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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

  • Washington's first case of potentially deadly fungus found in Pierce County

    Pierce County health officials believe a local man is the first person to contract a potentially deadly fungus in Washington state. The case has prompted the Washington State Department of Health to issue an alert.

    Candida Auris can be especially dangerous for people with serious medical conditions, those who use catheters or other medical tubes, and those who have frequent hospital or nursing home stays. It often causes outbreaks in health care settings, with exposure to surfaces, equipment, and people.

    The fungus can cause blood and wound infections. It prompts concern in the medical community because of its resistance to multiple drugs.

    According to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, the man was first hospitalized at Saint Joseph in Tacoma for six weeks. He was moved to Seattle's Kindred Hospital First Hill, which routinely tests for Candida Auris. He then tested positive on July 13. Officials note that the man has multiple comorbidities and did not travel recently. He is being treated and has been isolated.

    While Candida Auris has shown up in multiple counties, this is believed to be the first locally acquired case in Washington state.

    Health officials are trying to track down people who may have had contact with the man. A person infected with the fungus can spread it, even if they have no signs of illness.

    Officials say more than one-third of patients who contract the fungus die, but the risk is very low for healthy people.

    Candida Auris was first identified in Japan in 2009. The Centers for Disease Control consider it an "emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat."

    Continue reading »

  • Russian aggression on Ukrainian wheat exports, causes US prices to jump, just as NW is in harvest

    Jeff Leber of Umapine, Oregon, stands in the baking sun. He listens to the hiss of his grain getting sucked up into the bins, at the Northwest Grain Growers co-op.

    Today, Leber is getting a bit more money for his fall-planted, soft, white wheat than even days ago. Still, he’s spent more on this crop – his fuel, seed and fertilizer have been set at the highest prices he’s ever seen.

    “There’s not much I can do, except for taking care of the farm the best I can,” Leber said. “Then, our government and everyone else takes care of the pricing. We get what we get.”

    This week, Russia bombed key Ukrainian ports – crippling major wheat exports. It also pulled out of a key agreement that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain. That’s spiking U.S. wheat futures prices on soft red winter wheat – they were up 20 cents Tuesday and up 55 cents most of Wednesday. On Thursday, early trading was both up and down, showing signs of high volatility. The local wheat price has ticked up too – just as the Northwest starts to harvest.

    Down-yield

    Many Northwest farmers are harvesting a down-yield this year, and harvest is about 6% complete in Washington, 15%in Oregon and 5%in Idaho, as of July 16, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    This year’s hot spring, that brought little, if any, rain has left the wheat heads light in grain, with few or weazened/shriveled kernels. Some Northwest wheat is stressed – and may have too much protein to meet market demand. Most of the Northwest’s wheat is ultimately sold to Asian bakers – who like low-protein, and low-gluten wheat for cakes, cookies, noodles and crackers.

    War money

    The war-fueled jump in price could help offset higher-priced fuel, seed and fertilizer in the Northwest. But higher prices could also disrupt the world wheat market.

    Cory Christensen is a grain merchant for Northwest Grain Growers. He said some say there isn’t enough grain in the world to feed everyone.

    Continue reading »

  • It's Taylor Swift week — so vote! Today So Far
    • The King County Council has declared a Taylor Swift week. Why? Partially because younger folks need to vote.
    • There may be a generational divide emerging in Seattle, along with a gap between longtime residents and newcomers. This could play a role in local elections.

    This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for July 19, 2023.

    Quick hits

    It's official. We are now in the midst of Taylor Swift week throughout King County. The county council has made it so.

    On Tuesday, in a proclamation so filled with puns it makes me proud, the King County Council deemed the week of July 18-25 as Taylor Swift week, coinciding with the pop star's stop in Seattle on her Eras tour. There's a few interesting aspects of this story, like how cities where Swift performs experience a considerable surge in economic activity, even temporary inflation.

    But a focus of King County's proclamation is Swift's influence on young fans, particularly when it comes to voting. Councilmember Claudia Balducci noted that Swift has often encouraged fans to become more engaged with elections and register to vote. Some have speculated that her calls to do so have resulted in slight bumps in voter registrations.

