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
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Public Health — Seattle & King County faces cuts amid budget shortfall
The director of Public Health — Seattle & King County says his office is going to have to make significant budget cuts by the year 2025, specifically $25 million annually.
"I greatly wish I had better news to share. But I need to be direct about the difficult situation we face and our next steps in addressing it," wrote director Dr. Faisal Khan in a letter to staff.
The funds will be taken from the Public Health Fund because of a projected shortfall in the King County General Fund. The county is blaming the projected deficit on state imposed-limits on property tax revenue growth.
Khan said his office will work with the county executive over the next three months to see how to "do the least harm to the community" in light of the cuts.
Khan noted that the General Fund supports three primary Public Health services: $50 million annually for Jail Health Services; $7 million annually for the Medical Examiner's Office; and $31 million annually for the Public Health Fund.
"Jail Health Services has been given a target of $1.5 million to cut," Khan wrote. "Not all departments are being asked to cut the same amount because of legal requirements to preserve some county services that are supported by General Fund. Most Public Health services, while highly valued, are not legally mandated by the state."
He also said he doesn't yet know which programs will be affected and how many workers will be laid off, but the cuts could start going into effect as soon as the middle of next year.
More information will likely come in the fall when King County Executive Dow Constantine announces his spending reduction plan, according to Khan.
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Washington's prisons will begin phasing out the practice of solitary confinement
Washington state is planning to significantly reduce the number of times it sends incarcerated people to solitary confinement —a 90% reduction by 2028.
The Washington State Department of Corrections said this is part of a move toward a "more humane corrections system."
“The research is clear on solitary confinement,” said DOC Secretary Cheryl Strange in a statement. “It causes long-lasting harm. While it can be an effective way to deter violence, spending prolonged periods of time in isolation has devastating effects on an individual’s mental and physical health long after they leave our facilities.”
Strange notes that Washington's prison system has experienced a downward trend in incarcerations, and that about 70% of state prison beds are currently occupied. She expects fewer and fewer people will be sent to prisons over the coming decade. The DOC states this is partially because of the Blake Decision. The ruling has resulted in drug possession being knocked down from a felony to a gross misdemeanor, and only people convicted of felonies are sent to state prisons.
“We already have one of the lowest rates of incarceration in the nation,” Strange said. “DOC has worked diligently to lower recidivism rates, create better neighbors and ensure that incarcerated individuals don’t return to us once they get out. Of course, our continued success means we can no longer afford to operate all of the prisons we currently have.”
Meanwhile, state corrections officials announced the closing of the Larch Corrections Center in Clark County (about 25 miles northeast of Vancouver, Washington). In 2021, DOC closed several units in the Monroe Correctional Center. Ten years earlier, it shut down operations at the McNeil Island Corrections Center.
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A lot more electric buses are coming to Western Washington roads
Western Washington is getting a surge of funds to pay for transitioning to cleaner mass transit systems, which means a lot more electric and hybrid buses will be hitting local roads over the next few years.
King County Metro announced that it has been selected to receive $33.5 million in federal funding to purchase a total of 30 electric buses. These vehicles will be assigned to routes in low-income areas.
“These funds play a vital role in our transition to a zero-emission future,” said Metro General Manager Michelle Allison. “The buses and the maintenance training they will help fund are both an environmental and a social justice shift. Our focus is placing these buses and the work to maintain them in communities that have borne the brunt of climate change for too long. Continued federal funding in our work paves the way for King County Metro to drive the transit industry and growth as we make our switch to a battery-electric future.”
Metro notes that the federal money is in the top 10 most expensive grants in the nation (130 grants were provided to agencies in 46 states), and it will help it transition to an entirely emissions-free bus fleet by 2035.
RELATED: Fire trucks are going electric, too. Portland and Redmond, WA, getting there first
The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is putting $1.7 billion toward mass transit upgrades.
The Federal Transit Administration further notes that the funding will contribute to the purchase of "1,700 American-built buses that will be manufactured with American parts and labor." Almost half of the news buses will be zero-emissions models.
"Every day, over 60,000 buses in communities of all sizes take millions of Americans to work, school, and everywhere else they need to go," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. "Today’s announcement means more clean buses, less pollution, more jobs in manufacturing and maintenance, and better commutes for families across the country."
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New orca calf spotted near British Columbia
Read the updated news on this sighting, which confirms two orca calves have been spotted with L-pod.
There appears to be a new calf born to the endangered southern resident orcas in the Salish Sea.
The Center for Whale Research made the baby announcement Friday, saying it appears the L Pod of killer whales has a new calf. It has yet to confirm any further details.
