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Liz Jones

Editor

About

Liz Jones is an editor for daily news, features and special projects. She started at KUOW in 2005 and worked primarily as a reporter until 2018. Her coverage largely focused on immigration and underrepresented communities.

Her work has also been heard on national shows including NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here & Now, PRI's The World, Latino USA, Snap Judgment, The Takeaway and BBC News Service.

She is a NW native who's also lived in Spain, Peru, NYC and Ritzville, WA.

Location: Seattle

Languages: English, Spanish

Pronouns: she/her

Podcasts

Stories

  • On the Deck Of Boeing's 787 Assembly Line

    Outside the Boeing plant in Everett, newly assembled 787s sit ready for delivery. The lineup includes new planes for LOT Polish Airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways. Inside, the production line rolls on despite this week’s setbacks for the company’s newest jetliner. Dreamliner number 94 stands at the front of the line. It’s an order for Thomson Airways, which is set to be the first British airline to fly the Dreamliner.

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    Round Two For Washington Voting Rights Act

    Do people vote based on race? That’s a question the Washington Legislature will likely tackle this session, as supporters of a state Voting Rights Act prepare to push the measure again this year. The law would aim to strengthen minority representation in places with a large population of Latinos or other racial group.Backers of the legislation point to voting trends on the east side of the Cascades. In the 10 most heavily Latino counties in Eastern Washington, Latinos comprise about a third of the population, but they only hold 4 percent of the elected offices.University of Washington Professor Matt Barreto directs the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. He says Washington has one of the lowest levels of minority representation in the country. He likens it to the civil rights era in the South."There were cities in Alabama and Mississippi in the 1950s and '60s that were 80 percent Black and had no Blacks on the city council," Barreto said. "We have that same thing with Latinos in Central and Eastern Washington in the year 2013, and I think people need to think about that. How did that happen? What system have we created that allows that to happen?”Barreto says these lopsided outcomes can be a symptom of at-large elections, for example, where candidates run citywide or across an entire school district. He says if areas are broken up into smaller districts, the people elected would more closely mirror their constituents.People can already challenge local voting systems in federal court, but supporters say a state law would make the process much faster and cheaper.California is the only other state with its own Voting Rights Act, which was enacted in 2001.  Dennis Meyers, with the California School Board Association, says one big downside is a financial burden on school districts -- some have faced six-figure legal fees if they’re out of compliance.“It really doesn’t matter what size your school district is, it’s going to have an impact," Meyers said. "It creates quite a shock and quite a stir in the community.”David Perez, a Seattle attorney who helped write Washington’s proposed Voting Rights Act, said they tried to improve on California’s law. He said the Washington version aims to avoid, or greatly reduce, any legal costs for local governments that face challenges to their electoral systems.Last session in Olympia, the Voting Rights Act passed out of committee but failed to get a vote on the House floor.
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    More Seattle Churches To Offer “Safe Parking” For Homeless

