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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Seattle considers 'restricted racing zones' on streets
A Seattle City Council committee is reviewing a plan that would designate certain streets as "restricted racing zones."
The proposal would bring the city in line with a state law passed last year that allows cities to use automated enforcement cameras to cite racing violators in these specific areas.
In Seattle, six areas are being considered as restricted racing zones:
- Alki Avenue SW between 63rd Avenue SW and Harbor Avenue SW
- Harbor Avenue SW between Alki Avenue SW and SW Spokane Street
- West Marginal Way SW between SW Spokane Street and Second Avenue SW
- Sand Point Way NE between 38th Avenue NE and NE 95th Street
- NE 65th Street between Sand Point Way NE and Magnuson Park
- Roadways inside Magnuson Park including, but not limited to, NE 65th Street and Lake Shore Drive NW
The ordinance doesn't necessarily add new traffic cameras to Seattle streets. Rather, it allows for a new use of existing traffic cameras, as well as new ones. According to the bill, the new use would be to "detect speed violations in walk areas, public park zones, hospital zones, and restricted racing zones."
RELATED: Kirkland has new cameras targeting speeding drivers
The cameras are managed by the Seattle Police Department. An officer would be required to review and approve citations.
The Council's Transportation and Public Utilities Committee could take a look at the proposal again sometime next month. If approved, the Council expects that the plan will go active in coming years as new budgets are crafted.
According to the proposed ordinance, Seattle has embraced similar camera enforcement programs over the years that are now commonplace. Red light cameras went live in 2006. School zone cameras went up in 2012, and cameras for "blocking the box" at intersections as well as in transit-only lanes began in 2022. The city's current 2023-24 budget also includes money to increase the number of school zone cameras in Seattle from 35 to 70.
Seattle is not the only local city looking to tech to tackle speeding and street racing. In 2022, Kirkland became the first Washington city to try a new technology that measures the level of noise racing cars produce, and in turn activates cameras to capture potential racing. A pilot program for this experimental tech began in December.
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The only frog in the world that goes 'ribbit' is here in the Pacific Northwest
Fun fact we just learned: The only frog in the world to actually go “ribbit” is right here in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s called the Pacific chorus frog, and Washington made it the official state amphibian in 2007.
Scientists refer to their ribbit as a croak. Males call out to females, and then other males join in. The frogs stop when a female approaches. According to the San Francisco Zoo, “Breeding takes place at night, near shallow water, typically after rainfall.”
The zoo explains that the frog’s vocal sac can swell to three times the size of its head. The zoo adds that, “Aggressive encounters between adult male Pacific Chorus Frogs are common.”
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Behind Seattle's caste discrimination law: Today So Far
- Tensions were high around Seattle City Hall when the Council passed the city's law against caste discrimination. One supporter spoke out about her caste for the first time.
- Seattle has made a couple big hires that will influence the city as it grows.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 21, 2023.
The Seattle City Council debated a proposed local law in February that would make discrimination based on caste illegal in the city. A February council meeting on the issue drew supporters and opponents from Seattle and beyond. Tensions and emotions were high.
Shobha Swamy flew in from Atlanta to voice her opposition to Seattle's proposal, as a representative of the Coalition of Hindus of North America. Some argued that the law unfairly targeted Hindus. Others worried that Seattle's law would increase discrimination. A Seattle tech business owner said that the law reminded him of the discrimination in India, which he felt was obsolete in the USA.
But they weren't the only voices in the room that day. Others related different experiences, both direct and indirect, after moving to the United States. It hasn't felt obsolete to them. The Council eventually approved the law, meaning that discrimination based on caste is as illegal as discrimination based on race or religion in Seattle. This would be for things like hiring and renting. Upon its approval, some broke into tears.
Seattle Now had a really good conversation about this shortly after the law passed.
At that meeting in February, Rita Meher spoke in favor of the ordinance. Meher is known around Seattle as executive director of Tasveer, the largest South Asian film festival in the USA. Until that meeting, it wasn't widely known that she was Adivasi.
"Adivasi are indigenous tribal communities who face caste discrimination, and untouchability ... I face social and economic ostracization," Meher said in front of the Council.
