KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
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Stories
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Several federal buildings in WA deemed non-essential could be sold
Government
The Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building is reflected in a window of a vacant storefront Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in San Francisco.AP Photo/Godofredo A. VásquezUpdated on Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 9:51 a.m.: U.S. Senator Patty Murray issued a statement to KUOW regarding the U.S. General Services Administration's list of "non-core" properties, which includes the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building. Murray's Seattle office is located in the federal building.
"At the behest of an unelected billionaire, President Trump is pushing to sell all manner of federal properties with zero thought or consideration for what the people who work there actually do. Selling the buildings people work in to help process VA disability claims or make sure seniors get their Social Security checks is yet another blatant attempt by two corrupt billionaires to break government and enrich themselves. I am demanding answers from the Trump administration on what exactly their plans are, particularly how they plan to ensure continuity of service for the millions of Americans who rely on the services provided in these federal offices and buildings."
Updated on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 3:45 p.m.: A day after the federal government published a list of buildings deemed non-essential to government operations, the list was taken down and replaced with a "coming soon" update. Read the original article below.
A federal agency that oversees government operations has published a list of over 300 properties and facilities considered non-essential to government operations, including downtown Seattle's Henry M. Jackson Federal Building.
On Tuesday, the U.S. General Services Administration posted the list of "non-core" properties for government operations on its website. The properties are scattered throughout the U.S., with nine properties in Washington state flagged for potential sale or transfer.
According to the GSA, the buildings and facilities are "not core to government operations" and are subject to "disposal."
RELATED: Federal employees in Seattle rally against mass Trump administration layoffs
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Builders say tariffs will drive Seattle-area home costs higher
Economy
A worker installs sheetrock in a South Seattle townhome in February, 2025.KUOW Photo/Joshua McNicholsTariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico began Tuesday. Builders expect higher prices to trickle down to builders within a few weeks, and to home buyers and renters after that.
Take a look around the room you’re in.
If you’re inside, odds are, the walls around you are covered with sheetrock. That’s made from gypsum, most of which is strip-mined in Mexico.
Behind the sheetrock, you’ll probably find wooden studs. Today, most of those come from Canada.
RELATED: Trump says 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will go ahead
Higher tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will make these and other construction materials more expensive, said Jennifer Anderson, director of government affairs for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.
“We’ll see significant increases in those materials, which will increase the cost of constructing a home, which will increase the costs of buying a home,” Anderson said.
Builders, and the banks that fund them, tend to put home-building projects on hold when investments look too risky. One measure of risk is builder confidence. Anderson said builder confidence declined more in February than during any one-month period since the beginning of the pandemic.
RELATED: U.S. stock markets plunge as Trump's tariffs spark fears about a trade war
Additional import duties expected later this spring would bring taxes (tariffs and import duties) on Canadian lumber to near 55%, Anderson added.
The National Association of Home Builders has been seeking a tariff exemption on building materials.
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NOAA firings in Seattle include orca-saving employee of the year
Environment
Members of the crew stand near the starboard rail as the Aleutian Isle sinks off San Juan Island on Aug. 14, 2022.Courtesy Scott DurhamUntil Thursday afternoon, Hanna Miller focused on protecting whales from oil spills, ship strikes, and fishing gear.
Miller was a natural resource specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the science-heavy federal agency that forecasts weather, tsunamis, and hurricanes, regulates fisheries, studies the climate, and protects salmon, orcas, and other endangered species that swim.
In 2022, she helped a multiagency team make sure endangered orcas didn’t swim into the diesel fuel belching out of the sunken Aleutian Isle fishing boat off Washington’s San Juan Island.
“I was on call for 42 days, tracking them every second that I was awake to make sure that they didn't go through [the oil spill],” Miller said.
In 2023, Miller was awarded employee of the year for NOAA Fisheries in the western United States, and in March 2024, she was promoted.
On Thursday afternoon, while on vacation in Hawaii, the federal biologist opened her work email on her personal phone to find she no longer had a job.
“The Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs,” the email from Vice Admiral Nancy Hann, Deputy Under Secretary for Operations, reads.
“[I] just read it and had enough time to read it and share it with my personal email before I got locked out of my work account,” Miller said.
“I was just really devastated,” she added.
Hundreds of scientists and policy specialists received similar emails on Thursday as the Trump administration began downsizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier discusses vaccine hesitation consequences as King County records first measles case
Health
FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018 file photo, a nurse prepares a flu shot from a vaccine vial at the Salvation Army in Atlanta.AP Photo/David GoldmanKing County has recorded Washington state's first measles case of 2025. Measles is extremely contagious for those who aren't vaccinated.
