Week in Review: an orca is returning, name changes, and jail deaths

Bill Radke discusses the week’s news with Seattle Times Jonathan Martin, Publicola’s Erica Barnett, and Geekwire’s Mike Lewis

On Thursday, the owners of the Miami Seaquarium announced that there would be an effort made to relocate orca Tokitae back to the Pacific Northwest. Tikitae, also known as Lolita has been the main attraction at the Miami Seaquarium for more than fifty years. The ability to do this in large part is the result of what the Seaquarium is calling a “generous contribution” from Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. Where and how will Tokitae live?

On Tuesday, Seattle Audubon announced that they have changed their name to Birds Connect Seattle. This has become a bit of a trend around the country, with name changes happening as a result of the revelation that John James Audubon, the organizations namesake, enslaved people and had white supremacist views. Why isn’t the national group renaming?

Last month, the Spokane Tribal Council announced that a school on the Spokane Indian Reservation would keep its mascot name as the Redskins. Most schools in the state have abandoned Native American mascots, but the Council said the school would keep Redskins to honor the wishes of the students. What’s their reasoning?

On Tuesday, Seattle officials and the Department of Justice asked a federal judge to end most federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department. Lawyers argued that the department is transformed, and the oversight is no longer necessary. The motion asks the judge to find that the SPD was in “substantial compliance” with the requirements. How much has the SPD changed?

Washington state has one of the highest jail mortality rates in the country. A 2021 law was supposed to reverse the upward trend of jail deaths in the state, by requiring jails to report unexpected deaths to the Department of Health within 120 days. The Seattle Times reported that of the 15 Washington county jails that have had a known unexpected death, only four have reported it to the state. Why is this happening?

The Seattle Times reports that on Monday, some King County buses and light-rail trains had fentanyl detectors that were installed go active in an attempt to tell how drug smoke can circulate, and what impact it might have on passengers. The research will last three weeks, with hopes of releasing the findings in May. This comes as bus and train operators have complained of drug smoke causing illness. Will science tell us what to do?

On Tuesday, Publicola reported that the city of Seattle paid a consultant $280,000 to build “community consensus” and “encourage agreement” for a West Seattle-to-Ballard light rail extension. The $280,000 is $5,000 below the $285,000 that consultants can receive before the city has to solicit public bids. The amount paid was under the maximum limit, so what is the problem?

Opening day was Thursday for the Seattle Mariners and the rest of Major League Baseball, and the M’s got off to a good start with a win. This follows their first playoff season in 21 years last year. How emotional should Mariner fans be about this season?