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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5 victims of Puyallup crash identified, including 4 children
The Pierce County Medical Examiner has identified all five victims of a deadly crash early in the morning of Jan. 14 on state Route 512 in Puyallup.
In addition to 29-year-old driver Kiarra Monaghan of Sumner, four children were killed. They include Monaghan’s children, Noah Monaghan, age 12, and Amiyah Eutimio, age 3, as well as Amiira Little and TaeShon Manuel, both 11 years old.
Where the divided highway curves nearly 90 degrees to the left near Puyallup’s South Hill Mall, Monaghan’s eastbound Ford Flex sport utility vehicle went off the road and hit an overpass support. It burst into flame at about 4:20 on a Sunday morning, according to the Washington State Patrol. No other vehicles were involved, and the roadway was clear and dry at the time.
All five passengers died at the scene. The highway was closed for 8 hours as the crash scene was cleared and investigated.
The state patrol continues to investigate possible causes of the crash.
An eyewitness told KIRO News the driver was going 100 miles per hour before hitting the concrete pillar.
The Washington Traffic Safety Commission says speeding and traffic deaths have skyrocketed since the start of the Covid pandemic.
About 1 in 3 drivers in fatal crashes were speeding at the time.
RELATED: Taming speed on the Speedway (and other Washington roads)
Federal safety officials call speeding and intoxicated driving a “dual epidemic” on American roads.
In November, following its investigation of a crash in which an intoxicated driver ran a red light in Nevada at 103 miles per hour, killing 4 children and 5 adults, the National Transportation Safety Board called for requiring all new cars to have anti-speeding technology. At minimum, such “intelligent speed assistance” technology warns drivers when they are speeding. Some versions can also slow vehicles down when they exceed a local speed limit.
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No decision yet on investigation into Seattle Chief Adrian Diaz for allegedly hiring romantic partner
Seattle’s police watchdog agencies haven’t yet decided if they will launch a formal investigation into whether Police Chief Adrian Diaz hired a woman he was allegedly romantically involved with into a top-level advisor role.
Diaz denied the allegations last year through his attorney Ted Buck.
It's been more than 180 days since four complaints were made to the Office of Police Accountability — the typical timeline for a police investigation to be completed. But unlike other complaints, those filed against the chief of police aren’t bound by timelines.
To the public, the investigation appears to be stagnant, stuck at the "preliminary" level.
But behind the scenes, a city council member asked for answers, while members of the mayor’s office have called the rumor salacious and a ploy to upend a progressive chief. City sources told KUOW that if the police watchdog agencies decide to investigate, it could harm the chief’s reputation among the rank and file.
Gino Betts, director of the Office of Police Accountability, wrote by email that "OPA’s commitment to public trust and transparency drives it to evaluate (complaints) as efficiently as practical.”
Betts said another watchdog agency, the Office of the Inspector General, “oversees this process to ensure complaints are reviewed without unnecessary delay.”
Meanwhile, the Office of Police Accountability has requested the advisor’s hiring records, but the department’s head of human resources has so far refused arguing that the department hasn't turned over background information for non-cop employees before.
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Washington bill creates civil fines, could reduce illegal dumping
From couches to cars to hazardous waste, there’s been an uptick in dumping trash on Washington roadsides, and in private and public forests, according to state lawmakers.
Illegally dumping trash can cause big problems for the environment and for the landowners where trash is left. It’s a problem Washington lawmakers hope to solve.
RELATED: Washington state is trashy, and there's a study to prove it
“It’s always been a problem of people just dumping their garbage and waste out in the open,” said Rep. Bill Ramos, a Democrat from Issaquah, of public and private landowners’ concerns. “Household garbage is bad enough, but we often get cars and boats and hazardous material.”
Ramos proposed H.B. 2207 that would change illegal dumping penalties from criminal charges to civil infractions, similar to a parking ticket fine. The money would be split between an account for local government and nonprofit educational programs to reduce illegal dumping and law enforcement, which will issue the fines.