U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier is a pediatrician when she's not a politician. She is worried that more parents will choose not to vaccinate their children now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in charge of the Health and Human Services Department. Kennedy has long spread discredited theories about vaccines, stoking fears about them. Recently, he said the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico was "not unusual."
"Well, first of all, they shouldn't be common," Rep. Schrier told KUOW, noting that measles is one of the most contagious diseases in existence, which is preventable through vaccination.
"It is so contagious, it is such a danger, and it is such a miserable disease, why would you even risk this when you have such a safe and effective vaccine?" she said.
Rep. Schrier represents Washington's 8th Congressional District, where most residents live in King County.
The new case of measles in King County was confirmed in an infant on Feb. 26. The infant was traveling abroad where it likely contracted the virus. The baby then traveled around the Seattle and Bellevue area where health officials are concerned people were exposed. Those who are vaccinated need not worry, however, as the vaccine is 97% effective, according to Public Health – Seattle & King County.
The county health department also points out that a population needs roughly 95% vaccinated against measles to reach herd immunity. Currently, about 87% of 2-year-olds in the county have received their MMR vaccine. About 72% of 4-6-year-olds have received two doses of the vaccine.
RELATED: 'I didn’t know it existed.' Why young people are the least vaccinated in Seattle area
Concern over Kennedy's role as the nation's top health official, in light of news about measles outbreaks, led Schrier to call on the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, urging them to hold Kennedy accountable for outbreaks of diseases that are preventable with vaccines. She was met with laughter.
"My colleagues are laughing, and I just want to be really clear, again, as a pediatrician, we should not have to wait for kids to get sick, and for kids to die, because you think this is some sort of joke," Schrier said on the committee floor.
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Lawsuit targeting Trump’s refugee ban to go before federal judge in Seattle
Law & Courts
The U.S. District Court is shown on Thursday, August 17, 2023, along Stewart Street in downtown Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerUpdate notice, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 at 12:53 p.m.: A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing refugee arrivals and funding. Read more about the decision here.
A legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing refugee arrivals and funding is scheduled for a hearing before U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle on Tuesday. Individual plaintiffs along with three nonprofits serving refugees are asking the court to put the order on hold while the case proceeds.
It’s the second major federal immigration case to become tied up in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington since Trump retook office last month. The first concerns Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship.
David Duea is the CEO of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, one of the plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit. He said the extent of Trump's executive order regarding refugee arrivals came as a shock.
“We knew it would taper down and we were prepared for that. No one was prepared for this really unethical and inhumane direct stop," he said.
Duea said the nonprofits haven't been paid for the 90 days of assistance they provide each new refugee, even though those refugees arrived before the order was issued. The are currently 300 people in the region entitled to that help, he added.
“We’re still providing those services and the government has told us we won’t get paid for those, even though we have a contract and a moral obligation to these refugees," Duea said.
RELATED: Seattle judge blocks Trump order to end birthright citizenship — again
Plaintiffs filed their lawsuit on Feb. 10. They argue the sweeping order signed on Trump’s first day in office goes far beyond his efforts to constrain refugee arrivals in his first term. It has suspended all refugee admissions and processing indefinitely, and “stopped federal funding of the organizations that have served refugees for decades, crippling their ability to provide resettlement services.”
Trump's executive order titled Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program called the refugee admissions program "detrimental to the interests of the United States," and said, “The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”
The lawsuit challenging that order said the lead plaintiff, referred to by the name Pacito, “is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was approved for resettlement to the United States and scheduled to travel with his family on January 22, 2025, before their travel was abruptly canceled. Pacito and his family currently reside in Nairobi, Kenya.” (The lawsuit said plaintiffs seek anonymity due to the harms they and their families could face if their participation in the lawsuit becomes public.)
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Seattle's new zoning rules dial up tension around preserving tree canopy
Environment
Lake City residents April Cowgill, left, and Carlen Luke in front of the Douglas Fir slated for removal by developers in January 2025.KUOW/Amy RadilSeattle is currently mapping how it will grow over the next 20 years. Mayor Bruce Harrell wants to double the city’s housing capacity, with the hope of bringing down costs. But as residential neighborhoods open up to new types of housing, the city’s environmental impact statement predicts “moderate tree canopy loss” as a result.
Tree advocates say the city can achieve its density goals while retaining existing trees for their climate and health benefits. But developers oppose those rules and city officials say rather than restrict new development, they hope to plant more trees on public land and rights of way.
RELATED: Homelessness continues to get worse. Should Seattle, and the U.S., still embrace 'Housing First'?
