KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
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Seattle Humane is taking in pets from California. Here's how you can help
Animals
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire around a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.APDozens of pets from California will be in need of homes here in Seattle next week.
Seattle Humane is expecting more than 60 animals to arrive at Boeing Field on Sunday. Spokesperson Brandon Macz said the pets will be vaccinated and checked in on Monday, with many expected to be ready for adoption by Tuesday.
Seattleites are already stepping up to help.
"They haven't even gotten here yet, and people are already offering donations, offering fostering for these pets," he said. "We are hopeful that all the pets will come in looking healthy and ready to be made available for adoption."
Pets from California will be marked online with a special icon to let potential adopters know they're fire rescues. Seattle Humane also noted it needs people to adopt pets already in their shelters, to make more room for those being flown in.
Folks specifically looking to adopt one of the newcomers should plan to act fast, though.
“People cherish pets like their family, and we believe that a lot of these pets will be adopted next week, very early," Macz said. "We can't wait to see them go home."
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These Black-owned Seattle businesses are closing their doors in 2025
Business
Mary Wesley, left, pictured with assistant Sue Grimord. Wesley's flower shop, Flowers Just 4U, has been a fixture in Seattle's Central District since 1984.KUOW Photo/Ruby de LunaIt may be the beginning of a new year, but for some local businesses, 2025 is the beginning of the end.
A handful of longtime, Black-owned businesses in Seattle are signing off. One of the businesses permanently closing is Flowers Just-4-U, which has been a fixture in the Central District since 1984.
RELATED: Last call at Merchant’s Cafe & Saloon: Seattle’s oldest bar set to close
Owner Mary Wesley, or “Miss Mary” as her customers call her, is retiring at 94 years old.
“I’m closing the shop. That’s the sad part,” Wesley said. “But other than that, the retirement is great. I’m looking forward to it.”
This will be Wesley’s second try at retirement. The flower business was her retirement plan after nearly three decades at Boeing.
Over the years, Wesley has seen old buildings torn down to make way for new apartment units. It’s what prompted her to move to the current location on 23rd Avenue and Cherry Street. Soon, the building she’s in will be demolished, too.
RELATED: Bracing for more Seattle traffic as Amazon workers return from vacation
“Moving is no piece of cake,” she said.
Sue Grimord has worked alongside Wesley for the past five years. She said they’ll take their last orders for flowers on Jan. 15. After that, they’ll spend the next two weeks cleaning out the space.
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Biden ban puts more of Northwest off limits to oil drilling
Environment
Pacific Ocean waves roll in to Cape Disappointment State Park on the Washington coast on Sept. 15, 2024.KUOW Photo/John RyanMore Northwest waters are now off-limits to oil drilling, which is already prohibited by state law within three miles of the Oregon and Washington coasts.
A new ban from President Joe Biden prevents offshore drilling within 200 miles of the nation’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the northern Bering Sea.
RELATED: Biden bans new offshore oil and gas drilling in most federal waters
Environmentalists welcomed the new ban, though no one has proposed to drill in Northwest waters in decades.
“There really hasn't been a lot of interest in this region for offshore oil and gas drilling, at least in the past 50 years,” said marine scientist Ben Enticknap with the nonprofit group Oceana in Portland. “For the Pacific Northwest, I would really characterize this as a precautionary approach.”
RELATED: More Canada crude is coming, but trade war could hamper flow
Oil, gas, and mineral exploration and production are prohibited within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, which stretches 20 to 40 miles offshore from more than half of Washington state’s outer coast.
Oregon has a ban on pipelines and other infrastructure that would support drilling in federal waters.
RELATED: Trump has promised to boost oil and gas exports. It could raise energy prices at home
President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he would undo Biden’s ban on offshore drilling on “day one” of his presidency.
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New online dashboard tracks weather-related health incidents in Washington state
Health
Smoke from the Sumner Grade fire is visible on Wednesday, September 9, 2020, along Sumner Tapps Highway East in Sumner, Washington.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerWashington state health officials are paying closer attention to heat- and cold-related illnesses, smoke exposure, and several other seasonal hazards.
The Department of Health has launched a public dashboard tracking weather-related health incidents using data reported by hospitals across the state. The aim is to help residents and agencies make smarter, more timely decisions when it comes to severe weather.
RELATED: How a cold snap exposed cracks in King County's emergency response shelter system
The dashboard, which provides county-by-county data, tracks motor vehicle crashes, carbon monoxide exposures, asthma-related emergency room visits, drownings, and even injuries from recreational boating.
The latest data shows that over the past week, 1.3% of King County hospital visits have been from cold-related exposure, such as hypothermia or frostbite, which is similar to the rates this time last year.
The new dashboard comes after a series of extreme weather-related deaths across Washington in recent years.
RELATED: More green space, fewer silos: King County reveals new extreme heat plan
At least seven Seattleites died in January 2024 from hypothermia related to an extreme cold snap that moved through Western Washington. In June 2021, a deadly heat wave killed an estimated 1,200 people across the Pacific Northwest, 400 of those deaths being among Washingtonians. Temperatures in Washington reached an all-time high of 120 degrees Fahrenheit at the height of the week-long heat dome.
