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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Old Seattle-area homes should be demolished with care, county says
Government
Demolition in Bremerton, Washington.KUOW Photo/Carolyn AdolphKing County is training formerly incarcerated people in a new skill.
They’re learning the art of “deconstruction.”
That means taking apart a building piece by piece, so the parts can be used in new buildings.
Old wood, in old homes, comes from old-growth forests.
So it’s stronger, of higher quality, and some would say, more beautiful, than modern wood.
“Deconstruction” preserves that old wood when homes are torn down, rather than throwing it into a landfill. The recycled wood can then be turned into new homes.
It’s more labor intensive than “demolition,” where old buildings get crushed into splinters that aren’t reusable.
Ben Peason of Sledge, which processes and sells deconstructed wood materials, says the industry suffers from "a bit of a chicken and egg problem. Do you build the demand first or train the workers first?"
King County Solid Waste is supervising the deconstruction training program.
Kinley Deller is the county's Construction and Demolition Materials Diversion Coordinator.
“We're really trying to get people so they're knowledgeable in the deconstruction field so that they can work in that when those jobs are available, which hopefully will be happening very soon.”
Deller said there are numerous benefits from training formerly incarcerated workers for the job. They come from many different neighborhoods. And as they train up, some may be able to use their new skill to start a deconstruction business of their own, expanding the industry's footprint.
RELATED: 'Good bones' from old homes help build Seattle's future
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Bellingham man fined $1,000 for steering yacht through orca pod
Animals
A still frame from a video recording of a recreational vessel approaching a pod of killer whales near Roche Harbor, Washington, Sept. 1, 2022.A Bellingham man has been fined $1,000 for driving his 51-foot recreational vessel through a pod of killer whales off the west side of San Juan Island in 2022.
Matt Ryan acknowledged to NOAA Fisheries investigators that he was at the helm of the boat, M/V Cypress Point, heading into Roche Harbor when he passed through the pod, an incident caught on video by a wildlife photographer.
“The high-resolution video provided strong evidence in this case,” Greg Busch, assistant director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, West Coast Division, said in a statement. “We’re fortunate that people watching knew what they were seeing was not right, documented it in detail, and reported it so that we could take action.”
Ryan steered the boat dangerously close to the orcas even though the captain of a nearby vessel was sounding his horn and waving his arms to get Ryan's attention in hopes that he would change course.
Federal regulations at the time required vessels to remain at least 200 yards away from killer whales in Washington’s inland waterways. Since then, state and federal regulations have increased that required distance for Southern Resident killer whales to 300 yards to either side of sighted pods or at least 400 yards in front or behind them. Starting in 2025, the required distance from Southern Resident orcas increases to 1,000 yards in any direction.
The whales that Ryan’s vessel approached were Bigg’s killer whales, not the endangered Southern Resident killer whales. Federal law requires vessels to remain at least 200 yards from Bigg's transient killer whales.
Both subspecies are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.
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Primary night hot takes: First queer Latina to Congress? Republicans grasp at gov's office
Politics
Supporters gather for a primary election night party for Bob Ferguson, the Democrat gubernatorial candidate for Washington state, on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, at Reuben’s Barrel House event space in Seattle.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerThe first votes were counted on Tuesday night for the Washington state primary – here are a few takes on what it could mean come November.
Bob Ferguson is way, way ahead
Attorney General Bob Ferguson held a wide lead after the initial ballot drop in the governor’s race, with 46% of the vote.
Former Congressman and King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, who has run a law-and-order campaign and frequently notes his role in catching the Green River Killer, came in second. Reichert stood at 28% on Tuesday night.
Although Reichert will likely move ahead to the general election, the numbers are challenging for his campaign. It’s held that Republican candidates need to win at least 40% of the vote in populous, deep blue King County to win the governor’s mansion. After the first ballot drop, Reichert stands at 20.64% in King County.
