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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Want to reduce food waste? Turn your kitchen scraps into something tasty
Arts & Life
Seattle chef Joel Gamoran demonstrates how to turn a banana peel into bacon.KUOW Photo/Ruby de LunaWashington's Department of Ecology wants you to think twice before throwing out those kitchen scraps — they could be something delicious.
With a little help from local chef Joel Gamoran, you can up your kitchen game, so less food waste goes into the trash.
When KUOW visited Gamoran’s Seattle kitchen, he was cooking what seemed like bacon. But on closer look, it was a banana peel that’s been marinated in brown sugar, smoked paprika chili flakes, maple syrup, and olive oil. After frying over medium high heat, he placed a piece over bread with lettuce and tomato to complete his upcycled BLT sandwich.
(Gamoran called it a “scrappy BLT,” featuring his banana peel bacon along with “revived” mushy tomatoes and mayo made with aquafaba, or chickpea water.)
“It’s about looking at things you would normally throw away and seeing potential,” Gamoran said.
Gamoran even wrote a book on the concept in 2018. It's called “Cooking Scrappy.” Those scraps, he said, can be an inspiration for delicious food or drink.
RELATED: Roundup: Your Tips To Fight Food Waste
“You don’t eat cherry pits, but you can infuse that into a simple syrup make really great cocktails,” he said.
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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs his last bill
Government
Gov. Jay Inslee smiles during what may be his last ever bill-signing ceremony Friday at the University of Washington’s behavioral health teaching hospital in Seattle.Office of Gov. Jay InsleeWith the stroke of a pen, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed the state budget into law Friday. It was almost certainly the last piece of legislation he will approve as the state’s top official.
"I will just say, we all love the Evergreen State, and long may she thrive,” Inslee said when signing the final bill of his time in office.
RELATED: WA Dems make the case to keep signature environmental law
The governor commented that he was proud of progress made on a number of issues over the past decade while he's been office, including climate change, education funding, health care access, and some others.
"We finally have a state dinosaur, the Suciasaurus, we finally have a state waterfall, the Palouse Falls, and we have the state sport, pickleball."
Inslee also signed a handful of other bills Friday morning alongside their respective supporters, pausing to smile for photos after each signature and to give a shoutout to longtime state lawmaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle), who is stepping down from office.
The event would be the last bill-signing of his governorship, provided the Legislature does not convene for a special session later this summer.
Inslee approved the measures at the University of Washington’s behavioral health teaching hospital in Seattle. It was a fitting location, as the budget includes roughly $20 million for the facility. The budget also adds hundreds of millions of dollars for schools, other behavioral health facilities, and efforts to handle homelessness and improve housing.
Though the governor left most of the budget intact, he did veto a few parts, such as studies of election issues. He commented that election workers already have plenty of other stuff to do this election year.
Inslee isn't running for another term, but 2024’s election could act as a sort of referendum on his final years in office. An initiative proposing a repeal of a key climate law is on the ballot — the Climate Commitment Act is one of the governor’s signature measures. Inslee has also endorsed state Attorney General Bob Ferguson in the race to replace him as governor.
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Seattle businesses caught in tug of war between app companies and delivery drivers
Business
Within weeks of Seattle's new minimum wage for gig workers, often drivers for delivery apps, another debate has emerged over its effects. Some businesses and drivers argue that they're losing money. Other drivers say the new law is working. Seattle's City Council is now considering what to do next.Just three months into Seattle’s new gig worker minimum wage law, a Seattle City Council committee is considering changing it, prompting another debate over gig worker pay in the city.
“The options as I see on the table right now are do nothing, fix the existing legislation, or repeal the legislation,” Council president Sara Nelson said at the city’s Government, Accountability and Economic Development meeting Thursday, adding that “do nothing” is not an option she supports.
RELATED: Seattle becomes first in U.S. to protect gig workers from sudden 'deactivation'
The new, higher pay for Seattle’s app-based delivery workers took effect in January. In response, some food delivery apps like DoorDash, tacked on a $5 fee. The discussion at City Hall was about what happened next. Some delivery drivers say their pay has improved, while others argue they are losing money.
