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.
Stories
-
Rules on firearms storage, open-carry, buybacks, and gun dealers advance in Washington Legislature
As the Washington Legislature heads into its final week, four bills that address firearms storage, open-carry, buybacks and gun dealers have passed both chambers and appear headed to the governor’s desk.
HB 1903 establishes a civil infraction and fine of up to $1,000 for gun owners who fail to report a lost or stolen firearm within 24 hours. The owner could be fined if a “prohibited person” subsequently gains access to the firearm.
RELATED: Federal Way gun store owner to pay $3 million for violating Washington gun law
Dylan O’Connor is government affairs director with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, which worked to pass all four bills. He said the potential infraction is one more incentive for people to safely store their guns.
“I would lock it up, I wouldn’t leave it in the glove compartment of my vehicle or anything like that, just to make sure I’m keeping myself safe as well as the community,” O’Connor said.
The second bill, HB 2118, is intended to prevent thefts and straw purchases from dealerships. It requires firearm dealers to adopt specified security features including bars on doors and windows, “alarm and surveillance systems, and safe storage and record keeping practices,” according to the bill report.
Troy Nicholas with the National Shooting Sports Foundation told lawmakers that dealers were willing to accept background check and age-verification requirements for employees, but opposed video-retention requirements as cost prohibitive.
Walla Walla County Sheriff Mark Crider also testified in opposition to that bill last month.
“Its demands are unrealistic and draconian mandates that have zero law enforcement value and appear to have no other purpose than to put Washington [Federal Firearms License] holders out of business,” Crider said.
Supporters say the new requirements will help keep guns out of the illegal market. They noted that in the final version the video-retention requirement was shortened from multi-year proposals to 90 days. The effective date of the bill is delayed until July 2025.
A third bill, SB 5444, prohibits the open carry of firearms in certain locations including transit stations, public libraries and zoos or aquariums.
Continue reading » -
How will Seattle grow through 2044? City leaders are about to find out
Where should Seattle allow more housing to be built? The city’s official answer to that question will change when the city updates its comprehensive plan. That work starts now.
The comprehensive plan is like a guidebook for development. It lays out where the city will direct new growth, and where development will be restricted.
City leaders update Seattle's comprehensive plan every 10 years, and a draft of the next update is expected the week of March 4 (it's been "under construction" for at least two years). Each update considers growth over the upcoming 20 years.
RELATED: Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and the origins of Seattle's growth strategy
Past versions of this plan funneled 83% of the city’s new housing into dense neighborhoods called “urban villages.” Those strategies failed to build enough housing, and as a result, a large number of people were priced out of Seattle.
The new plan is expected to make a lot more room for new housing. Whether its approach is aggressive enough will be the subject of intense debate for the rest of 2024, at the end of when the final draft is due to the state.
Some of the heavy lifting in this document has already been done by state legislators, who last year allowed “middle housing” in single-family neighborhoods across much of Washington. Seattle’s document will have to conform to these new state rules.
If Seattle wants to meet the demand for housing though, it’ll have to go much further.
RELATED: Where should Seattle build homes for newcomers?
A lot has happened, since the last time Seattle made a growth plan like this back in 2016. Rents and home prices have risen dramatically. More people are linking homelessness to the housing shortage. And more people understand the destructive effect of redlining, particularly on Black families.
Continue reading » -
Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con was an overwhelming joy for this budding fan
T
hursday, Feb. 29, 10:15 a.m.: I have arrived at my first Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle.
I have acquired my press badge. I make my way through security. I have already made my first mistake.
10:20 a.m.: “You walked right by me,” my KUOW colleague Dyer Oxley texts me.
I may be a certifiable nerd — hello, public radio journalist — but I am out of my element here. Dyer is my guide on this day, the first of four days to enjoy ECCC 2024. Without Dyer, I will be lost, physically, mentally, emotionally.
We find each other, and I learn that ECCC is so ginormous (technical term) that it spans two buildings in the Seattle Convention Center. Here I thought the single, half-filled room on the other side of will-call was where all the action was. Nope.
