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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This is what Washington is now charging carbon polluters
The results are in from Washington's first-ever carbon credit auction.
The cost to pollute in Washington state is going for $48.50 per ton of carbon dioxide.
This year, the state is implementing a new cap-and-invest program. Business and government agencies cannot surpass a certain pollution amount, unless they buy credits to offset their emissions.
The first auction was last month, and results announced today show it was highly competitive.
The floor price for carbon allowances was set by the state at $22.20. But all 6 million credits were sold for $48.50 each, more than doubling the minimum. The Department of Ecology reports that the auction ranked high on a competitiveness scale called the "Herfindahl-Hirschman Index."
RELATED: Bidding for the right to pollute, WA's first carbon allowance auction
The state will hold four auctions per year. The state will continue to auction off credits, and qualified bidders can put theirs up for resale.
As KUOW's John Ryan has reported, some big polluters, including fuel suppliers and the state’s two largest universities, need to make steep and immediate pollution reductions of 7% a year. That, or buy their way out of that mandate at the auctions.
But many of the biggest climate culprits, like oil refineries, pulp mills, and other manufacturers don’t have to cut pollution as soon or as fast as others due to fears they might take their businesses and jobs elsewhere.
We don't know how many companies participated — or how much they each spent. That information is protected for privacy.
The state Ecology Department will release a report March 28 with more details on the revenue raised from the auction.
This money will go toward funding climate mitigation programs and clean energy projects.
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Seattle could get 2 new off-leash dog parks
Seattle’s Parks and Recreation Department said this week it wants to add a couple of new off-leash dog areas to some city parks.
The first step in the multiyear process will be studying 30 potential locations around Seattle.
In many parts of dog-loving Seattle, finding an open space to let your pooch run free requires a car or a very long walk.
There are currently just 14 off-leash dog spots around town for the tens of thousands of pets who live here. In West Seattle, for example, the closest dog park is in Delridge at Westcrest Park.
But that could change — soonish.
This week, Seattle Parks and Recreation said it will study 30 parks around the city to possibly add two new areas for dogs to be off-leash.
The study will take a few months and examine all kinds of criteria, said the department’s off-leash area liaison, Danyal Lotfi.
“We do not want to put off-leash areas in areas that are environmentally critical areas that obviously would disturb the environment,” Lotfi said.
The department’s landscape architects and designers will assess the 30 locations’ drainage, size, and vegetation.
Lotfi said there are lessons to be learned from the current dog park setup and the department will “focus on neighborhoods that have the least amount of access to an off-leash area, in terms of walking distance.”
Parks and Recreation will share their two recommended spots with the public when the study finishes in late spring or early summer, Lotfi said.
Public feedback to those proposed areas will be part of the planning process, he added.
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Words In Review: Why everything is a 'dive bar'
Seattle sure has a lot of clean, pleasant, well-appointed “dive bars.” Bill Radke asks why this term has taken over our watering holes.
Last week, Seattle chef Ethan Stowell’s restaurant group bought The Attic Alehouse in Madison Park.
The Attic is a friendly neighborhood sports bar. You can get a French Dip sandwich or a Cobb salad, a prosecco or a pink Whitney Cosmo. It’s nice! But would you call it a dive bar? The Seattle Times did: “Chef Ethan Stowell buys a historic Seattle dive bar”
Tom Flynn says this is typical of what's happened to the term "dive bar": People are applying to to any neighborhood bar or tavern.
Tom Flynn started working in bars when he was 10 — his dad owned one — and he tended bar for 15 years. So I asked him: What is a dive bar?
Tom Flynn: Well, I think a dive bar is kind of implied in the name, that it's below society. A dive and its customers are both kind of desperate. It's not a place where the well-heeled gathered to watch sports for example or sing karaoke.
Bill Radke: Weekly trivia night.
Flynn: Exactly.
Radke: Which they have at the Attic Ale House & Eatery in Madison Park.
Flynn: Right. They serve pretty good food there, or did, and plan to … dives generally don't serve food. If they do serve food, it might be a pizza from a toaster oven or old chips and peanuts, that kind of thing, but certainly not a menu in a nice kitchen in back. There certainly isn't craft beer on tap. Generally, you're gonna get a cheap bottle of beer, a cheap draft, no fancy cocktails, the kinds of cocktails that are a booze and a mixer: bourbon and Seven, scotch and ginger, that kind of thing.
