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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Washington is about to dive deeper into the world of psychedelic research
In a place where "magic mushrooms" grow freely, it's still illegal to possess them in Washington, but the state is preparing for a legalized future.
The Washington state Legislature has mandated that the University of Washington's Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department study the drug's effects on the mind.
Dr. Nathan Sackett, co-director of the Center for Novel Therapeutics in Addiction Psychiatry, is developing the study now. About 40 military veterans and first responders will undergo therapy and supervised sessions on psilocybin. The study will focus on patients who have both post -traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder.
Sackett expects the psilocybin treatment, paired with therapy, will help with PTSD and alcohol use disorder. Patients' sessions will begin by 2025.
RELATED: He helped cancer patients find peace through psychedelics. Then came his diagnosis
“Our hope is that in targeting this specific population with these two co-morbidities, we could better understand if this could be a viable treatment moving forward,” Sackett said.
A growing body of research points to psilocybin, the psychoactive element in the mushrooms, as a treatment for depression, addiction, and other mental health ailments. In 2019, the FDA granted psilocybin "breakthrough therapy" status, which opened the door for expedited study of the drug.
However, “There are large gaps in the literature that need to be addressed before we make this a widespread, available treatment,” Sackett said.
Sackett will be looking for how effective the drug is, and how long effects last after the psilocybin session.
“For a lot of people, we have a story in our mind that kind of loops around, that’s informed from our childhood and our history and our experiences. That story is often reinforced, kind of day in and day out. And if your story is that you're depressed or that you have trauma or that you need to use alcohol or substances, it gets very difficult to step out of that story. My hypothesis is that, in using these compounds in a therapeutic setting, you are allowed to step outside of that narrative for a certain time period and question the validity of that story.”
This will be UW's second recent study involving magic mushrooms. It is the first ordered by state lawmakers. The previous study involved health care workers during the pandemic.
RELATED: Could a psychedelic trip help burned out health care workers cope? This scientist thinks so
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Amazon employees plan walkout over return-to-office policy, and more
Amazon employee activist groups are trying to rally colleagues for a one-hour walkout in protest of various grievances with the company, including its new mandate that employees return to the office three days per week.
The walkout will be held between noon and 1 p.m. on May 31 if organizers can get commitments to participate from at least 1,000 Amazon employees.
RELATED: Seattle employers beckon workers back to the office. Downtown can’t wait
Two groups are organizing the demonstration. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice has been pressuring the company to take a more aggressive approach to reducing its carbon footprint for years. More recently, a group called Amazon Remote Advocacy has sprung up to protest the company’s return-to-office (RTO) policy.
“RTO, layoffs, and a broken Climate Pledge all show leadership is exhibiting Day 2 behavior and taking us in the wrong direction,” the groups say in a statement, giving a nod to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ catchphrase, “it’s always Day 1.”
According the groups' statement:
"The world is changing, and Amazon needs to embrace the new reality of remote and flexible work if it wants to remain an innovative company that attracts and retains world-class talent. Many of us, including women, people of color, and workers with disabilities report that having autonomy in where we work improves not only our relationship with it, but also our ability to be seen and treated as equals. Amazon's top-down, one-size-fits-all RTO mandate undermines the diverse, accessible future that we want to be a part of. Amazon must return autonomy to its teams, who know their employees and customers best, to make the best decision on remote, in-person, or hybrid work, and to its employees to choose a team which enables them to work the way they work best."
Amazon has laid off a total of 27,000 employees in the past year after approximately doubling its headcount during the pandemic. On May 1, the company implemented a new policy requiring employees to go into the office three days per week.
A recent analysis by KIRO Radio suggests workers are largely returning to the downtown HQ, evident through the increased strain on commuter traffic. Dubbing it the "Amazon Effect," traffic reporter Chris Sullivan dug up data indicating traffic speeds have slowed by as much as 38% on some routes into Seattle ever since the company's return-to-office mandate took effect.
While employees appear to be complying with the order, that doesn’t mean they’re happy about it. About 30,000 Amazon workers joined a “Remote Advocacy” Slack channel when the company first announced its RTO plans.