Another voice emerged this week — small businesses, who complain that the new ordinance has prompted a significant decline in customer orders and has placed them in the middle of a tug-of-war between app companies and delivery drivers.
“We are now 20-40% below where we were last year,” said Becky Yoshitani, who operates Hurry Curry, an eatery in South Lake Union.
Yoshitani said increasing costs for food, rent, and labor have led to the need for more deliveries. Yoshitani blames the new ordinance for “ravaging” their profitability.
In a letter to city leaders this week, Uttam Mukherjee, owner of Spice Waala, echoed that sentiment, stating that “one of the biggest disruptions we have seen in our six years in business is the decline in our delivery business through third-party providers. This decline started in January 2024, which is directly correlated to the App-Based Worker Minimum Payment Ordinance.”
Mukherjee said Spice Waala relies on about 30-40% of sales from delivery orders.
“This year itself, we have seen a 30-40% dip in that delivery business," he said. "It has immediately taken us from barely profitable to unprofitable. This is a huge impact, as the revenue we receive from deliveries helps us sustain our employee living wage and benefits program.”
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After receiving racist hate mail, UW students call for action
Education
More than 50 University of Washington students staged a walkout and protest Thursday, after the Somali and African student associations received racist, Islamophobic letters.KUOW Photo/Sami WestSome University of Washington students are calling on school officials to take action in the wake of a string of Islamophobic incidents on campus.
More than 50 students chanted and waved signs reading "Islamophobia has no place on our campus" beneath the university's famous cherry blossoms during a protest and walkout Thursday afternoon.
The students are demanding university officials take concrete steps to better protect Black and Muslim students from hate and discrimination. It comes after the Somali and African student associations received racist hate mail.
RELATED: Education Department opens school probes over alleged antisemitism, Islamophobia
Both groups say they reported the letters to administrators and campus police, who are investigating. In a statement, university spokesman Victor Balta said officers "shared support and safety planning resources with students immediately after receiving the report," and any student, faculty or staff member concerned about safety is encouraged to use UW's Safe Campus program.
"We care deeply about the safety of our students and registered student organizations and want them to know that UWPD is doing everything possible to find those responsible and hold them accountable," Balta said.
But a member of the African Student Association said they want to see a swifter, stronger response to incidents like these.
"Although we took the right steps, follow-up and efforts to ensure our safety have been burdened on us," said one student, who declined to be named over safety concerns.
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Burien sues King County Sheriff for refusing to enforce camping ban
Law & Courts
Carlos "Los" Paz begins to take down his tent at Sunnydale Village in Burien on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024.KUOW Photo/ Casey MartinThe legal wrangling is intensifying between the King County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Burien, southwest of Seattle. First came a federal lawsuit by King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall, and now Burien’s lawsuit alleging breach of contract. At issue is the sheriff’s refusal to enforce Burien’s latest restrictions on homeless encampments.
Burien’s police department is staffed through a contract with the King County Sheriff’s Office. But earlier this month Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall said her agency will not be enforcing the city’s latest camping ban against unsheltered people.
RELATED: King County Sheriff questions constitutionality of Burien's camping ban
Cole-Tindall said Burien’s ordinance is unique in creating 500-foot exclusion zones around day cares, parks, libraries and schools "where unhoused persons risk committing a crime just by being present." The sheriff’s office filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court, saying the ban is so vague it violates the U.S. Constitution.
"After completing a legal analysis of the ordinance, the Sheriff’s Office has serious concerns about the constitutionality of the ordinance, especially when the exclusion zones are determined solely at the discretion of the City Manager and can be changed at any time,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
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Where to find original Cadbury chocolate in Seattle – and why it’s so hard to find
Food
Cadbury chocolate bars (and one Lindt).Anyone who knows Cadbury chocolate will attest that the American version tastes like pants, to quote the lady who answered the phone yesterday at the British Pantry, a lunch and sundries shop near Seattle.
It is imposter chocolate, according to just about every expat who is either British or from a country that was colonized by the Brits. It is sludgy and cloying, with an unpleasant gritty aftertaste.
