KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
Have any leads or feedback for the KUOW Blog? Contact Dyer Oxley at dyer@kuow.org.
Stories
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How Seattle plans to provide free preschool in 2025-26
The city of Seattle has opened applications for the 2025-26 preschool year, offering free or discounted tuition. Many Seattleites may be surprised that they qualify.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is psychic. That might be a shocking revelation to Seattleites. He didn't campaign on this supernatural trait, but he showcased what he calls his "special powers" to a preschool classroom Friday morning.
RELATED: Washington spends big on early education. So, why is it so hard to get your kid into preschool?
"My name is Bruce ... my special powers can tell how old you are," Harrell said to a group of kids at The Children’s Center at Burke Gilman Gardens. "Right now, there are a lot of 4-year-olds here, right?
Little hands went up across the room, indicating the accuracy of the mayor's uncanny numerical insight.
"And, there are some 3-year- olds here," he said.
More hands went up. Then, one kid said they were five and in a quick save Harrell said he already knew that.
Sure, it's quite convenient that Mayor Harrell was there to announce applications for the 2025-26 preschool year were officially open in Seattle — a program exclusively for kids 3-4 years old. But still, very impressive.
Unfortunately, it's unclear if Harrell's mystical command of numbers can be used to solve the budget gaps that seem to pop up in the city each year.
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Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party will go 21+ this year. Here's the lineup
When the Capitol Hill Block Party returns to Seattle in July, it will be for crowds 21 and older for the first time in the music festival's history.
The two-day festival will take over Capitol Hill's nightlife corridor July 19 and 20, and it will feature headliners Thundercat and Porter Robinson. Also among the nearly 50 performers will be DJ Pee .Wee (aka Anderson .Paak), 100 gecs, The Dare, and Yaeji. Find the full lineup below.
"We know this is a big change for Capitol Hill Block Party, and this decision was driven by our commitment to creating the best possible festival experience," a Daydream State spokesperson said of the move to a 21+ festival. "The vast majority of our attendees have historically been 21 and older, which made this shift a natural evolution of the event that will allow us to refine the festival's layout and offer a more dynamic experience for our guests."
Daydream State is the organization that throws the Block Party each year. The spokesperson added that while this is their approach to 2025, organizers will "assess future formats based on community feedback."
"We recognize the importance of providing all ages access to live music, which is why we will continue to provide all-ages concerts at our venues as often as we can," they said.
Evan Johnson, senior vice president of Daydream State, the promoter that organizes Capitol Hill Block Party, said 2025 continues the festival's "tradition of bringing together diverse communities to celebrate talent and discovery."
"As a pillar of Seattle's thriving creative landscape, Capitol Hill Block Party continues to highlight the lasting vibrancy of music, art and expression that defines the city's cultural heartbeat,” Johnson said in a statement.
Where
Capitol Hill Block Party 2025 will take place on more than seven stages in the Pike/Pine area. Three stages will be outdoors. Others will be at Barboza, Cha Cha Lounge, Havana, Neumos, and Wildrose.
Capitol Hill Block Party Tickets
There will be two-day general admission and VIP passes.
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Washington lawmakers rebuke Republicans' potential cuts to Medicaid
Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Congressmember Emily Randall are speaking out against potential cuts to Medicaid, and what it could mean for the nearly 1.8 million Washingtonians covered by the program.
During a press conference in Olympia, the two Democrats rebuked a budget framework already passed by House lawmakers in D.C., which would slash $880 billion in funding for Medicaid and other health care programs. That budget is now under consideration in the Senate.
RELATED: Why many Republicans think shrinking Medicaid will make it better
"Cuts to Medicaid, at the scale Republicans are directing, will mean hospitals and clinics, especially in our rural areas, will close their doors," Murray said. "Moms and babies will lose health care coverage, seniors will be kept from home care services."
According to Murray, Washington state received over $12 billion in Medicaid funding in 2023, which covers a portion of the state's Apple Health program.
The proposed cuts come as many Republican lawmakers in D.C. look to slash government spending, and add work requirements for Medicaid.