Continue reading » -
DC Comics’ Poison Ivy is an ecoterrorist — and the anti-hero the Pacific Northwest needs
DC Comics’ Poison Ivy made comic book debut in June 1966: “Trouble between the dynamic duo,” the cover read, featuring Batman and Robin glaring at each other over an early Ivy adaption – “Is she the cause?”
Decades later, Poison Ivy is still the cause of a good deal of trouble. But rather than playing a somewhat shallow seductress, she’s starring as a complicated anti-hero in her own storyline.
Seattle writer G. Willow Wilson was tapped to reimagine the DC villain, first in a six-issue limited Poison Ivy miniseries, then another six. The story took root among comic book fans, and now it’s grown into the character’s first ongoing series, a series that gives Wilson time and space to develop a character that fits well into today’s discourse.
RELATED: Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con was an overwhelming joy for this budding fan
“Poison Ivy is just such a fascinating character who gets, sadly, more and more germane every day given what's happening with climate change,” Wilson told KUOW this week, ahead of the Emerald City Comic Con. “It's a book whose time has come, and I'm just glad that it's found its audience.”
Arianna Turturro, who edits DC’s Poison Ivy comic book series, told KUOW it’s the first time anyone has told Poison Ivy’s origin in so much detail.
Wilson’s storytelling is accentuated by Marcio Takara’s bold illustrations. They jump off the page with violent splashes of red and every shade of green. Poison Ivy’s powers are accentuated with intricate illustrations of warped fungi, monstrous plants, and more delicate details, like flowers among gore.
Poison Ivy, whose real name is Pamela, has a new look to blend in with the world outside Gotham City, which she left after a series of unfortunate events involving the Bat Family. The form-fitting, leafy bustier and sheer green tights of the 1966 era (also: Uma Thurman’s adaptation in “Batman & Robin” in 1997) have been swapped for an olive-green boiler suit and work boots. Her big red hair is still wild, though occasionally tied back in a ponytail while she tends to plants and various punks.
That’s not to say her rather suggestive nature is gone entirely. When Pam lets loose the lamia spores that give her her amped up powers, Takara’s art takes on the effect of a nightmarish hallucination, featuring Poison Ivy in all her fearsome yet seductive glory.
Continue reading » -
Bill to create independent prosecutor for police deadly force cases fails in Washington state
A top priority for police accountability groups has died in the Washington State Legislature.
It was the second attempt to launch an independent prosecutor’s office, to pursue cases against police officers accused of misusing deadly force.
Police and county prosecutors opposed the proposal, while families of people who have died during police encounters supported the measure, saying the office would be free from the “inherent” conflicts of interest they say affect local jurisdictions.
The most recent iteration of HB 1579 failed to advance from the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday. It would have established an Office of Independent Prosecutions as a separate division within the state Attorney General’s Office.
The state prosecutor would have shared authority with county prosecuting attorneys to charge police officers with misuse of deadly force. In the event of both offices seeking jurisdiction in the same case, the bill instructed the courts to determine “whose prosecution will best promote the interests of justice.”
The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys argued the bill was unconstitutional because legislators lack the authority to diminish the role of elected local prosecutors.
RELATED: Does Washington state need an independent prosecutor to charge police with misusing deadly force?
“They were trying to transfer the power ... or role of the [local] prosecutor to have first review of the situation, and divest the prosecutor of that and transfer it to the independent prosecutor,” said Jon Tunheim, Thurston County prosecutor and a member of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
The bill also said county prosecutors would face a presumption that they have an inherent conflict of interest.
“We disagree that there’s an inherent conflict of interest in every case,” Tunheim added.
But he would support launching the independent prosecutor's office if local prosecutors could refer cases to the office voluntarily, he said.
“I think we could come together around this idea, build it, and then see what happens, right? And if it’s not working the way everybody thought it might work, we talk again and we figure it out.”
Continue reading » -
Seattle Steelheads: The city's short-lived, but not forgotten, Black baseball team
There was something different about the Mariners when they went up against the Kansas City Royals in 1995. Seattle's uniforms were still blue with green and silver, but just not the same as the traditional game attire.
