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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This transit agency could be the first in the Northwest to use hydrogen-powered buses
Environment
Community Transit's first hydrogen-powered bus, on May 20, 2024, in Everett. Whether a hydrogen vehicle is "green" depends heavily on how its fuel is produced.Community TransitMove over, electric buses — another (potentially) clean option is coming to the Northwest.
A transit agency in Western Washington aims to be the first in the Northwest to run buses on hydrogen.
Lewis County Transit in Chehalis is testing three of the hydrogen buses.
"It's the opportunity to start shifting away from fossil fuels," said Joe Clark, head of Lewis County Transit. "We have electric buses also. We have hydrogen buses. We don't think it's an either-or. There's room for both."
RELATED: A lot more electric buses are coming to Western Washington roads
Hydrogen fuel cells emit no air pollution, only water. But manufacturing hydrogen fuel is usually a highly polluting process, requiring large amounts of energy.
Nearly all commercially produced hydrogen in the United States is made by using high-temperature steam (at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit or higher) to peel hydrogen atoms away from methane molecules in natural gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Lewis Transit is buying an electrolyzer to produce its own hydrogen fuel from water, using 99% clean electricity to do so.
"We wouldn't be using coal or natural gas, which are contributors to the not-so-clean hydrogen," Clark said.
Lewis Transit plans to use hydrogen buses on its long-distance routes, like the commuter lines to Olympia and Kelso.
Clark said hydrogen buses can travel farther than electric buses, even those that can recharge during layovers, especially during cold weather.
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Can Seattle Schools really climb out of its $105 million budget hole?
Education
Students arrive for the first day of school on Wednesday, Sept 6, 202.3, at Daniel Bagley Elementary School in Seattle.From eliminating its highly capable cohort program to planning the closure of 20 elementary schools in the midst of a $105 million budget gap, Seattle Public Schools is showing signs it's in big trouble.
How did the district get here?
RELATED: Seattle parents call in attorneys over school district's highly capable program changes
If you ask Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, the short answer is that Seattle Public Schools has poorly managed its money. KUOW's Seattle Now turned to Roza, who studies schools and their funding, for insight into the district's predicament. She said bad budgeting has not only gotten Seattle Public Schools to where it is now, but also makes it likely that more cuts are to come.
"You really have to forecast your costs," Roza said. "Seattle locked in a lot of recurring costs that are now really hard for it to sustain. They could have seen that coming, too. [The district] signed a very expensive labor contract in 2022 that drove up costs well beyond what the forecasted revenues were."
Hear Seattle Now's full conversation with Marguerite Roza by clicking the play button on the audio above.
Forecasting would include the fact that enrollment at Seattle Public Schools is dramatically down. There are a range of reasons for this, Roza said: The birth rate in Seattle is down, so there are fewer children. The cost of living in the city is up, so families with kids are more likely to move out of town. Pandemic school closures also led to a loss of enrolled students, as parents sought alternatives to public education. And since funding for Washington's public schools is based on enrollment numbers, this has meant Seattle is getting fewer dollars.
Budgeting imbalances
The district's most recent contract with the Seattle Education Association, approved in 2022, is layered on top of all this. The union contract increased teacher pay in an effort to keep up with the city's rising costs of living.
"At the same time, with labor being the biggest expense, when you move the needle on pay, you've really driven a big expense piece," Roza said. "And the district simultaneously wanted to add staff, and that's where it's in a tricky position ... now we have higher salaries and heavier staff loads. And something has to give."
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Who was the anonymous donor behind the controversial kid playground at Denny Blaine nude beach?
Government
An aerial view of Denny Blaine Park is shown on Friday, April 19, 2024, in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerA nude beach popular with queer people in Seattle drew ire from wealthy neighbors, who complained about parking and alleged lewd conduct.
An anonymous donor (or donors) offered to pay for a children’s play structure there – ostensibly to tame the park.
Park-goers protested, and won, but a mystery has persisted: Who would have paid for the playground?
T
he texts went straight to the mayor's personal cell phone.
Stuart Sloan, who amassed his fortune doing business in 1980s Seattle, was frustrated with the naked sunbathers at Denny Blaine Park.
He texted his complaints to Mayor Bruce Harrell, according to a former city hall employee.
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King County Council raises minimum wage in unincorporated areas
Government
If a California restaurant violates a new law requiring transparent pricing, it allows a consumer to seek "actual damages of at least $1,000."Photobuff / Getty ImagesPeople who make the least amount of money in unincorporated King County will soon get a pay bump.
On Tuesday, the King County Council voted to raise the minimum wage from $16.28 to $20.29, close to the base pay in cities like Seattle and Renton.
