Eilís O'Neill
Reporter
About
Eilís is a reporter covering health. She focuses on health inequities, substance use and addiction, infectious diseases, mental health, and reproductive and maternal health.
Eilís came to KUOW in 2016. Before that, she worked as a freelance reporter, first in South America, and then in New York City. Her work has aired on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, APM’s Marketplace, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and other programs.
Eilís' work as part of a team covering Covid-19 outbreaks and vaccine hesitation in Washington won a regional Murrow award, as did a series about children who lost parents to Covid-19. Her series about the opioid crisis on the Olympic Peninsula won several regional Society for Professional Journalists awards as well as a national Public Media Journalists Association award.
Eilís grew up in Seattle and was a high school intern at KUOW, in the program that later became RadioActive. She has a Master's in Science, Health, and Environment Reporting from Columbia University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, Spanish
Pronouns: she/her
Stories
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A baby clam garden by the sea: A Northwest delicacy returns
Native clams are harder to find these days along the Washington coast. To bring them back, the Swinomish Tribe of northwest Washington is reviving an ancient tradition: clam gardens. They’re rock walls designed to make good habitat for clams, and they might also help protect the tribe from climate change.
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King County has lost nearly $1M in federal funding for homeless services
King County has lost nearly a million dollars in federal funding for homelessness services. The funding came from a FEMA program.
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Four wolves killed by Washington state agents — hours before court hearing to protect them
The fate of the last wolf from that pack will be determined at trial.
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Wheat farmers fear extinction if Snake River dams are removed to help orcas
In the southeastern corner of Washington state, wheat goes down the river, while salmon are trucked up around dams on the road. “And taxpayers pay for all of it,” said Sam Mace, with Save Our Wild Salmon.
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Elk rebound in western Washington. Wolves may soon follow
Elk are making a comeback west of the Cascades. That’s exactly what wildlife officials were hoping for.
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Pesticide linked to brain damage in children faces multi-state lawsuit
Washington and five other states are suing the the Environmental Protection Agency to ban a pesticide linked to brain damage in fetuses and small children.
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The river runs alarmingly low in North Bend
It’s been raining this July, but much of Washington is still in a drought, because of our hot, dry spring and early summer. Just 30 minutes outside Seattle, in the town of North Bend, most development is on hold till an issue of water is resolved.
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Inmates will soon grow wine grapes, hops at the Washington State Penitentiary
There will soon be a vineyard and hopyard inside the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
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Preventing another salmon escape: New rules for Puget Sound fish farms
The four remaining Atlantic salmon farms in Puget Sound have new water quality permits from the Department of Ecology.
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For sale: Carbon credits. Contact King County
King County has gotten into the business of selling carbon credits.