Death

Arts & Life

WA bill aims to increase access to Death with Dignity Act

Changes could be coming to Washington’s Death with Dignity Act, a measure that allows terminally ill patients to seek medical assistance with ending their lives.

Arts & Life

Seattle renames block to honor D'Vonne Pickett Jr.

The city of Seattle Thursday renamed a block on Union Street for community activist and business leader D'Vonne Pickett Jr., who was fatally shot waiting at a bus stop in the Central District last October.

Health

Ongoing rise in fentanyl deaths highlights need for treatment alternatives

‘I haven't seen anything like it in my 27 years of working with folks with opioid addiction and people experiencing overdoses.’ -Caleb Banta-Green

Business

Getting 'the dead where they need to go': the changing business of death

Last month, California legalized a burial practice called human composting. Here in Washington, the practice has been legal since 2019. It’s one of many signs that, for the first time in a long time, the funeral industry is changing.

Government

New report shows that more people are dying in King County jails

King County has seen a spike in jail deaths during the first part of this year. And that’s raising questions about conditions and staffing at the facility.

Opinion: Painting the smiles of people we know, love and will never see again

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the work of Chicago-based artist Milton Coronado, who paints murals that memorialize people killed by gun violence.

178 people in Seattle died this year while experiencing homelessness, the most ever

On the longest night of the year, volunteers read aloud the names of every person who died in this year without stable housing. Women in Black of WHEEL has been holding this annual vigil for over 20 years - and this year they read more names than ever.

Arts & Life

Kat Chow examines the long life of grief in 'Seeing Ghosts'

‘What do we owe in death? What do we owe to our parents?’

Health

‘Weep. Scream. Hate. Disbelieve. Go numb. Breathe.’ Hard-earned lessons about loss and grief

‘A Little Book of Self-Care for Those Who Grieve began as notes scratched out over many midnights; thoughts formed as I lay sleepless, or in the aftermath of painful dreams.’