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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How Seattle plans to provide free preschool in 2025-26
The city of Seattle has opened applications for the 2025-26 preschool year, offering free or discounted tuition. Many Seattleites may be surprised that they qualify.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is psychic. That might be a shocking revelation to Seattleites. He didn't campaign on this supernatural trait, but he showcased what he calls his "special powers" to a preschool classroom Friday morning.
RELATED: Washington spends big on early education. So, why is it so hard to get your kid into preschool?
"My name is Bruce ... my special powers can tell how old you are," Harrell said to a group of kids at The Children’s Center at Burke Gilman Gardens. "Right now, there are a lot of 4-year-olds here, right?
Little hands went up across the room, indicating the accuracy of the mayor's uncanny numerical insight.
"And, there are some 3-year- olds here," he said.
More hands went up. Then, one kid said they were five and in a quick save Harrell said he already knew that.
Sure, it's quite convenient that Mayor Harrell was there to announce applications for the 2025-26 preschool year were officially open in Seattle — a program exclusively for kids 3-4 years old. But still, very impressive.
Unfortunately, it's unclear if Harrell's mystical command of numbers can be used to solve the budget gaps that seem to pop up in the city each year.
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Legal organizations alarmed over Trump’s targeting of Seattle law firm Perkins Coie
Legal organizations in Washington state have joined the outcry over President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting the Pacific Northwest’s largest law firm, Seattle-based Perkins Coie. The firm is headquartered at 1201 Third Avenue in Seattle and has more than 2,400 employees at 21 offices across the U.S. and overseas.
Trump’s order titled “Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLC” seeks to punish the firm, in part in part over its representation of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and its involvement in commissioning the anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele in 2016, which Trump said was “designed to steal an election.” This week, the firm sued to challenge the order in federal court in Washington, D.C.
RELATED: Law firm says Trump order targeting it specifically is attack on rule of law
Judge Beryl Howell found that Trump’s order could create a “chilling harm of blizzard proportions” around legal representation in general and blocked Trump’s order temporarily.
Meanwhile, the Washington State Bar Association's board this week issued a statement expressing “grave concerns” about Trump’s order, calling it a “dangerous strike against an impartial and independent justice system.” Nearly all the organization’s board members from around the state approved the letter.
The Seattle chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive bar association, echoed the alarm, saying, “If Trump is successful in attacking a well-respected, major, and essentially centrist law firm, Trump will only be emboldened to continue his attacks on the legal system in general, including judges, other lawyers, and state and federal government officials who stand up to his bullying.”
Additionally, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown signed on to a brief with other state attorneys general that said, “This Court cannot allow the President’s campaign of personal and political retribution to cut off effective advocacy.”
Chris Geidner is a Washington D.C.-based journalist who writes and publishes the legal newsletter Law Dork, and covered the federal court hearing on Wednesday.
He noted that the order against Perkins Coie goes much farther than Trump’s previous order targeting a different law firm, because it seeks to pressure the firm’s clients. It requires government contractors, which include many prominent Seattle-based companies, to disclose any business they do with Perkins Coie to federal agencies. Perkins Coie told the court such pressures pose an “existential” risk to the law firm.
Geidner said the Trump administration’s position was represented by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff Chad Mizelle, who said the president has authority to take action against Perkins Coie because the order involves matters of national security. But Judge Howell found that Trump’s order amounted to a personal vendetta that is not a governmental interest.
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British tourist arrested and detained at Tacoma ICE center after exchanging housework for lodging
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have arrested a tourist from the United Kingdom and have detained her at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.
Initial reports imply her alleged offense involves doing chores for host families in exchange for a roof over her head.
Rebecca (Becky) Burke, 28, is known in the comic book scene as a London-based artist who frequently posts autobiographical comic strips. She also produces zines and is often found at comic cons and art fests around the UK. For the past couple months, she has been on a backpacking trip through North America.