The Royals weren't wearing their usual jerseys either. This day was the 75th anniversary of the Negro National League, an organization originally founded in 1920, when baseball was segregated. In honor of the Kansas City Monarchs, the Royals donned their historic jerseys. The Mariners represented the Seattle Steelheads.
RELATED: 20 years of Seattle music history is now online
Except, these weren't actually the Steelheads' jerseys. Turns out, nobody knew what they looked like.
Listen to Vaughan Jones' full reporting on the Seattle Steelheads on Seattle Now.
The Seattle Steelheads emerged during baseball's segregated times. The Negro National League was founded in 1920 and included Midwest teams, like Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City. The Negro American League emerged in the South in the 1930s.
"Black populations in a lot of the West Coast cities were a lot larger and everything was starting up again," said sports historian David Eskenazi. "This was also a period when there were more minor leagues around than anytime in history.”
Continue reading » -
The (economic) force is strong with Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle
Emerald City Comic Con 2024 arrives Thursday, much to the glee (and bustle) of downtown Seattle restaurants and shops.
“We are anticipating a rush," said Stephanie Rodrigues, store manager at Homegrown, a sustainable sandwich shop just up the street from the Seattle Convention Center, on Melrose Avenue. It's one of a few shops in the area that offers takeout options.
RELATED: Where to eat, hang, and party around Emerald City Comic Con 2024
Rodrigues said the anticipated rush for conventions like this runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (so it's probably a good idea to place an online order en route to the shop, just to speed things up).
"What we typically do is we prep more — we make sure we have meats prepped, cheeses prepped. We make sure we have enough staff," Rodrigues said. "We just think of long lines, long rushes. We are a local business so we do anticipate trying to cover that business."
Rodrigues added that the shop also considers how much business might be lost, as Homegrown is a cozy space when contrasted against the 85,000 attendees that Emerald City Comic Con expects to arrive in downtown this week.
The convention boasts an array of guests, such as Chris Evans (Captain America), Christopher Lloyd (Doc from "Back to the Future), Christina Ricci (Addams Family, Yellowjackets), Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), and many more.
Comic con fans will likely visit restaurants, shops, and other attractions around the convention center between Thursday and Sunday. That adds up to roughly $26.5 million in estimated local economic impacts, just from Emerald City Comic Con, according to Visit Seattle.
“Emerald City Comic Con has been a staple of our city for years,” Visit Seattle Senior Vice President Kelly Saling said. “It’s a weekend we circle on our calendars as an opportunity to celebrate the region’s spirit of creativity, innovation, and storytelling. This is a weekend filled with color, curiosity, and comradery. At Visit Seattle, our team loves working alongside ReedPop, Emerald City Comic Con’s producers, to make this an enriching event for both attendees and Seattle at-large.”
To put some of these numbers in perspective, the expected 85,000 attendees come as Emerald City Comic Con rebuilds from pandemic slowdowns. Before 2020, attendance reportedly reached 98,000. The average attendance at a Seahawks game at Lumen Field in 2023 was 68,735, and the average attendance of a Mariners game at T-Mobile Park was 33,215.
While Visit Seattle can estimate the convention's economic impact this year will be around $26.5 million, it doesn't have data available on the economic impacts of standard sports games. It does, however, look at other special events in the city, such as the NHL Winter Classic that was held on New Year's Day at T-Mobile Part (Kraken vs Vegas Golden Knights). That special sports event had an estimated local economic impact of $30 million.
Note: Emerald City Comic Con is a four-day annual event. Sports games are single-day events, but happen throughout an entire season.
Continue reading » -
6 protesters arrested after descending on Seattle City Hall to demand support for refugees
Protesters banged on windows outside Seattle City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, rattling the council members inside.
The demonstrators were activists and asylum-seekers, many of whom recently found their way to King County. Struggling to secure housing, hundreds of these new arrivals have moved into tents on muddy church grounds in Tukwila; those slightly more fortunate have moved into hotels, but even that is a dicey proposition, with only days or weeks guaranteed at a time.