An Amazon spokesperson said, "we respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions," in a statement to KUOW. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice did not respond to questions about the walkout.
If it happens, the walkout will come a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, where activist investors and employees often raise controversial issues.
A previous version of this story stated that the walkout would happen a week before Amazon's annual shareholder meeting. The correct date of the shareholder meeting is May 24, which is a week before the planned walkout.
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Why some folks in Kent are celebrating: Today So Far
- A busted up, inoperable guitar onced owned by Kurt Cobain was just auctioned off for $596,000.
- Pandemic blows to education greatly depended on your zip code (aka your tax bracket).
- Folks at a Kent-based company are major players in the USA's return to the moon.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 22, 2023.
Concerns about kids' education rose during pandemic shutdowns. Now we're getting a picture of exactly how much of a hit education took during that time.
Recent studies indicate that how much of a setback a student experienced depends on where they live. I'll break this down real easy: High-income students did OK, lower-income students were hit pretty hard.
KUOW's Sami West reports that learning loss greatly depended on economic status over the past few years. One example is looking at Mercer Island and the Highline School District. Only about 3% of students in Mercer Island are on a free and reduced lunch program. Down the road in the Highline School District, 65% of students qualify for this low-income program. Such programs are often used to measure the level of lower-income students in an area. Mercer Island only registered minor learning losses, while Highline students were set back seven months in math and reading.
There are other Washington districts that West looks into, but the story is generally the same. There are a lot of reasons that could be behind this. Wealthier students could have more access to tech for remote learning, or could have extra guidance that the parents could afford. One official tells KUOW that many students in lower-income areas suffered more trauma during the pandemic from losing family members. Read the full story here.
I once heard Nirvana band members say in an interview that the reason they destroyed their instruments at the end of a show was so they didn't have to do encores. They destroyed a lot of guitars, drums, and amps. One such destroyed guitar, played by Kurt Cobain, was put back together and saved. It was just auctioned off for $596,000, which was 10 times the opening bid ... and still not nearly enough to buy a home in Seattle.
The black Fender Stratocaster was beat up in 1990, before the release of the "Nevermind" album that rocketed Nirvana to historic heights. After being pieced back together, the guitar was signed by members of the band and gifted to Mark Lanegan, singer of the Screaming Trees. Lanegan was known for collaborating far and wide. He worked with members of Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. He was a member of Queens of the Stone Age and wrote music with Belle & Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell. He also collaborated with Cobain, mostly around their mutual love for blues musician Leadbelly.
Lanegan passed away in 2022. Read more about the auctioned Cobain guitar here.
Growing up, my knowledge of Kent was mostly based on "Almost Live" parodies with trucker hats and big hair. How things have changed. Kent is now a key player in the journey back to the moon.
Kent is where Blue Origin is based. That's Jeff Bezos' aerospace company. It just landed a major NASA contract to help develop vehicles to both travel into lunar orbit, and land on the moon's surface. Folks at the Kent operation will now develop systems for the Artemis 5 mission, slated for 2029. Check out the full story here.
This mission will take a crew to the moon's surface (after SpaceX takes a crew there first). It's a significant story for a few reasons. One is that it shows there is business competition for space travel and contracts, which implies where the economy is headed. And two, the moon is the first step toward larger goals. We've been to the moon, but it's still impressive to go there. It will be even more mind expanding to go to Mars, which is the next stop. Think of the moon as a space station of sorts. With its lower gravity, it could be a more economical place to launch longer missions from. If there is ice discovered there, then that makes it even better. You can make rocket fuel from ice.
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5 locations where King County child with measles visited
A case of measles has been confirmed in a King County child and public health officials are sounding an alarm for anyone who may have had contact while they were infectious.
“Measles is highly contagious. If you don’t have immunity, you can get measles just by being in a room where a person with measles has been,” Elysia Gonzales, Medical Epidemiologist for Public Health – Seattle & King County, said in a statement. “The best protection against measles is to get vaccinated. Two doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine provides about 97% protection against getting infected by measles and that protection lasts a lifetime.”