The bill also would help reduce illegal dumping by lowering the cost at waste transfer stations on certain days or providing vouchers, Ramos said during a House Environmental and Energy Committee hearing.
“It’s expensive to dump things at the dump nowadays, and rightly so, because it’s hard to get rid of things,” Ramos said. “Let’s help folks do the right thing, as well.”
That’s something landowners said they know a lot about. On some properties, it can cost between $50,000 to $100,000 per year, especially to dispose of hazardous waste, said Tom Davis, governmental relations director for the Washington Forest Protection Association.
“Toxic waste that is expensive to remove and poses both an environmental and a human health risk. The burden of cleanup costs rests with the landowners,” Davis said.
RELATED: Farewell, torture ads. 'Don't litter' signs become gentler in Washington state
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Seattle Council picks CID activist Tanya Woo to fill open seat
Tanya Woo will step in to fill the vacant seat on the Seattle City Council in 2024.
The Council voted 5-3 Tuesday to approve placing Woo in the role. She will take over for Teresa Mosqueda, who left the council in early January to move over to the King County Council.
"I pledge to serve everyone in the city..." Woo said shortly after being selected. "I want to build more collaboration, especially on the council, a sense of unity, collaboration, and communication."
Woo will occupy Position 8 on the dais. It is a temporary position until the next council election in November. Woo said she'll be on that ballot in order to stay in the job.
RELATED: Tanya Woo sees support – and controversy – in bid for open Seattle Council seat
The Council’s pick of Woo caps a political sea change in Seattle that started in last November’s election. A supermajority of centrist candidates won on promises to improve public safety and tackle the city’s fentanyl crisis.
Woo, a small business owner and activist in the Chinatown-International District (CID), made a name for herself running a community watch group focused on public safety. She also led a successful effort in 2022 to kill the expansion of a homeless shelter in the CID and surrounding neighborhoods.
Those experiences prompted Woo to run for Council last year, with a focus on public safety. She tried unsuccessfully to unseat progressive South Seattle incumbent Tammy Morales. Woo lost that race by roughly 400 votes, or 1.5%.
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France fines Amazon $35 million for ‘excessively intrusive’ monitoring of warehouse staff
France’s privacy watchdog said Tuesday that it slapped Amazon ‘s French warehouse business with a 32 million euro fine ($35 million) for using an “excessively intrusive system” to monitor worker performance and activity.
The French Data Protection Authority, also known by its acronym CNIL, said the system allowed managers at Amazon France Logistique to track employees so closely that it resulted in multiple breaches of the European Union’s stringent privacy rules, called the General Data Protection Regulation.
RELATED: A tale of two Amazon warehouses — How a workplace safety lawsuit could accelerate automation
“We strongly disagree with the CNIL’s conclusions, which are factually incorrect, and we reserve the right to file an appeal,” Amazon said. “Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations.”
The watchdog’s investigation focused on Amazon employees’ use of handheld barcode scanners to track packages at various points as they move through the warehouse, such as putting them in crates or packing them for delivery.
Amazon uses the system to manage its business and meet performance targets, but the regulator said it’s different from traditional methods for monitoring worker activity and puts them under “close surveillance” and “continuous pressure.”
The watchdog said the scanner, known as a “stow machine gun,” allows the company to monitor employees to the “nearest second” because they signal an error if items are scanned too quickly — in less than 1.25 seconds.
RELATED: Amazon promises convenience for customers, but it's crushing some rural mail carriers
The system is used to measure employee productivity as well as “periods of inactivity,” but under EU privacy rules, “it was illegal to set up a system measuring work interruptions with such accuracy, potentially requiring employees to justify every break or interruption,” the watchdog said.
The CNIL also chastised Amazon for keeping employee data for too long, saying it didn’t need “every detail of the data” generated by the scanners from the past month because real-time data and weekly statistics were enough.
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Seattle area grad Lily Gladstone becomes first Native American actress nominated for an Oscar
Lily Gladstone has made history as the first Native American person nominated for an Oscar in the best actress category.