Every day is a question mark for these asylum-seekers. Recently, Save the Kids, a national nonprofit, put down a credit card for a hotel in Kent, but that maxed out, and the hotel manager said he would have to kick out the refugees.
The City of Seattle paid the bill at the eleventh hour, even though the hotel was outside city limits.
RELATED: Time, money runs low for asylum-seekers sheltering at Seattle area hotels
The demonstrators said they believed the money for ShotSpotter, police technology that helps cops detect gunshots, should be spent on housing instead.
In a twist of irony, City Council was meeting to honor the late George Fleming, the first Black state senator and a champion of low-income housing. The council had asked that the chamber be cleared, with the exception of Fleming’s family.
Ultimately, six protesters were arrested for criminal trespass, according to the Seattle Police Department news blotter. They were booked into the King County Jail.
“Those who were part of the disruption were told to leave the chambers, but they refused and were told they would be arrested if they continued,” the police blotter read.
Continue reading » -
Symbolic or pointless? Measure against nonexistent local income taxes could appear on Washington ballots
The first of three voter initiatives that will get hearings in the Washington Legislature took center stage Tuesday. A joint committee of Senate and House lawmakers held a public hearing on Initiative 2111, which would prohibit the state or local governments from creating an income tax.
Nearly two dozen people offered public testimony on the measure. A small crowd attended the one-hour hearing, but several people who signed up to testify online didn't show up.
RELATED: 6 voter initiatives likely heading to Washington ballots this fall, explained
Overall, proponents of the measure said they don’t want more taxes, while opponents of the initiative said it would be pointless to enact. Washington does not currently have a personal income tax (even though it briefly did during the Great Depression), and a state analysis has shown I-2111 would not affect existing taxes or programs.
So lawmakers started the meeting Tuesday by asking questions about what impact the initiative could have. The initiative as written would ban income taxes from being created at the state and local levels, under the federal government's definition of "income."
Kai Smith, a lawyer at Pacifica Law Group, told lawmakers he worries voters might think the initiative would change something now.
"This measure, if enacted, would have no impact on our tax code or taxpayers today," he said.
Meanwhile, supporters of I-2111 say the measure is an opportunity to send a message to the Legislature that income taxes aren't welcome. Several attempts to create a type of income tax in the past have failed, and they say the initiative would also act as a barrier to any possible pitches to create income taxes in the future, as Democrats consider ways to make the state's tax structure more equitable.
"The people who have signed up in support of this initiative…have sent a clear message: Don't tax our income," said Amanda McKinney, a Yakima County Commissioner.
Even without the initiative, a statewide personal income tax likely wouldn't be able to address the inequity issue under current law anyway – an income tax in Washington would be subject to uniformity rules that disallow higher rates for wealthier people. That was a key issue weighed by the Washington Supreme Court after the state imposed the new capital gains tax, which is a 7% tax on profits from the sale of assets, like stocks and bonds, that exceed $250,000.
RELATED: Washington rent stabilization bill hits dead end in Senate — again
Continue reading » -
Seattle School Board vacancies draw more than a dozen applicants
Fifteen people have thrown their hats in the ring for the two open spots on the Seattle School Board.
The vacancies were created earlier this month, when board members Vivian Song and Lisa Rivera both suddenly stepped down amid concerns they were violating state residency requirements.
The school board shakeup comes amid looming budget cuts in Seattle Public Schools. Washington’s largest public school system faces a nearly $105-million budget deficit next year — and continued financial woes for the next several years.
RELATED: 2 Seattle school board members resign following questions about where they live
This spring, the school board is expected to not only review plans for next school year but also an overall plan for closing schools and other longer-term cost-saving measures.
Given those issues — and others, like academic recovery in the wake of the pandemic, escalating concerns about school safety, and a growing youth mental health crisis — the board wants to fill the open seats as soon as possible.
Candidates had until Sunday to submit their applications. The board plans to appoint the new members by the beginning of April.