Next month, city officials will forward the first piece of legislation to the City Council to implement the zoning update. It will focus on allowing duplexes, fourplexes, and other new types of housing in neighborhood residential zones, in accordance with a new state law. Then in May, the city will forward the second piece of legislation focused on denser buildings in neighborhood centers.
Tree advocates say these changes are coming on top of the city's recent ordinance that gives developers greater ability to remove even so-called “exceptional” trees, those 24 inches across or greater.
Craig Bachmann is a master arborist based in Seattle who has consulted on development projects.
RELATED: As Seattle loses tree canopy, a city council bill may let developers cut down more
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Former Seattle US Attorney sees ‘painful’ parallels between his firing and current moves by Trump
Law & Courts
In this Tuesday, March 27, 2007 file photo, former U.S. Attorney John McKay teaches a class at the School of Law at Seattle University in Seattle.The George W. Bush administration’s firing of Seattle’s U.S. Attorney John McKay and eight colleagues back in 2006 prompted criticism and an investigation that found political motivations played a role in some of the cases. An inspector general’s report could not rule out that McKay’s refusal to criminally investigate voter fraud in Washington State’s 2004 governor’s race factored into his dismissal.
In the years since that volatile episode, McKay has taught at Seattle University’s law school and done pro bono legal work for the Northwest Justice Project.
At the time, “it was painful for me and others to go through it,” McKay said in an interview. “But it looks like we’re about to go through that pain again. And my hope is that [the conversation] will focus on the important role of the independence of prosecutors.”
The Trump Administration’s decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams has led to the resignation of Manhattan’s interim U.S. Attorney and the lead prosecutor in that case.
RELATED: 3 top U.S. prosecutors resign over order to drop NYC Mayor Eric Adams corruption case
McKay said he's torn to hear of these resignations, because the work of federal prosecutors is so important.
“I hope people of competence and integrity will find a way to stay. But I totally understand if at some point it becomes necessary to resign rather than to commit what they see is an unlawful act. I think that’s what’s happening," he said. "So I’m proud and a little bit scared at the same time.”
This week the Trump Administration also removed Tessa Gorman as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, along with terminations of other U.S. Attorneys around the country. However, Gorman remains on staff as an assistant U.S. attorney.
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Washington state clean-energy funds re-frozen by Trump White House
Environment
CM Heating technician Saul Benitez installs an electric heat pump in Shoreline, Washington, on July 28, 2023.KUOW Photo/John RyanMore than $500 million in federal funding for clean energy in Washington state is being held up by the Trump administration.
Washington state leaders say Trump officials have ignored court orders to release that congressionally mandated funding.
Most of the money was intended to help the state’s low-income and moderate-income residents adopt climate-friendly technologies like solar panels and heat pumps.
“Thousands of low-income families will be impacted,” Washington State Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyen said. “You will see sky-high heating bills and drafty homes with no relief in sight because some of these funds are frozen.”
Washington Commerce officials said they were not notified the state’s $156 million “Solar for All” grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been frozen a second time. They only noticed when they were unable to withdraw cash from their federal account.
“Solar for All was suspended, technically was open, and then, as of this morning, was suspended again,” Nguyen said Thursday.
Nguyen said a $3 million grant to help local communities devise strategies for decarbonization was also newly frozen as of Thursday morning.
RELATED: Trump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow
At least $92 million in funding for electric-vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling stations along major highway corridors in the state has been frozen, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“Washington’s and WSDOT’s commitment to decarbonization and electric vehicles remains strong,” spokesperson Barbara LaBoe said by email. “WSDOT will continue to make investments necessary to create a robust, reliable charging infrastructure available to all citizens throughout the state.”
Since 2023, Washington state has been charging major polluters to keep emitting climate-harming gases. The state-run auctions of pollution permits have brought in $3 billion — money to be spent mostly on fighting and preparing for climate change and helping communities overburdened by pollution.
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Valentine's forecast calls for frigid temps in Western Washington, chance of snow, ice to the south
An aerial view of downtown Seattle and Eastlake are shown as the sun goes down on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerCold temperatures continue to grip Western Washington, with wind chills as low as 10 to 20 degrees north of Seattle and all the way down to 15 degrees below zero in the mountain passes.
The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a series of cold weather advisories until noon Thursday for the entire stretch of Western Washington along Puget Sound from the Canadian border south to Tacoma.
Those cold weather alerts are coupled with a winter weather advisory for a rain-snow mix moving into the area from the south Thursday afternoon into the evening.
The NWS advisories calls for up to two inches of wet snow through Friday evening in the Southwest Interior, Hood Canal area, and Lower Chehalis Valley, including the cities of Shelton, Montesano Elma, McLeary, Tumwater, Lacey, and Olympia.