Gladstone, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who attended Mountlake Terrace High School, was nominated for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese's film "Killers of the Flower Moon." The movie is a Western crime drama based on David Grann's book "The Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI," which documented the real murders of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma.
In the film, Gladstone plays an Osage woman married to Ernest Burkhart, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, whose family is systematically murdered for their money.
Gladstone also became the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for best actress earlier this month.
The Oscars will be awarded on March 10.
Gladstone moved to Washington from Montana in 1997 and graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School in 2004. That's where she cultivated a love of acting, according to an interview she gave to the community news site MLTnews in 2012.
"For me, faculty and my friends understood the aspects and differences of a person's learning style, and many of my teachers supported my acting, and me personally — they knew the importance of finding a home," Gladstone told MLTnews, noting particular teachers: "Jeanne Brzovic, Heather Hillman, Mr. Marino, Ellen Antonelli, Nancy Payne, and Professor Ross."
In an interview with ABC News Tuesday, Gladstone said the moment was overdue, recalling those who came before; Gladstone is the first Native American actress nominated for an Oscar but the fourth Indigenous person to earn a nomination in the category.
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Fire strikes Ilwaco fishing community at mouth of Columbia River
A fire gutted a seafood processing facility in the fishing town of Ilwaco, Wash., Monday, delivering a major blow to the local community.
Nobody was injured in the fire.
Ilwaco is a small fishing town on the mouth of the Columbia River. Fishing is its primary economy. It's known for charter fishing, crabbing, and other seasonal business.
RELATED: A career of dangerous rescues on Washington's 'Graveyard of the Pacific'
According to KMUN's Katie Frankowicz, hundreds of crabbing pots were stacked and ready for the crab season opener next week — all were lost in the fire. The facility is owned by Bornstein’s Seafoods.
“Last year’s crab season was not the best and there was no albacore this summer, and now their pots burn up just before they get ready to go fishing," Butch Smith, chair of the Port of Ilwaco Board of Commissioners, told local radio station KMUN. "It’s just a perfect storm of a disaster if I’ve ever heard one.”
Smith also said that he has reached out to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), as well as U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) for any potential aid for the fishermen at the facility.
"Thank you to the brave firefighters and first responders on the scene at the Port of Ilwaco," Cantwell said in a statement following the blaze. "This is devastating news for the entire community and I am continuing to monitor the situation closely. The waterfront is the heart of Ilwaco and the local economy. My prayers are with the entire community, including the cannery workers and fishing families who rely on the docks for their livelihoods.”
As the flames continued Monday afternoon, the Pacific County Sheriff's Office shut off nearby roads, and warned locals that, "The smoke is also hazardous and should be avoided." By 5 p.m., the fire was mostly knocked down, and local roads were reopened by 9 p.m.
While there is stretch of charter fishing businesses, restaurants, shops, and a marina at the Port of Ilwaco, the Ilwaco Landing stands apart to the west of the port. The fire did not reach the neighboring structures.
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'I'm not complete without him.' Seattle family members of Israeli hostages speak out
Family members of Israeli hostages spoke out this weekend in Seattle and pleaded for all of those kidnapped to be released, noting that is has been more than 100 days since Hamas abducted Israeli soldiers and civilians during an attack.
Under the hashtag #BringThemHomeNow, Romi Cohen address the room at Seattle's Temple De Hirsch Sanai Sunday, explaining where she was on Oct. 7 — in a safe room with her family, except for her 19-year-old twin brother Nimrod.
RELATED: Seattle dad with children in the Israeli army hopes for peace, but supports war
"We knew my brother was in the area, close to the border with Gaza, so we texted him and we didn't receive any response," Romi said. "Then, after a few hours, we we saw a video on YouTube that was released by Hamas. And in that video, you can see him being taken captive with his friends. I remember seeing his face and recognizing him, and I just froze on the spot, and seeing his scared face and how confused he was, and it just, it made me so, so scared."
