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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Drones and robbers. Redmond police take drones to the next level
Redmond police respond to a 911 call on March 22, 2024.If you call 911 in Redmond, don't be surprised if a drone shows up first instead of a police officer.
"This innovative technology allows police to quickly respond to incidents and assess a situation before patrol units arrive, enabling more informed decision-making and ensuring safer outcomes for officers and community members," a Redmond Police Department spokesperson told KUOW.
RELATED: Look, up in the sky! It's a drone ... painting over graffiti in Washington state
The use of drones is not new to police departments in Washington state. They've long been used to document car accidents by the Washington State Patrol, which has a drone fleet of more than 100. Spokane police have been using them for a few years. Redmond has been using them since 2019, but in April 2024 it created a unit dedicated to using drones alongside first responders. It was the first police department in Western Washington to have such a unit, utilizing officers with drone licenses.
What Redmond is doing now takes things to the next level — the drones can be the first responders. Previously, for police to use a drone, they had to be operated by a pilot and also have an observer watching it fly wherever it went. Now, the FAA has told Redmond that it doesn't need a human observer. This means, in response to a 911 call, Redmond police can dispatch a drone to be first at the scene, instead of a police officer in a patrol car. The drone launches from the roof of city hall, then a pilot can operate the drone anywhere it needs to be (within the usual rules: not above 250 feet, and not around airports or military sites).
This "enables the pilot to fly farther and eliminates the need to find another officer to assist," the spokesperson said.
Redmond police say the drones can arrive at a scene within three minutes, faster than patrol cars. The drone can then send video back to officers (on a computer, tablet, or phone), allowing them to assess the scene, send more officers, or call off the response if needed.
Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe calls it a "monumental step toward improving response times and enhancing public safety, efficiency, and potential applications.”
RELATED: How Washington plans to spy on seals, sea lions with drones
"Potential applications" include pursuing fugitives, de-escalation, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and documenting crime scenes.
"They are used to safely clear the interior of buildings, aid in suspect apprehension, document crime and crash scenes, and search for lost or missing persons," a spokesperson said. "Drones are also used to help assess structure fires. The drones have thermal imaging and cameras, which help officers locate missing persons or fleeing suspects in thickly wooded areas or assess potentially dangerous situations."
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Foodborne illnesses and your Thanksgiving dinner. What to know
Food
As a food safety attorney who handles cases of E. coli, salmonella, and campylobacter outbreaks, Bill Marler thinks about food, a lot, especially around foodie holidays like Thanksgiving.
"Do not, under any circumstance, wash your turkey," Marler told KUOW's Seattle Now. "Don’t do that. You really have to treat poultry like it’s contaminated, because it likely is."
That's also the advice from the USDA, which notes that it's nearly impossible to wash bacteria off of a turkey. What will likely happen is you will splash and spray your kitchen and contaminate your home.
Most meat foodborne illnesses in the USA are caused by poultry with salmonella and campylobacter. Marler notes that, unlike hamburgers, contaminated poultry can still knowingly be sold on the market.
Marler also recommends cooking stuffing outside the bird, not stuffed inside as the name implies. Undercooked meat is another issue that keeps him up at night. Add all this up, and that is why Marler cooks his turkey outdoors.
The USDA says the minimum safe cooking temperature for a turkey is 165 degrees Fahrenheit with a minimum oven temperature of 325 degrees.
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How to cut food waste during the holidays
Food
Department of Ecology's Jade Monroe shares her holiday shopping list.KUOW Photo/Ruby de LunaThe average American family wastes an estimated $3,000 worth of food each year. As we head into Thanksgiving, it’s an opportunity to reduce food waste and save money.
Jade Monroe with the state Department of Ecology said the key to reducing waste is to start with a shopping list. But before heading out to the store, she takes a couple more steps.
“If you make a shopping list while looking into your pantry, while looking into your fridge and freezer, the chances of you finding what you’re looking for is pretty high,” she said. “So, that shopping list will be the most efficient and cost saving possible as you go into the store.”
Monroe uses meal-planning calculators to help figure the quantity of ingredients to purchase for the eight guests she’s hosting this year.
RELATED: Tips from a top chef to beat holiday cooking stress
Monroe is the department’s Food Waste Reduction lead, which has a goal to cut food waste in half by 2030. Each year, more than 1.15 million tons of food in Washington end up in landfills, creating greenhouse gases. And it’s not just the loss of food but also resources and labor that went into farming, processing, and transporting food that are wasted, too.