The Center came across social media posts showing a calf with members of the L-77 matriline on Monday, June 19. They were spotted off Tofino, British Columbia.
If confirmed, this would be the first new calf in L pod since L125 was born in 2021, and it would bring the total population of southern resident killer whales to 74.
"CWR researchers will need to conduct on-the-water encounters with this group to determine who the calf’s mother is, assess its health, and assign it an alphanumeric designation. We hope to see this calf in our study area very soon!" the Center said in a statement.
"It's hard to say whose calf it is at this point, just being that it was based on a couple of photographs," said Josh McInnes, a scientist with the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Unit. "And often, it's usually greater than two or three encounters that we start classifying calves as being with a particular female."
McInnes studies killer whales up and down the West Coast and says that multiple females within a pod will take care of a calf.
McInnes notes southern resident pods are spending more time out on Pacific fishing banks, away from the Salish Sea, perhaps having to go further to try to find the salmon they need for food.
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Tukwila workers will see a big bump on their next paychecks
Tukwila will soon join Seattle and SeaTac in raising its minimum wage. Beginning Saturday, July 1, thousands of workers will earn just under $19 dollars an hour.
Last fall, Tukwila voters approved an initiative to raise the minimum wage by more than $3 in the city.
“That will certainly help,” said Katie Wilson of the Transit Riders Union, one of groups that helped campaign for the raise. “But it’s also definitely not enough to make it comfortable to live in this county.”
Still, for thousands of workers, it will be a significant raise. For businesses with more than 500 employees, the new minimum wage will be $18.99.
Smaller businesses with fewer than 500 workers will have a couple of years to phase in the new wage. Wilson says the new law would also require employers to offer additional hours to existing part time workers before hiring new employees.
“This is basically designed to try to allow people to get full time work or closer to full time work if they want full time work.”
The Transit Riders Union is part of a coalition petitioning the City of Burien to raise the minimum wage. Organizers in Renton are collecting signatures to put a similar measure in the November ballot.
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Weigh in on EPA's Duwamish River cleanup plan by Aug. 11
Tuesday was supposed to be the deadline for people to share input on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed cleanup plan for the heavily polluted Duwamish River entrance. But that deadline has been pushed back to Aug. 11, allowing time for a community festival to educate residents and take public comment on the proposal.
Large portions of the Duwamish River, like where it meets the Puget Sound, are so toxic that the Environmental Protection Agency has had to step in to rehabilitate the river, designating it a Superfund site for a long-term cleanup response.
Over the past 100 years, industrial discharges, storm drains, and combined sewer overflows have polluted the surface and bottom of the river.
The EPA has worked in recent years to clean up portions of the river, one of the most recent efforts being the East Waterway Cleaning Project to clean the section of the river on the East of the man-made Harbor Island.
Surrounding it are industrial and shipping projects. Further down the river, in the South Park neighborhood — which is in another Superfund site — is the office of Jamie Hearn, who helps with cleaning engagement and advocacy for the Duwamish River Community Coalition.
“Sediment flows between each site, the water moves between each site, fish travel up and down the rivers. Even if we split them into two Superfund sites, we know that that's not how river ecosystems work,” she said.
The impact on the ecosystem and the neighborhoods surrounding the river system isn't good. It’s why public comment is important on cleanup programs like this.
Monday was supposed to be the deadline for people to share input on the EPA’s proposed cleanup plan for the heavily polluted entrance to the Duwamish river.
But contributing such input often involves a lot of technical reading, which advocates say can be inaccessible for people living in working class communities; they might not have the time to read through technical EPA documents or may not be native English speakers. Regardless, they should have a voice in the cleanup process, Hearn said.
“These folks have a really strong understanding of what some of the issues are when there is river cleanup. They are going to be the ones that are the most impacted by this cleanup, it's really important that we center their experiences and their thoughts.”
Hearn added that the new, Aug. 11 deadline gives their group time to reach out to people in a culturally relevant way during the Duwamish River Festival, where they'll be able to present the cleanup projects to the public in a more accessible way while also collecting input.
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What's behind Seattle convenience? Today So Far
- Where are Seattle's 7-Elevens going?
- Seattle is preparing for the next heat wave, whenever it strikes.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 26, 2023.
For most of my independent life, 7-Eleven has been there for me. At 16, with a fresh drivers license, I would pack up my Volkswagen Vanagon with friends and head to the nearest 7-Eleven, where a high schooler could afford to shop, mostly for slurpees. While other cars had retro dice hanging from their rearview mirrors, I had these little brains in ice cubes, which were slurpee brain freezes. Upon realizing that most of the processed treats in the store were not good for anybody, ever, I shifted to the quick sandwiches and apples.
