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.
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Remote work has changed us, but for good?: Today So Far
- Remote work, and hybrid work, has certainly changed our office lives. For better or for worse? That depends on who you ask.
- A day after Gov. Inslee said he won't run for re-election, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he's eying the office.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 2, 2023.
Well that didn't take long. Breaking news this morning. Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that he is forming an exploratory committee around a gubernatorial run. It comes a day after Gov. Jay Inslee announced he is not running for another term.
This is not the exactly same as announcing a campaign for governor. An "exploratory committee" is akin to saying, "I'm paying smart people to investigate whether or not this is a good idea, while also collecting as much money as I can." Still, Ferguson's name has long been tossed around as a potential Democratic successor to the governor's office. But he's not the only name in town. Read more here.
I found myself at a dinner party recently, practicing what I call, "not being weird." I find that I need to practice this more often these days. If I'm being honest, even before the pandemic forced many of us to socially isolate, I was a rather socially awkward fellow. Now, well, as I said, I need more practice.
Around the table was a cluster of others like me who are part of the pajamas-optional workforce. In fact, four of the five people at that table were working from home with jobs spanning billing, the video game industry, and local public radio. At KUOW, we've shifted into a more hybrid work schedule with some folks coming into the office a few days a week. You're likely to start hearing about similar work scenarios moving forward, alongside a debate over the merits and downsides of going back to the old ways. The times, they are a changin, or they continue to change. Exactly how has yet to be determined.
I've previously pointed to experts who argue that remote work and hybrid work are the new reality of 21st Century working, and many are trading office chit-chats with conversing with our dogs at home about whether or not pop culture references will be understood in the newsletter we're writing ... just me?
"You can vote for the future, or you can try to hold on to those old ways of working from the past, and then pay a consulting company in five years to tell you to get with the future. Those are your options," author Anne Helen Petersen told KUOW's Seattle Now last year.
On the other side of this issue are company leaders and managers who are pushing to get more employees back into the office. As KUOW's Monica Nickelsburg reports, the "era of unlimited remote work is over, at least for some major Seattle employers." But this next evolution to hybrid work isn't going smoothly for everybody.
Yesterday, Amazon began requiring its employees to come into its offices three days a week. Starbucks started a similar hybrid policy in January. But many employees are defying the requirement, and employers are finding it difficult to enforce such a policy.
Perhaps the pandemic shook things up a little more than previously expected. For example, recent school enrollment data indicates that a considerable number of people have moved their families out of the big cities and to Washington's more rural communities. That means a hefty commute is now added to their jobs as the call to come back to the office is issued. Another factor that employers have to face is that the work is getting done, and some folks are just as productive at home. On the other hand, there are some employees who crave being in the mix with colleagues. And then there are those of us whose dogs are just not as interested in carrying on the same conversations at our home desks as they once were ... despite the fact that I feed you and brush you every day with a spritz of lemongrass oil; the least you can do, Cosmo, is hear me out!
Where was I? Oh yeah.
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Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler will not run for re-election
A second Washington state official announced this week that this will be their final term in office. On Monday, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said he will not run for re-election.
In a statement, Kreidler did not specify a reason for his departure.
“Serving alongside you as Insurance Commissioner for Washington state has been, and continues to be, the greatest honor of my life,” Kreidler said in a statement. “I’ve always said it was the best job I’ve ever had, and I still feel that way today."
Kreidler entered the role as head of Washington's insurance regulation in 2000, and has campaigned to keep the job ever since. He is currently serving his sixth term. Washington is among only 11 states with insurance commissioners.
As commissioner, Kreidler has advocated for protecting low-income residents seeking insurance. He also tried, but failed, to end the use of credit scores as a qualification for insurance.
His time in office was not without controversy. Last year, Gov. Jay Inslee and the state's Democratic Party asked Kreidler to resign, following complaints about his alleged mistreatment of staff and reported use of racist slurs in the office. Kreidler decided to fire a legislative liaison who had complained about his behavior.
On Monday, Gov. Inslee announced his decision not to run for re-election.
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South Lake Union businesses welcome Amazon workers' return to office
Thousands of Amazon workers are slated to return the office, after three years of working remotely. It’s the news that downtown Seattle businesses have been waiting for, particularly shops that cater to lunch crowds.
Beginning this month, thousands of Amazon workers are expected to be in the office at least three days a week. There is hope that the presence of more office workers signals a return to life as it was before the pandemic.