The child visited the following places at these times:
- 5/11/23 noon to 5:45 p.m. Aki Kurose Middle School 3928 S Graham Street, Seattle, Wash.
- 5/12/23 8:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Aki Kurose Middle School 3928 S Graham Street, Seattle, Wash.
- 5/13/23 3:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Pike Place Market
- 5/13/23 4:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. World Market, 2103 Western Ave, Seattle, Wash.
- 5/15/23 2 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. HopeCentral Pediatrics & Behavioral Health 3826 S Othello Street, Seattle, Wash.
If you were at these locations, and have not been vaccinated against measles, health officials are urging you contact your doctor and watch out for symptoms, including a rash and fever. They estimate that anyone who might have gotten the highly contagious infection could get sick between now and June 5.
The vaccination status of the child and where they could have been infected are unknown.
Public Health – Seattle & King County previously warned of a potentially infectious case of measles in January. At that time, an adult woman with measles passed through Sea-Tac Airport and visited the emergency department as Providence Swedish First Hill.
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Mike's adventures in art: Wolf Play, Strange Weather, Storm
If you're looking for tips on how to experience art in the Seattle area, you're in the right place. In this weekly post, KUOW arts reporter Mike Davis has suggestions for what to do around Seattle over the weekend so you can have your own adventures in arts and culture.
Theater
"Wolf Play" is showing at ACT Theater. This is my pick of the week. When I learned this play would tackle the complexities of rehoming an international adoptee, the phenomenon of rehoming children using the internet (in this case Yahoo message board), gender ideology, gender in relation to professional athletics, and homophobia all in one 2-hour play with no intermission — I was skeptical. Not of the ability of writer Hansol Jung to craft the story, but of my ability to absorb it all in a 120-minute sprint without a breather.
I was way off base with that assumption.
Before seeing the play, I spoke with director Rosa Joshi. She explained that even though the topics themselves are heavy, we experience the play through the eyes of a 6-year-old boy. So the tone of the play naturally becomes lighter. Sitting in the audience, I marveled at the execution. The contrasting moments where the adults are parsing through heart-wrenching discussions, and we get narration directly from the little boy who is at the center of the action, allow the audience to laugh. Even though we as adults understand what we are seeing, we are allowed to transition into the perspective of a child. And in this production, the child believes he is a wolf.
"Wolf Play" tells the story of a little boy, known as Wolf, who is struggling to find his pack. His family. Before the play starts, we learn that while the boy is Korean, the story is about Americans. We are slammed into the middle of the “rehoming” process. We see Wolf delivered to a new family and through his eyes we experience his world shift as his father explains to him that he will have a new home. The emotions from the adults, the terror of the child, a pressure cooker situation that eventually explodes into violence - this scene will live with the audience long after seeing the play.
Wolf's new parents are a lesbian couple, one of which did not want to adopt. So not only do we get the dynamic of a reluctant parent causing ripples in a marriage, but this parent is also a non-binary boxer preparing for their professional debut against a male fighter. So, in the midst of training for a historical bout, now a child has invaded their world.
There is so much more I could say about this play, but I encourage folks to see it for themselves. There is so much to unpack. The little boy is a puppet. His puppeteer, who is an adult, plays the character of a wolf. And that wolf speaks for the little boy. It is not only creative artistically, but adds a unique dynamic to production. The puppeteer speaks the boy's thoughts which cannot be heard by the other characters, and speaks directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall, and also has moments where he speaks to other characters as the little boy. It adds so much to the production having this element.
Puppetry, staged-boxing, and the quest to find love round out this amazing production. I see a lot of plays. This is easily one of the best I’ve seen this year.
Wolf Play, showing at the ACT Theater May 5 - 21
Visual Art
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Why Seattle is watching its wallet: Today So Far
- The city of Seattle will have a balanced budget this year. Maybe next year, too. After that ... well, we'll see.
- Seattle School Board believes it has a solution to next year's budget woes, but it's more of a patch.
- PCC just announced to its members that it won't be distributing dividends this year.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 19, 2023.
Months of inflation, lingering pandemic effects, taxes, avocado toast ... OK, not really avocado toast. It's just a popular thing to complain about and use to blame people for things. Like Millennials. Stupid avocado toast-loving Millennials ruining our economy.
