2 things just happened that could affect your wallet: Today So Far

• Air quality tanks in Western Washington on July 5.
• Could Seattle rent control happen?
• Changes happening at the Seattle Police Department.
• A couple things just kicked in around Washington that could add some new costs.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for July 5, 2023.

Quick hits

• Honeybee deaths rose last year. Here's why farmers would go bust without bees
• Puget Sound starts getting crabby with it for summer 2023
• 10 states plan to sue the EPA over standards for residential wood-burning stoves

Happy July 5! Welcome back. I hope your holiday went swell and that you lit a BBQ, lit some fireworks (safely and if they are legal in your city), and didn't light anything else on fire. Frankly, a lot of stuff is on fire right now. You may have noticed the haze outside. It's from a mix of fireworks smoke and wildfire smoke, and it's tanking air quality throughout Western Washington. Most areas around have "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy" air right now. It doesn't look like things will improve until maybe tomorrow, or Friday. Read more here.

Two things happened on July 1 that may affect your finances moving forward. First, tolls went up on the 520 bridge in and out of Seattle. So if you're commuting into the city (in other words, if you're an Amazon employee who has been forced back into the office and is now part of the horde of drivers clogging up our roadways), this could hit your commuting costs.

Also, the tax for the Washington Cares Fund just kicked in. If you haven't opted out, this means that 58 cents for every $100 you earn will be diverted to this program, which aims to provide long-term care funding for older residents. This fund is slated to begin in 2026.

In other financial news, Seattle is getting ready for rent control ... sort of, sort of not. Councilmember Kshama Sawant has introduced a bill that would cap how much a landlord could raise rents. In short, rent increases would be tied to local inflation.

Of course, we've been here before. Rent control is not a new topic in town, so we all know that it's technically not allowed. There's a statewide ban on rent control. So if the Seattle City Council passes this bill, it would essentially be a trigger law. It would go into effect if and when the state ban gets knocked down. Read more here.

In January, Adrian Diaz was officially sworn in as Seattle's police chief (after being interim chief for 29 months). Now, Chief Diaz is starting to make some changes around the Seattle Police Department. For starters, he's adding a deputy chief role, which will be filled by Eric Barden, a 35-year veteran of SPD. But these changes are not all promotions. There are actually two demotions. Read more here.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Whale watchers delighted last week upon hearing news that there was a new orca calf spotted in the Salish Sea. But it turns out that the report wasn't accurate. There are actually TWO orca calves. They were born to the L-pod and were seen off of Vancouver Island. (Howie Tom)

DID YOU KNOW?

On July 4, more than 500 people became Unites States citizens at Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion. Similar Independence Day ceremonies were held across the USA yesterday. In Seattle, the ceremony was presided over by Chief U.S. District Judge David. G. Estudillo. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Gov. Jay Inslee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal were present to offer a few words as folks from 80 countries became official U.S. citizens.

That's right — more than 500 people from 80 different countries. In mathematical terms, that's a whole lotta people who just became your fellow citizens. Which countries? Check out the list below.

Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, Serbia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Taiwan, Thailand, The Gambia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

El Niño plus climate change means record-breaking heat

It is very hot in a lot of places right now. It's over 100 degrees in cities across China. Millions of people in North Africa and the Middle East are grappling with life-threatening heat. And the heat index is pushing 110 degrees or higher from Texas to Florida. The average global air temperature over the last two days appears to be the hottest on record, going back to 1979, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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