So, where to find the imported stuff if you live in Seattle? Scroll down for the list.
RELATED: When Theo Chocolate announced a merger, it planned to close its Seattle factory
Imported Cadbury chocolate isn’t easy to find by design. In 1988, The Hershey Company acquired the U.S. Cadbury license, entitling them to be the sole distributor of the chocolate on this side of the pond.
Rather than import the original, which would presumably be impractical, they developed their own recipe. U.K. Cadbury lists milk as its first ingredient; the American version lists sugar.
Higher end stores leaned on importers to bring over the original, but that became trickier when Hershey successfully sued an import company in 2015.
That import company, LBB (Let’s Buy British) Imports still sells Cadbury, but not the staples, like the Dairy Milk bar.
Town & Country Markets in Washington state buys Cadbury through LBB Imports, according to Dwight Richmond, director of center store. The importer plays it safe now, selling holiday-specific items, and only seasonally.
“A fair amount of expats from the U.K. and other countries want that product specifically for the holidays,” Richmond said.
Cadbury does sell its UK chocolate on Amazon, which some might find surprising. Richmond was unfazed.
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Washington's largest newspaper publisher sold to out-of-state investors following financial hardship
Business
Black Press, the parent company of Sound Publishing, was sold to an Alabama-based media company in March 2024, following tough financial times. Sound Publishing is the largest publisher of local, community newspapers in Washington state.The largest network of community newspapers in Washington state has been sold to new owners, following tough financial times.
If you get a local newspaper in Western Washington, chances are is it operated by Sound Publishing. Sound owns more than 40 newspapers across the state, as well as three publications in Alaska. In 2013, it purchased the Seattle Weekly, which has since been operated as an online-only news site. The largest newspaper in its collection is The Everett Herald.
RELATED: Seattle area McClatchy newspapers move to printing just 3 days per week
Sound Publishing's parent company, Black Press, has been sold to a partnership between investment groups, as well as Alabama-based Carpenter Media Group. In January, Black Press filed for creditor protection in British Columbia. Similar to bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, the Canadian creditor protection process allows insolvent companies to restructure.
“We are dedicated to serving communities with the best hyperlocal journalism, available 24/7 and produced by passionate journalists living in those communities,” Black Press CEO Glenn Rogers said in a statement published by the Seattle Weekly. “With our strong financial position and the support of our new ownership group, our readers and advertisers can count on us to continue delivering the quality journalism and advertising solutions that we are known for.”
With the sale, Carpenter Media Group gets its foot in the door of the Northwest news market. Washington is its first move outside of the Southeast U.S. and Texas where it operates a small collection of newspapers and magazines. According to The Everett Herald, Black Press is the sixth largest daily publisher in the United States.
RELATED: 'It's really a crisis' — Why small towns are fighting to save local newspapers
Sound Publishing established its roots in 1987 with the purchase of newspapers on Whidbey Island, followed by the purchase of the Bainbridge Island Review and Port Orchard Independent in 1988. It steadily acquired community newspapers across Washington in the years since. According to Sound, Black Press' print audience is about 4.5 million readers across 150 daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, and websites. It also claims to get 19 million users per month on its websites.
In recent years, Sound Publishing has been scaling back some operations, combining newsrooms and offices across Western Washington. Many of its papers operate with a single editor and one reporter.
Black Press employs about 1,200 workers in the U.S. and Canada. It also operates a handful of newspapers in Hawaii. Herald staff members formed a union in 2022.
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Along with cherry blossoms and the budding spring comes... Achoo!
Health
If you have allergies, you already know that something is in the air. Tree pollen is expected to be moderate to high now through the first week of April 2024.
Doctors say allergy season has become a bit of a moving target these days, and research shows the culprit is climate change.
“Since 1990, the statistic is that the allergy season has increased by about 20 days,” said Dr. Mollie Grow, a pediatrician with Seattle Children’s Hospital and UW Medicine Seattle.
RELATED: Pollution is problematic for pollinators — and perhaps your produce
Seasonal allergy symptoms can include congestion and a runny nose, along with itchy eyes and an irritation in the throat, Grow said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in four adults have seasonal allergies, as do approximately one in five children.
