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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Covid dashboard upgraded to include flu and RSV in Washington state
What became widely known as Washington state's Covid dashboard over three pandemic years, has now received an upgrade. The dashboard now includes information on Covid, influenza, and and RSV.
The new dashboard went live Monday, showing data on viral activity, hospitalizations, ER visits, and deaths from each virus. It will be updated weekly through April 2024, covering the peak season for all three viruses.
RELATED: What will Washington's virus season look like in 2023?
As of the publishing of this blog post, viral activity remains low, however, there is an uptick in Covid cases (which began in August). That Covid spike is still much lower than previous spikes during pandemic years.
With Covid added to the seasonal viruses, the word "tripledemic" has been thrown around, implying that three viruses will have spikes around the same time. Such spikes could strain hospital systems.
As KUOW recently reported, state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah has noted that, “Concerns remain that an increase in cases from all, or one, of these respiratory viruses will lead to challenges in our communities and our health-care system, We want people to take the precautions now because that's going to help our health-care system.”
An updated Covid vaccine is rolling out this month. A flu vaccine is recommended for people six months and older, while an RSV vaccine is recommended for infants and people ages 60 and older.
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Renton man gets 3+ years for plot to burn Seattle police union building
A 35-year-old Renton man has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for his part in a plot to burn the Seattle Police Officers Guild building in 2020.
Justin Christopher Moore pleaded guilty in September 2022 to bringing Molotov cocktails to a protest march outside the headquarters of the Seattle Police Officers Guild on Labor Day 2020. On Sept. 13, 2023, he was sentenced in federal court to 40 months.
Prosecutors argued that the act outside the police union's building was inherently dangerous, given that there were more than 1,000 people participating in the march that day.
RELATED: Seattle police union responds to controversial bodycam video
“Moore’s offense was extremely dangerous and created a substantial risk of injury to numerous bystanders," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg for the Western District of Washington in statement. "Moore carried the box of 12 Molotov cocktails in a crowd of over 1,000 people who were participating in the protest march. All of them were in harm’s way if one of the devices had exploded.”
Moore pleaded guilty to carrying a box of the explosives to the protest on Sept. 7, 2020. When police smelled gasoline among the crowd, they moved the protesters back from the guild's building. Police later found the box of Molotov cocktails in the building's parking lot.
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Out of line or out of context? Seattle police union responds to controversial bodycam video
The week started with news of a bodycam video showing a Seattle officer laughing and joking after a woman was fatally struck by a speeding patrol car. And the week ends with the Seattle Police Officers Guild responding to the fallout that has now gone international.
“The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild understands the attention and outrage surrounding the viral video, which captures highly insensitive comments regarding the death of Jaahnavi Kandula by Officer Dan Auderer,” reads the statement. “Without context, this audio is horrifying and has no place in a civil society.”
The statement reiterates what Auderer has already told local conservative media, that his joking and laughter was meant to mock lawyers. The video only captures one side of the conversation between two officers — union vice president Auderer and union president Mike Solan.
The full statement can be read here. It includes a comment from SPOG as a whole, as well as a letter from the officer that was sent to Seattle's Office of Police Accountability.
RELATED: Bodycam captures Seattle police officer laughing in wake of fatal collision
Marco Monteblanco is the president of a different union, the state’s Fraternal Order of Police. He said officers in his membership are distressed by the statements made by Auderer.
“Those types of comments only bring negative impacts not only to our profession, but brings up the horrible tragedy to the victims,” he said.
Monteblanco was encouraged to see that the Seattle Police Department self-reported the video to the Office of Police Accountability, the police watchdog agency.
SPD, however, has potentially reported a different narrative. According to its statement, the video was "identified in the routine course of business by a department employee, who, concerned about the nature of statements heard on that video, appropriately escalated their concerns through their chain of command." SPD has not yet clarified anything beyond that and says it will not comment until the city's Office of Police Accountability has completed its investigation.
In January of this year, a different officer, Kevin Dave, was traveling more than 70 mph en route to a 911 call when he fatally struck 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula on Dexter Avenue North. Kandula, an Indian graduate student at the Seattle branch of Northeastern University, was taken to Harborview Medical Center where she died.
Police Chief Adrian Diaz called the collision a “terrible tragedy for all involved,” in a statement released in January.
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What will virus season look like in Washington state this year?
Washington state is once again heading into respiratory virus season.
Last year, the triple threat of Covid-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) put a strain on an already fragile health-care system.
This year however, health officials say the state is in a different place.
“We’ve got a lot of new tools this season,” said state epidemiologist, Dr. Scott Lindquist, during a media briefing Friday.