    "Taylor's unique position and ability to encourage young people to register to vote is something to be honored and replicated," Balducci said.

    Officials commonly attempt to get greater numbers of younger voters to take part in elections. Whether it's intentional or not, Swift seems to be influential in this unique nexus. Read more about that here.

    It just so happens that Swift arrives in Seattle in the lead up to the Aug. 1 primary election. Ballots are en route to mailboxes throughout Washington state. In Seattle, there could be a generational gap emerging between Seattle voters, which can also break down to newer residents versus longtime residents.

    This is notable as Seattle has (as always) a few hot-button issues, and seven out of nine council seats up for grabs.

    Take the experience of Theo Martin who runs Island Soul, a Caribbean-inspired restaurant in Columbia City. Martin tells KUOW that he recently asked a man to move along because he was asking his customers for money. That prompted a younger customer to start yelling at Martin, accusing him of being insensitive to people experiencing homelessness and telling him he was a bad neighbor. Martin feels the city needs to increase public safety, not tolerate public drug use, and clean up encampments. But down the street at the Columbia City Farmers Market, Brand Mace has a very different perspective. Mace is in her 20s and moved into Seattle a few months ago. She says people shouldn't be arrested for public drug use and that the police will "cause more harm.” Instead, she wants police funding to be “redistributed to the communities, because we can keep each other safe.”

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  • Lake Forest Park names street after sci-fi author Octavia E. Butler

    What do an asteroid, a crater on Mars, a school in Pasadena, California, and Lake Forest Park, Wash., have in common? They all have features named after sci-fi author Octavia E. Butler.

    "Octavia Butler Avenue" will be located along Lake Forest Park's 37th Avenue, between NE 165th Street and NE 162nd Street. The city will dedicate the honorary street at the intersection of NE 165th Street and 37th Avenue NE, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 29.

    "The City of Lake Forest Park is fortunate to benefit from the wide array of notable and talented people, like Ms. Butler, who found a home in our city, and added to its rich history,” Mayor Jeff Johnson said in a statement.

    The idea to honor Butler with a street began in 2020, but the pandemic stalled the effort. Lake Forest Park Councilmember Phillippa Kassover says that's when she was engaging in an online anti-racism group and discovered Butler once lived in the city. That led her to an article by Professor Sheila Liming, which detailed a time during her high school years, living across the street from Butler in Lake Forest Park. It got her thinking.

    "For a smaller city like Lake Forest Park to have had a resident who received a Macarthur Genius award is tremendously exciting," Kassover said. "The Black Lives Matter and anti-racism movements helped us understand how important it is to celebrate our African American neighbors of distinction, as they have often been overlooked in the past."

    Kassover added, "Honorary street names are a way to remember those who lived there and the history associated with them ... I also grew up in the UK, where plaques and honorary street names are common, and help remind current generations of the history of the area. So the I found idea of an honorary street name to be an obvious way to remember Octavia Butler and honor her as a former member of our community."

    Butler was born in California, where she lived most of her life. The author moved to the Seattle suburb in 1999 and lived there until 2006, when she passed away. When she moved to Lake Forest Park, Butler, who did not drive, merely sought an area where she could walk to a grocery store, a book store, and a bus stop. According to Liming's account, Butler wanted access to the city, but didn't want to be in it. Lake Forest Park seemed to fit the bill.

    Butler was primarily known as a sci-fi writer. Her first book, "Patternmaster," was published in 1976. "Kindred," perhaps her most well-known novel, was published in 1979. She continued to write and publish books and series until "Fledgling" in 2005, a year before her death.

    She garnered a range of awards throughout here literary career, including the Hugo and Nebula awards. Butler was the first sci-fi author to receive a MacArthur "Genius" Grant. After her passing, she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

    With its street designation, the Lake Forest Park joins a handful of other places that honor Butler's name, some of which are out of this world.

    Continue reading »

  • Is Seattle becoming a trans haven? LGBTQ+ groups say demand for services is on the rise

    Seattle LGBTQ+ groups say requests to help trans people are on the rise as dozens of measures opposing transgender rights have been passed or introduced in state legislatures across the country.

    Jesse Alalawi is a program director for Peer Seattle and one of the group's first transgender employees.

