Joshua McNichols
Reporter
About
Joshua’s “Growing Pains” beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning and the economy. He’s done deep reporting on Amazon and the housing shortage in our region. He interviews people who've found affordable places to live by tolerating long commutes, flooding rivers or other hazards. He asks people what they want from work and how that's changing. He explores neighborhood "main streets" where residents and businesses come together to form community. Public radio is a second career for Joshua, after he spent ten years in the field of architecture. He holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Washington. He has held many unusual jobs in his life, from fishing to building houses to running the kitchen at a bed and breakfast. He’s also an avid gardener who co-wrote a book on urban gardening during the Great Recession.
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: he/him/his
Professional Affiliations: Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington Chapter
Podcasts
Stories
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Today So Far Blog
Appalled, but not surprised: Seattleites react to SCOTUS ruling on Roe
People in Seattle and across Washington state are reacting to today's Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that
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Soundside
Housing Density: What we're missing without a middle option
“Missing middle housing” is more affordable for people to buy. It’s called the “missing middle,” because while we’ve gotten better at building low-income housing, and the market builds a lot of expensive homes already, there isn’t a lot in the middle. KUOW's Joshua McNichols spoke with University of Washington Architecture students about their ideas to make housing more affordable and more available.
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KUOW Newsroom
'Something has to change:' These architecture students are challenging Seattle's housing norms
Some University of Washington architecture students are looking at new ways to add more housing to existing neighborhoods without ticking off the neighbors. Their timing is perfect, as Seattle and other cities are currently updating their comprehensive plans, which lay out where and how they’ll grow over the next twenty years.
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KUOW Newsroom
Here's what 8.6% inflation feels like
First, supply chain problems got the ball rolling. Now, the war in Ukraine has pushed up energy and grain costs. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. On the streets of Renton, Washington, people are really feeling the pinch.
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KUOW Newsroom
Pandemic shopping spree creates economic windfall for rural communities
Before the pandemic, many rural counties struggled to bring in enough taxes to fund services. But a change in how we collect sales tax, followed by a pandemic, has turned things around for some of them, at least for now.
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KUOW Newsroom
Unrest in the (Card) Kingdom: Employees at Seattle online Magic peddler push to unionize
In warehouses and offices in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, 180 employees grade and box up orders of Magic the Gathering cards. They work in three shifts, including overnight, sending out 2,500 packages a day — enough to fill several UPS trucks. And like workers in other industries, they're calling for change.
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KUOW Newsroom
Why Amazon Go hasn't transformed retail...yet
When Amazon Go opened its first stores, there was all kinds of hype and excitement. A few headlines used the phrase "the future of retail." The idea that you could just walk out of a store without stopping by a cashier to pay seemed like a game changer. But it hasn’t changed the world in the way some people expected, at least not yet. We went to find out why.
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KUOW Newsroom
Amazon defeats shareholder proposals. Advocates claim victory anyway
Amazon held its annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. This year’s meeting was unusual bbecause a record number of shareholder groups – 15 of them – forced votes on proposals that would change the way Amazon does business.
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KUOW Newsroom
Amazon knows your face and your voice. New lawsuit says it's going too far
Customers are mostly okay with letting Amazon track them. It's the way of the world, they say. State governments aren't so lenient. Texas, Illinois and Washington have passed laws regulating how companies use customers' biometric data. A shareholder's lawsuit says Amazon must pay closer attention to these new state laws.
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KUOW Newsroom
Why are condos in Seattle so rare and expensive?
The average home in Seattle costs over a million dollars. And now, rising interest rates have made mortgages more expensive. Home buyers just can’t seem to get a break. Condominiums used to be a gateway to homeownership. Even if you didn’t have a big nest egg, you could get your foot in the door and own a tiny slice of the “American Dream” while saving up for something bigger. What happened?