Talking with KUOW's RadioActive, Meher recalled growing up in India and being forced to stand in front of her class so students would know who the lower castes were, "and immediately you would see a reaction or they would snicker at you."
Meher kept this fact a secret, even after moving to the United States. But now, years later, at age 50, she decided it was time to stop hiding. That led to her revealing comments in front of the Council earlier this year. Despite living openly, this move didn't come without consequences.
The city of Seattle has made a couple big hires recently that will influence how different corners of the city take shape.
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Summer is here: What to expect for PNW wildfire season and more
While spring in the Northwest has been cool and damp, the extended forecast shows the first few days of summer will be sunny and relatively warm. Things are expected to heat up, and dry out, as we head into the thick of wildfire season 2023.
The summer solstice arrived in the Northwest at 7:58 a.m. Wednesday, June 21. With more than half of the day getting light in the Seattle area, highs on this first summer day will reach the low 70s into the evening.
Looking ahead, Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond said the first half of July, in particular, is likely to be hot and dry, though not extreme. That's good news after an especially dry May left conditions across much of the state susceptible to fire.
Above normal temperatures are expected throughout the Northwest in July, as well as below normal precipitation. That forecast remains the same through about October, according to the National Weather Service's current assessment.
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The Titanic tourist sub was built by a Seattle man's Everett-based company
The clock is ticking ominously as rescue crews surveil the North Atlantic for a possible sighting of the Titan, a unique submersible watercraft that was built by OceanGate Inc., an Everett, Washington, company.
The vessel's captain is Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate and a Seattle resident who records show lives in Madison Valley.
The Titan descended into frigid Atlantic waters on Sunday with five people aboard — it has been described as a van without seats with a bubble window at the end for viewing. Those aboard hoped to see wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in 1912.
Rush uses a repurposed videogame controller to drive the Titan down to the Titanic wreckage spot, which is submerged 2.4 miles below sea level.
The sub has a 96-hour oxygen supply (four days) for five people and is expected to run out of breathable air by Thursday morning.
The University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory worked with Rush and OceanGate from 2013 to 2020, a spokesperson said. They worked on an earlier version of the sub, a shallow diving submersible called CYCLOPS.
Adam Summers, a professor at UW's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, described the thrill of going to the bottom of the Salish Sea with CYCLOPS. Stockton Rush piloted the vessel.
"If you had asked me, at the end, how long I've been down, I would have said 10 minutes," Summers said. "It was three and a half hours."
It was worth the risk, he continued.
"It was completely worth the price of admission to see the stuff we saw," Summers said. "I would have gone again in a heartbeat. I mean, if I'd had the resources and they'd been able to offer me a trip on the Titan, I would have been on the Titan. I absolutely had confidence in their safety ability."
The UW was not involved with the design, engineering, or testing of the Titan sub, the spokesperson said. The Boeing Company worked with OceanGate and the UW on initial design analysis.
Rush is an amateur diver who moved to Seattle in 1990, according to a University of Washington press release related to CYCLOPS.
Rush “became involved with submarines as a way to explore the Pacific Northwest marine environment without having to deal with the cold water and cumbersome dry suits.”
The press release continues: “When he discovered that subs-for-hire were in short supply, he bought an unfinished sub and finished it for his own use.”
According to Rush’s biography on the OceanGate Inc. website, he was a pilot and served on the board of directors for Seattle’s BlueView Technologies, a manufacturer of small, high-frequency sonar systems.
He also served as a trustee for the Museum of Flight in Seattle. He has a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business, according to his biography.
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Uncommon type of surprise arrives in the mail: Today So Far
- Tom Hanks unexpectedly gives one of his many typewriters to a small Bremerton shop.
- Young refugees find poetry in Tukwila.
- King County officials are tightening their grip on many oversight programs around at-risk youth.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 20, 2023.
It was an average day at Bremerton Office Machine Company when owner Paul Lundy began going through the mail, but one package among the stack stood out. It came as quite a surprise — a typewriter signed by Tom Hanks, with a special message, typed by the actor.