It’s been nearly 40 years since Washingtonians elected a Republican governor. The last one was John Spellman, who left office in 1985.
The first queer Latina in Congress?
Washington’s 6th Congressional District – which includes the Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap, and most of Tacoma – could make history.
Democrat Emily Randall was leading the pack of candidates in this open race to replace Rep. Derek Kilmer on Tuesday night, with 33.3% of the vote. If she wins in November, she could be the first queer Latina elected to Congress – ever.
Trailing closely behind her was Drew MacEwen, a Republican, with 30.5% of the initial primary vote. This is a safe Democrat district, however, so odds are in Randall’s favor.
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New research reveals vision loss, high cholesterol are risk factors for dementia
Health
New research has uncovered two health factors that, if addressed, could significantly lower the risk of developing dementia.
By targeting these issues, nearly half of all dementia cases might be prevented or delayed, according to research published by the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention, and care.
RELATED: Medicare explores a new way to support caregivers of dementia patients
Released late last month, the study identified untreated vision loss and high cholesterol as conditions that increase the risk of developing dementia. With these additions, there are now 14 “potentially modifiable” risk factors for dementia. Other risks include lower education levels, hearing impairment, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, air pollution, and social isolation.
Dr. Eric B. Larson, a researcher with the University of Washington School of Medicine and one of the co-authors of the study, emphasized the importance of addressing these risk factors. Specifically, Larson pointed out that lowering high LDL cholesterol (often referred to as “bad cholesterol”) in midlife could help reduce dementia risk. He also highlighted research from ophthalmologist Dr. Cecilia Lee at the UW School of Medicine, which found that individuals who underwent cataract surgery were less likely to develop dementia compared to those who did not have the procedure.
The research demonstrated how cognitive and physical growth over a person's life can impact their risk of dementia. It also suggests reducing vascular damage — by addressing issues like smoking and high blood pressure — has likely helped lower dementia rates among older adults.
RELATED: A Seattle hub where people with memory loss can stop by
Larson said the latest Lancet Commission report included insights from experts in low- and middle-income countries, offering a broader international perspective.
“The first two reports primarily focused on high-income countries in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. This report now includes low and middle-income countries, where many people are living to old age,” he said.
The report highlighted the idea that if the 14 modifiable risk factors can be targeted, people could have up to a 45% reduction in the risk of dementia in their lifetime.
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Prosecutors won’t charge woman who says she abandoned newborn in Ballard
Crime
An aerial view of the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle is shown on Thursday, August 1, 2024.KUOW Photo/Megan FarmerProsecutors have declined to file charges against a woman who admitted abandoning the body of her newborn along a Seattle roadway. They said they lack independent evidence to prove that a crime was committed and that the baby, who had a gestational age of just 32-36 weeks, was in fact born alive.
On July 23, 2024, Seattle police arrested the woman, who told them she gave birth outdoors in February 2023 and abandoned the body of her newborn in the bushes. Her arrest represented months of work by investigators to figure out how the infant’s remains came to be along Shilshole Avenue in the Ballard neighborhood.
That's where the remains were ultimately discovered and reported to police via Seattle's Find It Fix It App. (Police told the man he should have instead made an emergency call because the discovery involved a human being.)
According to court documents, DNA analysis led them first to the biological father, who “appeared genuinely surprised” when police informed him about the baby. The man identified a woman as potentially the baby’s mother and said he had intermittent contact with her but did not know she was ever pregnant.
Police eventually arrested the woman when she visited the man’s apartment.
The woman told police she didn’t even know she was pregnant when she began experiencing labor pains. She said she went into the bushes by the railroad tracks in Ballard and gave birth. She said the baby “made little noises that I had never heard before” for 2 to 4 minutes. She said she stayed with the baby for 4-5 hours before leaving the scene. She did not seek any medical attention.