Radke: And I think of there being one bourbon.
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'Sacred ground': Why Camp Minidoka's survivors say 'no' to this windfarm
Many Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War 2 at a federal camp in Minidoka, Idaho are opposing a wind farm project near the campsite. More than 13,000 people were imprisoned there, many were from the Seattle area.
The Bureau of Land Management is proposing a commercial-scale wind energy facility called the Lava Ridge Wind Project. The site would host up to 400 turbines on approximately 84,000 acres of federal, state, and private land. If approved the project would power as many as 300,000 homes.
The BLM published a draft of the environmental impact report this year. The agency has been collecting public comments for the project and, last week, concluded its in-person public comment tour on Mercer Island.
RELATED: Japanese Americans remember the legacy of 'camp' 80 years after their incarceration
About 40 people came to the event on Mercer Island, including activist Erin Shigaki. She is a fourth-generation Japanese American and many of her relatives were incarcerated at Minidoka. Shigaki also helps coordinate the “Minidoka Pilgrimage.” Every year survivors, descendants, and allies travel together from Seattle to visit Minidoka.
Shigaki says this project is “pitting us [people of color] against the need for clean energy.” She added, it also goes against promises made by the current administration.
“President Biden stated, when he came into office, that we were going to work toward a greener future. But, communities of color, we're not going to be left behind as they always have been," Shigaki said.
The environmental impact statement acknowledged that this project could cause “disproportionate high and adverse impacts to the Japanese American Community and Native American Tribes from changes to setting, feeling, and experience due to visual and noise impacts.”
The report also categorized survivors and descendants of the camp, who visit Minidoka as "tourists." When asked about the use of the word "tourists," representatives of the report's author, SWCA Environmental Consultants, called it a mischaracterization. They added that it was "offensive" and they are still learning how to use better language.
RELATED: New memorial honors Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Washington State Fairgrounds
Shigaki says it’s “inappropriate” to put a clean energy project near Minidoka because it's “sacred ground.” She says incarceration of Japanese Americans is a “huge scar” on our community. It's also a lesson that needs to be learned. Shigaki says information on what happened to her community is not widely published and in textbooks. Parts of the history is already being erased.
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What are you going to do with all those old face masks?: Today So Far
- There is a lot of coincidence and serendipity surrounding Washington's recent Powerball jackpot winner.
- There are $30 million worth of Funko Pops in need of salvation.
- The last lingering mask mandate in Washington state is now slated to end April 3.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 6, 2023.
Auburn might just be the luckiest city in Washington state. Actually, there is a lot of coincidence and serendipity surrounding the recent Powerball jackpot winner.
For starters, two Powerball lottery tickets have been sold in Washington state that were big jackpot winners. Both were from Auburn. In 2014, an Auburn woman won $90 million. And just last month, the fifth largest Powerball jackpot in history was won by Becky Bell. She purchased the winning ticket at the Auburn Fred Meyer.
Then you have the Boeing connection. Bell has worked at Boeing for 36 years as a supply chain analyst and was planning to retire in June (she's retiring a lot earlier now). The other Auburn jackpot winner from 2014 — her husband worked at Boeing. Also, there's the reason Bell purchased the Powerball ticket in the first place. She says she usually spends $20 a week on lottery tickets and had already played that week. But then, at the grocery store, she happened by a sign stating the jackpot total: $747 million. As a Boeing employee, Bell knew that the last 747 jumbo jet rolled off the assembly line that week and figured it was a sign. So she bought yet another ticket, beyond her usual amount. And that was the winner (actually, she purchased two sets of Powerball numbers on one ticket; the other numbers won $8). In total, Bell won nearly $755 million.
If Bell is looking for ways to spend her big winnings, there are $30 million worth of Funko Pops in need of salvation. Everett-based Funko is planning to send millions worth of its vinyl figurines to the dump. The company says it has too much inventory sitting around in warehouses, taking up space and costing money. Its solution is to just throw them all in the trash.