RELATED: Seattle employers beckon workers back to the office. Downtown can’t wait
In South Lake Union, nearby businesses can already sense a difference.
“Oh yeah, they’re back for sure,” said Megan Hewitt, general manager of Rubenstein’s Bagels on Sixth Avenue.
Hewitt says business has been picking up with more tourists coming in. Having downtown workers has added to the store’s busy pace.
“We are seeing a big uptick in catering orders and stuff here, but we only get a certain amount of bagels everyday so once they’re gone, they’re gone and starting tomorrow a third of our inventory is already sold.”
Hewitt hopes to add a couple more positions to the store, but it’s been a challenge.
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Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson takes step toward gubernatorial campaign
The race for Washington governor is on, now that Jay Inslee has announced he will not seek another term.
Inslee's announcement came Monday morning. On Tuesday morning, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced he is launching an exploratory campaign committee.
"I look forward to listening and learning from Washingtonians in every county and corner of this great state," Ferguson said in a video published Tuesday. "The only way we can win and move Washington forward is building the same grassroots coalition we always have, together."
RELATED: What will Jay Inslee's legacy be after 12 years as governor?
An "exploratory campaign" is not the same as officially running for governor, but it is a first step. Potential candidates usually make such an announcement to signal to donors and others that they're seriously testing the waters for a run, without officially declaring their candidacy.
"Here is what I believe," Ferguson said. "Washingtonians must have the freedom to make their own health care decisions, to be safe, to breathe clean air and drink clean water, to be free from discrimination, to start a small business, to make a living wage and have a safe work environment, to have opportunities to succeed in all kinds of careers."
Ferguson has strong name recognition. He’s made national press fighting former President Donald Trump in court.
Another Democrat, state lands commissioner Hilary Franz tells KUOW she may announce a run later this week. Franz has said she’s proud of her record on issues like wildfire and climate change policy.
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Walla Walla ferry is ready for a comeback just weeks after running aground
Washington State Ferries says the boat that ran aground last month off Bainbridge Island will be carrying passengers again in a couple of weeks.
The passenger ferry Walla Walla lost power and steering in Rich Passage on April 15, causing it to run aground at the south end of Bainbridge Island. About 600 passengers were stranded aboard the ferry until they could be transferred off.
RELATED: Bremerton-Seattle ferry runs aground on Bainbridge Island
The 50-year-old boat sustained minor damages to the hull, and its propeller was bent.
“Damage is pretty minimal," said Ian Sterling with the Washington State Ferries. "It's got some scratches on the hull, and the propeller is bent essentially a little bit. There is specialized machinery that can unbend a prop underwater. So the boat doesn't have to come out of water; dry docking is really expensive for something the size of the state ferry, as you can imagine.”
The cost for fixing the boat is still unknown. Sterling says the ferry will need to pass inspections and sea trials before making any voyages carrying passengers.
An investigation is still ongoing as officials look for why the boat lost power in the first place.
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Were you 'wrong' during the pandemic?: Today So Far
- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is not running for re-election next year.
- The next hot topic at Seattle City Hall.
- Were you "wrong" during pandemic times?
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 1, 2023.
Nina and I emerged from our car with facemasks firmly worn, plastic gloves on our hands, and hand sanitizer clipped to our belts. We were visiting a couple relatives and it was early on in the pandemic. People were still largely isolating.
At least, they were in the city. Out in suburban Washington, you'd never know a pandemic was going on at the time. Still, Nina and I took a walk with family, wearing masks and gloves. Looking back, it's easy to say that we were going way overboard. I probably should be embarrassed by that scene, but I'm not. We were leaning into the "better safe and embarrassed than infected" perspective. We didn't know that being outdoors would eventually be deemed the safe way to go. Then again, nobody knew at the time that being outdoors was more or less safe. Eventually, somebody was going to be able to say they were "right."
Were they? Were they "right"?
I would argue: Not really. It was a gamble. No matter what anybody tells you today, for a once-in-a-century pandemic, no average person really knew the best way to handle everything. For a time there, we could only make safe bets. That sort of mental calculation around your own situation and safety was what the pandemic evolved to be.
Bill Radke considered all this in a "Words in Review" segment, "Were you 'wrong'?"