But cuts to Medicaid would have an even deeper impact on Washingtonians in the state's redder districts.
"Here in our state, Washington's 4th and 5th congressional districts — the only two represented by Republicans — have the highest proportions of people who rely on Medicaid."
According to a report published by the Washington State Health Care Authority in June 2024, 70% of children under the age of 19 in Washington's 4th Congressional District (represented by Republican Congressmember Dan Newhouse) are on Medicaid.
In the 5th Congressional District, 54% of children are enrolled in the program. Republican Congressmember Michael Baumgartner represents that district.
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The flu is still going around Washington. It’s not too late to get your shot
It’s late March, but the flu is still going around.
“It's a very late, long, severe season, so it's been a pretty extraordinary season,” said Dr. Helen Chu, an expert in respiratory diseases at the University of Washington. “It's the worst in over a decade.”
To date, at least 296 people in Washington state have died of the flu since the fall. But it’s not too late to get the shot if you haven’t already.
This year’s flu shot is a good match for the virus strains that are currently going around, Chu said, but it’s important to keep in mind that it takes a week or two after you get the vaccine to have full protection. It also might be harder to find the shots because it’s so late in the flu season.
Vaccination rates are a little lower than usual this year, but not enough to explain the severity of the flu season, Chu added.
RELATED: Washington kids aren't getting their flu (and other) vaccines
What happened is that, with social distancing during the pandemic, people lost their immunity to the flu.
“And in the same way that we saw the other viruses come back, this happened to just be the year that flu really came back,” Chu said. “All of the people who hadn't seen flu for the last couple of years all got infected this year.”
The immunity from those infections could last well into the next flu season, Chu said — so, with many people protected from the virus, next season is likely to be much less severe.
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Magically horrific: ‘Death of a Unicorn’ leans more into laughs than screams
Some horror movies are funny because they’re morbidly grotesque. Others are funny because they’re appalling and tragic. “Death of a Unicorn” falls into the latter category.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t any gore in this horror/comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as an estranged father and daughter on a mountain retreat. There is, but it’s not center stage as an uber-wealthy family, their servants, and the father/daughter duo navigate the magical (and deadly) unknown. In the balance between comedy and horror, “Death of a Unicorn” leans more toward comedy.
RELATED: Action, comedy, and Beastmode. 'Love Hurts' is classic movie theater fun
Elliott (Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Ortega) are en route to a mansion in the woods at the invitation of the Leopold dynasty. The trip is mostly business, however, as Elliott attempts to suck up to the Leopold family, for the betterment of his own. But a chance encounter with a unicorn alters their journey. The Leopolds have big (business) plans for this magical wonder. Elliott sees dollar signs. And Ridley sees what nobody else can. All parties play tug-of-war over the discovery, but soon find out that the real war is galloping their way.
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King County Exec Dow Constantine delivers 'bittersweet' final State of the County address
King County Executive Dow Constantine gave his sixteenth and final report on the State of the County on Wednesday.
Describing the moment as “bittersweet,” Constantine reflected on how the county has evolved since he took office in 2009.
RELATED: King County Exec Dow Constantine won’t run again. Race to succeed him begins
Constantine pointed to the expansion of light rail, the construction of affordable housing units, and investments in mental health services as examples of the quote “real and meaningful change” his administration set out to accomplish.
"Now, three governors, four presidential administrations and, depending on how you count, five, six, or seven Seattle mayors later, I'm still standing," Constantine quipped.
Constantine’s work in expanding light rail lines and RapidRide bus routes may dovetail into his next professional chapter. The Sound Transit board this week announced Constantine's nomination to become the agency's next CEO.
RELATED: King County Executive Dow Constantine nominated to become next Sound Transit CEO
In an interview with KUOW, Constantine said unifying staff around shared goals and values is a priority.
"There's been a lot of change at the agency over time, a lot of new CEOs who've come through. I want to bring some stability and allow people to really focus their energies on overcoming the significant challenges we have."
The outgoing county executive is poised to inherit a transit system struggling to overcome financial struggles caused by inflation, which have caused bigger price tags on projects like the West Seattle Link extension.