Even when I lived in Portland, where there is a Plaid Pantry on nearly every corner, I sought out the rare 7-Eleven near Portland State University, where the coffee bar kicked off my modern love of the store. This is my tip for the old school, gritty, Northwesterner. If you find a 7-Eleven with a coffee bar, you're set. You don't need another coffee spot. I don't care how fancy, hip, boutique, rare, or crafted the coffee is at whatever bourgeois Seattle cafe folks hype — if you've got a flannel shirt and a used car with a tailpipe that competes with the Pedro the Lion you're blasting, this coffee is for you.
For Seattle Times business reporter Paul Roberts, his 7-Eleven love is based on orange-flavored Hostess cupcakes.
"They've got orange icing on them. They were my secret shame, but they were always there," Roberts told "Seattle Now." "If you went to the Safeway, you could get a whole box of them, but I didn't want to admit I had this problem. So I would be able to walk up the two blocks to the 7-Eleven and get it."
During one such cupcake pilgrimage, Roberts discovered that his local 7-Eleven was closed, for good. This simple fondness for an orange cupcake led him to discover that other quick-stop shops in Seattle have also been closing. There are many reasons. Crime is cited as an issue. The pandemic also hit hard. There are labor shortages. And the company has reportedly made complicated policies that can make things difficult for franchise owners.
"It's like the problems they are facing complicates your impulse purchase. You don't really want to think about the particulars, the economic, and social structures behind this thing that allows you to have your Hostess cupcake. You just want to get it ... the more times you go there, you more you get to know the person, and you get to know the struggles they are facing. Like the guy who is there at two in the morning, when you happen to be there and you're thinking to yourself, 'Why are you here?' I'm up because I couldn't sleep. You're here because this was the job you could find.' It just forces you to recognize that there is this whole economy and labor market behind the provision of convenience that we don't really have to pay attention to until it is taken away from us."
There's more to this story. Roberts discusses his most recent reporting on Seattle's waning 7-Elevens on today's "Seattle Now." Check that out here.
Seattle is preparing for the next heat wave, whenever it strikes. Officials say things will be different next time.
The 2021 heat dome was a bit of a wake-up call for the Northwest. The region is prepared for a lot of conditions, but heat is generally not something folks have thought about. In Seattle, the city is funding air conditioning upgrades at 13 community centers. Those buildings will also get solar power and backup power. All this will be rolled out over the coming five years. There is also a local effort to increase the tree canopy in Seattle, which would provide greater cooling capacity, but that will take years to produce.
At home, most folks still don't have air conditioning units. This is especially true for lower-income residents. A recent UW Climate Impact Report notes that, “Only 34% of households that earn $50,000 or less in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties have AC in their home, and just 29% of rented houses in these three counties have them installed."
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Tacoma woman with TB released from jail
A Tacoma woman who was jailed in early June, after refusing to get treated for tuberculosis for more than a year, has been released from the Pierce County Jail.
The Tacoma Pierce County Health Department says a judge authorized her release on Friday, June 23. She is now under home detention.
According to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department: "Judge Philip Sorensen issued an order today releasing this patient from the Pierce County Jail with conditions. This will allow her to isolate at home under court supervision. We will continue to work with her to provide testing and treatment to help cure her tuberculosis."
She served half of her 45-day treatment in jail after health officials took the rare step of seeking an arrest warrant to keep the woman from spreading the highly contagious disease.
This is the latest chapter in the case of tuberculosis in Tacoma. Despite the risk to the public being "very low," according to the health department, authorities pressed the woman to get treatment for TB. She repeatedly refused. An arrest warrant was issued in March, but the woman eluded authorities before being taken into custody in early June.
Around 20-25 people in Pierce County come down with a case of tuberculosis each year, however, most get treatment. The health department previously told KUOW that about three people over the past two decades have refused treatment.
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More cleanup planned for Seattle's Gas Works Park
Washington's Department of Ecology is going to answer questions about cleanup efforts at Seattle's Gas Works Park during a public meeting Wednesday night, June 28.
Gas Works Park sits at the north shore of South Lake Union. The land was once home to a gas manufacturing plant, hence how the park got its name. The plant was active between 1907 and 1956. During that time, the fuel operations created considerable contamination at the site.
Previous cleanup work was finished between 1971 and 2020, but was mostly on the upland area in the park. More work remains for much of the area around the shoreline. The current proposal is to cap the shoreline soil, treat shoreline groundwater, dredge and cap sediment under the water, and set up monitoring moving forward.
