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
-
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."
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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."
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
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.
Continue reading » -
UW professor describes being 'very confident' about 2018 submersible expedition with OceanGate
In 2018, researchers with the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor marine labs collaborated on multiple science projects with OceanGate, the Everett-based company behind the Titan submersible that imploded after being lost at sea, killing the five passengers on board.
A middle-depth submersible called CYCLOPS, operated by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush who is among those dead, was used to carry out the company’s partnership with UW.
“That one works really well for the Salish Sea, where the deepest water is only 1,000 feet or 1,100 feet. And CYCLOPS can go right to the bottom of it,” said Adam Summers, a professor in UW’s biology department and School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences.
RELATED: OceanGate confirms 5 dead after Titan debris found at bottom of ocean
The goal of the dives was to collect data that could help answer various questions about local marine life.
“Everything from where did these little tiny forage fish called sand lance go in the sand, to what kind of damage does scientific trawling do, to what does the diet of some of these deep water Urchins look like?” Summers said.
He spent several months weighing the risks and preparing for the potential dangers of venturing out in the submersible with OceanGate. While not negligible, Summers explained the risk of boarding CYCLOPS was lesser than that of occupying the Titanic submersible, which was intended to view ship wreckage resting at about 13,000 feet below sea level.
“We talked about the gas tanks that we had – how long they would work for us if we did get entangled and stuck below,” Summers said. “At 1,000 feet, you can easily access it with technology that can be flown to the site relatively quickly. I mean, bear in mind, our mission took place within sight of land. So, you know, really the technological resources that could be brought to bear within 48 hours were just completely different than are available 700 miles from land in the North Atlantic.”
RELATED: The Titanic tourist sub was built by a Seattle man's Everett-based company
He described OceanGate as being “absolutely fabulous about risk management – thinking about risks, what kinds of risks were tolerable, what wasn't,” adding that he “was very confident in their abilities to deal with risk.”
Continue reading » -
The NW summer weather ahead: Today So Far
- El Niño has officially arrived and forecasters have an idea about what weather will like over the coming summer and winter.
- Amazon is heading into prime court time after running afoul of federal regulators.
- OceanGate confirms that debris from the Titan have been found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and that all five passengers are dead.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for June 22, 2023.
We are officially in summer, and despite the recent cool weather and rain drops, the Northwest is heading into a few months of warmer, drier weather.
Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond told KUOW that July will be hot and dry, though nothing extreme. Looking further down the road, warmer and drier than normal weather is expected through about October, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service. But there are also indications that our region could get a lot of rain, too, as winter sets in. Bond notes that El Niño has officially arrived and is expected to be a strong one. In the past, strong El Niños have meant warmer winters, less snowpack, and a whole lot of rain. Flooding could be a factor in some areas.
Of course, whenever weather forecasts are being made, especially when they are so far out, there is a degree of uncertainty. Conditions could change, but as of now, this is the summer and winter weather we are expecting in the Northwest. Also, this forecast is being looked at as we head into wildfire season. Read the full story here.
Amazon is heading into prime court time after running afoul of federal regulators.
As KUOW's Monica Nickelsburg reports, the FTC is accusing Amazon of signing up customers for its Prime membership in a somewhat covert way. Customers may not have realized that they were being signed up while checking out for an order. On top of that, it is alleged that Amazon made it more difficult to cancel a Prime membership than it was to delete your MySpace account back in the day — my words, not the FTC's. The way one FTC chair put it, Amazon was using “manipulative tactics.” And the allegation is part of its "dark patterns" of operation.
At the same time of this allegation, Sen. Bernie Sanders has popped up again to look into injury rates at Amazon's warehouses. Sanders recently sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders wrote. Check out the full story here.
As information comes forth about the Titan that has gone missing in the Atlantic, more and more local connections have become apparent.
The Titan is a submersible watercraft used by Everett-based OceanGate. The company gives tours to the sunken Titanic. It's CEO, Stockton Rush, is a Seattle resident. The University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory had previously helped the company design another submersible called CYCLOPS. That watercraft was used to travel the depths of Puget Sound, and took UW researchers along for the ride.
"If you had asked me, at the end, how long I've been down, I would have said 10 minutes. It was three and a half hours," said Adam Summers, a professor at UW's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, noting the thrill of his Puget Sound trip.
Continue reading »