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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Where are we gonna put that airport? Today So Far
- Where are we gonna put that airport in Washington state?
- The 2023 wildfire season in the Northwest to be among the worst in the USA.
- The 50th anniversary of when the Seattle City Council took its first steps for gay rights.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 13, 2023.
I said it last week, and I'll say it again: Now is a good time to make sure you're stocked up on air filters. All those N95 masks from the pandemic could also come in handy this summer. Fingers crossed that this prediction will fall flat, but as of now, experts expect the 2023 wildfire season in the Northwest to be among the worst in the USA.
"With the lower and mid elevations, where most of the timber and burnable material is, it's been in drought and it seems to be worsening week by week," said John Saltenberger, manager with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. "That's why, first and foremost, we're anticipating the fire threat in Washington to be probably the greatest in the nation at this point."
The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center is the agency in charge of organizing wildfire responses across Washington and Oregon. Western Washington has already begun taking action — various burn bans have emerged, including in our area. Read more here.
Washington's Legislature formed a commission in 2019, tasked with finding a location for a new regional airport. Their final recommendation is due on June 15. They're not going to make it.
If you've followed the news over the past year, you know why. The commission narrowed in on three potential locations in Western Washington. It didn't get an opportunity to narrow further to one spot, because opposition to the idea was so fierce.
"We recognize and acknowledge the deep levels of anxiety that people have in this decision, we recognize that people feel threatened by this work," said Commission chair Warren Hendrickson at the group's final meeting last Friday.
So this commission was never able to take off, but that doesn't mean this story is permanently grounded. The state Legislature began priming a new engine for this effort last session. Another workgroup was established which will start over from square one. Get ready for another round of potential airport sites in our region, along with another round of opposition to those ideas. Olympia correspondent Jeanie Lindsay has the full story here.
This June is not only Pride month — 2023 is also the 50th anniversary of when the Seattle City Council took its first steps for gay rights.
Councilmember Jeanette Williams sponsored a bill in 1973 that made job discrimination illegal based on marital status, political ideology, and sexual orientation. This was the first time in Seattle that gay rights were mentioned in law. The ordinance passed. In 1975, Seattle expanded these protections to housing.
There was pushback, however. SOME group spearheaded an effort to knock down the laws in Seattle. The group was literally called "SOME" — Save Our Moral Ethics. They got Initiative 13 on the ballot in 1978, which would have nixed Seattle's protections for gays and lesbians when it came to employment and housing. It also proposed to shut down the city's Office of Women's Rights. By a two-to-one margin, Seattle voters rejected the initiative.
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Did You Know?: The first and last time Spock showed up in Medford, Ore.
This "Did You Know?" segment was published as part of the June 13, 2023 Today So Far newsletter.
On April 15, 1967, actor Leonard Nimoy showed up in Medford, Ore. in full Spock costume to be the grand marshal of the town's Pear Blossom Parade. It was a big deal for the small town. Spock was on the front page of the Medford Mail Tribune the next day (this newspaper ceased operations in January 2023). It was also a big deal, in a way, for "Star Trek." At the time, the show was between its first and second seasons, and its ratings were struggling. Local appearances like this were encouraged to drive up publicity. It worked ... a little too well. Nimoy's experience in Medford is why he never appeared as Spock in public again.
While the first documented "Star Trek" fan convention was in 1969, Spock's appearance at the parade in Medford has been seen as the first fan gathering. A few hundred were expected at the small town's annual parade. Instead, thousands descended upon Medford.
As Nimoy recalled in his 1995 memoir, "I am Spock," after the parade, he was led to a bandstand in a local park where he and officials expected a couple hundred autographs would be handed out, but thousands of people showed up in Medford that day to see Spock. The bandstand started to sway as the crowd swelled and pushed against the stage. Nimoy became concerned that someone would be crushed. A police escort was required to escort Nimoy through the crowd and away from the park.
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Would you live here in Seattle? Today So Far
- Facing a shortage of housing, and a lot of empty office, Seattle's leaders are considering how they can remodel many of the city's buildings.
- Carbon pollution is getting more expensive in Washington state.
- It's interesting how history sometimes repeats itself, which is what appears to be happening in Seattle.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 12, 2023.
There are some news cycles when a certain figure seems to show up in just about every story — more than Smokey the Bear during wildfire season, more than Danny Trejo pops up in Robert Rodriguez movies, or more times than Ciscoe Morris says "Oh la la" upon seeing wildberries. Lately, that person seems to be Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.