Those tools include new treatments, surveillance methods, and vaccines.
“For the first time we have a vaccine against all three of these diseases,” said state secretary of health, Dr. Umair Shah, “which is just amazing.”
An updated Covid-19 vaccine was recently approved and recommended by federal regulators for everyone aged 6 months and older.
The seasonal flu vaccine remains recommended for those 6 months and older as well.
And new vaccines against RSV are now licensed and recommended for adults aged 60 and older, as well as for infants.
“Concerns remain that an increase in cases from all, or one, of these respiratory viruses will lead to challenges in our communities and our health-care system,” Shah said. "We want people to take the precautions now because that's going to help our health-care system.”
Health officials are urging everyone eligible for these vaccines to get them, but they have particularly stressed the importance of immunization for those most at risk of severe illness from these viruses, including older adults, people with underlying health conditions, and young children.
Covid-19 hospitalizations have ticked up again in Washington in recent months, although they remain well below the peaks seen in past years.
Flu and RSV season have not yet truly started in the state.
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Shattered windows and nerves, Seattle's Wing Luke Museum targeted in alleged hate crime
Seattle's Wing Luke Museum was targeted in an alleged hate crime Thursday night, leaving its windows shattered and patrons alarmed.
"How incredibly sad that it hits at, literally, the heart of the Chinatown, International District, or historic Canton Alley," said Joël Barraquiel Tan, executive director of the Wing Luke Museum.
"The hate-motivated vandalism that happened is just part of a long line, and a pattern, that tells us this is the work that is happening right now we must do."
According to a police report on the incident, a 76-year-old white man smashed the windows of the museum with a sledgehammer shortly before 6 p.m. on Thursday. Police found him outside the building, where he told them, "the Chinese ruined my life."
The suspect appeared in court Friday, but has not yet been charged. He is now held in King County Jail on $30,000 bail.
"We know a targeted incident like this will have lasting psychological scars on AAPI communities that since the pandemic have experienced an increase in hate crimes," Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement. "We will continue to work with neighborhood partners in the CID to rebuild trust and restore peace of mind."
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King County's hotel shelters help address one crisis while potentially hiding another
Seattle and King County have been experimenting with using hotel rooms to house people rather than directing them to crowded homeless shelters. The county currently operates six hotel shelters that house more than 800 people.
This model was especially useful during the Covid-19 pandemic, giving more people options to get off the streets while limiting the potential for spreading the virus.
But some service providers fear the hotel rooms could be hiding another crisis: drug overdoses.
Greg Kim covers homelessness for The Seattle Times. He spoke with KUOW's Kevin Kniestedt about how service providers are trying to stop overdoses behind closed doors.
To date, there have been nine overdose deaths among people housed by the hotel shelter program. Kim interviewed a woman named Kimberly Liptau, who came dangerously close to meeting that same fate.
“A few months after staying there, he was taking a hit of crack cocaine, and she didn't know that it was laced with fentanyl,” Kim explained. “But she immediately overdosed. She said she was alone in a room, and that she would have died, [but] her boyfriend, who was staying in another unit in the hotel, just happened to stop by and he contacted paramedics and medical staff in the hotel.”
It’s not hard to understand why a private room would be more appealing than a packed shelter.
“You can imagine, in a large room with a lot of people crowded together, that creates an atmosphere of tension,” Kim said. “There are a lot of fights that breakout, there are people who might have a mental health illness or substance use disorder all crowded together. That's not an environment that a lot of people want to be in.”
But the presence of others can be the difference between life and death amid an overdose. For Liptau’s part, she was given a roommate, along with anti-opioid medication.
Providers are trying out other strategies, too.
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Tina Turner, the musical, rolls into Seattle!
"TINA – The Tina Turner Musical," is showing at the Paramount, and opening night was electric.
I went with my mom, who is a huge Tina Turner fan, and while she was sad about being reminded of Turner’s passing on our way to the theater, once she saw the marquee and the crowd of fellow attendees, many clad in shimmering garb, she began to light up.
Here’s what to expect: The music is amazing. They squeezed as many songs into this production as they possibly could. And while Turner’s catalog is obviously presented in non-chronological order, the production was successful in weaving songs into Turner’s life story so that her personal quest of humble beginnings, into the tumultuous relationship with Ike Turner, her downfall after leaving Ike, and her rebirth into superstardom are all presented in conjunction with her music in a way that allowed the songs to propel the story.
At intermission, I jokingly asked my mom what she thought of the music, and she was delighted to inform me she sang every song, which I knew, as everyone near us could hear her throughout the act!