In reality, there's a cluster of factors colliding to make people nervous about upcoming budgets, especially around Seattle's city hall, school district, and grocery stores. Such as the inflation and pandemic shifts mentioned above, but also some factors unique to our city.
The city of Seattle will have a balanced budget this year. Maybe next year, too. After that ... well, we'll see.
The city's number crunchers say that inflation, uncertainty, lower tax revenue, are among factors threatening the city's overall revenue. Inflation means things cost more. Lower revenue means there's less money to pay for those increased costs.
The pandemic caused fewer people to drive into the city for work, which in turn, lowered the amount of parking tax Seattle took in. The city also has a head tax on high-earning employees at local companies. But those earnings can be heavily influenced by stock prices, which have taken some hits. Lower stocks means lower pay, which means many employees fall under the high-earning threshold for the tax. It's probably worth noting the high number of layoffs in the local tech industry, and the fact that Amazon is moving a lot of jobs over to Bellevue.
These are the sorts of effects that Seattle leaders are considering now as they look at the budget ahead. Read the full story here.
The Seattle School Board believes it has a solution to address its $131 million budget gap, but as KUOW's Sami West points out, this is more of a patch. The temporary fix will help the district get through the upcoming school year, but it is looking at millions more in cuts down the road. Seattle Schools is also figuring out which schools could be consolidated in the future.
The funding issue largely comes from declining enrollment at Seattle schools. The district gets funding from the state based on the number of students attending its classes. Fewer students means less funding.
In non-government budget news, local businesses are also pinching pennies. The upscale grocery co-op PCC just announced to its members that, for the first time in its history, it won't be distributing dividends this year. The market saw increased revenues over the past year, but costs and inflation have grown beyond those gains, leading to an overall loss of $250,000 for the market.
PCC is pointing to a lot of the same factors that the city and school district have brought up, mainly inflation. But it's also pointing to the influence of pandemic changes. It opened a store in downtown Seattle last year, which failed to produce a decent customer base. Remote work is being blamed for that — instead of importing folks from outside of downtown to do their grocery shopping, people stayed home and shopped locally. Monica Nickelsburg has the full story here.
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NASA contract has Kent's Blue Origin feeling over the moon, and on it
Good news arrived for Kent-based Blue Origin Friday morning, but it may not have the aerospace company feeling over the moon — instead, it's heading straight for the lunar surface.
Blue Origin announced Friday that NASA has awarded it a $3.4 billion contract for "NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar Development." In human speak, that means the company is on a national team to develop a vehicle to take people between Earth and the moon, as well as a lander that can transport people to the surface.
Other members of this lunar lander team include Boeing, Astrobotic, Draper, Honeybee Robotics, and Lockheed Martin.
"Today we are excited to announce Blue Origin will build a human landing system as NASA’s second provider to deliver Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “We are in a golden age of human spaceflight, which is made possible by NASA’s commercial and international partnerships. Together, we are making an investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first astronauts on Mars.”
While high fives are likely going around Blue Origin's Kent offices, the celebration is more regional. According to Sen. Maria Cantwell's office, through Blue Origin's contract, nine Western Washington companies will be suppliers for upcoming moon missions. They include:
- Baker Manufacturing Inc, Tacoma
- Electroimpact Inc, Mukilteo
- Janicki Industries Inc, Sedro Woolley
- Machine & Fabrication Ind LLC, Kent
- Machine Repair & Design Inc, Sumner
- Machinists Inc, Seattle
- McNeeley Mfg, Auburn
- Motion Industries, Tukwila, WA
- Specialty Metals Corporation, Kent
Also, a total of 42 companies across Washington are involved with NASA's current effort to return to the moon, and beyond.
That effort is called "Artemis." It is viewed as the first step toward eventual missions to Mars. In its own announcement, NASA notes that Blue Origin has been instructed to design a human landing system that can be reused. The vehicles should be able to dock with the Gateway (a lunar-orbiting station). From there, astronauts will be able to transfer to the surface. A uncrewed demo mission is slated for 2029.