Monroe said she makes sure she has enough to-go containers to pack up leftovers, usually two hours after dinner, for guests to take home later.
Her next-day plans for that extra turkey? “The enchiladas are really exciting to me!”
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Planes, trains, and automobiles (and ferries): Thanksgiving travel times in Western Washington
Traffic is shown heading south on I-5 toward downtown Seattle on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerIt's time for fall feasts with friends and family. Before you can watch a big parade, steal extra slices of pumpkin pie, pretend your loved one's special recipe with raisins is actually palatable, or get into heated arguments with your relatives, you have to get there.
In Western Washington, it's safe to say: Don't expect smooth and easy travel around Thanksgiving.
RELATED: Record number of people expected to travel for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving 2024 is Thursday, Nov. 28. Many also have Friday off for Native American Heritage Day. That potentially adds up to a four-day weekend with a lot of people traveling across town, Western Washington, and the USA.
The Port of Seattle expects about 1.5 million people to pass through Sea-Tac Airport between Nov. 21-30. Alaska Airlines alone is flying 230,000 Seattle passengers over Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 29 through Dec. 1). The airline notes that the number of Thanksgiving passengers is up 6% from last year. Alaska says Dec. 1 will be its busiest travel day of the year.
Sea-Tac forecasts three days around Thanksgiving with the heaviest traffic passing through the airport. Plan for heavy traffic to and from the airport. Sea-Tac's Spot Saver could be a good idea.
- Tuesday, Nov. 26: 161,000 people
- Wednesday, Nov. 27: 172,000 people
- Saturday, Nov. 30: 166,000 people
Washington State Ferries says about 300,000 people to hop on ferries across the system between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1. Long lines are expected. That means plan for wait times.
Boats are going to be most packed with cars Wednesday and Thursday on westbound routes and to islands, then Friday and Saturday going the other way. Very early morning, or late night times could be more freed up.
RELATED: Severe weather threatens Thanksgiving travel for millions as officials warn of delays
Amtrak says that more than a million passengers used its trains over the Thanksgiving holiday last year, which is 97% of pre-pandemic ridership. Expect trains to fill up again this year.
As for Sound Transit, there will be no Sounder service on Thanksgiving or Friday after the holiday. Other services may run on alternate schedules.
Driving and traffic for Thanksgiving 2024
After years of traffic data, the Washington State Department of Transportation has a pretty good idea of when and where the heaviest holiday road conditions will be in Western Washington. Four stretches of road are particularly busy around Thanksgiving:
- I-5 Lacey to Tacoma
- I-90 North Bend to Cle Elum
- US 2 between Skykomish and Stevens Pass
- I-5 between Bellingham and the U.S.-Canada border.
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Bird flu continues to spread in Washington state. What to know about the virus
Health
Health officials continue to monitor the spread of bird flu in Washington state, where notable cases emerged over 2024.
The first human infections in the state were recorded this year, with more than a dozen people testing positive, mostly after close contact with infected poultry. The virus (H5N1) has also been found in commercially raised chickens, seals, and dairy cows, since first emerging at the beginning of the decade.
RELATED: More than 100,000 pounds of ground beef are recalled for possibly having E. coli
On Nov. 14, Woodland Park Zoo announced that a red-breasted goose died in a suspected case of bird flu. The zoo quickly isolated birds and restricted access to them. The Centers for Disease Control considers the current public health risk of bird flu to be low, but Peter Rabinowitz, the director of the University of Washington’s Center for One Health Research, says that can change.
“It’s certainly not going away and as long as it continues to circulate in farms and wild birds, it’s going to continue to pose a risk to people who have direct contact with infected animals," Rabinowitz told KUOW's Soundside.
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Amtrak engineer on Seattle-bound train nearly impaled by fallen tree
A tree nearly impaled an Amtrak engineer near Stanwood, Washington, on Nov. 19, 2024.Washington State Department of TransportationA railroad engineer was nearly impaled Tuesday night when a Seattle-bound Amtrak Cascades train hit a fallen tree.
Heavy winds had blown the tree onto the BNSF Railway tracks near Stanwood, about 15 miles north of Everett in Snohomish County.
A weather station on Camano Island, just west of Stanwood, reported a 63 mile per hour gust shortly before the train ran into the tree.
The tree smashed through the rail car’s front window.