To say that Hanks loves typewriters would be an understatement. He has amassed a collection numbering hundreds the writing machines. I might say it's weird to be so fond of these outdated, complicated machines ... if I wasn't, sort of, one of these weirdos. They're interesting characters; the sort of people who type "ctrl z" on a typewriter in an antique shop and walk away snickering (or maybe that's just me). There remains a small market of folks who still use typewriters, from authors to offices that continue to use them. This spot in Bremerton is one of a few shops where people can still get typewriters repaired. Which is probably why Hanks was aware of it, as well as a handful of others across the USA where he recently sent some of his old typewriters.
The problem with collecting typewriters is that you end up with quite a few funky smelling machines that stay on a shelf somewhere. You tell yourself that you'll get to them someday, but they stay funky. I don't think Hanks has that experience, however. He likes to pick up rare models wherever he can find them and keep them clacking. But, apparently, he still has a problem with having enough space for all of them. Perhaps that's why he recently began mailing some of his collection to small shops. They each came with a letter, typed by Hanks, instructing the shops on what to do with his machines. That's not all that came with the typewriters. Over at Bremerton Office Machine Company, Lundy realized that this package was more than a typewriter, it was an opportunity. Check out the full story here.
"Working with my grandpa / under the pink sky to grow Mustard flowers / to give to friends and teachers.”
That's part of a poem, written by Nila Safi who recently graduated from Tukwila's Foster High School. It's also a memory Nila has of her grandfather who lives in Afghanistan. She hasn't seen him in many years. Nila came to the United States as a refugee. It was a difficult transition for her, and her sister Ada. English did not come easily, at first. On top of that was the strain of being connected to two worlds — a childhood in Afghanistan, and a new life in the USA. Poetry offered both Nila and Ada a solution. Not only was it a way to practice English, it was a way to connect different parts of their lives. That's the focus of Amy Radil's latest article on KUOW, which dives into a poetry writing class for immigrant and refugee students. Read that here.
Today is World Refugee Day. Ever since 2001, the United Nations has held this event to highlight the millions of people who have been displaced around the globe. According to state numbers, more than 30,000 refugees have come to Washington over the past decade from more than 70 countries. About 6,500 refugees have come from Ukraine since 2010. Washington has welcomed 3,200 Afghan refugees since 2021.
King County officials are tightening their grip on many oversight programs around at-risk youth. The move comes after concerning reports about of some of these programs.
The county council recently unanimously voted to require information about the outcomes of the Restorative Community Pathways program. This is a local effort to divert low-level youth offenders to programs outside of the court and jail system.
“The idea is good here,” Councilmember Rod Dembowski told KUOW. “But I think the county moved too quickly, tried to refer too many kids to too many organizations that weren’t ready from a capacity standpoint to do the work, and we just haven’t had enough transparency on this.”
“Dozens if not hundreds of youth are referred to the program and may never even be contacted, and may never participate in it," Dembowski said. "And then nothing is really done. So we’re spending tens of millions of dollars to support programs that may be providing very few services to very few youth.”
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A California legal battle over gas stoves stirs uncertainty for energy policies across the West Coast
A court battle over gas stoves in California is sowing seeds of uncertainty for energy policies in the West, as cities in Washington and Oregon seek to limit the use of natural gas in new homes and buildings.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled earlier this year that a natural gas ban in Berkeley overstepped federal law, casting ripple effects across the states under the court's jurisdiction. It covers states along the West Coast, as well as Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.
The court decision comes after the California Restaurant Association sued the city of Berkeley for banning new natural gas lines. In April, a panel of judges ruled in favor of the association, reversing a district court's ruling. The new opinion essentially said that local policies can't limit energy use for products regulated through the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act – including appliances like gas stoves.
But several states, cities, and environmental groups are pushing back. Washington and Oregon have joined a list of states and groups seeking an "en banc" legal review of that decision, saying it could open the door for legal challenges on issues beyond the use of gas stoves and natural gas lines.
"If this decision stands it could potentially put other public health and safety protections at risk," said Denise Grab, with the Rocky Mountain Institute. "Power shut offs to help prevent wildfires during high risk conditions, it could impact water conservation efforts."
Grab says the court's ruling took many people by surprise, and that the final outcome will likely take months to resolve.
The uncertainty surrounding the decision prompted Washington state officials to pause new building codes that were set to go into effect July 1. Washington's Building Code Council voted during a meeting in late May to delay implementation of the codes until October, citing concerns about the court decision's impact on the legality of some of the new provisions. Part of the new codes include limits on natural gas, and the council ordered its staff to consider how the codes might be modified.