    On Sunday nights, you can find Graham Pruss under the Ballard Bridge, serving up a hot meal. A recent menu included ham and potato soup, locally baked bread and apple cobbler. He calls this weekly dinner a bridge to connect with people who live in their cars. They’re often referred to as car campers or mobile homeless, but Pruss prefers the term, vehicle residents.Pruss is one of many homeless advocates who’s pushed Seattle to provide more services to this group of people. In response, last year the city launched the “safe parking” program, which opens up church lots where people can park and connect to housing services. The pilot program is modestly increasing this year, in a step toward what advocates hope will be a citywide expansion. Pruss heads up a research project at Seattle University to learn more about the city’s population of vehicle residents. “This whole population is completely off the map,” Pruss says. “There’s this huge group of people that nobody knows anything about and they’ve never had any services devoted to them.”Pruss estimates up to 1,500 people in Seattle sleep in their cars. He’s gotten to know many of them. He even lived in an RV in Ballard for several weeks to get a better sense of this scene.Ballard’s industrial area is a hot spot for so-called vehicle residents because RVs can legally park on some blocks for up to three days. But complaints from nearby business owners have also pushed the city to get involved. Through his research, Pruss found many vehicle residents share a common trait – they’re relatively new to the streets and the prospects of homelessness. They’re teetering on the edge, Pruss says. And now is the time to catch them.“A lot of these people are still there,” Pruss says. “They’re still there mentally, spiritually and emotionally. They still want to be connected. They want to be involved. They haven’t resigned themselves to just simply, you know, sleeping under bridge.”This is where the safe parking program comes in. It connects people with church lots where they can park for up to three months. There, they’ll work with a case manager who can help with housing and other services.The city has doubled its funding for the program, up to $65,000 this year, to pay for a full-time caseworker. So far, just two churches have opened spaces in their lots. Two more churches in the pipeline will nearly double the parking capacity, up to 12 spots.When Sheri Collins heard about the pilot program on the news, she thought it sounded like a good idea. “I got a sense of finally, you know, finally someone is reaching us out here,” Collins says.Collins often comes to the Sunday dinners under the Ballard Bridge. She says it’s one of her ways to stay social. This is Collins’ third winter living in a retrofitted, two-door Mitsubishi Eclipse along with her dog, Token. “He’s got his own sleeping bag, I’ve got mine,” Collins says.Collins has removed the passenger seat so Token has a flat spot to sleep. She’s secured a little perch for his food and water. She sleeps in the driver’s seat at about a 35-degree angle. To make it feel more like home, Collins puts on slippers then rolls out a little carpet under her feet once she’s in for the night.Collins is 41 years old. She says a few years ago she had a house, a longtime partner and a stable career. Then, she suffered a nervous breakdown. Her partner soon left and her work life crumbled. “And just in an instant,” Collins says,  “I was evicted out of my house and sitting on side of street there with my stuff and my two dogs and trying to figure out what I need to do to make this survive.”She’s getting by on about $100 a month her dad sends from Arkansas.Collins seems like an ideal candidate for the safe parking program. But the thought of pulling up stakes and moving to a new neighborhood is daunting. She says it took her six months to find a place to park where she feels safe overnight. She knows the neighbors and nearby merchants, and they know her. She says changes in her routine tend to set off her panic attacks.Pruss sees another common reason why vehicle residents steer away from homeless services: They don’t always see themselves as homeless.Some people who are eligible for the program tell him they’re not interested. When Pruss asks why, he says people tell him, "It’s not really for me," or "I might be getting into something soon," or "I think there might be other people who need it more."Pruss says it can take a long time to convince people to just give it a shot.Still, Compass Housing, the nonprofit that manages the safe parking lots, says there’s typically a waitlist. So far, about 30 individuals and families have entered the program and the majority moved into more stable housing.Pruss calls the program a good start but he wants to see much more. “Trying to saddle this on the back of a few churches isn’t really going to solve this,” Pruss says. “We need to look at city resources: park and rides, other city property, under bridges. Then we can start hooking them up with case management to get them off the street. It’s really that extra step that means everything.”Seattle City Council Member Mike O’Brien sponsored this pilot program to test the waters. He’s also hopeful that it can expand citywide. “We will be looking at other neighborhoods,” O’Brien says. “We’ve heard a lot of interest in places where there’s a lot of car camping. And so I think with a full-time service provider out there, they’ll have some more flexibility to travel around the city a little bit more, as opposed to just remain in Ballard.”He mentions Georgetown, the University District and Lake City as likely places to expand. O’Brien also says he’d like to see up to eight churches in the program this summer, but he realizes that may be ambitious. Last year, he predicted the first church would be ready in two weeks. It took six months.Just like some vehicle residents, it turns out church congregations and their neighbors need some time to ease into this new program, too.  
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    Washington "Driving While Poor" Law Prompts Changes