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Climate pollution surges in Washington state after pandemic lull
Environment
Morning commute traffic is shown on the West Seattle bridge on Monday, September 19, 2022, in Seattle. The bridge reopened over the weekend after a two and a half year closure.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerThough up-to-date information is hard to come by, energy use and climate-altering pollution appear to be on the rise again in Washington state.
After sharply dropping 14% in 2020 with the reduced commuting and economic activity of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state’s carbon dioxide emissions have bounced back 7% since then, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
If you want to keep tabs on the health of the state’s economy, you can track indicators like employment, home prices, and exports on a monthly basis. (Did you know that Washington exported $2.99 billion of manufactured commodities in September?)
But if you want to track the economy’s impacts on the planet’s health, you have to wait years.
Policymakers and advocates are essentially driving blind as they pursue the difficult goal of slashing fossil-fuel pollution fast enough to help stabilize the planet’s rapidly heating climate.
The Washington Department of Ecology plans to publish the state’s greenhouse gas emissions for 2020 and 2021 in December 2024.
The Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment plans to publish an inventory of Seattle’s contribution to climate change for the year 2022 in December as well.
“It is a significant lag,” Washington Department of Ecology spokesperson Andrew Wineke said. “Everybody wants it to happen faster, and we are putting a team together to do that.”
The Environmental Protection Agency released state-level data for 2021 and 2022 in September 2024.
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Seattle recycling faces 'unprecedented challenges' as bottle maker closes
Environment
Employees remove items that cannot be recycled from a conveyer belt on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, at Cascade Recycling Center in Woodinville, Washington.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerUtility officials say glass recycling in the Seattle area faces “unprecedented challenges” as the region’s main manufacturer of glass bottles shuts its doors.
The Ardagh Glass Packaging plant in Seattle’s Duwamish Valley shut down temporarily in July and permanently in November. The plant, a property of Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group, laid off 245 workers.
The multinational company blamed competition from subsidized bottle makers in China and those in Chile and Mexico.
Ardagh and United Steelworkers had petitioned the U.S. government for relief, but the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in October that subsidized glass wine bottle imports from China were not materially threatening the U.S. industry.
Now, with no local buyers for recycled glass, Seattle Public Utilities is scrambling to find new markets for Seattle’s old glass.
“Glass is heavy and presents logistical challenges when it comes to transportation,” utility spokesperson Brad Wong said by email.
Wong said demand for recycled glass remains strong nationally and the utility and business partners are working to develop new customers and better rail transportation options for the heavy product.
For now, crushed glass is being stockpiled for future recycling.
Already, local glass processor Strategic Materials Inc. has stockpiled 6,000 tons of cleaned, sorted glass near Seattle’s South Transfer Station, according to Wong.
The utility urges customers to keep recycling their bottles and to make sure glass is clean and dry to maximize the quality of the recycled material.
Environmental activists in the Duwamish Valley said the Ardagh plant had long been one of the industrial valley’s worst polluters, with multiple violations of clean-air and clean-water laws, especially for emissions of heavy metals.
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Western Washington to see high winds again Friday
High winds are expected to return to Western Washington Friday, days after a Pacific Ocean bomb cyclone sent heavy blows throughout the region.
The winds on Friday are not expected to be as severe as earlier this week, though they will be noticeable. The National Weather Service in Seattle warns that more power outages can be expected, as well as more falling trees and tree limbs. The strongest winds will strike the coast.
The National Weather Service has issued wind warnings for the coast as well as the Cascade foothills.
Winds between 20 to 35 mph are forecast throughout Bellevue and the East Puget Sound lowlands, with gusts up to 50 mph, between 10 p.m. Thursday through 10 a.m. Friday.
Another wind advisory has been issued for the central and north Washington coastline from 10 a.m. Friday through 4 a.m. Saturday. Winds from the south are expected to be as high as 40 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph.
The National Weather Service in Seattle said Friday's winds will come in a one-two punch. First, easterly winds will blow through the Cascade Mountains and through the Eastside early Friday morning. Later that morning, the wind will shift and start blowing from the south.
This is a developing weather story. Check back for updates.
Still recovering from Western Washington wind storm
This week's storm killed two people, left hundreds of thousands without power, and caused widespread property damage. As of Thursday morning, more than 300,000 people across the region still lacked power after the lights went out on Tuesday. Puget Sound Energy says that it expects power to be restored for every customer by noon on Saturday.