Meanwhile, people opposed to new limits on natural gas hope to use the California ruling as a building block. A group of Washington builders have filed a federal lawsuit, hoping that the California court's ruling will help strike down other local bans on new natural gas use and infrastructure.
[Copyright 2023 Northwest News Network]
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Seattle approves new director of Planning and Community Development
On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council unanimously confirmed acting director Rico Quirindongo as head of the Office of Planning and Community Development.
Quirindongo spent part of his childhood in South Seattle. He says he thinks a lot about the challenges local Black and BIPOC families face when looking for affordable housing.
“How do we upzone in such a way that we can create opportunity for developers to build more housing that is affordable for first time home buyers?” he asked.
Quirindongo spoke to KUOW in December.
As director of Seattle's Office of Planning and Community Development, Quirindongo would play a key role in bringing Seattle into compliance with the state of Washington’s new “middle housing law.”
That law requires opening up most residential neighborhoods to duplexes, fourplexes, and in some cases, six-unit townhomes. Those options must be included in Seattle's comprehensive plan update, due at the end of 2024.
Actual homes built under those rules could start rolling out in mid-2025.
Quirindongo said the new housing options will mean fewer families get pushed out of Seattle due to high housing costs.
“What we do now is gonna make a really big difference and is gonna set the stage for the next 20 years," he said.
But Quirindongo also said the city must do more to help Black and other BIPOC families afford those new homes. Census data shows that home ownership among Seattle’s Black families has fallen in recent years.
Quirindongo also says he’s committed to the principle of making Seattle a 15-minute city where the businesses, schools and parks people need are within a short, safe walk or ride from their homes.
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Seattle museum celebrates Black history, honors Juneteenth
Over the weekend, the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle will host a series of Juneteenth celebrations, highlighting a variety of events, talks, and activism in the city celebrating the nation's newest federal holiday.
Juneteenth started in 1865 in Texas, when union troops told thousands of enslaved Black people that they had been emancipated.
Despite that, Black Americans have faced resistance as they began to assert their freedom. The legacy of those injustices rooted in white supremacy still continues today.
“Juneteenth is an opportunity for all of us, no matter who we are, for all of us to commit ourselves to taking action for equity," said LaNesha DeBardelaben, president and CEO of the Northwest African American Museum. "If we don't, who will?"
Over the next few days the museum will host a youth game show, a film festival, and a final community skate party celebration on Monday, June 19.
Events from other groups around the city celebrating Juneteenth include a workers' march organized by the Juneteenth Committee to Stop Police Terror and End Systemic Racism, and an Africa Town Community Land Trust celebration at Jimi Hendrix Park.
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Could all these city slickers ruin rural Washington? Today So Far
- A lot of city folks have moved out to rural Washington over the past few years.
- Seattle is still booming and will soon require a new area code to handle all the phone numbers.
- Families in this rural town worry about food security once school is out for summer.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 16, 2023.
Will all these new city slickers change the rural Northwest? For better, or worse?
That's a question a lot of folks in rural corners of Washington state may be asking themselves these days. Northwest News Network's Courtney Flatt recently visited Waitsburg, Wash., to get some answers. The small town is about a half hour drive from Walla Walla, and is surrounded by an expanse of open land — where all our food comes from. In 2020, Waitsburg had just under 1,200 people living locally. But the pandemic changed a few things.
Less populated, rural areas across the USA were slowly losing their populations before 2020, and urban areas were gaining people. The Census Bureau noticed that this trend reversed over 2020 and 2021. Suddenly, rural areas were gaining people, and city populations were declining. The national trend continued in 2022, but to a lesser degree. The severity of this trend depends on where you look, but according to the Bureau, it definitely happened across Washington state.
That's why small towns like Waitsburg have noticed a few new faces around town. A while ago, that would have made Markeeta Little Wolf feel a bit nervous. She's a former mayor of Waitsburg and has been cautious of newcomers.
“I wanted to put a moat around Waitsburg with a drawbridge, don’t let them come in," Little Wolf told Northwest News Network. "They’re going to ruin the place."