    In 2012 the Washington state Legislature passed a law that sponsors called the “driving while poor” bill. The law aims to help people who end up with suspended licenses because they failed to pay traffic tickets.Now it’s up to the state Department of Licensing to decide which traffic violations no longer warrant suspensions. The DOL has scheduled a public hearing Jan. 9 in Olympia to collect input on the proposal .Some backers say the current version needs more work and they want to see more non-safety related reasons for suspension removed from the list.In Washington state your driver’s license can be suspended for about 70 different reasons. Some are major, like drunk driving. Others are more minor, like driving alone in the high-occupancy vehicle lane or failing to dim your headlights. In those types of cases your license is suspended until you pay the ticket.“It is a poverty penalty," said Travis Stearns of the Washington Defender Association. "There’s no question about it. The vast majority of the folks who get suspended licenses are folks who cannot pay simply because they are in a position to not be able to pay.”The Washington Defender Association is a nonprofit group that represents attorneys and public defenders who work with poor clients. Stearns said the ticket fees and fines can add up to hundreds of dollars, but that’s only part of the potential cost. People who drive with suspended licenses can be charged with misdemeanors.“A crime stays on your record and makes it harder for you to get housing, harder for you to find employment and really all sorts of other collateral consequences," Stearns said.The state also estimates reducing these criminal court cases could save millions of dollars a year. The bill passed the Legislature last year by a large majority.It’s now up the Department of Licensing to revise the list of violations that result in suspensions. Its current proposal eliminates suspensions for several non-moving violations, such as failure to pay parking tickets or renew tabs. Still, Stearns sees more non-safety related violations the state could trim, like HOV-lane violations or driving with a suspended license. Those are still on the list.The Department of Licensing plans to have the new rules in effect by June.
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    Immigration Change Eases Family Separations

    Immigrant advocates are cheering a change in federal policy. New guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security offer a small break to people who entered the country illegally and now have a spouse or child who is a US citizen.For these immigrants, the path to legal residency requires a trip back to their home country for a visa. But once there, the process can often drag on and separate families for months or even years.The new DHS guidelines, which take effect March 4, allow eligible immigrants to apply for waivers to shorten the wait. Officials estimate the time will be reduced to "a matter of weeks." Immigrants will also be able to obtain the waiver before leaving the US rather than the current process that requires them to to apply from abroad.Seattle immigration attorney Robert Pauw sees this as a positive development, but with limited reach. "Basically what it does is waive one ground of inadmissibility or one reason why a person might be excluded from coming into the United States," Pauw said. "It’s helpful, but really for a relatively limited class of individuals.” Under federal law, a person who illegally enters the US is banned from coming back for up to 10 years. Pauw said this specific waiver removes that ban but immigrants also face other similar barriers that can delay or block their return back to the US, such as if their spouse is a legal resident rather than a citizen. Pauw said he'd like to see Homeland Security allow waivers in those cases as well.Before this policy change, Pauw says he advised clients to not leave the country and face the uncertainty. He expects he’ll give a green light now — at least to those undocumented immigrants with an airtight case.
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    Making Ends Meet On Minimum Wage

    People who earn minimum wage in Washington state are about to get a small raise.  On New Year’s Day, the hourly rate increases by 15 cents to total $9.19.Washington’s minimum wage is higher than any other state. But studies show it’s still far below the minimum cost of living here.To get a sense of minimum wage jobs around Seattle, here's a recent sampling from Craigslist:Maintenance and repair person at Motel 6Dough roller at Round Table Pizza (the job is described as very physically demanding)Dishwasher at a fast-paced restaurantCleaning and packing frozen fishCocktail waitressAll these jobs pay minimum wage.  Mary Ann Campbell was also advertising for an assistant at her horse stables near Woodinville. “They’re cleaning stalls and they’re handling horses, and then they have to be able to shovel poop,” Campbell said.Campbell said she typically gets more than a hundred applicants for these minimum wage jobs. They tend to be people who don’t rely on this income; they just love horses.But many people who work low-income jobs heavily depend on the money to cover their living expenses. Ben Henry, of the Seattle-based Alliance for a Just Society, publishes an annual report that looks at the gap between minimum wage and what he calls a living wage.His study factors in expenses such as transportation, housing, childcare and taxes.  It shows, in Washington, a person needs to earn about $15 per hour to make ends meet. Double that if you’re a single parent with two kids. Henry said the vast majority of jobs pay below a living wage, so many parents end up working two or three jobs.“That means parents are working 80 hours a week, sometimes more, just to pay rent, just to put food on the table,” Henry said. “And that’s time spent away from kids and time spent away from their families.” Henry points out higher wages not only benefit workers, they also benefit businesses where those paychecks are spent.Mary Ann Campbell, with the horse stable, says she’d love to pay more than minimum wage, but their profits are so low, she can’t afford more. “I’m the owner of the business,” Campbell said.  “If you sit down and track what I get paid, I get paid less than minimum wage.”Campbell realizes hers isn’t the typical low-wage job. She does it more for the experience, not the money. But years ago, when she was raising two children on her own, she says she never could’ve gotten by on so little. A full-time minimum wage job in Washington pays about $19,000 a year.