Blue Origin will be specifically tasked with developing systems around LOX-LH2, which is used to power the vehicles. The propellant has not previously been used in space missions because of a unique problem — it tends to boil off quite easily. So Blue Origin plans to build solar-powered cryocoolers that can keep the fuel cold enough for storage. Blue Origin adds that this sort of technology is going to be important for future missions in space. Stable, storable LOX-LH2 could be used on eventual nuclear-powered spaceships. It can also be derived from ice, should it be discovered on the moon.
The announcement Friday comes after years of legal drama over NASA moon-mission contracts. The agency previously gave a contract to SpaceX to develop a moon lander for its Artemis III and Artemix IV missions. Blue Origin sued over that decision, arguing that it should have received greater consideration. It lost in court. With this latest contract, Blue Origin will develop a craft for the Artemis V mission.
RELATED: Jeff Bezos and three crewmates travel to space and back in under 15 minutes
NASA says that having multiple contracts for moon missions will "increase competition" and "reduce costs to taxpayers" while also investing in the "lunar economy."
According to NASA:
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Kia and Hyundai agree to $200M settlement over car thefts
Kia and Hyundai have agreed to a class-action lawsuit settlement worth about $200 million over claims that many of the Korean automakers' cars are far too vulnerable to theft, according to lawyers for the companies and the owners.
The settlement covers some 9 million owners of Hyundai or Kia vehicles made between 2011 and 2022 and have a traditional "insert-and-turn" steel key ignition system, lawyers for the owners said in a press release on Thursday.
Compensation to owners includes up to $145 million in out-of-pocket losses that will be distributed to people who had their vehicles stolen. Affected owners can be reimbursed up to $6,125 for total loss of vehicles, and up to $3,375 for damages to the vehicle and personal property, as well as insurance-related expenses.
Car thefts of the affected models, using a hack popularized on social media, have spiked in recent months. The growing number of thefts have coincided with the spread of a TikTok "challenge" that shows people how to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles that lack basic security features. The trend has been linked to eight deaths, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The car companies said in February that they would begin rolling out software upgrades to the 8.3 million U.S. vehicles that lack engine immobilizers — a feature that prevents a car from starting unless it receives an electronic signal from a key.
Since then, pressure on the company to do more to curb the thefts has only mounted.
Citing the uptick in theft, several cities including Seattle, St. Louis, Mo., Columbus, Ohio, and Baltimore have sued Kia and Hyundai. Last month, attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia urged the NHTSA to issue a mandatory recall of the vehicles in question.
As part of the agreement, the anti-theft software will now be added to vehicles automatically at any dealership service appointment, the companies said in a news release.
"We appreciate the opportunity to provide additional support for our owners who have been impacted by increasing and persistent criminal activity targeting our vehicles," said Jason Erb, Hyundai Motor North America's chief legal officer, in a statement. [Copyright 2023 NPR]
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KUOW wins 6 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards including 'Overall Excellence'
KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio has won six 2022 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, including Overall Excellence for a large market radio station. KUOW has received the top honor of "Overall Excellence" three times in the last four years.
The Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards honor outstanding achievement in local broadcast and digital journalism. All winners will automatically be entered into consideration for national Edward R. Murrow Awards.
“It’s a thrill to see the enterprising work of the KUOW news team recognized with such prestigious honors," said Gigi Douban, KUOW news director. "These journalists are some of the most versatile and creative people I know. They show tremendous courage and commitment in the work they do every day. What’s more, they are engaging and empathetic in their storytelling, as they are, first and foremost, people who live and work in the communities we serve.”
KUOW is thankful to our dedicated journalists and community, who make this work possible. Below, learn more about KUOW's winning stories.
For a full list of KUOW's Murrow Awards for 2023, click here.
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What are we going to do about AI? Today So Far
- There's a lot of talk around artificial intelligence these days, from DC to the office.
- Former finance director pleads guilty to embezzling millions from Seattle nonprofits.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 18, 2023.
What are we going to do about artificial intelligence (AI)? People are already starting to think about that question, including folks in the AI business.