I could go back and consider how people were told to wear masks, then not, then encouraged to make masks, then told that homemade materials weren't good enough. I could remember how people were told that being outdoors, away from crowds, was the safest thing to do, and then told to not go fishing. But again, let's be honest and empathetic — aside from a medical expert, nobody was set up to best handle the situation. And to be clear, by medical expert, I mean a doctor, and not people on YouTube or social media. I mean people like University of Washington infectious disease researcher Dr. Helen Chu.
“I think the word ‘wrong’ is not the right phrase to use,” Dr. Chu told Radke. “We had to use the information that we had at the time."
A similar conversation came up in an NPR interview with Philip Zelikow. He works with the nonpartisan Covid Crisis Group, which developed a report around policies and decisions made during the pandemic. There's a lot in the report, but Zelikow notes the USA was largely prepared. It had the science, and it had the money. But there were other issues.
"I mean, this is really a crisis of competence. It's not a crisis of science. It's not a crisis of unwillingness to spend money. It's not a crisis in the sense that, 'Gosh, no one had ever heard of a pandemic danger.' There were great movies and books about it, so people knew about the danger. They had science. They were willing to spend money. The failure was in knowing what to do and how to do it and then getting ready to do it."
We had what we needed to know. Perhaps what we didn't need was division, and ire, and a lack of understanding. That's sort of where Radke took his segment, speaking with author Mónica Guzmán whose book, "I Never Thought of It That Way: How To Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations In Dangerously Divided Times," addresses this issue that persists in our daily lives. Check out the full discussion here.
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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will not run for re-election in 2024
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee will not run for re-election in 2024, opening the gates for a new Democratic candidate after three terms in office.
Inslee announced Monday morning that he is "ready to pass the torch," and will not seek a fourth term.
RELATED: What will Jay Inslee's legacy be after 12 years as governor?
According to a statement from Inslee:
“Serving the people as governor of Washington state has been my greatest honor. During a decade of dynamic change, we’ve made Washington a beacon for progress for the nation. I’m ready to pass the torch.
“Our last decade of Washington’s storied history is one of growth and innovation. I am proud to have played a role in our state’s leadership on so many fronts. We’ve passed the nation’s best climate policies, the most successful family leave benefits, the best college scholarship programs, a more fair legal justice system, and the most protective actions against gun violence. We’ve shown that diversity is a strength worth fighting for. This has been ten years of dynamic success.
“As governor, I have seen my role as inspiring our state ever forward and ever higher. I’m gratified to be able to say that this approach has worked to improve Washingtonians lives in many ways and many places.
“Now is the time to intensely focus on all we can accomplish in the next year and a half, and I intend to do just that. I look forward to continued partnership with legislators and community leaders to address Washington’s homelessness crisis, speed our efforts to expand behavioral health services, continue our fight against climate change, and continue making Washington a beacon of progress for all.”
Inslee's statement Monday further touted a list of accomplishments while in office, including climate policies, navigating the Covid-19 pandemic, and fostering a positive business and worker-friendly economy.
State Republicans countered Inslee's announcement within hours, arguing that the governor has made "several egregious missteps," abused emergency powers, wasted taxpayer funds, and failed to adequately address the homelessness crisis. The state GOP further blamed Inslee for his "allowance of protestors to take control of an entire city block in Washington's largest city, leading to deadly outcomes," referencing 2020's CHOP zone in Seattle.
"It's time to turn the page on the disastrous Inslee era in Washington State," Washington State Republican Party Chairman Caleb Heimlich said in a statement. "For over a decade, Governor Inslee has taken our state in the wrong direction. His decision to not seek a fourth term presents an opportunity to elect a Republican governor who will put Washingtonians first and prioritize the needs of our communities."
RELATED: Prominent Dems are eyeing a run for governor in 2024
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Did the pandemic change Seattle's retail spaces?: Today So Far
- Poet Billy Collins is commonly spotted around Bainbridge Island, yet he's not a resident. Why does he frequent the island so much?
- A look at the Northwest spring and summer weather ahead.
- As Seattle area emerges from the pandemic, retail spaces are filled up in most of the region. Part of this is a shift to local neighborhoods.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for April 28, 2023.
A bit of a local secret is that rather well-known people are often spotted on Bainbridge Island. It's not like people are being swarmed by crowds wanting autographs, but it's an aspect of the island I picked up on while working as a newspaper reporter in the area.