The cost of the future cleanup work is estimated to be about $73 million, which will come from the city of Seattle and Puget Sound Energy. Half of this costs could be reimbursed through Ecology's remedial action grant program.
The public can register for Wednesday's meeting and sign up to make a comment at the Gas Works Park webpage. Ecology will give its presentation at 6:30 p.m. and take questions at 7:30 p.m.
This blog post originally stated that the city of Seattle would be paying the full $73 million for the cleanup work. According to the Department of Ecology, the cost will be split by the city and Puget Sound Energy, with the majority being paid for by PSE.
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Homeless shelters in Tacoma are getting less funding this year
Homeless shelters in Tacoma are getting less funding this year.
On June 20, Pierce County announced the Tacoma Rescue Mission will get almost $200,000 less than last year for shelter funding. In 2022, the mission received a little over $2 million for its shelters.
Because of less funding this time, the Tacoma Rescue Mission will have to decrease its shelter capacity.
“The reality is, on July 1, we will be at capacity," said Myron Bernard, senior director of community engagement for the Tacoma Rescue Mission. “If we don’t fund shelters, and if shelters close, then we are kind of furthering ourselves down that path of saying it’s essentially illegal to be unhoused.”
The funding is the largest source of money that Pierce County receives annually for homeless housing services.
Lauren Gallup has the full story on Tacoma's homelessness funding at Northwest Public Broadcasting.
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What does 'restricted racing zones' sound like to you? Today So Far
- Seattle is considering a new policy to tackle street racing on city roads.
- King County Metro is inviting back all the employees who were fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate.
- A common awkward situation for Washingtonians may become a thing of the past. Oregon lawmakers have voted to ease up on the state's ban on self-serve gas.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 23, 2023.
Seattle is considering a new policy to tackle street racing on city roads. The main idea is to allow automated traffic cameras to push back against street racing. This is possible thanks to a new law at the state level, and Seattle is lining up its own code with it.
Along with this proposal is the creation of “restricted racing zones” where such camera enforcement would be targeted. There are six specific spots that the Council already has in mind, mostly around Alki and Sand Point Way. It’s early in the discussion for this plan, which is going through the committee process. My suggestion for the Council, when it comes to tweaking this proposal: Nix the term “restricted racing zones.” I don’t know where that came from, but, in a way, it sounds like you are restricting street racing to those zones in Seattle.
“Hey, you want to go street racing?”
“You bet I do. Let’s go over to Sand Point Way! That’s where Seattle has a racing zone we can use.”
“Sweet! But I get to be Toretto this time. You get to be O’Conner. Let’s go live life a quarter mile at a time.”
I would suggest, “anti-street racing zones.” Perhaps, “excessive speed enforcement zones.“ Or maybe “you’re not as cool as you think you are and your car is essentially a giant snap-together model that lazy children could put together — not even the hardcore glue and paint kind, the snap / sticker toys that anyone can figure out … zone.” That last option might not fit on a sign though.
Another reaction a lot of Seattleites are likely to have is, “Why isn’t a zone being proposed for my neighborhood?” I used to live off of 35th Avenue NE, or what locals call “I-35.” I would regularly be woken up around 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m. by raging, rumbling engines, and screeching tires. My windows would actually shake as they passed by. Despite speeding away, these cars could be heard taking corners and rumbling throughout the neighborhood for quite a while after that. The worst part was that me, wearing my Scorpions T-shirt and generally sporting my “Hey, be cool man” attitude, turned into that guy. You know that guy, the type of person who would yell, “It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I have to work early, you insufferable hellion!”
So six “restricted racing zones” (gosh, they really need to change that term)? How about 20 zones, with $2,500 fines. Plus, if they get caught, they get locked in a pillory in front of city hall where children can mock them and throw tomatoes at their heads. I offer all these suggestions to the Seattle City Council for free. More on this story here.
Elsewhere on the street, King County Metro is making another post-pandemic move. It’s inviting back all the employees who were fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate.
The transit agency has struggled to restaff its routes. It’s trying to hire as fast as possible. Getting back its former employees is part of that effort, but the offer does come with some conditions. The employees can come back, as if their job was simply paused, if they drop any claims against Metro. Only about 100 employees were dropped over the vaccine mandate, and 19 filed tort claims. Those claims were generally over denials for religious exemptions.
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PHOTOS: The many glowing faces of Seattle Pride this weekend
Thousands celebrated Pride at various events throughout the weekend in the Seattle area.
The images below were taken during the 49th annual Seattle Pride Parade in downtown Seattle on Sunday as well as Trans Pride Seattle on Friday at Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park.
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