Many fans, both casual youngsters like myself, and the dedicated folks like my mom who actually remember Turner’s career, will be familiar with the domestic violence that occurred in Turner’s marriage to Ike. Less known is her early childhood experience.
The production opens with scenes from Turner's childhood in Tennessee and shows the seeds of her troubled relationship with her mother. We see Turner’s father beat her mother on stage, and violence is portrayed at moments throughout the production.
This is an important aspect of Turner's story, and helps solidify the redemption at the end of the play, when we see Turner emerge as the Queen of Rock and Roll and take the stage in Brazil where 188,000 screaming fans are there just for her. But, it is worth noting that if you attend with young children, they will witness depictions of domestic violence.
Who this is for: Anyone who loves musical theater! The pacing is a bit fast, especially in Act 1, where they cram in so much of Turner’s life and upbringing, while still making room for 15 songs.
It was too much for me, especially with Turner’s life in the Deep South, the explosive relationship between her parents, Turner’s mother abandoning her, then Turner’s grandmother sending her to St. Louis to be with her mother — even listing all those points here feels like a lot, and I didn’t give you everything that’s in the production.
Those heavy moments needed more room to breathe and the audience needed more space to sit with the emotions. To feel. Instead, we were whisked from plot point to plot point, with the songs functioning as bridges to connect them.
Despite the issues in pacing, this production worked. And that is in large part due to the performance of Ari Groover as Tina. Her voice was amazing, and if you ever saw Turner on stage, you know how intense the dancing would be!
Groover held her own, embodying the role, and on opening night, performed two additional songs after the conclusion of the play! The music alone makes this production worth seeing, and an added bonus is a chance to see a young star in the making. Symphony King, who played young Tina, starts this play off with bang!
There is a scene in Turner’s Tennessee church, where King’s voice had to have been heard from the parking lot. This kid has pipes! And she makes appearances throughout where she dazzles the crowd.
My Recommendation: If you are looking for something to see this weekend, definitely treat yourself to "The Tina Turner Musical." You will laugh, dance, cringe (yes, you may be a little shaken at times), and cheer. This is part rags-to-riches, part redemption, and full of wonderful recognizable tunes.
"TINA — The Tina Turner Musical," showing at the Paramount Theater until September 17.
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Trial starts Monday for Tacoma officers charged in the killing of Manny Ellis
A trial begins Monday for three Tacoma police officers who were charged in the killing of Manny Ellis more than three years ago.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, was walking home from a convenience store on March 3, 2020 when he came across officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank. A struggle ensued, and Ellis died at the scene after he was tasered, hogtied, and his head was covered with a spit hood. A medical examiner ruled that Ellis died of hypoxia due to restraint.
The defense representing Collins and Burbank as well as officer Timothy Rankine, who responded to the scene and helped restrain Ellis, will argue that the officers were just doing their jobs.
“The officers say that Ellis was in the intersection, grabbing a door handle of a car passing through — potentially trying to carjack them. And they say during a conversation with the officers that Ellis became combative and eventually attacked them,” explained KNKX reporter Jared Brown, who has been following the case for the podcast "The Walk Home," which is produced in collaboration with The Seattle Times.
But the state says the officers started the altercation with Ellis and lied about the circumstances that led to his death.
“Eyewitnesses describe a more casual encounter where Ellis is walking away and is door-checked by one of the officers,” Brown said.
RELATED: One year ago, Tacoma police killed Manuel Ellis. A silent march honored him
A video taken by an eyewitness has further cast doubt over the officers’ narrative.
“The witness video really doesn't show Ellis throwing any punches or fighting back,” Brown added. “More so struggling against the officers who are restraining him and tasering him.”
All three officers face manslaughter charges. Collins and Burbank are also charged with second-degree murder.
Brown said the trial is expected to be a lengthy one, with estimates putting court proceedings at roughly three months.
Update notice, 8:56 a.m. on 9/18/23: This story has been updated to include more from KUOW's interview with Jared Brown.
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Photos: Beyoncé fans dress to impress in Seattle
"It's all about girl power," said Gigi Evans, 30, of Friday Harbor. "She reminds me to embody your divine femininity."
Tens of thousands of Beyoncé fans descended on Lumen Field Thursday night, dressed to impress for the Seattle stop of the Renaissance World Tour. In honor of Virgo season, Beyoncé asked fans to wear their "most fabulous silver fashions."
"It means sisterhood," said Kahlia Brookins of the Bay Area. "It means a sense of womanhood, freedom, and empowerment."
As the sun set, fans sparkled and shimmered in disco ball earrings and silver tassels while making their way to the venue.