RELATED: Seattle now has highest minimum wage of any major city in the United States
The new pay rate is a few cents more than Seattle’s minimum wage — and $4 more than Washington state's. Large businesses with more than 500 employees will have to start paying the new minimum next year. Smaller businesses will get more time.
Not everyone was happy with the decision.
Thomas Reinhard, co-owner of a pizza chain in east King County, told the Council a pay hike could mean cutting staff or hours.
"It's not about me. It's not about my business partners. It's about the people who work for us, and this bill as written … it's going to decimate their income," he said. "There's no other way to say it."
RELATED: How is Seattle's higher minimum wage affecting local restaurants?
Council Vice-Chair Reagan Dunn, who voted against the wage increase, proposed an amendment that would have included workers tips as part of their total pay, or total compensation. Dunn argued that some businesses, like franchise owners could be treated as a large employer.
He said the legislation was "a meat cleaver approach — it's not particularly nuanced."
Andrew Ashiofu supported the pay raise because many of the effective jobs are held by people of color.
"A lot of trans people, especially trans Black and BIPOC people, are impacted by the minimum wage because they have limited areas where they have no discrimination to get jobs," Ashiofu argued.
Councilmember Girmay Zahilay said the vote represented "some change" but indicated there was more work to be done.
"[It's] still not a living wage," Zahilay said, "but it's a step in the right direction."
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Yes, hiking. No, traffic. Trailhead Direct offers car-free travel from Seattle to the mountains
Hoping to get to the mountains this summer while avoiding the hassle of driving and the challenge of parking in overfilled trailhead lots?
King County's popular Trailhead Direct bus service from Seattle to some of King County's most popular mountain trails kicks off Saturday, May 25, and runs through the summer every weekend through Sunday, Sept. 15. The 2024 season includes service on the Fourth of July weekend, as well as Labor Day weekend.
The transit-to-trails service provides rides every half hour to the super popular Mount Si, as well as the return, after a two-year absence, of hourly trips to the Issaquah Alps.
RELATED: Mount Rainier visitors react to new timed entrance reservation policy
The Issaquah Alps loop was suspended in 2022 and 2023 due to insufficient staffing, said King County Public Information Officer Al Sanders.
“There’s been a real groundswell to get the Issaquah Alps route back up and operating,” Sanders said. “It is one that people did enjoy, and we are glad that we have the staffing to do it.”
The Issaquah Alps bus departs from the Mount Baker Transit Center on Rainier Avenue South in Seattle every hour and features stops at the Margaret’s Way trailhead, Squak Mountain State Park, Chirico Trail – Poo Poo Point, High School Trail, and the East Sunset Way trailhead.
Trailhead Direct's seventh season to Mount Si features trips every half hour from Capitol Hill and Downtown Seattle to Mount Si, Little Si, and the Mount Teneriffe trailhead.
RELATED: Washington's snowpack is suffering this winter. It's not going to get much better
The service was launched in 2017 in response to overcrowding at popular trailhead parking lots, particularly on sunny summer weekends and during the holidays. The service is operated by King County Metro in partnership with King County Parks, the Seattle Department of Transportation, and with promotional support from Amazon.
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Off the Charts: Boeing was top U.S. manufacturer of missiles and munitions delivered to Israel from 2021-2023
Science
Collage of Boeing aircraft and JDAM munitions against graph background. Photo courtesy of US Air Force and taken by Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller.As Seattle students protest Boeing’s ties to Israel, demanding that their schools sever ties with the company, we wondered, what is the extent of Boeing’s connection to Israel?
Significant, it turns out.
Boeing made the most guided bombs and munitions delivered to Israel of any U.S. company from 2021-2023, followed closely behind by Lockheed Martin.
The pressure to create space with Israel isn’t coming from just students. The Biden Administration paused a delivery last week of Boeing-made bombs and munitions to Israel over its policy in Gaza, according to Politico.
Boeing is one of several U.S. companies that designs and manufactures weapons for the United States and its allies. Boeing has delivered weapons to Israel through commercial deals approved by the U.S. government—like a $735 million deal in 2021—and through standard U.S. military contracts.
From 2021 to the end of 2023, the U.S. delivered an estimated 5,214 missiles to Israel—nearly 3,000 of which were Boeing's GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs. (A special variant of the GBU-39 was recently delivered to Ukraine.)
An estimated 3,000 Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) were also delivered to Israel during this time period. JDAMs are not standalone bombs—rather, they’re kits consisting of a tail and navigation that convert free-fall bombs into “smart” bombs that can be guided to a target. Boeing refers to them as “near-precision” weapons.
Boeing has built more than half a million JDAMs since production started in 1998. Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Rockwell, and other companies also have contributed to JDAM production.
A recent report from Amnesty International alleges that in at least five strikes in the last year, Israel used Boeing’s Small Diameter Bombs and JDAMs in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, leading to the death of over 100 civilians in Gaza.