Facing a shortage of housing, and a lot of empty office, Seattle's leaders are considering how they can remodel many of the city's buildings. The main idea here is to convert empty office space into living space. As someone who has mostly lived at their office (and I don't mean working from home, but rather, working so much I slept at the office), I can say that this can be done, despite complaints from co-workers about your plants taking up too much room, or that you "shouldn't sleep under your desk," or "put on regular clothes, I can see your sock garters."
The ideas for this floating around Seattle are a little more advanced than my experience living at the office. Mayor Bruce Harrell recently asked the area's architects and builders about how they would perform such a massive conversion. A few buildings popped up as examples of old space that could be turned into the city's newest housing. Here's a preview of one such option.
The Mutual Life Building in Seattle's Pioneer Square is a good-looking building, but it's pretty empty these days. Experts say its interiors could be turned into hotel-style housing — private rooms with shared bathrooms and kitchens. Others considered the city's warehouses-turned-office space, and various nooks and crannies around town, because the way housing is going in Seattle, many of us would be grateful for any decent nook or cranny to call our own.
The idea seems simple enough. You have empty space in a building, why not fill it with space for people to live? How hard could that be? As KUOW's Joshua McNichols points out, there are significant challenges to this solution.
RELATED: Could transformable buildings help revive downtowns?
Carbon pollution is getting more expensive in Washington state. The second auction for carbon credits in Washington was held in May. The result was a price tag of $56 per ton of carbon dioxide. That's 15% higher than the price that was set at the state's very first carbon auction in February. That first auction raised about $300 million. This second auction produced $557 million. KUOW's John Ryan has the story here.
There's also a lot of talk about emissions in Seattle, where Mayor Harrell has proposed new standards for existing buildings (yep, another Harrell headline). The key word here is "existing." Usually, when you hear about getting buildings to go green, it's about new construction. This effort sets a timeline for existing buildings to upgrade and get off fossil fuels, and lessen their emissions. How hard could that be? Just nix some old equipment, and install some new equipment. Well, some building owners say the timeline is too aggressive, and some activists say it isn't aggressive enough. Read the full story here.
It's interesting how history sometimes repeats itself, which is what appears to be happening in Seattle. After state lawmakers failed to pass a drug possession law in April, the finger pointing started immediately. As KUOW's Amy Radil puts it, that's where Seattle leaders currently find themselves after voting down a local drug possession bill.
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NW braces for 2023 wildfire season, expected to be a costly one
It's fire season in the Pacific Northwest and officials say it could be a costly one.
"With the lower and mid elevations, where most of the timber and burnable material is, it's been in drought and it seems to be worsening week by week," said John Saltenberger, manager with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. "That's why, first and foremost, we're anticipating the fire threat in Washington to be probably the greatest in the nation at this point."
The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center brings together federal and state firefighting teams throughout Oregon and Washington.
Precipitation readings were down around Washington state last winter, which has led to "peak dryness" arriving sooner than expected for the region.
Saltenberger adds that the Northwest fire threat in 2023 may be the worst in the nation, and that all of Washington and parts of Oregon will be facing an unusually high risk, especially in July and August.
He's urging campers and others who manage fires to be very careful.
Burn bans in Washington state
As of mid June, Burn bans throughout Western Washington have already emerged.
- Kitsap County began a stage one burn ban on June 12, meaning most outdoor burning is prohibited. People can still light recreational fires, however, in approved appliances and locations.
- A modified burn ban went into effect for parts of Whatcom and Skagit Counties on June 9. No residential or land-clearing fires are allowed. The same goes for unincorporated King County.
- Pierce County has prohibited land clearing fires and fires for yard debris. Gas and charcoal grills as well as fire pits are still allowed as of June 12.
- Snohomish County has a stage 1 burn ban. All residential burning is prohibited, even if a permit has been issued. Some small, recreational fires are allowed with restrictions.
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3 more glaciers gone from Mount Rainier
A warming climate has claimed three more glaciers in Washington state. All three were on Mount Rainier, which is home to more ice than any U.S. mountain south of Alaska.
Scientists with the National Park Service say that Stevens Glacier was gone as of 2021.
RELATED: RIP Washington’s Hinman Glacier, gone after thousands of years
Glaciologist Mauri Pelto looked at satellite imagery from last fall and says that he found that two other glaciers had dwindled down to ice patches, too small to be considered glaciers anymore.
“As we continue to have these warm summers and these heat waves, all the glaciers are going to really suffer, and any glacier that's not in pretty good form is going to be lost," Pelto says.