    Alalawi said she tries to make sure trans people find help within a loosely knit network of advocacy groups, especially those who understand the needs of the LGBTQ+ community.

    “We do try to work together, and we do often help the same individuals, kind of creating a care team around an individual and helping them on their journey to survival,” she said.

    Alalawi also heads up an online and in-person community group called Trans is Beautiful. She said she’s seen an increase in trans people seeking resources over the past few months.

    Recently, a trans-masc person from Tennessee reached out to the group through one of its web sessions. Trans-masc is short for trans-masculine and refers to a person whose gender identity aligns more closely with masculinity but was not assigned male at birth.

    “They were experiencing a lot of the hardships that we hear about day to day, and they wanted to learn more, wanted to know about our organization, wanted to know about the resources in our city,” Alalawi said.

    They wanted to know if Seattle was a safe place to live.

    “And then a few weeks later, that member showed up at our door on a Sunday when Trans Is Beautiful comes," Alalawi said. "He now has a community that he participates in and is able to live a more authentic life for himself.”

    Alalawi said she's often working in collaboration with other nonprofits to provide resources for trans people seeking resources and refuge in Seattle.

    People from other organizations have also had people from other states wanting to learn how to best serve transgender people in their own communities. Alalawi said this influx of questions and inquiries shows a greater need for more resources, like money for the work nonprofits do in the Seattle area.

    Continue reading »

  • It's officially Taylor Swift week in King County

    In a proclamation filled with Swiftie puns, the King County Council has officially declared July 18-25 as "Taylor Swift Week," in honor of the pop star's weekend stop in Seattle.

    "Since we announced this proclamation, we've heard some really moving stories about how Taylor and her music have inspired young fans, helped them through difficult times, and provided courage when it was needed," Councilmember Claudia Balducci said at a Tuesday council meeting, surrounded by a crowd of Swifties.

    Councilmember Balducci presented the proclamation, noting how Swift has encouraged young fans to vote, and has served as a positive role model. Some have speculated that when Swift urged fans to register to vote in 2018, it prompted a bump in registrations.

    "Taylor's unique position and ability to encourage young people to register to vote is something to be honored and replicated," Balducci said.

    "So to all the fans gathered here ... whether you're old enough to vote or not, I hope you will follow Taylor's lead in speaking up and speaking out, and don't ever let fear or criticism keep you from telling your story, advocating for the people and issues you care about, and pursuing your dreams."

    Swift is slated for two shows at Seattle's Lumen Field on July 22 and July 23. Tickets for the concert sold out months ago. Current prices for tickets start well above $1,000, and go as high as $7,400.

    There's another reason that the region could be excited for Swift's stop in Seattle. Her current Eras tour has been notable in that it has caused a surge of local economic activity in the cities it visits. Beyonce has had the same effect with her Renaissance world tour.

    Economist Mara Klaunig recently told NPR that, in addition to paying for the expensive tickets, people flood into cities where Swift concerts are happening and buy hotel rooms, food, and more. She said this adds up to the average fan spending $1,300 to attend the concert. In fact, Klaunig said there is sometimes a temporary inflationary effect with local prices going slightly higher while fans are in town.

    "What we are specifically talking about are activities that would not have happened if that event had not come to town," Klaunig told NPR. "So net new spending is any activity that would not happen but for the event or activity that we're measuring. So, if Taylor hadn't come to town, these people would not have come downtown, to that stadium district, and spent money."

    "The economic impact will be major in terms the sales and the tax revenues that result from that," she added. "The jobs impact ... I think it was Cincinnati that said they were expecting 900 jobs to be created due to her stop there. Those are likely to be pretty temporary. That's just increased, short-term demand for parking attendants and concessions people. However, we're hearing that some businesses have made, like, half their year's profit in that one weekend. That's obviously going to be a huge boost to that business."

    Continue reading »

  • Treeless in Seattle: Today So Far

    Concerned about Seattle's tree canopy, but aren't inclined to climb some branches in protest, there's another option that could really help add some green to the city.

    This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for July 18, 2023.