RELATED: 2 killed, more than 600,000 without power in Western Washington amid pacific bomb cyclone winds
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How the Seattle City Council plans to patch a budget hole with JumpStart revenue
Seattle will use money originally earmarked for affordable housing to plug a $250-million hole in the city’s budget.
The money comes from the JumpStart Tax, a tax on big companies with highly-paid employees.
Tuesday's vote on a budget package at the Seattle City Council included a showdown on the future of JumpStart Tax revenue.
On one side, Councilmember Cathy Moore wanted to force the mayor to spend at least some of the money on affordable housing.
"It's a choice between putting some guardrails on the executive or not," Moore said. "I have tried to find the middle ground, in terms of those guardrails. Where I come down on mandating guardrails is with affordable housing."
On the other hand, Councilmember Bob Kettle wanted the government to spend less money, and that can mean painful cuts.
"We need budget reform," Kettle said. "And I'd like to thank [Budget Committee] Chair [Dan] Strauss for the efforts that have been ongoing this year, but we need more. We need to complete the mission of budget reform."
In the end, Kettle's arguments won the day: By providing maximum flexibility on how the JumpStart tax is used, there's less need to find new sources of revenue.
RELATED: How city leaders want to patch Seattle's $250 million budget deficit
Strauss warned that a path of continually raiding the JumpStart Tax would prove unsustainable.
"We’re not out of the woods," he said. "We're so far in the woods, it's a thicket that some folks are having trouble seeing the trees."
Council Bill 120912 adjusting how JumpStart taxes are spent has one more vote Thursday before it heads to the mayor’s desk for a signature as part of the budget package. However, Thursday's vote is considered a technicality, as the budget committee already includes all nine council members.
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Dam siren blares false alarm to Skagit Valley town
Environment
Puget Sound Energy's Lower Baker Dam in 2009.WikipediaSome residents of the Skagit Valley got a scare early Monday morning: An evacuation siren went off at 6:53 a.m. near the town of Hamilton.
Puget Sound Energy operates two dams on the Baker River, a tributary of the Skagit River, that turn runoff from Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan into hydropower.
Just to the south, eight sirens spread along a 12-mile stretch of Highway 20 are designed to blare should a dam fail.
The upper dam, 312 feet tall and 65 years old, holds back Baker Lake, while the lower dam, 285 feet tall and 99 years old, holds back Lake Shannon.
Here’s what blasted from a Puget Sound Energy loudspeaker just east of Hamilton:
The utility notified county emergency officials, who then notified residents that the dams were not in trouble: "Skagit County Department of Emergency Management: PSE siren is sounding. This is a siren failure. The dams are NOT failing. Do NOT evacuate."
Puget Sound Energy officials say they are investigating the false alarm.
“PSE takes this malfunction seriously and is working to troubleshoot the cause of the equipment failure,” Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Andrew Padula said by email.
Padula said the utility’s seven other dam sirens along Highway 20 stayed silent and are working as they should.
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Western Washington braces for severe rain, wind storms brought by Pacific bomb cyclone
High winds and rain are expected to strike Western Washington on Tuesday. Meteorologists are advising residents to prepare for power outages and other stormy disruptions.
"We're going to see pretty strong easterly winds throughout Puget Sound and along the coast," Maddie Kristell with the National Weather Service told KUOW.
Washington's coast can expect winds up to 55 mph, and gusts up to 70 mph, through Wednesday. The National Weather Service has issued a high wind watch alert for the coast through the east Puget Sound lowlands. Stormy weather is expected to peak Tuesday night through Wednesday morning.
"We are going to have some pretty strong and elevated seas, which can make the beach very hazardous to be on as well," Kristell said. Hazards will not only include high winds, but also rain and some snow in the Cascade Mountains, she added.
Western Washington can expect power outages, downed trees, and property damage. Coastal areas could experience some flooding, even as the recent King Tide fades away. The mountains will get snow around 3,000 to 4,000 feet, and passes may be impacted.
The rest of November is expected to be rainy.
The severe weather is caused by a bomb cyclone abut 300 miles out in the Pacific Ocean, where atmospheric pressure has considerably dropped in a short period of time. That creates a significant storm, so much that it is sending high winds and precipitation all the way to Western Washington.
National Weather Service Seattle meteorologist Dana Felton told KUOW that that heavy winds will spread throughout the "Cascade foothills, along the coast, west part of the Strait of Juan de Fuca; the winds could come down I-90 and even get as far as Bellevue or Lake Sammamish."
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