RELATED: New Seattle schools fiscal plan: No closures next year, but 'nothing is off the table'
All Together for Seattle Schools, a new citywide parent advocacy organization, called on the board to appoint diverse board members, and to “acknowledge the resignation of two women of color board members as a call for internal organizational repair.”
The open letter, which has been signed by more than 130 people, also pushes the board to involve the public in the appointment process.
"We were hearing from a lot of families out of concern, once we learned that two board members are resigning, that their voices might not be a part of the conversation," said Erin MacDougall, one of All Together for Seattle Schools' leaders.
MacDougall says the group heard from many parents who believed the departing board members represented their community well and had "lived and work experience that were very well aligned with the needs of the board and of all of the students in the district."
And they want to see the new board members have those same qualities — especially amid such difficult financial times in the district.
Continue reading » -
Seattle tech workers brace for more layoffs, this time at Expedia
About 200 Expedia employees in Seattle will be out of a job come May, according to a filing with the Washington Employment Security Department.
They’re among nearly 1,500 employees across the globe the Seattle-based travel tech company now plans to cut. That’s a little over 8% of Expedia’s workforce. GeekWire reported the layoffs will come primarily from the product and technology division of the company.
This is just the latest round of layoffs Expedia Group has made since 2020, when it slowly began reducing its workforce.
RELATED: TikTok cuts jobs as tech layoffs continue to mount
“Given the recent completion of many significant technical milestones in Expedia Group’s transformation, the business continues to evaluate the appropriate allocation of resources to ensure the most important work continues to be prioritized,” an Expedia Group spokesperson said in a statement to KUOW. “While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth.”
CEO Peter Kern announced to employees in an internal memo Monday; Kern himself will be leaving his role in May, though he’ll remain the company’s vice chairman and stay on its board.
The Expedia layoffs are just the latest in a series of tech cuts in Seattle and around the globe.
RELATED: EBay to lay off 1,000 workers as tech job losses continue in the new year
San Franciso-based analyst Roger Lee, of Layoffs.fyi, said this post-pandemic tech-downsizing has been driven by a market shift toward “efficiency.” In other words, tech companies over-hired during the pandemic, and now, they’re cutting back; more than 260,000 jobs were cut in 2023.
“With Amazon and Microsoft continuing to make cuts as well, Seattle's tech employment faces challenges,” Lee said. though AI presents a promising opportunity.”
Continue reading » -
Why do I declare a party on my Washington presidential primary ballot? (And other things you should know)
Ballots for Washington's 2024 presidential primary election are now arriving in mailboxes across the state. But to make their votes count, voters must declare that they prefer one party over the other. There are also plenty of candidates listed who are no longer running. What does this all mean? KUOW's presidential primary primer is here to help.
RELATED: Washington's GOP divide: He’s for Trump and she’s for Nikki Haley
Who: Democrats and Republicans present a handful of presidential candidates voters can choose from.
What: The winners of the primary election will represent their respective political parties on the November general election ballot. (Note: There will be some candidates listed on the primary ballot who have already backed out of the race. You can still vote for them, but they are not running for president anymore.)
Where: All Washington voters get ballots in the mail, which can be returned to an official ballot box or mailed back (must be postmarked by March 12). Voters can also go to a voting center on election day. Check here for more information about where ballot boxes and voting centers are located.
When:
- March 4: This is the deadline to register to vote online. If you mail in your voter registration, it must be received by an elections office by this date (note: not postmarked by this date).
- March 12: The official presidential primary election day. People can register to vote at county elections offices on this day. Ballots must be postmarked by this date, or ballots must be turned in to ballot boxes by 8 p.m.
- March 29: The final day the Secretary of State's Office will certify primary results.
Why do I have to check a box to declare a party?
Voters can only vote for one presidential candidate, in one party. You cannot vote for a candidate in each party. On the outside of the ballot, voters must check a box to declare they prefer Democrat or Republican. This means they are only participating in one party's primary selection. It does not mean they are registering for any political party. It also doesn't mean that the voter must vote for the party's candidate in the general election in November.
RELATED: Washington state braces for deepfakes ahead of 2024 elections
Continue reading »