    Quick hits

    • Free clinics aim to bolster childhood vaccination rates in King County
    • Mullet Mania: Northwest kids compete in national Mullet competition
    • 'We can't let them steamroll our democracy': How covering NW white supremacist groups shaped 2 reporters

    Whenever somebody climbs a tree around here, it tends to draw a lot of eyes. That's probably the idea behind Droplet's protest in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood.

    Droplet is the name of the activist who climbed a Western red cedar slated to be cut down to make way for new housing. The property is being redeveloped to accommodate six units, and the plan was to nix the tree to make room. But folks around the neighborhood weren't too keen on that plan — they'd prefer to keep the wood in Wedgwood. Many protested with signs, and Droplet climbed the 200-year-old tree's branches to prevent any cutting. The company hired to cut it down has since backed out of the job. The city has also stepped in to hit pause.

    If you care about Seattle's tree canopy, but aren't inclined to climb any branches, there's another route you could go — just plant a tree. We need more of them, so let's put them in the ground.

    "The urban forest is all of the trees in the city, no matter where they are planted and that can look different," urban forester Jana Dilley told "Seattle Now." "A natural area in a park is gonna look and feel different, and we manage that differently than the trees along a street, around a bus stop. All those trees work together to be a part of the ecosystem that is the urban forest."

    Seattle Public Utilities' Trees for Neighborhoods program is giving away free trees for residents to plant at their own homes. Folks could get up to three. Applications to get a free tree are open right now. Dilley explains that folks will get free trees, free mulch, and other free help so that the tree can thrive.

    "We help them decide where that tree should go ... figure out the right space and the right species for you. We do pruning workshops to help you establish that tree so you have a tree that grows strong."

    Before you start thinking something like, "What about all these new apartments," or "I have a condo," know that the tree program is open to everybody. You don't have to be a homeowner with a large yard to participate. "Seattle Now's" Patricia Murphy has first-hand experience with this program. She owns a condo in Seattle's Pinehurst neighborhood. She got three paperbark maple trees from the program in 2012. They were planted in an area between the street and her condo.

    A large portion of Seattle's trees can be found on city land and in parks, but 58% of trees are located on private land. That means the city's residents play a major role in keeping the city green, literally. With that in mind, Dilley offered a few tree-planting tips for folks aiming to add to Seattle's tree canopy.

    Continue reading »

  • Stabbing suspect in critical condition after being shot by Seattle Police


    A 39-year-old man is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center after being shot by Seattle Police officers Tuesday morning. The man is a suspect in a stabbing incident near the intersection of Second Avenue and Cherry Street in downtown Seattle.

    Shortly before 8 a.m., police said they responded to an emergency call of a stabbing and found a victim with a stab wound to their neck.

    Witnesses told police that the stabbing suspect was several blocks away near First Avenue and Spring Street, said Assistant Chief Todd Kibbee in a statement delivered to media. Officers made contact with the man and police fired shortly after.

    Police haven’t released information on how many officers fired or what precipitated the shooting. Kibbee did share, however, that a knife was recovered at the scene.

    It remains unclear whether the man was holding or near the knife at the time of the shooting.

    The Seattle Police Department’s Force Investigation Team was on scene Tuesday, and will be leading the investigation into what occurred, Kibbee said. Department policy calls for the release of video footage related to officer involved shootings within 72 hours after the shooting occurred.

    Since 2004, Seattle Police officers have killed at least 16 people who were reportedly holding a knife or edged weapon, according to previous KUOW reporting

    In February 2021, police fatally shot Derek Hayden, a 44-year-old man who was captured in police body camera footage holding a knife and saying, “Please kill me.”

    In 2017, police shot Charleena Lyles, a 30-year-old pregnant mother of four, after officers said she confronted them with a knife.

    In 2010, John T. Williams, a partially deaf woodcarver of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, was crossing Howell Street downtown with his carving knife. A patrol officer saw Williams and his knife, yelled at him to stop, and then shot and killed him. The officer involved in that shooting resigned nearly six months later.

    Continue reading »

  • Seattle moves one step closer to protecting gig workers from abrupt termination

    A Seattle city council committee has approved an ordinance that sets guidelines for app-based companies to provide notice and an appeals process before terminating workers.

    Last year, Carmen Figueroa was fired after four years of delivery work at GrubHub. She told the council committee it took a while before she found out what prevented her from being able to accept new work orders, making her “deactivated” as it’s called in the industry.