Romi said that she and her twin brother were very close, and "did everything together."
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Washington state braces for deepfakes ahead of 2024 elections
Washington state's top elections official is urging voters to be vigilant against artificial intelligence and deepfakes as the presidential election, among others, intensifies in 2024.
"We have several high-interest elections this year, which creates a target-rich environment for these bad actors to subject voters to deepfakes and other misinformation,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a statement.
The warning comes shortly after robocalls mimicking President Biden's voice targeted New Hampshire voters ahead of that state's Tuesday primary. The fake voice told voters to skip the primary election, stating “your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
New Hampshire's attorney general has received multiple complaints about the calls. In Washington, Hobbs is now bracing for potential frauds here as the state's March 12 primary approaches.
RELATED: New Hampshire is investigating a robocall that was made to sound like Biden
“The disturbing situation we’ve seen in New Hampshire’s campaign is just the tip of the iceberg for 2024. These false messages will get more polished and harder to tell from real ones. Voters must remain vigilant and skeptical, and turn to trusted information sources to verify things that just don’t seem right.”
The Secretary of State's Office confirmed there have been no suspected deepfakes reported in Washington so far in 2024.
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Humor from horror: Alaska Airlines takes jokes for Boeing blunder
Alaska Airlines has been made the butt of recent jokes after a door plug blew off one its planes in mid-air earlier this month, though the issue originated with the plane's manufacturer.
This past weekend, Saturday Night Live featured a mock ad for Alaska Airlines with the slogan, "You didn't die and you got a cool story."
"You know those bolts that, like, hold the plane together? We're gonna go ahead and tighten some of those," SNL guest host Jacob Elordi said, referencing an issue airlines found on other planes in their fleets after the Boeing 737 MAX 9 was grounded.
RELATED: FAA says airlines should check the door plugs on another model of Boeing plane
Alaska and United Airlines, both of which have the 737 MAX 9 in their fleets, have found planes with loose bolts. Alaska and United are the only U.S. carriers that fly the plane with the piece that detached mid-air.
But that issue isn't an airline problem as the SNL skit seemed to suggest.
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Last known set of remains connected to Green River Killer case identified
One of the final mysteries surrounding the Green River Killer was solved Monday as investigators confirmed, through DNA testing, the person whose remains were known as “Bones 20” has a name: Tammie Liles.
Liles, who went missing at the age of 16 in 1983, was originally identified as a victim through dental records in 1988. Part of her remains were found at the Tualatin Golf Course near Tigard, Oregon in 1985, along with those of another woman.
Gary Ridgway, dubbed the Green River Killer, was arrested in 2002 — 20 years after beginning his decades-long killing spree. In an agreement to avoid the death penalty, he led investigators to sites where he'd dumped some of his victims' bodies and helped solve some of the murders. One of those locations was on Kent-Des Moines Road, where the rest of Liles' remains — then unidentified and referred to as "Bones 20" — were found.
It would take law enforcement another 22 years to make the connection between Liles’ remains identified in 1988 and “Bones 20,” which were initially thought to belong to another, unidentified person.
Typical DNA matching compares about 20 markers. It can also only make identical DNA matches, or matches between a parent, child, or sibling. The DNA testing that recently identified Liles was conducted by Othram, a forensic sequencing laboratory that specializes in identifying human remains and helping law enforcement solve violent crimes.
Othram CEO David Mittelman said the company took samples with 100,000 DNA markers from Liles’ remains and found a match through a third or fourth cousin. When scientists have significantly more DNA markers, like the profile Othram created, it’s easier to match relatives as distant as fifth or sixth cousins, Mittelman said.
RELATED: 'She’ll forever be a child'. DNA testing identifies teen victim 4 decades later
Of Monday's news, King County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Eric White said there is a “great sense of relief and accomplishment for our major crimes detectives that have been working on this for decades.”
However, the case isn't closed, White added.
“Even with the identification of Tammie Liles, we will still continue to look and see if there are more victims out there. This does not represent that we're done looking for victims or that these are the only victims," he said. "We're still keeping an open mind.”