Park service researchers say Rainier has lost half its ice since the start of the 20th century. The losses have accelerated in recent years.
Pelto also notes that it’s too late to save the Northwest’s smaller glaciers, given the warming already baked into the climate by human pollution. But he says it’s not too late to slow global warming enough to save the Northwest’s bigger glaciers.
Read the full story on these lost glaciers here.
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Seattle Storm retires Sue Bird's jersey
All eyes turned to the rafters of Climate Pledge Arena Sunday night as the Seattle Storm retired Sue Bird's number 10 jersey. Bird wore the number for her entire 21-year career with the WNBA, as a point guard in Seattle.
Bird came to Seattle from New York, where she grew up, but said Sunday night that Seattle is home.
"Seattle wasn't always home, but that's exactly what it became, and that's in large part to all of you. And I may have given you rings, some fun moments, some game winners. While I may have given you all of those things, you gave me a home."
RELATED: 'To us, she is the greatest of all time.' Sue Bird plays final regular game with Seattle Storm
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What's next for Seattle drug law? Mayor, council look ahead
Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis said Friday he is working with City Attorney Ann Davison’s office and other stakeholders to craft a new framework to handle drug possession cases. That’s after Lewis cast the decisive vote Tuesday to block the city attorney from enforcing a new state law.
That vote prevents the city attorney from prosecuting drug possession cases, at least for now. The new state law making drug possession and public use a gross misdemeanor takes effect July 1. Lewis said he hopes to help craft a more comprehensive proposal to bring before the council in the coming weeks.
“Look, I think we fairly well established that on this issue I’m the fulcrum vote,” he said. “So in terms of where I can apply my leadership to drive the conversation, I think I’ll be in a position to build a coalition among my colleagues.”
Lewis said any new proposal must spell out, and fund, pathways to treatment that keep people out of court and jail.
“What we need to do this month is come together as a city and do the work the people of Seattle expect us to do,” he said. “To respond with urgency to this crisis that is killing so many of our neighbors, and make sure we get it done and get it done right.”
Lewis said the plan must also come up with a new type of alternative court, since the City Attorney’s Office said last month that it would no longer participate in Seattle Municipal Court’s community court program. The program was envisioned as a way to divert low-level offenders from jail, and connect them with services. But Davison’s office said the court wasn’t effective at getting cases resolved.
Still, Lewis said the process should have unfolded differently.
“I think there’s plenty of room for improvement with the community court,” he said, “but I’ve always been a fan of coming up with a reformed replacement before you get rid of a current institution.”
Lewis said the city attorney’s resulting dismissal of 1,000 misdemeanor cases harms those crime victims and the defendants who needed services. He said a new therapeutic court should be “part of the puzzle” as the city considers how to enforce the drug possession ordinance. He also wants the city to offer diversion services focused on helping people with substance use disorder.
The new state law says courts and prosecutors are "encouraged" to consider diverting someone to treatment and services rather than charging them, a step known as "Pre-Filing Diversion."
Prosecutors typically contract with nonprofits that try to address the root causes of the person’s criminal case. If the person completes the steps set out by the court, the potential charges against them are never filed.
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What isn't taught in Washington schools: Today So Far
- Seattle teens are 3D printing these at home.
- There's an effort to expand K-12 history classes in Washington state.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 9, 2023.
If you could, what would you 3D print? There are a lot of things to choose from. It could be as simple as a keychain or a bottle opener, or as fun as an RC plane or a guitar. I know a local couple who 3D printed their own Iron Man suits. The home technology has opened up a whole new level of crafting, but local teens have discovered that they can also 3D print guns.
KUOW's Ashley Hiruko reports that these types of guns are increasingly showing up in the city. SPD confiscated 16 homemade firearms in 2020, 31 in 2021, and 66 in 2022. These weapons do not have serial numbers on them and therefore count as ghost guns. In many cases, they are made with a combo of actual gun parts and 3D printed parts to fill in the gaps. In one case, police suspect a part was 3D printed to convert a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic handgun.
I have to admit that it's not entirely surprising to me that folks got the idea to 3D print their own guns. What is perhaps shocking are the ages of the folks involved in local incidents that police are coming by — a 13-year-old SeaTac kid, a 14-year-old in Burien, a 15-year-old in Des Moines. For the full story on this, read here.
These days, more and more folks are hearing about what the United States government did to Japanese-American citizens during WWII. Bainbridge Island has a memorial for it. I have a graphic novel about it. There's a musical about it. In 1988, President Reagan officially apologized for it. Or you found out because you paid attention during "Karate Kid."