During the pandemic, there was a surge in collector activity, and Funko enjoyed a bit of that increased interest. Funko collectors are a special breed, and stray, culturally, from your usual beanie baby, porcelain figurine, coin or trading card collectors. Funko devotees are to the collector scene what edgy puck rockers are to pop music. But this passionate group of fans aren't enough to keep the company's finances thriving. Funko lost $47 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. It's also looking at cutting its workforce by about 10%.
Funko's trashy move comes about a year after the company opted to close its Washington warehouses and distribution center. It moved those operations to Arizona. Its HQ is still in Everett. If those warehouses are purged, expect hordes of collectors to descend upon Arizona landfills in the months ahead. The situation brings to mind the legend of the E.T. Atari game. The video game was created in 1982 and was apparently so bad, the company decided to send all of the cartridges to a landfill instead of putting them on the market. Some folks were able to dig up a few of those cartridges and sold them for big bucks, decades later.
The last lingering mask mandate in Washington state is now slated to end April 3. Masks are still required in many medical and health care settings. Also, correctional facilities. The state is now nixing that requirement. It's worth noting that the masks did some good, and still do. Private businesses still have the right to require masks, and in general, it's probably a smart idea to still mask up in crowded settings.
If you're like me, however, you now have a collection of stylish face masks, more than what you need, and you don't know what to do with them all. I have Schitt's Creek masks, and a Bill and Ted mask. I even found a Magnum PI mask (original, not the remake). I've been toying with the idea of using them to patch up holes in my jeans, or sewing them onto my shirts as elbow patches. Even making a face mask quilt. Ideas? What are you doing with your face masks? Let me know at dyer@kuow.org.
AS SEEN ON KUOW
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Macklemore spurs free concert on Seattle with less than a day's notice
This blog post was published March 6, 2023.
Better act fast. With less than 24 hours, Seattle rapper Macklemore announced a free show at Neumos on Capitol Hill.
Doors open for the show at 7 p.m. (Monday, March 6, 2023) on a first-come, first-served basis. "Special guests" are expected.
The free concert marks the debut of Macklemore's recently released album "BEN." In an interview with NPR, he describes the album as a return to his roots, having fun just making music and not being tied to any single genre or sound. Its title is based on his real name, Benjamin Haggerty.
"Each album is a process of self-discovery," Macklemore told NPR. "So 'Ben' is a return to my origin story, which is making art for the sake of art, making music because I love the creation of it — not because of the music business, but because of music itself.
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Washington preschoolers are falling behind after Covid
Fewer children in Washington state are where they should be, developmentally, now compared to 2019.
That's according to new data showing just how much of an impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on preschoolers.
In 2019, 79% of children who completed developmental screenings were where they should have been for their age, according to the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
In 2022, though, that number dropped to 62% of children.
"And that makes a real significant difference in the classroom when you have that many kids who are so far behind," said Katy Warren, deputy director of the state's Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP). "How do we do curriculum and organizing the classroom when we've got some kids at 2-year-old-level and some kids at 5-year-old-level in the same classroom?"
The answer won't come easily.
ECEAP notes several developmental challenges beyond curriculum:
- Fewer children in the classroom may be potty trained.
- Children may not be able to play cooperatively and share, or they may not be able to communicate with other children.
- Children may lack social-emotional skills, leading to behavioral issues.
And the challenges may be more pronounced among low-income children and families, particularly people of color, who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Getting kids back on track will likely take years. In the meantime, though, Warren and ECEAP is turning to the state budget — which lawmakers are negotiating in Olympia — to get more teachers and state dollars into classrooms.
"We have a lot of experience in doing more with less, but people don't always accept less," Warren said. "We all pay in the end if we don't make sure that kiddos are really set up to succeed."
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Over $30M worth of Funkos are being dumped
Chewbacca and his friends are in the dumps – or may soon be.
The maker of the Funko Pop! collectibles plans to toss millions of dollars' worth of its inventory, after realizing it has more of its pop culture figurines than it can afford to hold on to.
Waning demand for the pop culture vinyl toys, combined with a glut of inventory, is driving the loss as the company hits a financial rough patch.
The inventory has filled the company's warehouses to the brim, forcing Funko to rent storage containers to hold the excess product. And now, the product is worth less than it costs to keep on hand.
Funko said that by the end of last year, its inventory totaled $246 million worth of product — soaring 48% percent from a year earlier.