Grow advises people to take off their shoes when they come indoors after being outside, and taking a shower “to help wash off the pollen that may be in their hair or clothing, helping prevent that getting into the bedding or in and around the house.”
Tree pollen is expected to be moderate to high through early next week. The top allergens over the next five days are ash, birch, and juniper trees.
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'Belltown Hellcat' charged for raising hell on Seattle streets
Crime
The emblem of a Dodge Charger Hellcat. In March 2024, a 20-year-old man was charged with reckless driving in Seattle after months of allegedly driving his Hellcat through Belltown and downtown streets, loudly revving his engine and street racing. He allegedly reached more than 100 mph on downtown streets with 25 mph speed limits.After months of tormenting downtown Seattle residents with a roaring exhaust pipe and high-speed street races, an online personality, locally known as the "Belltown Hellcat," has been charged with reckless driving. His own Instagram posts are now being used against him.
"The vehicle is well known to officers, as it has a modified exhaust system, which can be heard from many blocks away and is very distinctive," the police report on the case states.
RELATED: Seattle setting up cameras to combat street racing
The Seattle City Attorney's Office is charging 20-year-old Miles Hudson with reckless driving with willful or wanton disregard for public safety, as well as with street racing. Hudson goes by srt.miles on Instagram. His Dodge Charger, with a custom paint job, is referred to as Hellcat (Hellcat is a particular model of Charger with horrid gas mileage).
Throughout the first few months of 2024, early morning disturbances had Belltown residents roaring nearly as loud as the engine Miles allegedly was revving through downtown streets. By March, police were communicating with the community about the issue and encouraging residents to call 911 the moment they heard the Hellcat scream. Belltown community members organized online to help police catch the driver. Councilmember Bob Kettle was also notified.
Much of Hudson's online presence is videos featuring him loudly revving his car engine, often inducing a backfire, or racing through the streets, generally around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. One video shows him performing doughnuts in a parking lot, another shows him racing, and others just show him loudly revving his engine (he also discusses anime from time to time).
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You need to earn how much for a 'starter home' in Seattle?!
Redfin reports that as of February 2024, a person would have to earn about $173,378 annually to afford a "starter" home in Seattle, signifying a considerable hit to affordability in the city.Rising costs of living and property price tags are hitting first-time homebuyers hard — and even harder in Seattle.
A person would have to earn a $173,378 annual salary to earn what Redfin considers a "starter home" in Seattle, according to the real estate company's February 2024 data.
That salary estimate is up roughly $31,000 from just six months ago, and up 8.4% from February 2023.
RELATED: First-time homebuyers are getting squeezed out by investors
“The pandemic housing-market boom changed the definition of a starter home,” Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa said in a statement. “A decade ago, many people thought of a starter home as a small three-bedroom single-family house. Now that type of home could cost seven figures, especially in expensive parts of the country, and the most affordable homes are much smaller and may require a lot of work to make them habitable – which makes them cost even more."
A starter home is exactly what it sounds like: A property that a first-time homebuyer can afford to enter the real estate market and become a homeowner. To get wonky, Redfin considers a starter home to be within the fifth and 35th percentile of its listings, with mortgages that a person could afford using 30% of their income.
As of February, the median sale price of a Seattle starter home is $535,000, with a monthly mortgage of $4,334.
Seattle's numbers are a significant uptick from just six months ago when Redfin calculated that a person needed to earn $142,000 annually to afford the purchase.
“The price of a Seattle-area starter home is more than double that of the typical U.S. starter home," de la Campa told KUOW. "And while Americans earning the median U.S. income can still afford the typical starter home, this isn’t the case in Seattle. Local residents earning the median income make about $47,000 less than what is required to afford the metro’s entry-level homes. Given that aspiring first-time homebuyers are more likely to have lower wages, it puts homeownership even further out of reach for them.”
This all adds up to a changing dynamic among those who can afford to buy a home, according to de la Campa, who added that the "most affordable homes are still hard for the average American to afford." With prices on the rise, along with mortgage rates, the median-income buyers are more likely to grab up starter homes, and lower-income buyers are being pushed out of the market.