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to interview famed poet Billy Collins while he was helping raise funds for the emerging Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. He comes with a range of impressive credentials: U.S. poet laureate, Mark Twain prize winner, etc. I thought it was pretty cool, but when I mentioned this to an island friend, the response was: "That guy? I know him. I grew up with him coming over to dinner parties all the time."
I've boarded a ferry to Bainbridge Island alongside actor/comedian Chris Kattan, who went to high school there. Blues Traveler's drummer, Brendan Hill, runs a cannabis store on the island, and Nirvana's original drummer Chad Channing hails from Bainbridge. There's a long list of other notables with island connections: Authors David Guterson and Rebecca Wells, Russell Johnson, aka "the professor" on "Gilligan's Island," actress Elizabeth Mitchell ("Lost," "ER," "The Expanse"). But all these folks are, to some degree, locals.
Collins on the other hand, grew up in New York and lives in Florida. Still, he frequents the island's golf course, checks out records at Winslow's Backstreet Beat, or apparently attends dinner parties as if he's just a neighbor from down the street. He'll be there this weekend, helping raise funds for the island's performing arts center. Why does Collins hang out on Bainbridge Island so much? What's the connection? The short answer is that it's all about "gemütlichkeit." But for the full, non-German answer, read here.
That brings up a curiosity? Any local notables like this that you have spotted frequenting our small towns? Let me know at dyer@kuow.org.
Talk of Seattle's vacant stores and boarded up shop windows has been common over the past few pandemic years. That conversation might have been incomplete and missing an important piece of nuance. The Seattle area's more suburban neighborhoods, like Northgate or Alderwood, don't seem to have any problem filling up retail space. In fact, as KUOW's Joshua McNichols reports, the Seattle metro area has a very low retail vacancy rate of 2.6%.
This fact may be a part of the ongoing story around downtown Seattle, where a lot of effort is being put toward revitalizing the area and getting more people to visit again.
Elliot Krivenko, an analyst with real estate data tracker CoStar, tells KUOW that one factor behind all this is that people are spending less time downtown, and more time in their own neighborhoods, where they can live and work. At the same time, malls in places like Northgate and Alderwood are being remodeled. The old Sears at Alderwood is now an apartment building.
Huh, who would have thunk it? Living and working in the same area. Well that's interesting. And if you think I'm being sarcastic ... it's because I am. This is not to take away from the challenges facing downtown Seattle, but perhaps a lesson that has come out of the pandemic is the experience of living, working, and thriving in your local community (instead of driving, parking, working, driving, parking, sleeping). Maybe that's a lesson that can help downtown moving forward.
Read McNichol's full story here.
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Gemütlichkeit. Why is poet Billy Collins so often spotted on Bainbridge Island?
If you're strolling around Bainbridge Island at just the right moment, you just might cross paths with poet Billy Collins. Perhaps he'll be taking a swing at the Wing Point Golf Course, perusing used books and vinyl at Backstreet Beat, or grabbing a bite at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
Yet, Billy Collins is not from Bainbridge Island.
"Bainbridge Island is a special place," Collins said. "I think I've given five readings there. I'm a repeat offender. Not a fixture, but more than a tourist. I'm a regular. I hang my hat in Winter Park, Florida, a nice little nineteenth century town with brick-lined streets and Spanish moss that looks like ZZ Top monsters coming at you at night."
Collins has a lot of titles. Former Poet Laureate of the United States (2001-2003), distinguished professor, New York State Poet, Norman Mailer and Mark Twain prize winner. When the New Yorker recently published a profile on him, it was about his life as a Floridian. "Bainbridge Island resident" is not among the list. But, did you spot him? There there he is, walking the aisles at the Town and Country Market.
Beyond poetry readings, Collins has done fundraisers for the island's art museum, the performing arts center, and other local arts and cultural causes. This weekend, he's lending his profile to raise money for the Buxton Center.
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Warm, cold, and warm. The Western Washington weather ahead
After an unusually cold spring thus far, Western Washington is expected to see high temperatures in the 70s on Friday and Saturday.
Don't get used to it, though. This summery snap will be short-lived. Here is a look at the Northwest weather ahead.
State Climatologist Nick Bond said a ridge of high pressure is developing, albeit temporarily. Translation: Warm, sunny weather.
That high-pressure system will get the Seattle metro area close to 80 degrees on Friday, April 28, likely breaking the current 76-degree record for the day. The warmth will stick around through Saturday, too, before highs dip back into the 60s on Sunday.