"This is a new twist — a tech CEO appearing before Congress saying, 'Regulate me,'" GeekWire's Todd Bishop told KUOW's Kim Malcolm.
That CEO was Sam Altman with OpenAI. He was questioned in front of Congress this week about the rise of AI and its potential impacts on society — like jobs, or even creating a false reality online. AI programs can do work only previously seen on the Enterprise, like when Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge would ask the computer to run a flight simulation, write a letter, or create an ideal love interest on the holodeck.
The U.S. government has a poor record when it comes to adapting to technological advances, especially in the computer age. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has often spoken about upgrading his office's tech a couple years after being on the job. That would have been about 2003. At the time, the department was still using Wang computers (kids, ask your parents what a Wang computer was ... and parents, turn around and ask your own parents what a Wang computer was). He got upgraded computers for the Secretary of State's Office with crazy new capabilities ... like the internet. This all happened about four years after "The Matrix," five years after "You Got Mail," more than a decade after the general public went online, and 20 years after "War Games."
This is just one corner of government history, but perhaps lessons like this are behind why there is now an effort in DC to develop AI regulations, before it's too late. A bipartisan group of senators is currently forming a coalition around this single issue.
One big question is whether AI will replace jobs, or simply become part of the work process. For example, Bishop says he uses AI for his work at GeekWire.
"When I'm writing a story, I'll put the draft into ChatGPT and say, 'proofread this for me, tell me if this matches Associated Press style, tell me if I've misspelled any words, or if I could improve the grammar.' And it's remarkable what you get back from ChatGPT in terms of polishing," he said.
On the flip side of that coin is the potential for companies to bypass reporters and writers altogether and use AI to produce a range of content. At least, that is the concern / debate among journalist circles these days. Personally, I don't think every media company will do this ... but somebody is going to do this. So far, we know that ChatGPT can't write this newsletter. Beyond this, AI could also be used to write computer code or produce works of art. It could even, potentially, manufacture a false online reality and influence everyday users. Call me old fashioned, but I believe that only humans should be allowed to create false realities on social media.
Microsoft seems to believe that there is no getting around AI. It has invested $13 billion into the OpenAI company. In a recent work trends report, Microsoft noted that job listings on LinkedIn that mention "ChatGPT" or "AI" have shot up nearly 80% over the past year. Goldman Sachs economists have estimated that AI could replace two-thirds of jobs in the USA and Europe. As KUOW's Monica Nickelsburg reports, Microsoft has a more optimistic view around all this, and expects AI to become part of the workflow, helping out with meetings, emails, and keeping up with data. The tech giant has its fingers crossed that AI will boost productivity in the end.
Will AI ultimately take over our jobs, or will it become part of our workflow the same way the laptop has, or email? There are a lot of ways this AI future can play out. It could be like "Her," "Blade Runner," or even "The Terminator." Only time will tell, but at this point I figure one thing is certain — somebody is eventually going to fall in love with a computer.
I'm not smart enough to get away with any serious criminal activity, but still, I'd say that using a company card to spend millions of dollars at a casino would likely raise some red flags. And red flags are not what you want when you're embezzling $3 million from prominent nonprofits.
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Spring heatwave prompts emergency shellfish-safety rule
An unusual mid-May heatwave has led Washington state officials to put emergency measures in place to protect shellfish consumers from bacteria that thrive in warm water. Those measures don’t usually go into effect until July.
Following a four-day wave of record-breaking springtime heat, the Washington Department of Health has banned commercial shellfish harvesting anywhere local water temperatures exceed 70 degrees. In areas at highest risk of disease outbreaks from the bacterium called Vibrio parahaemolyticus, the ban kicks in when water temperatures pass 66 degrees.
On Wednesday, the department also required shellfish farmers to chill their harvest within as little as one hour, depending on the water temperature at the time of harvest.
That’s the preferred method used to stop the growth of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a naturally occurring microbe in Northwest waters and a close relative of the bacterium that causes cholera.
“Our best tool is just ice, ice, ice,” said shellfish farmer John Adams, who raises oysters and clams on Little Skookum Inlet near Shelton. “Once that shellfish comes out of the water, get it on ice immediately and keep it on ice.”
