing soil and such vigorous fruit trees. Even though they had been neglected for so long, they were still producing."
It was a mystery to be solved, so Lumiere started asking around, neighbor by neighbor. A story began to take shape, about a once glorious garden, tended to by a locally loved family who not only grew in that soil, they planted themselves in Seattle history. Their life had faded under the tangled weight of blackberry thorns and weeds.
The story became a seed of inspiration for Lumiere, which soon grew and took root with others. It even bloomed in the halls of local government. Now, locals are at the property, clearing, pruning, and cleaning; aiming to return this garden to its former glory.
A Shoreline garden
This wasn't just any home. It was the home of Joe and Jennie Ching. After moving to the area in the 1950s, they spent their life crafting the land, fertilizing it with coffee grounds and kitchen scraps to feed the many organic vegetables they grew. They cultivated fruit trees, spanning Asian pears to figs, apples to persimmon. There was a koi pond and a small bridge. It was constructed as many Asian gardens are, with no straight lines, so visitors could wander along its curves and discover something around each corner.
There were many visitors over the years. Joe had a reputation for taking delight in chatting up passersby and giving them a tour of his home, even strangers. He'd make sure they'd have a bag full of produce when they left. The family even once threw a Hawaiian lūʻau for the entire neighborhood. After a chance drive-by from gardening celebrity Ed Hume, who found the entire site so impressive, the Ching's creation was frequently featured on his TV show "Gardening in America." It wasn't just a garden the Chings were growing — they were digging up warmth and joy to share with Shoreline and beyond.
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