The late April warmth comes despite the fact that this spring has been one of the coldest on record in Seattle, according to the National Weather Service. Bond said that's likely to continue for a while longer, gradually warming up to relative seasonal norms.
"The month of May doesn't look to be spectacular one way or another," he said. "But as we get later into spring, then chances are, we're going to be on the warm side. Last year, that didn't occur by any means. In the month of May, we had almost four inches of rain — more than double what we usually have."
But what does all of this mean for the upcoming summer?
"Well, you shouldn't extrapolate from what's happening now," Bond said. "With all the information that we have at hand, it does look like this summer is going to be on the warm, dry side."
Of course, that's been the trend for years now under our ever-changing climate.
"This [summer] will probably not be an exception."
Don't forget, it's still cold some places
The current warmth isn't all fun in the sun, though. Folks looking to escape the heat in the mountains or waterways should be aware of a few things.
The Northwest Avalanche Center issued a warning that the warm-up and rapidly melting ice are going to create dangerous conditions in the mountains, especially in the lower elevations of the Olympics and the Cascade. Cornices, or snow cliffs, could be unstable, too.
By the way, Crystal Mountain is extending its lift operations until May 21, thanks to some late winter snow.
Rapid snow-melt also means our local rivers will continue to run cold even though it will be warmer in the lowlands.
RELATED: NW spring doesn't start until this happens...
For example, temperatures in the Snoqualmie River Basin are running between 37 and 44 degrees right now, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"It's kind of tempting [to] take a quick dip, but people can get into trouble really fast when they get into cold water," Bond said. "And it turns out in Western Washington, the month with the greatest number of drownings is May. That is partly because we can get some warm weather, but the waters are still really cold."
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Vacant storefronts are common downtown but rare in Seattle suburbs
The pandemic was tough on retailers. Vacant storefronts are still common in downtown Seattle and its surrounding neighborhoods.
But further outside the city center, in places like Northgate and Alderwood, retail spaces are not vacant. In fact, vacancy rates in the greater Seattle metro area are hovering around a record low rate of 2.6%.
Elliot Krivenko is an analyst with CoStar, a company that tracks real estate data. He says the reason for the low vacancies is that old, suburban shopping centers are being redeveloped.
“We have an old Sears in Alderwood Mall that is now a new apartment building, where a Sears used to be.”
A lot of these redevelopment projects are centered around future light rail stations like Northgate. The redevelopments there include retail, but they’re no longer all about retail, because they include office space and apartments.
Krivenko described a redevelopment project near Lynnwood's light rail station that will include offices and apartment buildings, along with a movie theater and retail spaces.
“It’s a very significant redevelopment of that retail into a mixed use community that will really fit in well with that transit station once it opens.”
The Seattle metro area has an extremely low amount of retail space per capita, relative to other metro areas, Krivenko says.
Another reason retail vacancy rates are low outside the downtown core, he adds, is that people are spending less money in downtown Seattle, instead spending more money in the neighborhoods where they live and now work remotely.
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Seattle mourns loss of two food and drink pioneers
Seattle’s food community lost two pioneers this past week: Ron Zimmerman, co-owner of Herbfarm, who put Seattle on the national scene, and Rachel Marshall, who introduced her love of ginger beer to the city.
The Herbfarm was already practicing farm-to-table cooking long before it became a popular dining concept. That’s because the property was a farm and sold herbs. It belonged to Zimmerman’s parents.
In 1986 Zimmerman and his wife, Carrie Van Dyck, took over the operation and started offering lunch as a way for customers to learn about herbs and ways to cook with them. Responding to demand, they added dinner. Over time Herbfarm earned national acclaim for its seasonal multicourse dinner.
The Seattle Times reported Ron Zimmerman died last Thursday. He was 75 years old.
Seattle’s love for ginger beer can be traced to Rachel Marshall, who created Rachel’s Ginger Beer in 2008. Marshall learned about ginger beer while living in Europe. After her return to Seattle, she started making her own, through trial and error.
Marshall built a following through word of mouth, through her bartender friends, and connections while selling at farmers markets.
But it wasn’t just her ginger beer that made Marshall stand out. Friends and former colleagues have remarked on her compassion and her ability to connect people together. Rachel Marshall died unexpectedly on Monday at age 42.
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