RELATED: ICE is making more arrests, but critics say some claims don't add up
"I've left my house share in London, and I'm waiting to get on a flight to Iceland. From there, I'm exploring North America and Canada," Burke wrote in a Jan. 1 post on Instagram. "I hope for lots of time in nature, time to rediscover myself. Thanks for friends who have helped me whilst I've been falling. I need to listen to myself now!"
According to her family, an issue with Burke's visa prevented her entrance into Canada on Feb. 28. When she was turned around and re-entered the United States, ICE arrested Burke and sent her to the detention facility in Tacoma.
ICE confirmed that it is holding Burke at the Tacoma processing center, "related to the violation of the terms and conditions of her admission. All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention, and if found removable by final order, removal from the United States regardless of nationality."
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Running for Seattle mayor from Tent City 3
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is running for reelection to a second term this year, and a handful of other candidates have jumped into the race so far.
One challenger said he’s seeing the city’s homelessness crisis up close, and it’s fueled his candidacy. Joe Molloy said he came to Seattle in 2021 and was evicted from his Ballard apartment last summer while dealing with health issues. Since then, he’s noticed what he calls “broken chains” of communication between the different services meant to help people who are homeless.
“I fully admit that I am not the most qualified candidate under normal circumstances,” Molloy said. “But I don’t feel like this city is under normal circumstances.”
Seattle has one of the worst rates of unsheltered homelessness in the country.
“I decided to run because I don’t feel like we are treating this like the state of emergency that it is,” he said.
RELATED: Homelessness is soaring among Seattle students. School support workers are on the front lines
Molloy is now a resident of Tent City 3, a communal encampment currently located in a parking lot in Seattle’s University District. Molloy puts in the same hours every resident contributes to helping administer the encampment and serves as a board member of the nonprofit SHARE (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort), as well as making his run for office.
“Your average Seattleite is just kind of worn out on the topic” of homelessness, Molloy said. “So, what I could bring to the table is a sort of understanding, base of knowledge, and willingness to address this issue in a real way.”
His platform calls for thousands more non-congregate emergency shelter units, like tiny homes, and a universal basic income pilot program.
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Full ferry service returning to Puget Sound summer 2025, Washington Gov. Ferguson says
After years of low staffing and unreliable schedules, Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Thursday that Washington state will have full ferry service by summer, bringing the system back to pre-pandemic levels.
"This won't just be happening with getting more vessels in the water, but also importantly, to make sure we're addressing issues with the important folks who are the backbone of our service, the crew... to make sure they have the resources they need and the compensation they deserve," Ferguson said at a press event held at the Bremerton ferry terminal.
RELATED: 'Mosquito Fleet Act' could bring small ferries to more Puget Sound communities
Bringing the ferry system to pre-pandemic levels will come at the sacrifice of upgrading two of the state's largest vessels. Plans to convert them to hybrid-electric engines is now on hold until further notice. The governor is also pressing for a budget that will fully fund ferry crews to keep all boats sailing on time.
Ferguson was joined by Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, who noted how much people in cities like his rely on the ferry for work, medical appointments, and other essential travel.
"We are a ferry-dependent community, and the ferry system plays a vital role in the lives of our residents, our workforce, and supports our economy," Wheeler said.
Despite the "vital role" ferries play in communities up and down the Puget Sound, the system has been plagued by low staffing and frequent cancelations ever since the pandemic struck in 2020. Ferguson, however, is adamant that the system will return to pre-pandemic operations by summer 2025, when tourism season means an uptick in ridership.
Another motivation for the push to get the ferries back in order is the World Cup's arrival in Seattle in summer 2026.
"We have a World Cup coming up, and that is going to put strain on the system," Ferguson said. "Literally, it's one of the biggest events in the world, and we need to be prepared for that on many levels. And that includes our transportation system, which, of course, includes our ferry system."
To get back to full service, the state is addressing two issues: the number of vessels on routes and staffing.
Full ferry service by June 2025
One of the system's largest ferries, the MV Wenatchee, has been out of the mix for nearly two years for an upgrade to a hybrid-electric engine. It's about n $36 million over budget, according to the ferries. It is now slated to return to service in June and will become the state's first hybrid-electric ferry. The state had planned to convert two other ferries, but those plans are now on hold. The vessels will continue to run normal routes.