    “I received an email that stated I had been deactivated due to adverse behavior and activities that negatively impacts the delivery experience across the platform, which means nothing.”

    RELATED: Seattle introduces legislation to protect gig workers from abrupt termination

    The proposal would require companies to provide reasons for deactivating workers that are based on investigations and related to company operations. It’s part of a suite of legislation aimed at increasing labor protections for an estimated 40,000 gig workers, who provide delivery and scheduled tasks through apps such as DoorDash and TaskRabbit.

    In May 2022, the council approved legislation that ensured minimum pay and mileage for the time it takes to provide service.

    In March of this year, the city council approved paid sick leave, allowing gig workers to accrue one day of paid leave for every 30 days worked.

    Councilmember Lisa Herbold, the bill's co-sponsor, said these are necessary protections.

    “This industry is the fastest growing sector of the workforce — folks who are otherwise not protected by our labor laws.”

    That’s because app-based companies consider gig workers to be independent contractors, not employees.

    Councilmember Alex Pedersen voted against the proposal, even though he supported previous policies governing app-based companies.

    Continue reading »

  • Campaigning for Seattle Council after Defund: Today So Far
    • Taking an EV road trip across the Northwest.
    • Seattle council members running for re-election talk about efforts to defund Seattle police.
    • An update on Tokitae's journey back to the Salish Sea

    This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for July 17, 2023.

    Quick hits

    Range anxiety: The concern that an electric-vehicle driver has over the availability of charging stations when driving long distances. Drivers of gas-powered vehicles have stations all over the place. EV charging stations are more sparse. But when KUOW's John Ryan opted to take an EV on a road trip to Boise, Idaho, recently, range anxiety wasn't really as much of a factor as "charger anxiety."

    This is one takeaway from Ryan's trip testing our region's EV infrastructure. He took a Chevy Bolt on a more than 500-mile trek, navigating through the treacherous and wild arid grasslands of Washington, over the infamous charging desert of Eastern Oregon, and on to the rugged, rocky realm of Idaho. He documents his journey along the way, detailing aspects of EV travel that I had never considered before. Charger anxiety, as he calls it, is dealing with different charging stations. Some charge faster or slower. Sometimes you roll up to a charging station only to find it hasn't been maintained and is therefore not working. And many require you to set up an account with your bank card, which can be tedious across different companies.

    It seems that EV charging companies have some room for improvement when it comes to ease of use. The only thing I can liken this to is when you go to an arcade or a pinball bar and they annoyingly force you to purchase a card to use on their machines. Or they make you download an app and pay for every game on your phone. Whereas I can simply choose to never return to those arcades, EV drivers have more limited options right now. I personally drive a hybrid, which I'm pretty happy with, but I know an EV will be in my future at some point. It will likely be in yours, too. So this is useful information. Check out the full story on this here.

    The Seattle City Council jumped on a lot of measures in 2020, following local protests against police brutality. Some of those actions were in response to the Defund the Police movement, which called for cutting the Seattle Police Department's budget by 50%. The council never actually went as far as 50%, but there were cuts and changes around SPD. The votes were swift at the time, but now some of those council members are up for re-election and are swiftly moving to control the narrative.

    Councilmember Tammy Morales is sticking by her 2020 decisions. But as KUOW's David Hyde reports, Councilmember Dan Strauss and Councilmember Andrew Lewis are navigating their re-election campaigns differently. For example, Strauss just sent a mailer to his constituents boldly stating, "Defunding the police was a mistake," followed by a list of measures he voted for in support of public safety and SPD. And Lewis now tells KUOW that, “the whole focus on funding is a mistake." Read more on this here.

    An update on Tokitae's journey back to the Salish Sea: The orca is in good health, despite a couple recent illnesses.

    Tokitae is the orca that was removed from Puget Sound in the 1970s and taken to the Miami Seaquarium, where she performed for decades under the name "Lolita." The effort to return her to her home waters has gained momentum recently, and a return trip is highly anticipated for later this year.

    “All of her parameters are near normal,” Dr. Tom Reidarson said in an update on the Friends of Toki website. “Things are looking really good. Her blood work continues to be stable and look nice. And she is in as good of a clinical condition as I’ve ever seen her.”

