Who will keep their masks on after the mandates end?: Today So Far

• Should Washington state lower its legal limit for DUIs?
• What Seattle's businesses are saying about the recent rise in crime.
• Not everyone will be giving up masks after Washington's mandates end. School's will make their own decisions.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 2, 2022.

Should Washington state lower its legal limit for DUIs? That's up for debate in Olympia as lawmakers consider a new proposal that could change our drunk driving laws. Washington is like every other state in the U.S. with a blood alcohol limit of .08, meaning if you're caught behind the wheel with a BAH of .08, you get a DUI. But Utah has lowered its limit to .05. That's a level that state Sen. John Lovick would like to see in Washington. He recently explained his argument for dropping the BAC limit while talking with KUOW.

The Seattle Police Department recently reported that overall crime in the city is at a 14-year high. The numbers break down more or less when you consider different types of crime such as thefts or assaults. Shootings have particularly risen. KUOW's Soundside took a look at the numbers recently through the lens of local businesses, considering their experiences with the issue. For example, Tanya Woo is part of the business community in the Chinatown-International District. She told KUOW that shop owners have started leaving their empty cash registers at their front doors to show they have no cash inside, in an attempt to deter break-ins. Woo would like to see the city invest in more social workers to address the problem. The owner of Seattle's popular Piroshky Piroshky Bakery is abandoning their downtown location. Some are pointing to homelessness and addiction as being part of the problem. Others point to organized retail theft.

That's the conversation from Seattle's businesses. What's the conversation like in your corner of the city? I'd like to hear about what folks are saying in your circle. And listen to the full episode and commentary from Soundside here.

As I covered in yesterday's newsletter, Washington and King County are slated to nix indoor mask mandates on March 12. But not all corners of our community will be giving up masks after the mandates end. For example, jails and hospitals will still have some masking rules. And schools will be taking their own individual approaches. Mercer Island and Lake Washington school districts will make masking optional. Seattle's school masking rules will remain in place — all students and staff are required to wear masks in district buildings. The district hasn't put an exact date on when it will consider changing its policy. The teachers union is requesting the masks stay on until at least May 1 (two weeks after spring break). Read more here.

Have a comment or want to reach out to me? Send me an email at dyer@kuow.org.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Sam Halhuli makes a drink at Mule Tavern, a craft bar in South Tacoma. He says he is looking forward to the end of Washington's indoor mask mandate, and other easing up on pandemic measures. Partly because customers have been getting different messages at different businesses. (Courtesy of Sam Halhuli)

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know there is a city named Batman?

The city of Batman in Turkey is the capital of the Batman Province. Batman was originally a small village called "Iluh" with about 3,000 people until the 1950s, when the oil industry started booming in that region. The village converted to the city of Batman in 1957, and Batman Province was created in the 1990s. Today it has a population of 382,000 people who can enjoy all its modern offerings, such as Batman Airport and Batman University.

If you're like me, you're probably thinking "Hey, Batman appeared in comics in the 1940s, and then Iluh converted to the same name in 1957." As cool as a fandom-based region would be, the "Batman" association in Turkey is due to the nearby Batman River (a tributary of the Tigris River). The river has been going by the Batman name since at least the 1800s.

I'll probably have a few more Batman-related factoids coming, so stay tuned — same TSF time, same TSF channel.

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