RELATED: The tricky business of charging Washington's coming hybrid electric ferries
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Several federal buildings in WA deemed non-essential could be sold
Updated on Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 9:51 a.m.: U.S. Senator Patty Murray issued a statement to KUOW regarding the U.S. General Services Administration's list of "non-core" properties, which includes the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building. Murray's Seattle office is located in the federal building.
"At the behest of an unelected billionaire, President Trump is pushing to sell all manner of federal properties with zero thought or consideration for what the people who work there actually do. Selling the buildings people work in to help process VA disability claims or make sure seniors get their Social Security checks is yet another blatant attempt by two corrupt billionaires to break government and enrich themselves. I am demanding answers from the Trump administration on what exactly their plans are, particularly how they plan to ensure continuity of service for the millions of Americans who rely on the services provided in these federal offices and buildings."
Updated on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 3:45 p.m.: A day after the federal government published a list of buildings deemed non-essential to government operations, the list was taken down and replaced with a "coming soon" update. Read the original article below.
A federal agency that oversees government operations has published a list of over 300 properties and facilities considered non-essential to government operations, including downtown Seattle's Henry M. Jackson Federal Building.
On Tuesday, the U.S. General Services Administration posted the list of "non-core" properties for government operations on its website. The properties are scattered throughout the U.S., with nine properties in Washington state flagged for potential sale or transfer.
According to the GSA, the buildings and facilities are "not core to government operations" and are subject to "disposal."
RELATED: Federal employees in Seattle rally against mass Trump administration layoffs
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Builders say tariffs will drive Seattle-area home costs higher
Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico began Tuesday. Builders expect higher prices to trickle down to builders within a few weeks, and to home buyers and renters after that.
Take a look around the room you’re in.
If you’re inside, odds are, the walls around you are covered with sheetrock. That’s made from gypsum, most of which is strip-mined in Mexico.
Behind the sheetrock, you’ll probably find wooden studs. Today, most of those come from Canada.
RELATED: Trump says 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will go ahead
Higher tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will make these and other construction materials more expensive, said Jennifer Anderson, director of government affairs for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.
“We’ll see significant increases in those materials, which will increase the cost of constructing a home, which will increase the costs of buying a home,” Anderson said.
Builders, and the banks that fund them, tend to put home-building projects on hold when investments look too risky. One measure of risk is builder confidence. Anderson said builder confidence declined more in February than during any one-month period since the beginning of the pandemic.
RELATED: U.S. stock markets plunge as Trump's tariffs spark fears about a trade war
Additional import duties expected later this spring would bring taxes (tariffs and import duties) on Canadian lumber to near 55%, Anderson added.
The National Association of Home Builders has been seeking a tariff exemption on building materials.
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NOAA firings in Seattle include orca-saving employee of the year
Until Thursday afternoon, Hanna Miller focused on protecting whales from oil spills, ship strikes, and fishing gear.
Miller was a natural resource specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the science-heavy federal agency that forecasts weather, tsunamis, and hurricanes, regulates fisheries, studies the climate, and protects salmon, orcas, and other endangered species that swim.
In 2022, she helped a multiagency team make sure endangered orcas didn’t swim into the diesel fuel belching out of the sunken Aleutian Isle fishing boat off Washington’s San Juan Island.
“I was on call for 42 days, tracking them every second that I was awake to make sure that they didn't go through [the oil spill],” Miller said.
In 2023, Miller was awarded employee of the year for NOAA Fisheries in the western United States, and in March 2024, she was promoted.
On Thursday afternoon, while on vacation in Hawaii, the federal biologist opened her work email on her personal phone to find she no longer had a job.
“The Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs,” the email from Vice Admiral Nancy Hann, Deputy Under Secretary for Operations, reads.
“[I] just read it and had enough time to read it and share it with my personal email before I got locked out of my work account,” Miller said.
“I was just really devastated,” she added.