During her interview police observed that the woman “was having separate conversations with herself.” Prosecutors said the 41-year-old woman faced possible charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and unlawful disposal of human remains. But they said ultimately they lacked independent evidence that a homicide was committed.
Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said in a statement that “the only evidence that the baby was born alive comes from the woman’s statements that the baby made noise for a couple of minutes after he was born. Due to her mental state at the time her statement was made — including hearing voices, according to police investigators — it is difficult to determine how reliable her statements are.” The autopsy by the King County Medical Examiner was unable to determine whether the infant was in fact born alive.
“A defendant’s statement is only admissible if there is some independent evidence that a crime occurred,” McNerthney said and for that reason prosecutors have declined to file charges.
Records indicate the woman was released from King County Jail on July 26.
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Washington nonprofit goes public with claims against state lawmaker and founder
Politics
Rep. Tarra Simmons (D-Bremerton) sits in the crowd listening to a person speak at her celebration event in Bremerton Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, after having her criminal record cleared by a judge earlier that afternoon.NW News NetworkStaff members and leadership at the nonprofit Civil Survival are now speaking publicly about why the group fired Washington state Rep. Tarra Simmons.
Simmons, a Democrat from Bremerton, is the founding director of the legal aid and advocacy organization. She's also the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the state Legislature.
As KUOW reported this week, Simmons was placed on administrative leave last August and received a notice of termination two weeks ago.
In an open letter posted to the organization’s website Thursday, the Civil Survival board alleged that Simmons had engaged in "repeated violations of our organizational policies and conduct standards," and that she "engaged in unprofessional and inappropriate interactions with staff, including verbally berating an employee."
The post also said that Simmons "threatened Civil Survival’s funding and the continued employment of Civil Survival staff members."
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Seattle officials revisit ‘exclusion zones’ to disrupt drug activity, sex trafficking
Crime
Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle is calling for new exclusion zones in downtown and the Chinatown-International District to discourage drug-related crimes.Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison and members of the City Council are seeking new criminal penalties to ban certain people from zones of drug-related crime and prostitution.
They say the restrictions are needed to disrupt drug-related crime in downtown Seattle and the Chinatown-International District, as well as sex trafficking linked with recent gun violence on Aurora Avenue at North 85th Street and above.
Municipal court judges would have discretion to issue these no-go orders for people charged with or convicted of related offenses. Violating the order would be a gross misdemeanor.
Davison said Thursday her office supports creation of two new SODA (Stay Out of Drug Area) zones in the downtown core and the Chinatown-International District. These locations “are strategically created,” in that they are meant to allow people to still access addiction treatment and social services, she said.
Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the council’s public safety committee, said Belltown was not chosen to become one of the exclusion zones, because of those priorities.
“Second and Bell, it’s a problematic area, but the Catholic Community Service providers are just outside of it,” he said.
Judges could issue the SODA orders for any cases "in which the court finds a nexus between the offense and illegal drug activity." That includes violations of the Controlled Substances Act and crimes ranging from assault to theft and criminal trespass in those zones.
Council President Sara Nelson said when these proposals come before the council in coming weeks, she’ll reiterate the argument she made when Seattle increased criminal penalties for public drug use last September — that keeping people charged with or convicted of drug-related crimes out of specific neighborhoods is not analogous to the “war on drugs.”
“We’re talking about misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor,” Nelson said. “The war on drugs threw people in jail on trumped-up felonies for years and years and years.”
Councilmember Cathy Moore’s proposal to address prostitution and related gun violence on Aurora Avenue aims to pass a suite of ordinances to target buyers of commercial sex, sex traffickers, and to create exclusion zones for “anyone arrested or convicted of a prostitution-related crime.”
But King County Public Defender Anita Khandelwal said these exclusion zones have been tried and discarded before — 20 years ago Seattle police enforced them through misdemeanor trespass charges. Laws prohibiting loitering related to drugs or prostitution were overturned by the Seattle City Council in 2020, based on recommendations from the Seattle Reentry Workgroup due to the "disastrous racialized impacts of these policies on Black and Indigenous communities and the growth of mass incarceration."