I have a certain admiration for many of these rural areas, and if I moved to any of them, I certainly would be viewed as one of these city slickers moving in and threatening the vibe of the place (sorry, not sorry; I just really like the movie "City Slickers" and I don't get to write it very often). I've previously lived in lesser-populated parts of our state. There is a noticeable shift in communities where this sort of migration happens. Folks move in for the slowed down atmosphere, and community attitude. But sometimes, someone comes around and starts saying things like "condos" or "shopping center." Once that happens, things aren't as slow as they once were, and the town might not feel like the same community folks came for. That doesn't always happen, and towns have some control over how they grow, but that is a genuine fear. But fears don't always reflect reality.
In Waitsburg, "that didn't happen," Little Wolf said. "The people that have come from Seattle or Los Angeles have come in and they've said, ‘Wow, this is something that we need to preserve.’”
“You can walk up and down Main Street, you can look into windows. There's things to see, grab a cup of coffee, have a drink or two or three. And there's things to do."
A benefit of the recent influx of people has been a surge of entrepreneurship, and a sort of downtown revitalization. New shops have popped up, including a wood-fired pizza joint owned by a guy who was trained to make pizzas in Italy. Courtney Flatt has the full story here.
While rural Washington has experienced a slight population bump, the population is still booming in the Seattle region — so much that the area is expected to run out of phone numbers by 2025.
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Minneapolis arts leader to run Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
The City of Seattle has chosen long-time Minneapolis artist and arts administrator Gülgün Kayim to serve as the new director of the city's Office of Arts & Culture.
Kayim will spearhead the city's efforts to support the creative economy that has struggled to recover from pandemic shutdowns.
As the founding director of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy for the City of Minneapolis, Kayim took on a similar challenge. She oversaw the creation of arts recovery funds for groups impacted by the pandemic, and helped obtain funding for restorative art in underserved communities, according to a press release from the Seattle Mayor's Office.
Mayor Bruce Harrell said he expected Kayim to continue building the Seattle arts scene, especially for historically marginalized groups.
"I look forward to the new energy and ideas she will bring to our team, helping build One Seattle through a commitment to uplifting the voices of those too often underrepresented, building trusted relationships in our arts community, and supporting a flourishing and inclusive creative landscape," Harrell said in the statement announcing the decision.
Before working for the City of Minneapolis, Kayim was assistant director for the Archibald Bush Foundation, where she worked on a fellowship program for artists. She also served as co-founder and co-artistic director of Skewed Visions, a Minneapolis-based performing arts organization.
Kayim a multidisciplinary artist herself who said she is excited to work with Seattle's arts community.
"Seattle is a city that is known for its world-class artists, creative endeavors, and arts scene, and I look forward to working with them to make the arts more equitable and accessible to all," Karim said in a statement.
Kayim was hired after a national search by a 16-member search committee representing diverse disciplines in the city's arts sector.
Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture manages public art programs, grants, initiatives, ARTS at King Street Station, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute and The Creative Initiative.
Kayim starts in her new role July 19.
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What happened when Tom Hanks' typewriter showed up at this small Bremerton shop
A lot of surprises come through Bremerton Office Machine Company, one of the last remaining typewriter repair shops in the Northwest. There are typewriters from different eras, with different fonts and languages, even machines that type musical notation.
Still, shop owner Paul Lundy was stunned when a typewriter of an uncommon type recently arrived in the mail — a typewriter previously owned and signed by actor Tom Hanks, a 1940 Remington 5 portable.
It came with a Playtone towel (Hanks' production company), and a letter from the actor.
"The typewriter arrived, as many do, unannounced. I was expecting a customer machine and yep, that was in the arrival stack. Then one with a Santa Monica, Calif. address," Lundy said. "I opened the box and the first thing I spied was a dark green Playtone towel — how odd. In a beautiful, deep dark green envelope was Tom’s note donating this Remington 5 portable typewriter to [Bremerton Office Machine Company]. Everyone in the shop was so thrilled to be honored."
Hanks is known for his typewriter fervor and has amassed a personal collection of hundreds of the writing machines. It appears that, lately, he has been freeing up some space on his shelves, to the benefit of small shops across the USA.
The letter accompanying the machine, typed by Hanks, stated that the shop should do with it as it pleases — clean it up, use it, display it, sell it, whatever.
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