Hundreds of scientists and policy specialists received similar emails on Thursday as the Trump administration began downsizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier discusses vaccine hesitation consequences as King County records first measles case
King County has recorded Washington state's first measles case of 2025. Measles is extremely contagious for those who aren't vaccinated.
U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier is a pediatrician when she's not a politician. She is worried that more parents will choose not to vaccinate their children now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in charge of the Health and Human Services Department. Kennedy has long spread discredited theories about vaccines, stoking fears about them. Recently, he said the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico was "not unusual."
"Well, first of all, they shouldn't be common," Rep. Schrier told KUOW, noting that measles is one of the most contagious diseases in existence, which is preventable through vaccination.
"It is so contagious, it is such a danger, and it is such a miserable disease, why would you even risk this when you have such a safe and effective vaccine?" she said.
Rep. Schrier represents Washington's 8th Congressional District, where most residents live in King County.
The new case of measles in King County was confirmed in an infant on Feb. 26. The infant was traveling abroad where it likely contracted the virus. The baby then traveled around the Seattle and Bellevue area where health officials are concerned people were exposed. Those who are vaccinated need not worry, however, as the vaccine is 97% effective, according to Public Health – Seattle & King County.
The county health department also points out that a population needs roughly 95% vaccinated against measles to reach herd immunity. Currently, about 87% of 2-year-olds in the county have received their MMR vaccine. About 72% of 4-6-year-olds have received two doses of the vaccine.
RELATED: 'I didn’t know it existed.' Why young people are the least vaccinated in Seattle area
Concern over Kennedy's role as the nation's top health official, in light of news about measles outbreaks, led Schrier to call on the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, urging them to hold Kennedy accountable for outbreaks of diseases that are preventable with vaccines. She was met with laughter.
"My colleagues are laughing, and I just want to be really clear, again, as a pediatrician, we should not have to wait for kids to get sick, and for kids to die, because you think this is some sort of joke," Schrier said on the committee floor.
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Lawsuit targeting Trump’s refugee ban to go before federal judge in Seattle
Update notice, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 at 12:53 p.m.: A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing refugee arrivals and funding. Read more about the decision here.
A legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing refugee arrivals and funding is scheduled for a hearing before U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle on Tuesday. Individual plaintiffs along with three nonprofits serving refugees are asking the court to put the order on hold while the case proceeds.
It’s the second major federal immigration case to become tied up in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington since Trump retook office last month. The first concerns Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship.
David Duea is the CEO of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, one of the plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit. He said the extent of Trump's executive order regarding refugee arrivals came as a shock.
“We knew it would taper down and we were prepared for that. No one was prepared for this really unethical and inhumane direct stop," he said.
Duea said the nonprofits haven't been paid for the 90 days of assistance they provide each new refugee, even though those refugees arrived before the order was issued. The are currently 300 people in the region entitled to that help, he added.
“We’re still providing those services and the government has told us we won’t get paid for those, even though we have a contract and a moral obligation to these refugees," Duea said.
RELATED: Seattle judge blocks Trump order to end birthright citizenship — again
Plaintiffs filed their lawsuit on Feb. 10. They argue the sweeping order signed on Trump’s first day in office goes far beyond his efforts to constrain refugee arrivals in his first term. It has suspended all refugee admissions and processing indefinitely, and “stopped federal funding of the organizations that have served refugees for decades, crippling their ability to provide resettlement services.”
Trump's executive order titled Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program called the refugee admissions program "detrimental to the interests of the United States," and said, “The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”
The lawsuit challenging that order said the lead plaintiff, referred to by the name Pacito, “is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was approved for resettlement to the United States and scheduled to travel with his family on January 22, 2025, before their travel was abruptly canceled. Pacito and his family currently reside in Nairobi, Kenya.” (The lawsuit said plaintiffs seek anonymity due to the harms they and their families could face if their participation in the lawsuit becomes public.)
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Seattle's new zoning rules dial up tension around preserving tree canopy
Seattle 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
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Former Seattle US Attorney sees ‘painful’ parallels between his firing and current moves by Trump
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.
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