“We all want a safer city and we should really spend time thinking about what’s going to be an effective, evidence-based, and humane way of achieving that shared goal," Khandelwal said. "And this is not it.”
In a statement, Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr said the exclusion zones are being used by other cities in the region and could be “important tools” if used as part of a holistic approach.
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It's a bike. It's a scooter. It's a LimeGlider! Seattle's latest wheels for rent
Lime's new LimeGlider is a hybrid of an ebike and an electric scooter. It appears like a bike, but there are no pedals. It is moved using a thumb-throttle.Courtesy of LimeFor years, Seattle has had ebikes and scooters for rent on sidewalks around the city. Now, it will have gliders, too.
Lime has offered ebikes for rent in Seattle for years. In 2022, it introduced electric scooters (which riders stand on). The LimeGlider fits in the middle of the two vehicles.
RELATED: Road trip! Kicking the tires on electric travel in the Northwest
Lime touts its LimeGlider (and its newest LimeBike) as its "most inclusive rides to date." It has smaller wheels and a lower center of gravity, which the company says will open it up to more riders.
While it is sending its newest LimeBike model to Atlanta and Zurich, the company is piloting the LimeGlider in Seattle, starting mid-August. The glider appears like a bike at first glance, but looking closer riders will notice that there are no pedals. It also has a larger seat. It's moved using a thumb-throttle, instead of pedals. Lime states that it "combines the seated comfort of a bike with the effortlessness of a scooter."
According to a company spokesperson, the LimeGlider is lighter and slower than mopeds, which Lime hopes will make early riders feel more comfortable trying them out.
The LimeGlider is intended to be used in the city's bike lanes, and not on sidewalks. Seattle regulations state that rentable vehicles like Lime's are limited to traveling up to 15 mph.
"We think LimeGlider can serve longer trips than our existing fleet, thanks to the comfort and ease of use it offers," a spokesperson said. "With a padded seat and no need to pedal, riders can simply glide for as long as they like. While our e-scooters are traditionally used for trips around a mile-long, and our e-bikes for trips around two-to-three miles, we think LimeGlider can help people commute farther distances, visit friends across town, see more of a city when traveling, or even just a way to get outside and relax for longer periods of time. Our goal is to serve any trip under five miles and we think LimeGlider offers a new piece of the puzzle to get there."
RELATED: More than 20% of new cars purchased in Washington state are electric
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With its new CEO, is Boeing about to write the 'turnaround story of the century'?
Business
Boeings offices in El Segundo, California.With the selection of its new CEO, Boeing charted a course Wednesday that is giving some officials hope for the future of the aerospace company.
"Kelly Ortberg comes from a place with a deep technical background and a wonderful sense of how an aerospace company should be run," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace industry analyst and managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory.
RELATED: Boeing, my dad, and Airplane Economics 101
“I think this is Boeing’s best day in literally decades. This person has deep aerospace experience and ran one of the most respected companies in the industry. The exact opposite of all that Boeing has been struggling under and suffering from for quite a few years now.”
Boeing announced Wednesday that it hired Ortberg to be its next president and CEO. He officially starts work Aug. 8. It will be a bit of a comeback for Ortberg, who retired in 2021, but has remained involved in the aerospace industry. He spent more than three decades with with Iowa-based Rockwell Collins, serving as the avionics company's CEO between 2013 and 2021. He was also previously chair of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) board of governors.
"I'm extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company," Ortberg said in a statement. "Boeing has a tremendous and rich history as a leader and pioneer in our industry, and I'm committed to working together with the more than 170,000 dedicated employees of the company to continue that tradition, with safety and quality at the forefront. There is much work to be done, and I'm looking forward to getting started."