Wet snow and wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour are expected until Friday morning in the East Puget Sound Lowlands including the cities of Monroe, Enumclaw, Maple Valley, Bonney Lake, Woodinville, and Prairie Ridge. Accumulation in those areas is expected to be up to an inch.
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'The purge has begun.' Environmental justice workers locked out of EPA Seattle office
Environment
A crowd gathers outside of the Jackson Federal Building for a rally to "save the civil service," on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerNine Environmental Protection Agency employees in Seattle have been put on leave by the Trump Administration because they work on environmental justice.
Their jobs involve helping communities that breathe, eat, and drink more than their fair share of pollution.
Communities near major pollution sources like airports, factories, and oil refineries often have higher proportions of people of color, lower incomes, and shorter-than-average lifespans.
On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency had put 160 employees who work on environmental justice and 11 who work on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility on leave.
“The previous Administration used DEI and Environmental Justice to advance ideological priorities, distributing billions of dollars to organizations in the name of climate equity,” Zeldin said in a press release. “This ends now.”
Zeldin’s statement said EPA “will be good stewards of tax dollars and do everything in our power to deliver clean air, land, and water to every American, regardless of race, religion, background, and creed.”
EPA officials did not respond to interview requests for this story.
RELATED: EPA employees who work on environmental justice are put on leave
“The purge has begun at EPA,” said former agency employee Helen Bottcher.
Bottcher retired from the Seattle office in 2023 and has been volunteering with the employees’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1110.
Bottcher said the nine employees were locked out of their Seattle offices and electronic access to EPA systems on Thursday.
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Stop international work, Trump administration tells ocean agency
Environment
A destructive bomb cyclone above the Northeast Pacific Ocean approaches the Canada-United States border on Nov. 19, 2024.The Trump administration has told the federal government’s ocean and atmosphere scientists to stop their international work.
Word came down verbally in all-staff meetings throughout the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday: All “international engagements” were on hold.
Staff were told to stop having discussions or meetings, real or virtual, on international topics.
The edict included directions not to email or work with “foreign national colleagues,” according to WIRED, which first reported it.
NOAA employees told KUOW that career officials with the agency struggled to interpret the edict and tell employees which specific activities were prohibited.
“[The agency] is seeking guidance currently on whether or not email exchanges regarding science are included in this,” an internal document obtained by KUOW said.
All the following “engagements” are on pause indefinitely until political appointees atop the agency can review them, according to an internal NOAA document:
• International travel or meetings
• Virtual meetings on international topics
• Bilateral meetings
• International working group or expert group meetings
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Seattle City Attorney’s Office says it's ending its year-long feud with municipal judge
Law & Courts
Seattle Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi was elected to the bench in 2022.City of SeattleThe Seattle City Attorney’s office said it will once again allow a municipal court judge to hear criminal cases, after sidelining her for several months.
Last March the Seattle City Attorney’s office said in a statement they had “serious concerns” about Seattle Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi’s “conduct and rulings.”
City prosecutors said they would file so-called “affidavits of prejudice” to remove Judge Vaddadi from every criminal case going forward. (Attorneys routinely seek to remove judges from particular cases, but for the city attorney to deprive a judge of all criminal cases was unusual.)
The city attorney and municipal court adjudicate Seattle's criminal misdemeanors.
To balance out the municipal court’s workload, the court reassigned Vaddadi to review traffic and parking infractions. Vaddadi is a former public defender who began serving a four-year term at Seattle Municipal Court in January 2023.
But the city attorney’s office said at a court hearing Friday they had softened their position. When a judge asked a city prosecutor whether they are still seeking to remove Judge Vaddadi from all criminal cases the attorney, Ghazal Sharifi, said no.
“It’s my understanding that the municipal court is assigning criminal cases to Judge Vaddadi right now,” Sharifi said.
Tim Robinson, a spokesperson for Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, said the office’s new head of the criminal division wanted to “find a way forward” after the dispute. He said they will no longer bar Judge Vaddadi as a matter of course but will look at each case individually.
Lisa Foster, a spokesperson for Seattle Municipal Court, confirmed that the city attorney has now allowed some cases to be assigned to Judge Vaddadi, but said they aren’t yet enough to restore Vaddadi to her previous role.
“The court has seen cases filed without the affidavit. Cases are being assigned into Judge Vaddadi's courtroom. It is still a small number of cases, so she has not yet resumed seeing a full calendar in her courtroom and her current assignment remains in infractions,” Foster said.
On Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Brian McDonald dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the Seattle City Attorney, which claimed that city prosecutors were misusing their discretion by effectively unseating an elected judge. McDonald said the ability to remove a judge from specific cases is available as a matter of right to each party.
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