"This includes inventory that the Company intends to eliminate in the first half of 2023 to reduce fulfillment costs by managing inventory levels to align with the operating capacity of our distribution center," Funko said in a press release on Wednesday. "This is expected to result in a write down in the first half of 2023 of approximately $30 to $36 million."
The company reported a Q4 loss of nearly $47 million, falling from a $17 million profit for the same period during the previous year. Apart from dumping inventory, cost-saving measures will include a 10% cut of its workforce, company executives said on an earnings call with investors on Wednesday.
The collectibles market is still hot
The news came as somewhat unexpected to Juli Lennett, vice president and industry advisor for NPD's U.S. toys practice.
"I was a bit surprised because the collectible market is one of the big stories for 2022. Collectibles were up 24%," she told NPR. "That'll include any other types of action figure collectibles as well. But Funko, of course, is the biggest player in that space."
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Amazon taps brakes on HQ2
Amazon is postponing construction on a key part of its big office complex in the DC area. HQ2 was originally designed to house 25,000 employees, but now it’s unclear when Amazon will meet its hiring goal.
Amazon’s search for a second headquarters made a big splash in 2017. Dozens of cities competed for the jobs and economic boost HQ2 promised.
A few years ago, Amazon's real estate chief, John Schoettler, described a meeting with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos about choosing an HQ2 location.
"When we were meeting with Jeff, talking about HQ2, he said to me then, 'John I really want to make it difficult. I really want it to be something that is so unique and has never been done before,'" Schoettler said.
Now, the difficult part might just be completing HQ2.
The first phase of the project will open in June with room for thousands of employees. But groundbreaking on Phase 2 is halted indefinitely. That second phase includes a building Amazon dubbed "The Helix," an eye-catching centerpiece akin to the Spheres in Seattle.
The pause comes as Amazon slows down hiring, lays off employees, and adjusts to a new hybrid work model.
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Final statewide masking mandate to end in WA
Come April 3, the state of Washington will no longer require masks in health care facilities and prisons.
The last mandate in Washington, an order requiring masks in health care and correctional facilities, is coming to an end.
It comes as the state — and the nation — pass another major pandemic milestone. It was three years ago this week that the first case of Covid-19 in the nation was detected and reported in King County.
A few months later, health officials started recommending masks. By June 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a face mask mandate across the state.
Masks are now credited, by public health officials, with limiting the spread of Covid-19.
But Washington state health officials say Covid rates and hospital stays have continued to decline since the start of 2023. That's why they say they are lifting the final mandate.
The state will not require masks in health care facilities, long-term care, or correctional facilities starting April 3. Oregon is dropping all of its requirements, too.
Keep masks handy, though.
People could still see requirements in any facility or private business, because they can set their own mask requirements.
And while it will no longer be the law, indoor mask wearing, especially in crowded areas where social distancing is not an option, remains highly recommended by Washington's Department of Health and King County Health Officer Jeff Duchin.
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We now know who won the $755M Powerball jackpot in Washington state
Auburn just might just be the luckiest city in Washington state.
The lottery math was a little unique to Becky Bell. The longtime Boeing employee had seen the final 747 be produced locally, shortly before seeing a sign for the Powerball Lottery at her local grocery store. That sign stated "$747 million." And that added up to taking a chance.
Bell usually played $20 each week on a few lottery games. One more ticket wouldn't hurt, after all.
Bell purchased that lottery ticket at the Auburn Fred Meyer on Feb. 5. She didn't win the amount on the sign, however. The very next day, she ended up winning $754,550,826.
It's the fifth largest jackpot in Powerball history, the second time a Powerball jackpot has been won in Washington, and the second time in Auburn. In fact, an Auburn woman won $90 million in 2014. That woman's husband was a Boeing employee who worked in the same building as Bell.
The winning numbers were 05, 11, 22, 23, 69 and a Powerball of 07. On the same winning ticket, Bell had a second set of numbers — which won $8.
“I was working virtually the next day and getting ready for my 6:20 a.m. meeting, and I scrolled over the news widget, and it popped up and I saw a story about the winning ticket being sold in Auburn and thought, ‘That could be me,’” Bell recalled. “After my meeting, I scanned my first ticket and it wasn’t a winner. Then I scanned the second ticket and it said, ‘Winning ticket. Claim at Lottery Office.’ So, I knew I had won at least $600, which was pretty exciting.”