The company is also under contract to deliver four KC-46A Pegasus aircraft in upcoming years. In 2023, two other Boeing aircraft were selected for upcoming orders: the Boeing F-15 Advanced Eagle aircraft and the Apache combat helicopter.
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KUOW wins seven regional Edward R. Murrow awards for 2024, including best podcast
A scene from the Freedom Rodeo in Basin City, Wash. on Friday, June 17, 2022. This photo was part of the coverage from the podcast "Ghost Herd," about a major cattle crime in Washington. KUOW won an Edward R. Murrow award for the podcast in 2024.Megan Farmer / KUOWKUOW Puget Sound Public Radio has won seven 2024 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for its coverage spanning child care to homelessness, attacks on the Northwest's power grid to the rise of pickleball in Seattle, and Best Podcast for the "Ghost Herd" docuseries.
"An amazing team of people in KUOW's newsroom works hard every day to tell stories like these, and I love when our best work is recognized," said interim news director Jason Pagano. "We couldn't do it without the generous support of our Seattle and Western Washington audience. I hope they are proud of the work their local NPR station does on their behalf."
The regional Edward R. Murrow Awards honor outstanding achievement in local broadcast and digital journalism. KUOW was awarded in the "radio - large market" category within Region 1, which includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington state. All winners will automatically be entered into consideration for awards at the national level.
Continuing Coverage
Attacks on NW region's power grid
Reporting by John Ryan. Edited by Catharine Smith.
Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Ten Thousand Things: "A book becomes a movement"
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How warm will Washington state get during summer 2024?
Environment
A sunny day radiating above Seattle and Puget Sound. According to the National Weather Service, Western Washington will lean into above normal temperatures May through July 2024, with below average precipitation.Weather forecasters have long been talking about a warmer-than-normal summer 2024 in Washington state, but as the season gets closer, it appears the region may only get slightly warmer than average.
"A summer that's maybe a degree or two on the warm side, in the mean (average), nothing extreme," Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond told KUOW's Angela King. "But, certainly, there is the potential for heat waves in there. And we'll just have to see how those play out."
RELATED: Majority of Seattle-area homes have AC for the first time
So, no heat domes like the scorcher in 2021 are likely; however, Bond noted, "By the middle of the century, we may get a heatwave like that every five or 10 years."
For the rest of May through July, Western Washington will lean toward warmer-than-normal temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. Eastern Washington will be much warmer. Below average precipitation is also expected across the state. A drought emergency was declared for all of Washington in April.
There are a few things to know about summer 2024 in Washington state, and about changes to local weather patterns in the months ahead.
RELATED: Seattle stayed cool in April while the planet felt record heat
El Niño is transitioning into La Niña right now
"We're transitioning from El Niño to La Niña," Bond said. "And in those summers, there's a lot of variability from case to case, but they tend to be just a bit cooler and a maybe a little bit wetter."
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Melinda French Gates to leave Gates Foundation; will pivot to gender equality
Arts & Life
Melinda Gates in 2017 at an event in Washington, D.C., about investing in adolescents.Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the last 24 years, announced Monday she is leaving the philanthropic organization.
The foundation will be renamed the Gates Foundation. In a statement on X, Melinda Gates said she would have an additional $12.5 billion to focus on gender equality, under terms of her agreement with her ex-husband and co-founder, Bill Gates.
“This is a critical moment for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world – and those fighting to protect and advance equality are in need of urgent support,” Gates wrote on X.
The Gateses launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 after amassing their wealth at Microsoft, of which Bill Gates was co-founder. They pledged to donate a majority of their wealth, focusing on a range of issues, from education to global health.
The Gates split in 2021.
In response to Gates’ statement on X, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in: “Melinda, this is so exciting. Thanks for everything you’ve already done, and I can’t wait to see all you do next. Onward!”
Editor's note: This story was updated on May 24, 2024 to include the following mention that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a financial supporter of KUOW.
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Washington state farmworkers sue U.S. Department of Labor over depressed wages
Economy
Apple trees on a farm in Eastern Washington.Anna King for N3 & KUOWA group of Washington state farmworkers is suing the U.S. Department of Labor, saying the agency allows employers to exclude them from work by hiring cheaper, foreign labor.
The farmworkers, who belong to the Familias Unidas por la Justicia labor union in Skagit County, are asking a federal judge to compel the department to revise its wages to be more competitive so they can make a better living.
The Department of Labor did away with its prevailing wage system in 2022, which set a standard wage for agriculture workers based on average wages reported via survey. On Friday, the Seattle-based Columbia Legal Services filed a court injunction seeking to make the Department of Labor temporarily return to using prevailing wage rules from 2022 as the lawsuit moves forward.