If you're like me, you came by this information as an adult. But growing up around here, you weren't likely to hear in any local-history class about how Bainbridge Island was the first community where soldiers were sent to remove people from their homes and load families onto boats. You didn't hear about "Camp Harmony" in Puyallup where folks were sent (today we call it the fairgrounds) before being shipped off to camps in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. This history wasn't brought up in school.
Mercer Island resident Judy Kusakabe was born at the Puyallup fairgrounds. At 80 years old, she's part of a national effort called “Make Us Visible.” The goal is to get Asian American and Pacific Islander history into K-12 schools as part of the official curriculum. Kusakabe isn't waiting. She travels to local schools and tells students about where she was born and spent the first few years of her life. KUOW's Sami West has the full story here.
The Friday Five: News you may have missed this week, and other cool stuff on KUOW.org
- Book bans are on the rise. Biden is naming a point person to address that
- Unhoused and out of sight on King County's Eastside
- GM's electric vehicles will gain access to Tesla's charging network
- What can be done to prevent further gun violence in or near Seattle schools?
- Dockworkers slow down at West Coast ports amid ongoing labor dispute
AS SEEN ON KUOW
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Finger-pointing and fallout in the wake of Seattle City Council drug law vote
This week, after lengthy public testimony, the Seattle City Council voted down a proposal to adopt the state law in city code, which would have allowed City Attorney Ann Davison to prosecute drug possession cases. In the wake of that vote, the council has come under fire from Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. Meanwhile, law enforcement groups and prosecutors say the start date for the new state law might be later than expected.
Mayor Harrell said Thursday that the law was thoughtfully crafted and he faulted the City Council’s process that resulted in the measure going down.
“So, codification of state law into city law should really just be a perfunctory matter,” he said. “And the council, the opportunity they missed, was to define as a legislative body, what a compassionate approach with that legislation should look like."
"Instead, what happened is that they were listening to public testimony and not going through a committee process, and trying to make decisions as they did on a real-time basis.”
Council President Debora Juarez said she brought the proposal before the full council at the request of Councilmember Lisa Herbold, skipping a hearing before the Public Safety & Human Services Committee.
Harrell added, “It was my understanding before the council deliberated, we assumed it was going to pass as most legislation does when it’s a codification of state law. So we had no reason to believe it wasn’t going to pass. And the work we started even before they deliberated, on what a post-Blake city would look like, we’ve already begun and we’ll have that hopefully wrapped up sometime in July.”
He said that work will spell out how to provide better access to addiction treatment and “where we can take people who are in need.” Harrell said in the next couple weeks he’ll meet with the King County Prosecutor’s Office, the city attorney, judges and “advocates on both sides” to craft a new legislative proposal in the wake of the council's vote.
Law enforcement question when state drug law goes into effect
City attorneys and municipal courts have been urgently preparing for the July 1, 2023, effective date of the state’s new drug possession law, SB 5536, which makes the offense a gross misdemeanor. But law enforcement officials and prosecutors say they may have more time to prepare: a key provision of the existing stopgap law remains in effect until Aug. 15, which may preclude enforcement until then.
The state's current law (SB 5476) was passed as a temporary fix in 2021 after the Washington Supreme Court threw out the state’s felony drug law in the Blake decision. Legislators at that point made drug possession a simple misdemeanor. That measure requires police officers to document at least two referrals to treatment and services before arresting someone for drug possession. Many law enforcement officials say they have no mechanism to track those referrals, and have made very few arrests under the current law.
That requirement “basically made that statute unenforceable,” Thurston County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said. And he said that the requirement to refer people twice to treatment services remains in place under the new Washington law until Aug. 15 of this year, even as other portions of the new law take effect on an emergency basis July 1.
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Get ready for 'peak dryness' across the NW: Today So Far
- Peak dryness is coming to the Northwest much sooner than expected this year.
- Property values are going down around Seattle.
- A challenge to Washington's "assault weapon" ban gets an answer from the court.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 8, 2023.
The Northwest is approaching "peak dryness." Don't worry, I'm not going to say that Seattle is "thirsty" again.
Peak dryness is a time when the region dries out after summer weather hits. Here's the thing — it's happening a lot sooner than usual. It generally comes around the end of summer. Forecasters are expecting it to hit around next month. Despite April being one of the coldest on record, forecasters have expected the summer to be on the dry side.