Democratic Oregon State Rep. Andrea Valderrama attended the concert with her 8-year-old daughter, Rosalía.
"Getting ready together was really special for us both," said Valderrama. "To be able to see someone who makes us both feel so beautiful and powerful — it's just a really core moment for us."
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Serious changes to Seattle elections could be on your ballot next year
Seattle Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda is floating a proposed charter amendment to change when the city's elections occur.
It would "stagger" city council elections to reduce the number held in a single year, and also seeks to move all Seattle races from odd years to even years to try and juice voter turnout.
More people vote in even election years according to a central staff report delivered Tuesday to the council's Finance and Housing Committee. In 2022, for example, more than 70% of Seattle's registered voters cast ballots. In 2021, around 55% voted.
One academic study found moving to even years can also lead to a more representative electorate “in terms of race, age, and partisanship.”
RELATED: Does Washington state's ballot signature rule disenfranchise voters?
Some critics say the change to even years could overburden voters who already have enough work trying to decide between dozens of candidates for local races. Harried voters might end up leaning more heavily on political ads or newspaper endorsements than they already do.
King County voters elected to make the switch to even-year voting last fall. But for Seattle to make the change, state lawmakers need to vote in favor of it first. It is being considered in Olympia.
To be clear, the change to even-year voting would not go into effect immediately, if that becomes possible under state law. The charter amendment would just allow a future council to make that change by ordinance.
The other part of Mosqueda’ s charter amendment proposal would not need state approval — moving to a system of “staggered” elections.
Mosqueda said there is a problem, currently, with too many council member seats up for re-election some years, which could lead to a loss of “institutional knowledge.” This year, for example, seven of the nine city council positions are on the November ballot and four of those are “open seat” races because the incumbents decided not to run.
Plus, Mosqueda herself is it not up for re-election, but is running for King County Council. If she wins, that could lead to even more change.
Under Mosqueda's proposal, five council members would be elected in one cycle and four in the next.
“Having greater stability and less turnover is a good thing for democracy,” she said.
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Kelso gun store sued for violating ban on high-capacity magazines
The Washington State Attorney General is suing a Kelso gun shop for allegedly selling high-capacity magazines, despite a state ban.
Washington state's ban on high-capacity magazines went into effect in 2022. It prohibits the sale of magazines that carry more than 10 rounds.
RELATED: Gun sales spiked in Seattle between 2020 and 2022
The lawsuit alleges Gators Custom Guns is among the state's largest sellers of high-capacity magazines from out-of-state distributors. The Attorney General's Office is asking the shop to destroy or return any unsold high-capacity magazines and to stop selling them.
“Our sweep continues to show that an overwhelming majority of gun retailers in Washington are doing the right thing and complying with the law,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “In contrast, Gator’s Custom Guns intentionally built a retail stockpile that exceeds anything my office has seen since the ban went into effect. My office will continue to enforce this common-sense law.”
Store owner Walter Wentz could faces a fine of at least $7,500 for every time the shop sold or offered to sell one of the magazines. The lawsuit alleges that the store illegally offered the magazines 11,408 times and sold five to investigators. It also states that investigators found barrels filled with hundreds of high-capacity magazines in the shop, many which carried up to five times the amount allowed by state law.
After the state's ban on high-capacity magazines went into effect, the Attorney General's Office sent undercover investigators to monitor compliance with the new law. More than 100 gun stores have since been visited by investigators.
In December 2022, the office sued two Western Washington gun shops for violating the ban — one in Federal Way and another in Lakewood. In some instances, investigators reported that store staff would sell the high-capacity magazines, but hide the sale by ringing up the items as something else. The Lakewood shop ended up paying a $15,000 fine for the violation.
The Attorney General's Office alleges the illegal sales at Gator's Custom Guns happened after the lawsuits against the other stores were reported in the media.
RELATED: Washington state bans assault weapons
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Portland expected to get its first stripper union
The National Labor Relations Board is expected to certify a unionization vote from 16 Portland strippers this week. It’s the first such group of Portland dancers to vote to unionize.
“That was the worst I'd seen at a club and I really couldn't justify continuing to support that," said a performer by the name of Creature, who works at the Magic Tavern in Northwest Portland.
Creature said that she joined the union effort after two dancers were fired in March for speaking up. Strippers at the Magic Tavern have been on strike since April protesting a lack of security and other unsafe working conditions.
Last week, they became just the second active group of strippers in the country, and the only in Portland, to unionize. The NLRB could certify the vote later this week.
Tavern management declined to talk with OPB, but said in an August Instagram post that unhappy dancers can choose to work at other clubs.
Read the full story by Kyra Buckley at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
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