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More than 20% of new cars purchased in Washington state are electric (boogie woogie woogie)
Demand for electric vehicles has been surging more in Washington than in any other state, according to data provided by the Electric Power Research Institute.
One in five new cars sold in Washington in 2023 can plug into an electrical outlet.
EVs’ market share in the Evergreen State was higher than in any other state except California, and its growth was the highest in the country in 2023.
RELATED: Road trip! Kicking the tires on electric travel in the Northwest
“Washington’s really proud to be second in the country behind California in percent market share of EVs,” Steven Hershkowitz with the Washington Department of Commerce said on a panel organized by Oregon-based trade publisher, NewsData. “We've now exceeded 20%, in several months.”
Electric vehicles’ share of new passenger-vehicle sales rose from 18% in the first half of 2023 to 23% in the second half, according to Washington Department of Licensing data.
Electric vehicles made up 25% of new-car sales in California in 2023 and 15.4% in Oregon, the third-ranked state. Nationwide, plug-in vehicles had 9.4% market share, according to the Electric Power Research Institute.
Despite its high concentration of plug-in vehicles, Washington ranks 12th in the country in the number of fast chargers per capita, according to a tally by climate journalist Michael Thomas.
Having fewer cars burn gasoline is central to Washington state’s strategy for fighting climate change. The rapid adoption of electric vehicles has Washington ahead of schedule on its legal mandates to transition to zero-emission vehicles: 68% of new cars must be pollution-free by 2030 and all new cars by 2035.
Hershkowitz said with Washington’s recent rates of growth, 90% of new car sales would be pollution-free by 2030. But he said he expects the state’s brisk pace to slow down as carmakers adjust to boost electric-vehicle sales in states that are lagging.
RELATED: Pollution is problematic for pollinators — and perhaps your produce
Nationally, sales of plug-in cars, while still growing, are growing more slowly than earlier in 2023.
Eva DeCesaro with Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest electric utility, said the relatively new technology is seeing a shift from “early adopters” to mass-market buyers.
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Orcas are actually not one species, but three
Environment
The Pacific Whale Watch Association says 2022 was a record year for whale sightings in the Pacific Northwest, specifically of transient orca and humpbacks.Newly published science suggests orcas may be not just one but three distinct species.
Researchers say that, based on what they've found, the killer whales deep in the Pacific Ocean should get their own species name. Bigg's killer whales should have their own, too. And the orca we commonly refer to as northern and southern residents should be considered their own species as well.
RELATED: Why are these killer whales increasingly showing up in the Salish Sea?
This is the conclusion of a paper published in the journal Royal Society of Open Science, which states the orca taxonomy needs to be updated. The proposal to divide orcas up into three species will now be under consideration of the scientific community.
The main difference will be for two groups that swim the Salish Sea. Communities around Puget Sound are familiar with resident orcas, which are commonly seen. Bigg's killer whales spend more time along the coast, but they have been known to come into Puget Sound, too.
Up until now, all orcas worldwide have been considered the same species, Orcinus Orca. But the paper states, "We conclude that eastern North Pacific Bigg’s killer whales should be recognized as Orcinus rectipinnus ... and resident killer whales should be recognized as Orcinus ater."
This change would be similar to how wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs are different species, but are still under the same genus.
The conclusion is based on a few observations. For starters, these two groups of orcas don't interact. While they sometimes swim the same waters, they generally avoid each other. When they do interact, they can be aggressive. In more than 50 years of observation, the paper states, there are no known cases of these groups interbreeding.
They also have different diets. Bigg's killer whales hunt marine mammals (like seals), while other orcas like to eat salmon. And simply put, they use different languages to communicate. The paper notes that Bigg's killer whales are silent when foraging, and residents are quite vocal. The whistles and clicks that these two groups use are also different, leading researchers to conclude, "Acoustic differences show divergence between the ecotypes, relevant to differentiation associated with culture and feeding ecology."
This would be the first major change to orca taxonomy since 1874, according to The Seattle Times.
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