You know what the next thought a lot of folks are having: wildfires. Many blazes are currently burning in Canada. The National Weather Service already issued one warning for the potential of flames to emerge locally. Now might be a good time to get those N95 masks and air filters ready. Read more here.
This is news we don't often hear: Property values are going down around Seattle. That's the headline for King County where home values are on the decline.
The recent downward trend is being considered a market correction after last year's steep rise in prices. Of course, this all depends on where you live. As KUOW's Diana Opong reports, a homeowner in Seattle's Queen Anne might see a reduction of about 8% while someone on the Sammamish Plateau could see more than 20%.
Here's the other big takeaway: This doesn't mean your local property taxes will go down. Sure, property values usually dictate property taxes, but there are other considerations at play, depending on where you live. Check out the full story here.
After Washington's state Legislature passed a ban on assault-style weapons last session, multiple lawsuits were filed, challenging the new law. One of them just became the first lawsuit to get an answer from a judge — it was basically tossed out.
The Second Amendment Foundation argued that HB 1240, aka an "assault weapons" ban, is unconstitutional. A U.S. District Court judge in Tacoma didn't agree with the argument, and said the gun rights group did not show that public interest favors a preliminary injunction. He concluded that it should be denied. That's fancy court talk for, "this case isn't moving forward."
There is a catch, however. It's more accurate to say something along the lines of, "This case isn't moving forward, as is." The judge denied the case "without prejudice," which means the Second Amendment Foundation has the option to refile it and start over from square one. It could take the judge's comments into consideration, modify the case, and try again.
Finally, I'm going to have to set the record straight, maybe, maybe not, sort of, we'll see. It depends on which angle you want to come at this from. Remember how I said the news around Seattle's proposal to handle drug possession was "nuanced"? Turns out, it's deeper than even I thought.
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The price of polluting has gone up in Washington state
The price of harming the climate has gone up in Washington state.
The Washington State Department of Ecology held its second auction for the right to pollute the climate on May 31 and announced the results on Wednesday.
At $56 for a ton of carbon dioxide, the price was about 15% higher than at the state’s first-ever carbon auction, held in February.
Starting this year, some major emitters of carbon dioxide have to pay the state for each ton of pollution they put out by buying “carbon allowances” at quarterly auctions. Other major polluters, including oil refineries and pulps mills, get to keep polluting the atmosphere at no charge for the time being.
In the May 31 auction, the price of carbon rose high enough to trigger an additional auction of future carbon allowances (for the year 2027) to keep the price from rising farther.
The latest auction raised about $557 million for programs to prevent or adapt to climate change.
The carbon auctions are the centerpieces of Gov. Jay Inslee’s “cap-and-invest” policy. It aims to reduce emissions and help fund the work necessary to both slow down and survive a rapidly heating climate.
The price of carbon in Washington is nearly twice the $30 price reached at similar carbon markets in California and Quebec earlier in May.
Washington officials say linking the three markets could lower the price here and make it easier for businesses to cut pollution.
Any linkage between the markets would begin no sooner than 2025.
The ecology department is currently assessing the pros and cons of making such a linkage.
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This Pride Month, Seattle advocates call for more protections for LGBTQ+ youth
Young people who identify as queer or trans are at a greater risk of experiencing homelessness and being victims of violence.
LGBTQ+ youth make up about 5% of the general population, but officials estimate about a third of King County's homeless youth identify as trans or queer.
There are a lot reasons for that, but a common one is that parents or families sometimes reject these kids, says Brandon Knox with the Lambert House, an LGBTQ youth center in Capitol Hill.
"EIther the youth are kicked out by their parents or they're treated so badly at home that they can't stand to stay and they run away," Knox says.
YouthCare, a nonprofit that connects LGBTQ+ kids with shelter and services, says this group is also more likely to be victims of violence while on the street.
In recent years as homelessness has grown in King County, so has the number of unsheltered trans and queer youth. A few youth shelters around Seattle have been set up specifically for this population that offer medical help and therapy. Recently, more shelters for homeless young adults have been updated to better serve queer and trans people around Seattle. Knox says this includes basic improvements like, "the staff will intervene when they see bullying and harassment by other shelter residents.”
Knox notes that, as other states have passed laws targeting trans and gender nonconforming teens, people are turning to Seattle for help.
“I have met a number of trans families in the last year or more families with trans children that have moved to the Seattle area from places like Texas and Florida and other states in the South," he says.
To keep up with this pace, Knox says our region needs more places for LGBTQ teens and young adults to find shelter, friends, and safety.
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