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Trump critics in Seattle push back in court — and head for the streets
While protests against President Trump's second administration were initially muted in Seattle and Washington as challenges to his executive orders moved through federal courts, the state is emerging as a hub of activist resistance to the administration.
Last week in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, hundreds of people packed a meeting that Seattle’s Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal dubbed the "Resistance Lab."
“We thought we’d have a couple hundred people, and we had 850 people sign up," she said. "We had to stop people from registering because we didn’t know if we had room."
RELATED: Federal employees in Seattle rally against mass Trump administration layoffs
Jayapal said the purpose of these ongoing sessions will be to strengthen the nonviolent resistance movement. Erica Chenoweth, a professor and director of the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard University, told the group Trump’s attacks on judges and universities, and scapegoating of immigrants and transgender people fits the profile of authoritarian leadership. Chenoweth also said that under the second Trump administration, protests have been smaller — but also more numerous and frequent than during Trump’s first term in 2017.
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More cuts coming to the National Weather Service
At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a six-foot-wide balloon filled with hydrogen lifted off at the tiny Quillayute Airport, between soggy Forks, Washington, and the western edge of the Olympic Peninsula.
The balloon release was triggered remotely by the National Weather Service office in Seattle.
Before popping more than 100,000 feet high in the upper atmosphere, the weather balloon gathered and relayed data on the severe thunderstorms then building over Western Washington—a rarity in the region’s temperate maritime climate.
With that real-time data, forecasters could predict the evening storms would be less dangerous near the population centers of Puget Sound than on the Olympic Peninsula.
Weather balloon flights—and the forecasts they inform—would become less frequent nationwide under a plan revealed internally on Thursday.
The balloons, currently launched every 12 hours from locations around the world, would only go aloft once a day from any location that loses 15% of its staff, according to National Weather Service plans reviewed by KUOW.
Offices that lose more than 35% of their staff, due to firings, resignations, or retirements, would no longer launch weather balloons and would only update forecasts once a day.
“On a day like last Wednesday, if you just had one forecast, I don't think that would have cut it, right?” said Seattle Weather Blog founder Justin Shaw. “Because you're talking about damaging hail and all these kind of things.”
The Trump administration aims to cut 20% of all staff at the weather service, employees were told at an all-hands meeting Thursday, according to one employee who requested anonymity to avoid retribution.
Jobs are to be cut by April 18, though where the cuts would be made remains unclear.
RELATED: Snow or no? Northwest’s water outlook gets murky with federal cuts
Currently, 96 National Weather Service probationary employees nationwide are on administrative leave after being fired then reinstated under a court order.
USA Today reports that staff shortages have already forced balloon launches from at least 11 locations to be curtailed. The Weather Service launches balloons from 100 sites throughout the United States and the Caribbean.
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Eid moves one step closer to becoming a Washington state holiday
Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, two holidays celebrated by nearly 100,000 Muslims in Washington state, is one step closer to state recognition.
On Monday, the state House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma) that adds Eid to a list of holidays that are unpaid but have cultural or historical significance.
RELATED: Muslims in Gaza pass a somber Eid al-Adha on the brink of famine
Rep. Osman Salahuddin (D-Redmond) is the first Muslim serving in the state House.
He introduced a companion bill in the House after thinking back to his childhood years, learning about other winter festivals like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.
“And when Eid came around it was sort of an afterthought of communal celebration,” he recalled.
Salahuddin said state recognition is about more than just acknowledging a community’s culture and significance.
RELATED: Muslim students in Seattle face choice between graduation and Eid al-Adha celebrations
“It helps us cherish our constitutional freedoms as Americans for religious practice, freedom of religion, and to be able to practice our faith, however we choose,” he said.
The bill’s passage comes at a time when Muslims continue to experience prejudice, according to a 2024 survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Washington.
The bill now heads to Gov. Bob Ferguson's desk for his signature.