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New year, new penalties: Seattle parking fines up in 2025
Cars are shown parked from the Smith Tower observatory on Friday, December 1, 2017, in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerWith the new year comes increased parking fines for Seattle drivers. City officials say the hike in penalties — the first since 2011 — is to account for inflation.
As of Wednesday, parking tickets could cost you, on average, anywhere from $43 to $78, depending on the violation. That’s up from the city’s previous parking fine range of $29 to $53.
The parking violations subject to increased fines include those related to pay-to-park zones, loading and unloading zones, restricted parking zones, and parking on the wrong side of the street.
RELATED: As leaves fall, some street parking rates rise in Seattle
See the city's full list of new parking infraction fines here.
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Famous orca mom carries another dead calf around Puget Sound
Environment
Endangered orca J35 pushes the carcass of her newborn daughter between Seattle and Vashon Island on Jan. 1, 2025.Courtesy Audrey GaoFans of the Northwest’s endangered orcas have been on an emotional rollercoaster.
Two newborn calves were seen swimming with the region’s southern resident orcas in late December, a welcome boost to the sagging population of 74.
By New Year’s Eve, one of the calves was dead – and being carried around on its mother’s nose.
That same orca mom, dubbed J35 by scientists and Tahlequah by the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, made global headlines in 2018 when she carried her baby on her nose for 17 days and 1,000 miles.
RELATED: Mama orca drops her dead calf after 17 days, ending 'tour of grief'
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration orca researcher Brad Hanson saw J35 carrying her newborn’s carcass on New Year’s Eve between Seattle and Vashon Island.
“Obviously, it's a heartbreaking, tragic situation for not just her, but also for the population,” Hanson said. “This particular calf was a female, and we need young viable females that recruit into the population in order to be able to recover it.”
“The death of any calf in the [southern resident killer whale] population is a tremendous loss, but the death of J61 is particularly devastating,” the Center for Whale Research said in a Facebook post.
The center noted that J35 lost two out of four of her documented newborns – both of which were female.
Hanson said it’s not uncommon for a whale or dolphin to carry a carcass around for a day or two, but doing so for weeks was apparently unprecedented.
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Endangered orcas’ circle of life: one baby dies, another is born
Environment
Baby orca J62 surfaces behind a cormorant near Point No Point County Park in Kitsap County, Washington, on Dec. 30, 2024.Courtesy of Tisa AnnetteWhale watchers were relieved to see a baby orca off the Kitsap Peninsula’s Point No Point Monday afternoon.
They mistakenly believed it was J61, the newest member of the Northwest’s endangered killer whales. She had not been seen for nearly a week.
On Dec. 24, researchers had expressed concern that the newborn, known as J61, looked lethargic and was being nudged along on her mother’s nose at times.
The mother, known as J35 or Tahlequah, had made global headlines in 2018 when she carried her dead calf on her nose for more than two weeks.
RELATED: Newborn orca brings holiday cheer — and fear — to Seattle whale watchers
Newborns among the endangered southern resident orcas have only a 50-50 chance of living to their first birthday. They and their salmon-eating mothers often have difficulty getting enough food to eat.
“She looked healthy & vibrant today,” wildlife photographer Tisa Annette texted KUOW. “Looked very active and mostly keeping right up with family.”
The nature photographer had gone out looking for J61 to confirm she was still alive.
“I yelled out to others on the beach, 'Baby!!!' And then started crying in relief,” Annette said.
Annette said the baby’s family swam together, keeping J61 in the middle.
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2024: A year in KUOW's arts and pop culture
Arts & Life
KUOW's Dyer Oxley interviews Cthulu, a cosmic entity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft, at Emerald City Comic Con on Feb. 29, 2024.KUOW Photo/Juan Pablo ChiquizaIt wasn't just film reviews and arguments about whether or not "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie. KUOW covered a lot of arts, a lot of culture, and bit of pop culture in 2024.
Take a journey through the year's reporting on aspects of Seattle and the Northwest that speak to the region's thriving arts scenes and defining culture.
Music and dancing
The Northwest has a fervent surf rock scene that gathers each year at Surf X Surfwest. The surf rock music fest happens over a weekend at Darrell's Tavern in Shoreline each summer and boasts a lineup of bands (both local and international) on two stages. "It's a lot of people who are playing the genre because they just love the feeling of it," said Hiro Yamamoto with Bellingham's Stereo Donkey, and also a founding member of Soundgarden. "It's a friendly scene, and that's part of the DIY thing, too. It kind of fits with the laid back sort of crowd. We're just hanging out, having fun."
The Seattle Fandango Project has been up and running for years, but it was interrupted during the pandemic. Fandango is a form of Spanish / Portuguese folk music and dance. As RadioActive's Vivi Cardenas-Habell reported, it was important to bring the project back in 2024 as it wasn't just about the music. It was also about community.