    Continue reading »

  • Free clinics aim to bolster childhood vaccination rates in King County

    Summer has just begun and, for many, talk of the new school year may seem premature.

    But public health officials in King County are keen for families to plan ahead and start thinking about getting kids up to date on the immunizations required for the start of school.

    Childhood vaccination rates fell during the pandemic and still have not totally rebounded.

    Although the trend is slowly reversing, there’s still a lot of work to be done to get kids back on track.

    Before Covid-19 hit, about 92% of the county’s youngest school kids were vaccinated against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, according to Andie Lyons, youth and childhood vaccination branch lead for Public Health – Seattle & King County.

    "During the most recent school year, so 2022-23, it fell to 88%,” Lyons said.

    Lyons said that data represents coverage among incoming kindergarten students, and it’s been a challenge to get rates back up for a variety of reasons.

    Access to health care was disrupted during the pandemic, and now that things are more normal, many providers are experiencing high patient loads and may have long wait times.

    Lyons recommends that parents make appointments with their health care providers early to ensure kids are up to date with all vaccines required for school attendance, including Tdap, MMR, hepatitis B, varicella, and polio.

    She also urges parents to keep their kids up to date on vaccines that are recommended but not required, like the Covid-19 shots.

    In addition to encouraging parents to set up vaccine appointments, the county is helping to organize free vaccine clinics throughout the summer and fall to help increase access.

    The clinics are intended for kids through the age of 18 who live in South King County.

    Continue reading »

  • Not a good look for SPD: Today So Far
    • The Seattle Police Department's bike garage is not a good look for the department.
    • This summer tradition goes down the tubes in Whatcom County.
    • A federal "Opportunity Zone" program appears to be bearing some fruit in South Seattle.

    This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for July 14, 2023.

    Quick hits

    Let's talk about the Seattle Police Department and its bike garage. As first reported by The Seattle Times, SPD body cam footage shows officers in an East Precinct bike garage before they responded to a call about graffiti. The room they are in features a Trump 2020 flag, as well as a fake tombstone with Damarius Butts' name on it. Butts was killed by police in a downtown shootout following an armed robbery in 2017. Three officers were injured. Butts was shot 11 times. The tombstone likely originated from the 2020 protests against police brutality. How it got to the shelf in that room is unknown.

    A journalist is supposed to explore multiple angles, keep an open mind, be critical. With that in mind, about all I can say is: This is not a good look. The Trump flag should never have been there. It could be a violation of state law that nixes partisan politics in such police settings. The tombstone? It's on a shelf, facing out, surrounded by a microwave, what looks like an internet hub with a mess of ethernet wires, and other items that you can't tell what they are because they are being stored on the shelves. This area is for storage. But the tombstone is featured, in full view.

    SPD has responded by saying that these items should never have been displayed and that it supports the investigation by the Office of Police Accountability. In a statement, the department says the tombstone was not displayed as a trophy or with "pejorative intent," and that both items have already been removed.

    I think of the desks that I've worked at over the years, and the items I've featured on my work shelves. An AP stylebook. A Clark Kent Funko Pop. A rock collection. A model Enterprise 1701-D. A few too many plants. Things that express personality, pride, and a personal touch within my work environment.

    To have that tombstone up like that, it reasonably begs a lot of questions. Right now, there are people looking for answers. Investigations like this take a while, so don't expect those answers to come anytime soon. Meanwhile, all we have are the comments from SPD, and the family of Damarius Butts. For more on that, KUOW's Amy Radil has the story here.

    The federal "Opportunity Zone" program appears to be bearing some fruit in South Seattle. The idea behind this program is to get more wealthy investors to put their money in lower-income areas that need the money. In this case, Jim Sinegal has helped with new housing at Judkins Park. Sinegal is the founder of Costco. The incentive the feds provide comes in the form of tax breaks — in other words, these projects could have a bigger bang for their buck.

    “Well, we would certainly hope so,” Sinegal told KUOW's Joshua McNichols. “I mean, that’s obviously part of the allure.”

    Going beyond the nuts and bolts of the federal program, in the end, it's about new affordable housing.

    Continue reading »