The Department of Labor’s wage for temporary visa workers in Washington state is currently set at $19.25, about three dollars above the state minimum wage. The problem is that at peak harvest time, a seasoned worker living in the U.S. can often make around $28, said Edgar Franks with Familias Unidas Por La Justicia.
That makes it easy for growers to undercut local farmworkers and outsource labor to foreign nationals instead, he said.
“That's a big hit for farmworkers that have been doing apple-picking for a long time,” Franks said. “And they're really good and look forward to picking the crops in peak season to make ends meet.”
The farmworkers say that these days, wages set by the Department of Labor are outdated and inconsistent. They say they want the department to recalculate that current $19.25 wage to be more competitive, among other things.
“The Department of Labor is failing to protect local workers’ wages, which hurts farmworker families and drives them out of jobs that they otherwise would have taken,” said Andrea Schmitt, an attorney with the Seattle-based Columbia Legal Services who is representing the farmworkers.
“Local workers need protection for local, free market wages against the depressive effects of bringing in workers from places where the economy is depressed and they will accept any wage offered,” she added.
The Department of Labor declined KUOW’s request for comment on the case.
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Lily Gladstone represents at 2024 Met Gala — one of just four Indigenous attendees
Arts & Life
Lily Gladstone attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" exhibition on Monday, May 6, 2024, in New York.Evan Agostini/Invision/APSeattle-area gem Lily Gladstone made a stunning appearance at a fancy little shindig known as the Met Gala this week.
Her attendance at the carefully curated New York City event was yet another reminder of her talent, grown at Mountlake Terrace High School. But for some onlookers, it was also a reminder of a persistent trend in fashion — a dearth of Indigenous stars, designers, and other attendees.
RELATED: Lily Gladstone chronicles Blackfeet Nation's reunion with buffalo in new SIFF documentary
Gladstone was one of just four Indigenous people at the Met Gala Monday, according to Urban Native Era, an Indigenous fashion brand.
"Dreaming of the day we get to see more than 4 Indigenous People at the [Met Gala]," the brand wrote on Instagram, "but until then thank you [Quannah Rose Chasinghorse-Potts], [Lily Gladstone], and [Christian Allaire] for representing."
(New Zealand filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi was also at the Gala. Urban Native Era removed Waititi from the brand's Instagram post on Indigenous attendees.)
Gladstone, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, made film history earlier this year when she became the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for best actress and the first Native American nominated for an Oscar in the best actress category. She attended the Met Gala in a custom ensemble by Gabriela Hearst and indigenous jeweler Keri Ataumbi.
"We decided on a dress and cape that represented her ancestors holding and carrying for," the designer wrote on Instagram. "The organza cape and silk wool dress had constellations embroidered as seen from the Great Plains on the summer solstice, including the Orion and the Pleiades. The Pleiades, specially requested by Lily Gladstone, is embroidered at the neckline of the cape as a custom closure."
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Molbak’s fails to raise $2.5M to return as Green Phoenix Collaborative in Woodinville
Business
This is an AI generated image using ChatGPT. Organizers with Green Phoenix Collaborative feed their conversations about the project into ChatGPT and the AI program conjured up this image.ChatGPT via Parsons and Co communications firmAfter closing earlier this year, Molbak's Garden and Home had a plan to remerge as the Green Phoenix Collaborative and keep its gardening vibe going in Woodinville. But organizers were not able to raise enough money for the comeback effort.
"Thank you to those who supported our fundraising campaign for Green Phoenix Collaborative at Molbak’s. Sadly, we did not reach our goal," the organization announced on its website Friday.
RELATED: What Ciscoe Morris says you should know about 2024 gardening around Seattle
The effort aimed to replace Molbak's Garden and Home store, which closed in January 2024 after 67 years in Woodinville. In April, the business' leaders announced a new plan for the property, called "Green Phoenix Collaborative." The idea was to use the site to host a variety of gardening uses, such as outside retailers.
"Beyond retail, we could see ourselves ... partnering with people to do education programs and workshops," Molbak's CEO Julie Kouhia told KUOW in April. "And there could be nonprofits operating out of this space. There's beautiful spaces for innovation. In the back, we have a huge open area that we could turn into community P-patch gardens, for the apartments behind us and people in Woodinville."
To make the new endeavor happen, organizers were asking for contributions from the public, with a goal of raising $2.5 million. According to its Indiegogo campaign, a total of 539 people donated to the Green Phoenix Collaborative, adding up to $106,814.
Those who contributed to the campaign will get a refund.
"While the community as a whole wasn’t quite ready for GPC, you helped plant a seed of possibility. When the time is right, we’re hopeful it will take root in another form and bring something positive, green-friendly and community-driven back to the area. Nothing would make us happier," Friday's announcement stated.
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