As NPR reports, this will be a significant change from outgoing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun. Ortberg's background is rooted in engineering, not finance. Before climbing the ladder at Rockwell Collins, he was an engineer at Texas Instruments.
Many hope that with Ortberg in Boeing's pilot seat, it will signal a comeback for the company as well.
"Leadership for quite some time now has been a master class in incompetence and poor execution, and frankly, it was starting to illicit understandable safety concerns," Aboulafia said. "This approach of appointing someone of this stature, and this experience, is tremendously welcome news."
“It’s gonna take a lot of time and work, and of course it’s not without risk, but this could be the turnaround story of the century ... to go from a culture that just didn’t look at the importance of the supplier base, of the workforce, or indeed the product being sold. It instead just focused on manipulating financial abstracts. That was completely dysfunctional."
Shortly after the announcement, The Seattle Times reported that Ortberg plans to return the CEO's home office to Seattle, 23 years after it was moved out of town. KUOW has not confirmed this reporting. This would be yet another signal that the company will be leaning back into engineering.
RELATED: Boeing's new CEO reportedly plans to lead company from Seattle area
The news was welcomed by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who further argued that all of Boeing's operations need to be relocated back to the Seattle area.
"It's a good first step that the CEO will be based in Seattle, and now the rest of the headquarters needs to move back home to rejoin our world-class aviation workforce," Cantwell said in a statement. "When it comes to quality and safety, being close to the workforce on the ground matters."
"The company needs to move back to Seattle. The notion that somebody thinks they can run the company from anywhere other than Seattle is a big mistake."
Boeing moved its corporate headquarters from Seattle to Chicago in 2001. Manufacturing operations remained in Renton and Everett. In 2022, Boeing announced plans to move its global headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, to be closer to Washington, D.C., and its government contracts.
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Jurassic shark: Scientists find ancient species in Puget Sound
Environment
Lisa Hillier of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildllife examines a broadnose sevengill shark in Hammersley Inlet.Jessica Schulte/Oregon State UniversityScientists have documented two species of shark in Puget Sound for the first time.
The two discoveries, each newly published in the journal "Frontiers in Marine Science," began when a recreational fisherman posted a selfie with a shark he had caught in 2021.
Wildlife officials saw his photo and thought at first it was a sixgill shark, one of the world’s most widespread shark species, though rare and illegal to catch in Washington waters. A closer look revealed it was a species that had never been documented in Puget Sound: a broadnose sevengill shark.
Sevengills are among the most ancient of sharks, dating back to the Jurassic Period nearly 200 million years ago. Most sharks evolved more recently and have just five gills.
Sevengill sharks cruise along the sea floor to hunt octopuses, fishes, and other sharks and have been seen hunting seals in packs, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They have speckled backs and creamy bellies and grow up to 10 feet long.
Scientists knew they swim the outer coasts of Washington and Oregon, but not Puget Sound.
“They were around back when the dinosaurs were around,” said Oregon State University graduate student Jess Schulte, who studies sevengill sharks in Washington’s Willapa Bay. “They're virtually unchanged since then, so they're a pretty cool animal.”
The fisherman claimed to have caught 10 sevengills in the previous two years in South Puget Sound.
Shark researchers decided to look for themselves.
A team of scientists headed out to Hammersley Inlet, near Shelton and the far southern end of Puget Sound, nearly a 200-mile swim from the outer coast.
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DoorDash raises fees in Seattle again, blaming City Council
Business
The DoorDash app.Delivery app company DoorDash is once again raising fees in Seattle, as delivery apps, drivers, restaurants, and city leaders continue to debate the city's minimum pay ordinance.
"It was our sincere hope that these additional fees could be avoided, but the City Council's inability to reach a compromise that would reduce costs, even marginally, has left us with few options," DoorDash said in a statement this week. "As always, we will evaluate the effects of these fees and react or make any future changes as needed to continue operating a sustainable and growing business in Seattle."