RELATED: Youngest Green River Killer victim identified 37 years later
In December 2003, the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, was convicted of murdering 49 women and girls, including Liles, between 1982 and 1998. However, investigators believe he killed 65 people or more.
Ridgway is serving 49 consecutive life sentences for murder at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. According to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, if Ridgway is convicted of additional murders outside of Washington state, he could face the death penalty. On April 21, 2023, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation removing the death penalty from the state’s law.
RELATED: Missed crime lab evidence could've stopped Green River Killer decades earlier
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Republican initiatives you’ll be voting on in Washington state
Six initiatives backed by Washington state Republicans could be on their way to voters’ ballots in 2024.
“These initiatives would significantly change the policies laid out in Washington right now and the state’s trajectory on things like climate change,” Northwest News Network reporter Jeanie Lindsay told Seattle Now.
Hit the play button above to hear Jeanie Lindsay’s full conversation with Seattle Now host Patricia Murphy, and keep reading for key take-aways
The initiatives are the work of a number of high-profile Washington Republicans. They were filed with the Secretary of State’s office by Jim Walsh, a lawmaker representing Aberdeen in the House of Representatives and Washington State Republican Party Chair. The group Let’s Go Washington, backed by Republican mega-donor Brian Heywood, funded the process of collecting signatures needed to advance the initiatives to the state Legislature.
The group gathered more than 320,000 signatures from Washington voters for each initiative. Three have already been verified by the Secretary of State’s Office. The next stop is the state Legislature, where lawmakers have the option to respond before sending them to voters.
Two of the initiatives would repeal part or all of landmark Washington laws passed by the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature over the past three years: The Climate Commitment Act and Washington’s Capital Gains Tax.
The Climate Commitment Act created Washington’s carbon emission auction, where companies operating in the state bid for credits that allow them to release carbon pollution. The law reduces the number of credits available each year to reduce carbon emissions in the state.
In its first year, the program brought in $1.8 billion. That money goes towards climate projects including low-emission transportation, clean energy jobs and habitat restoration. Critics of the law say it has contributed to Washington’s high gas prices in the time since it went into effect.
Initiative 2117 would ban the state from enacting any cap and trade program and repeal sections of the Climate Commitment Act.
The state’s capital gains tax is the target of Initiative 2109, which would entirely repeal the law. It taxes money made by individuals on the sale of long-term assets (like stocks and bonds) over $250,000. In 2022, roughly 3,800 households met the requirements to pay the tax. It brought in $900 million in revenue.
“State law says the money from the capital gains tax goes to school construction, and then it goes into a state funding account specifically for education, including early learning and childcare,” Lindsay said. “So it's a pretty significant chunk of change that the state would no longer have access to, if the capital gains tax is taken away.”
The other four: Parents’ bill of rights, police, payroll and income taxes
Initiative 2081 would create a so-called "parents' bill of rights," outlining parents' authority over their children’s schooling. It would allow parents to request academic, medical and mental health records from schools, some of which are currently shielded by privacy laws.
Initiative 2113 would roll back restrictions on when law enforcement officers can engage in car pursuits, an issue the legislature has revisited several times in recent years.
Initiative 2124 would allow residents to opt out of the state’s 0.58% long-term care payroll tax enacted in 2022. It funds benefits for people in the state who need in-home or residential medical care.
And Initiative 2111 would ban income taxes in Washington, something already illegal according to courts’ interpretations of the state’s constitution.
Before the initiatives move onto voter ballots this November, lawmakers in Olympia have a chance to respond.
Lawmakers’ first option is to accept the initiatives and enact them as written.
“That isn't going to happen,” Lindsay said. “These proposals [are targeting] democratic priorities, so the Legislature is not going to adopt these.”
But lawmakers could add an alternative option to the ballot, giving voters the choice to reject a proposal, accept a proposal, or vote for an alternative presented by lawmakers. Regardless, Washington voters will be the ones making a final decision in November.
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