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Washington state gets NY bank to pay $10 million for role in pandemic unemployment fraud
Correction notice, Thursday, 1/2/25 at 8:25 a.m.: The original version of this story stated incorrectly that MovoCash used stolen identities to obtain unemployment funds. MovoCash was not accused of any wrongdoing by the Attorney General of Washington. This story has been corrected to note that it was criminals — not MovoCash — who used stolen identities to obtain the funds. This story has also been updated to include new comments from MovoCash CEO Eric Solis.
Metropolitan Commercial Bank will reimburse Washington state $10 million in unemployment funds that were stolen and processed through the bank during the pandemic, the state Attorney General’s office announced this week.
That brings the total amount of money that Washington has recovered from U.S. banks up to $52 million since 2020. The money has been recovered via a fraud recovery program.
Washington state lost $647 million from identity theft and unemployment benefits fraud during the pandemic. Since then, state agencies have recovered $432.6 million in stolen funds from various sources, according to the AG’s office.
“More than four years ago, criminals targeted our state unemployment fund, and my office has not stopped working to recover what they stole,” Attorney General and Governor-elect Bob Ferguson said in a press release.
RELATED: Scammer gets 5 years after targeting Washington's unemployment relief in early days of Covid
Those criminals used stolen identities to obtain unemployment funds and then moved them via MovoCash, a non-bank financial technology company or “fintech,” through the New York-based Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Ferguson said the bank accepted more than $15 million in stolen funds.
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Person without a ticket gets through Sea-Tac security and almost flies to Hawaii
A Delta airplane at a gate at SeaTac International Airport on May 15, 2024.Someone without a ticket was able to get around security at Sea-Tac International Airport and get on a Delta flight to Hawaii on Christmas Eve. Airline staff, however, caught them before takeoff.
"As there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended," Delta said in a statement. "We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation.”
The incident happened on Delta flight 487 on Dec. 24. The flight is between Seattle and Honolulu. While the plane was being taxied to the runway, the unticketed passenger was found. The plane then returned to the gate around 1:05 p.m. and the person was kicked off. Police then found the person in an airport bathroom where they were arrested by Port of Seattle police.
The event prompted additional security checks, including a search by a K9 unit, causing the flight to be delayed by more than 2 hours.
According to the Port of Seattle, the person was able to pass through TSA security on the evening of Dec. 23. They did not have a boarding pass, yet went through normal screening. The person was also able to get onto the plane without scanning a ticket at the gate.
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Instacart joins Uber in suit to block new Seattle law for gig workers
Law & Courts
Instacart is joining Uber in a lawsuit against the city of Seattle over a new law scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, that would require companies to give gig workers 14 days’ notice before deactivating them.
Uber filed a complaint last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle seeking an injunction against the new rules. They say the Seattle law is unconstitutional because it violates Uber’s First Amendment rights by changing the language the company uses when implementing its policies.
RELATED: A court blocks a couple from suing Uber over a car crash because of Uber Eats' terms
Instacart reinforced those objections by filing its own complaint against the city on Tuesday. Instacart said it has policies to ensure integrity, safety, and efficiency, which Seattle’s law would override.
The Seattle City Council originally passed the “App-Based Worker Deactivation Rights Ordinance” in August 2023.
The law makes it harder for companies to fire gig workers without giving a clear reason. In addition to giving workers two weeks’ notice, the law requires companies to investigate each case and give workers a chance to contest those decisions.
RELATED: Uber and Lyft are fighting minimum wage laws. But in this state, the drivers won
Companies would also have to provide notice to gig workers before most deactivations and provide the worker with records substantiating the move.
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Whooping cough cases in Washington state might hit 2,000 by end of 2024
Health
Nurses Fatima Guillen, left, and Fran Wendt, right, give Kimberly Magdeleno, 4, a Tdap whooping cough booster shot in Tacoma, Washington in 2012.AP File Photo/Ted S. WarrenCases of whooping cough continue to climb in Washington state.
So far in 2024, close to 2,000 cases have been reported, compared to just 78 at the same time last year. This year’s total is the highest since 2012.
RELATED: How measles, whooping cough and worse could roar back on RFK Jr.'s watch
Dr. Scott Lindquist, an epidemiologist with the Washington Department of Health, told KNKX that whooping cough, also known as pertussis, does have a vaccine, so it typically goes through peaks and valleys every year.
“But we’ve also seen our vaccinations decreasing,” Lindquist said. “Therein sets up a perfect chance to have multiple outbreaks of pertussis around the state.”
Whooping cough causes a severe cough and can last for months. It is especially dangerous for infants.
Early symptoms are fever, runny nose, and a cough, but it can develop into violent, uncontrolled coughing fits that leave infected people struggling to breath. The name comes from the high-pitched sound people make when inhaling after a cough.
Whooping cough moves from person to person through the air when people sneeze or cough and others breathe in those particles. People can be contagious for at least two weeks after a cough starts.
RELATED: Washington is getting whooped by whooping cough
In addition to whooping cough, King County reports an increase in emergency room visits for children between the ages of 5 and 17 suffering from walking pneumonia. Those cases have accounted for roughly 5% of ER visits since October.
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