Bell says she has never won more than $20, so she woke up her son, then her daughter, and then called close family members to make sure the numbers were correct and she wasn't overreacting — five checks in all.
Bell has worked as a supply chain analyst at Boeing for 36 years. She was already planning to retire in June. The big win will speed up that timeline a little.
The Fred Meyer in Auburn received a $50,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The store announced in February that it was donating that money to the local food bank. That paid for roughly 66,000 meals. Parent company Kroger also gave a $10,000 bonus to store employees.
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Emerald City's big, small, national, local pop culture balancing act: Today So Far
Emerald City Comic Con has its reasons to move forward without the Homegrown section, featuring local creators. But perhaps, for local fans, it's about something more.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 3, 2023.
Has the Homegrown section outgrown Emerald City Comic Con?
Our region's premier pop culture event kicked off yesterday and runs through the weekend. Expect to see massive crowds in downtown Seattle, featuring everybody from Darth Vader to that anime character that you think you've seen before, yet you're not sure, but you're pretty sure it's anime ... maybe a video game character, but probably anime. Personally, I predict a lot of Wednesday Addams showing up.
It feels like every year ECCC rolls around, there are criticisms about how the show is run, the guests that were or were not there, and so forth. This year is no exception. There is much ado about the Homegrown section, which has provided a place to feature the region's local artists, creators, and vendors who never neatly fit in other sections. Where else are you going to find "Firefly" bath bombs, handmade glass chibi figures, or axolotl key chains? It was a veritable buy local corner within one of the nation's largest pop culture events. So when organizers opted to nix the local section this year, it was much to the chagrin of locals.
This story is interesting for a couple reasons. One, because I don't get to write "chagrin" too often. But also, events like Emerald City Comic Con help our area maintain its DIY, weirdo, Northwest vibe. This event is among the largest flag poles around, letting our geek flags fly. ECCC would not exist without the local mass of geeks, gamers, cosplayers, nerds, larpers, bookworms, cinephiles, and more. So many that tens of thousands of people attend this convention annually, having so much fun that it draws in more from beyond the Northwest.
Ever since ReedPop purchased and took over ECCC around 2015, there has been a lingering concern that the company would favor large corporate vendors, and the local community spirit would be diminished. This concern has perhaps been heightened by the evolution Seattle has experienced in recent years.
When word got out that ECCC's Homegrown section would not be included in this year's event, I reached out to an ECCC spokesperson, who told me:
"For 20 years, Emerald City Comic Con has been a celebration of the incredible Pacific Northwest comics and pop culture community and we are confident that will be evident throughout this year’s show. At our upcoming 2023 event, nearly 50% of our exhibitors and Artist Alley creators are local to the Pacific Northwest and we are so excited to welcome and support so many small businesses and creators from our local community. However, this means we are at the point where we have outgrown the number of exhibitors we can accommodate in a Homegrown section and so we made the decision to sunset the dedicated section. Fans will now find these local businesses throughout our Show Floor and Artist Alley."
Emerald City Comic Con is in a tough spot. ReedPop is a massive company that produces fan events on a ginormous scale — and fans are passionate. To accomplish this, any company would need the support of high-paying vendors and sponsors. It's a delicate line to walk — bringing in enough to pay the bills, while maintaining that small, distinctive, local community feel. It can be an uncomfortable dynamic. After all, when you come into downtown Seattle, would you rather go to the Pink Door or the Cheesecake Factory? Would you rather hang out at Raygun Lounge or GameWorks? I know what I'd say, yet every year around ECCC, there's a waitlist at the Cheesecake Factory, and for reasons beyond my understanding, people still buy prepaid cards to play arcade games.
ECCC is also still recovering from pandemic blows, which included layoffs and scaling back or retiring some of its events. It still maintained its Seattle presence, however, by shuffling ECCC through an off-season schedule. In fact, 2023 is the first time since 2019 that the convention has taken place during its usual March/April timeslot.
On the other side of this delicate line are readers and ECCC fans like Serena, who wrote me after I initially covered this story on KUOW.org.
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