Joshua McNichols
Growth and Development Reporter
About
As KUOW's Growth and Development reporter and co-host of KUOW's Booming podcast, Joshua's "growing pains" beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning, government and the economy. His favorite stories also include themes of history, technology, and climate change.
Joshua holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of Washington. Public Radio is his second career; architecture was his first. He is proud of the many odd jobs he's held in his life, such as salmon fisher, author, bike courier, and bed-and-breakfast cook.
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: he/him
Professional Affiliations: The Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington Chapter
Stories
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Housing Density: What we're missing without a middle option
“Missing middle housing” is more affordable for people to buy. It’s called the “missing middle,” because while we’ve gotten better at building low-income housing, and the market builds a lot of expensive homes already, there isn’t a lot in the middle. KUOW's Joshua McNichols spoke with University of Washington Architecture students about their ideas to make housing more affordable and more available.
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'Something has to change:' These architecture students are challenging Seattle's housing norms
Some University of Washington architecture students are looking at new ways to add more housing to existing neighborhoods without ticking off the neighbors. Their timing is perfect, as Seattle and other cities are currently updating their comprehensive plans, which lay out where and how they’ll grow over the next twenty years.
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Business
Here's what 8.6% inflation feels like
First, supply chain problems got the ball rolling. Now, the war in Ukraine has pushed up energy and grain costs. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. On the streets of Renton, Washington, people are really feeling the pinch.
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Business
Pandemic shopping spree creates economic windfall for rural communities
Before the pandemic, many rural counties struggled to bring in enough taxes to fund services. But a change in how we collect sales tax, followed by a pandemic, has turned things around for some of them, at least for now.
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Business
Unrest in the (Card) Kingdom: Employees at Seattle online Magic peddler push to unionize
In warehouses and offices in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, 180 employees grade and box up orders of Magic the Gathering cards. They work in three shifts, including overnight, sending out 2,500 packages a day — enough to fill several UPS trucks. And like workers in other industries, they're calling for change.
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Business
Why Amazon Go hasn't transformed retail...yet
When Amazon Go opened its first stores, there was all kinds of hype and excitement. A few headlines used the phrase "the future of retail." The idea that you could just walk out of a store without stopping by a cashier to pay seemed like a game changer. But it hasn’t changed the world in the way some people expected, at least not yet. We went to find out why.
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Business
Amazon defeats shareholder proposals. Advocates claim victory anyway
Amazon held its annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. This year’s meeting was unusual bbecause a record number of shareholder groups – 15 of them – forced votes on proposals that would change the way Amazon does business.
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Technology
Amazon knows your face and your voice. New lawsuit says it's going too far
Customers are mostly okay with letting Amazon track them. It's the way of the world, they say. State governments aren't so lenient. Texas, Illinois and Washington have passed laws regulating how companies use customers' biometric data. A shareholder's lawsuit says Amazon must pay closer attention to these new state laws.
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Why are condos in Seattle so rare and expensive?
The average home in Seattle costs over a million dollars. And now, rising interest rates have made mortgages more expensive. Home buyers just can’t seem to get a break. Condominiums used to be a gateway to homeownership. Even if you didn’t have a big nest egg, you could get your foot in the door and own a tiny slice of the “American Dream” while saving up for something bigger. What happened?
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Business
Amazon stock drops 14% after disappointing quarterly report
Amazon stock suffered its worst day in 16 years Friday in the wake of a quarterly report, in which the company reported a net loss of almost $4 billion.