RELATED: Seattle businesses caught in tug of war between app companies and delivery drivers
At the start of 2024, Seattle implemented a minimum pay standard for delivery apps and gig workers, with the aim of addressing Seattle's affordability woes. In response, app companies — including Uber Eats, Instacart, and Grubhub — added fees to Seattle deliveries to cover the rise in costs. DoorDash added a $4.99 fee (which it called a "regulatory response fee"), and has been at the forefront of pushing back against Seattle's ordinance, arguing that the city's small businesses are losing millions in sales.
The effects of Seattle's minimum pay ordinance varies, depending on who you ask. Small restaurant owners have said it has resulted in lost business. Some delivery workers have echoed that sentiment. Other delivery drivers have stated the opposite and have advocated to keep the ordinance in place, claiming that their pay and working conditions improved. The Seattle City Council has debated rolling back or modifying the minimum pay ordinance throughout the first half of 2024, but have yet to take any action.
RELATED: Seattle becomes first in U.S. to protect gig workers from sudden 'deactivation'
This week, DoorDash stated that it "continues to lose money in the market due to the minimum pay ordinance. To help promote affordability and minimize the impact on local businesses, we have held off on further increasing fees for the last six months while the Council debated a compromise bill to reduce costs of facilitating delivery. With a few members of the Council deciding they will not allow a compromise to move forward, we will have to make changes to remain operationally sustainable in Seattle."
Starting on Aug. 1 in Seattle, DoorDash will add:
- An additional $1.99 fee on long-distance orders. In its statement the company does not define "long-distance." DoorDash argues that this fee will "help to offset the costs of some of the most expensive deliveries under the minimum pay ordinance."
- Another $1.99 "minimum service fee" will be added to orders from DashPass subscribers.
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King County is getting its first walk-in mental health crisis center
Health
Doctors, including U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, have raised alarms about a loneliness epidemic in the United States, which they say can have a negative effect on health.A new walk-in crisis care center in Kirkland for people experiencing mental health emergencies will start accepting patients in early August.
It’s the first center of its kind in the county and will begin to fill a gap in the mental health care system: a place for people in crisis to go that’s not the emergency room or jail.
“If you're the gentleman at home that has a drinking problem, if you're suicidal, or if you're potentially a danger to others — that you're just feeling aggressive and violent and kind of beyond your own control, that whole array can come in and get help here,” said Morgan Matthews, with Connections Health Solutions, the company contracted to build and operate the center.
RELATED: 50 years ago, many psychiatric hospitals closed. Did that cause today's mental health crisis?
On the first floor of the center is a psychiatric urgent care unit, as well as a wing with 32 “observation chairs” for people who will need less than 23 hours to stabilize. On the second floor are two 16-bed in-patient units — one for voluntary patients, and one for voluntary or involuntary patients — where people can stay for up to two weeks. Government funding will cover treatment for people who are uninsured.
People in crisis can go on their own or with a family member. Police or firefighters could bring them here instead of to an emergency room or jail. Someone could call 988, and a mobile crisis team could pick them up and bring them here. An emergency room could refer them.
The goal is to help people stabilize before connecting them to services in the community that are appropriate for their needs, such as a long-term in-patient services, outpatient psychiatric services, a drug treatment program, or housing.
Everything in the center is set up with clients in mind, from chairs that can’t be lifted off the floor to shower heads that are flush with the wall to tactile walls that patients can use for self-soothing.
RELATED: The 988 suicide and crisis line turns 2 years old tomorrow
“So many aspects of crisis can be so disconcerting, that even having something like a tactile wall can really ground somebody, and just help them kind of get centered and focused back on being in the real world,” Matthews said.
Matthews said that’s also the reason there’s no abstract art on the walls — only photos of the Pacific Northwest.
“We wanted something that was real, that was familiar, and we kind of ground folks in the space of, ‘Okay, I'm in Washington. I'm safe,’” she said.
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