Shellfish are filter feeders, sucking in seawater and squirting it out after straining it of its nutritious algae. Once a clam or oyster is harvested, water stops cycling in and out of its body, allowing bacteria a chance to proliferate to potentially harmful levels.
“We have decided to enact the Emergency Rule tomorrow as a precaution to avoid illnesses,” the Department of Health notified the state’s shellfish growers on Tuesday.
Washington state is the nation’s top producer of farmed clams, mussels, and oysters, with about $200 million in annual production.
Adams said the emergency rule won’t affect his shellfish operation, which already cools clams and oysters below 50 degrees in under an hour.
“I think they're being a little bit overly cautious, but this is an OK area to be overly cautious in,” Adams said. “I don't know that it was completely warranted, but I don't mind it because the bottom line is, all of our aims are lined in the same direction — providing safe food.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that 80,000 people in the United States get sick annually with vibriosis, mostly from eating raw or undercooked shellfish, and 100 people die from their infection.
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Compromise leads to a big fix in Washington (is that allowed?): Today So Far
- Washington's lawmakers passed an updated drug possession law during a one-day special session.
- Should the Northwest start investing in more air conditioning?
- Snoqualmie Tribe starts a sales tax.
- What to watch at SIFF before it ends.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 17, 2023.
The fix is in. Washington's lawmakers passed an updated drug possession law during a one-day special session.
What passed is a bipartisan compromise (What?! Is that even allowed?! Have we always been able to do this?!). Using drugs in public, or possessing small amounts of drugs, is now a gross misdemeanor. The bill also opens up legal options for addiction treatment. There's a longer story behind why this law was needed, but the short version is that the state only had a temporary drug possession law in place, which was set to expire in July, so the pressure was on to make something happen.
It took lawmakers an entire session to flub the first proposed fix for this issue, and it took them a single day to approve this recent version. Personally, I credit my previous deriding remarks, mildly poking fun at lawmakers after failing to pass the first fix. I'm sure that's what did it. Perhaps moving forward, if lawmakers fail to make compromises during an official session, each one gets a pie in the face. It's Washington, so we can make it an apple pie, or a loganberry pie. If they do a decent job, then we'll just let them take the pie home. Sort of like a carrot and stick situation. That sounds reasonable and civil, right?
There is sure to be criticism from multiple corners around this new law. Future tweaks could come along. For now, let's offer lawmakers a virtual high five for working together and compromising to make things happen. Though, if I'm talking about pies at this point, then it's probably a good idea to just read the full story on this. Jeanie Lindsay has that report here.
On Monday, following a hot weekend and as students were returning to classrooms, new high temp records were set in the cities of Bellingham, Olympia, and Seattle.
In Federal Way, teachers responded by covering class windows with butcher paper, turning off lights, and bringing in their own fans, all in an effort to cool down. The 80-degree temps that our spring heatwave has produced might not seem like a big deal in other parts of the USA, but in Washington — where people prepare more for rain, clouds, and cold temperatures — they can be quite a problem. A lot of the buildings in the region were built to keep heat in, not cool down. That includes school buildings.
“We encourage our students to focus and try their best on this computer test, but it is upwards of 80, 90 degrees in a classroom, so it adds another factor," Federal Way teacher Shannon McCann told KUOW.
Kids in a hot classroom are about as effective as those kids in "Pete and Pete" waiting for Mr. Tastee amid a heatwave.
I know, because I remember spending third grade in a portable building at Challenger Elementary as the heat went up. It was like being in that sweltering room in "12 Angry Jurors," but with 8-year-old kids. I remember going on and on about how the guy was innocent before my teacher yelled that we were talking about math and told me to sit down.
Over the past few years, the "ways to cool down" article has become more popular around the Northwest. We've all seen plenty of online posts about connecting fans, tubing, and coolers filled with ice to create A/C contraptions when stores run out of actual units (or for folks who simply cannot afford an air conditioner). They've become as popular as write ups for "make your own air filter for wildfire smoke." As the region copes with climate change in the years ahead, it may be time for the Northwest to evolve. Our region should think as much about A/C as it does about rain and keeping warm.
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