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Victim of alleged transgender hate crime ‘distraught’ at news of second attack
A Seattle man already awaiting trial for one hate crime charge has now been charged in a second case stemming from a University District encounter last Thursday. Prosecutors described both incidents as unprovoked attacks on transgender women.
The victim of the first attack was Lexi Young, a transgender woman who has worked for the past year as a fare ambassador for Sound Transit. Charging documents allege that while Young was working on Sept. 14, 2024, the accused man, Andre Karlow, mocked her, calling her a slur for LGBTQ people when she approached him to seek proof of payment in the Chinatown-International District light rail station.
Karlow then boarded the train as Young tried to photograph him. Charging documents say Karlow “then stepped back off the train and punched Young in the face unprovoked.”
The King County prosecutor charged Karlow with a hate crime for targeting someone based on their gender expression and sexual orientation, because he allegedly used the slur and told the victim to "‘put some bass in your voice.'"
RELATED: Trump suspends $175 million in funding to University of Pennsylvania over trans athletes
Young said after the case was filed, she wasn’t aware that the Northwest Community Bail Fund had posted $3,000 cash bail to secure Karlow’s release. But even if she had known, Young said she assumed that someone awaiting trial on a hate crime assault charge, a felony with a maximum of five years in jail and a $10,000 fine, would have a strong incentive not to commit further offenses.
When Young learned this week that Karlow was also charged in the more recent attack, she said she was distraught that he may have hurt another person.
“It really gave me the sense that he just does not have any remorse,” Young said.
Young said she was also shaken to learn that the victim in the more recent attack sustained more severe injuries, including broken teeth, a bruised and swollen eye, and pain in the abdomen. That incident occurred in Seattle’s University District on Thursday March 27, 2025. While Karlow has been arrested and charged, police are investigating the possible involvement of three other men.
According to charging documents, the victim of the more recent attack said she passed a group of men on University Way Northeast who called her a “drag queen” and said to “take your makeup off.”
The victim turned, asked the men what they had said, and tried to photograph them. The men punched and kicked the victim. Ultimately the victim ran into a restaurant to ask for help. The men allegedly followed her but were gone by the time police arrived.
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Trump’s rhetoric breeds 'unprecedented' threats, federal judge in Seattle says
A federal judge in Seattle is calling on President Trump and his supporters to tone down hostile language toward the courts.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said calling judges names and threatening to seek their impeachment has resulted in an unprecedented number of online threats to judges themselves. Those get forwarded to the U.S. Marshals Service for investigation.
“Never have we been under the kind of volume of threats and need for [U.S.] Marshals to really research where is this threat coming form. Is it from this country or out of the country? Is it credible or not credible? And they’re working really hard,” he said.
RELATED: Federal judge who drew Trump's anger picks up new case against administration
Lasnik said he’s speaking publicly because he is not presiding over any of the lawsuits filed in Seattle challenging Trump’s orders on everything from refugee admissions to transgender health care for minors. And while threats have always been an occasional concern, he said it’s been hard to see his newly appointed colleagues on the bench in Seattle, including Jamal Whitehead and Lauren King, targeted after they placed Trump’s executive orders on hold.
“Right away they were subject to a lot of hostility online,” Lasnik said. “I tell them, ‘I feel for you, and especially for your families.’ It’s not easy for the families to see what your reaction is, and to worry about their own safety.”
His colleague Judge John Coughenour also reported a swatting attack in which someone sent sheriff’s deputies to his home after he blocked Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship.
In 2020, the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was shot and killed at her home by a self-described "anti-feminist" lawyer, according to The New York Times.
Lasnik said the Marshals have instructed court employees on how to keep safe.
“We’re having training, we’re having alerts,” he said.
Lasnik pointed to his employee badge.
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Tens of thousands rally against Trump, Musk in Washington state ‘Hands Off’ protests
Throngs of demonstrators gathered Saturday in dozens of cities across Washington state, and around the country, to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk.
“Hands Off” was the rallying cry that progressive organizers chose for the protest — meant as a pushback on the presidential administration’s tariffs, deportations, cancellations of federal grants and programs, and other executive actions.
In suburban Bothell, hundreds of placard wavers lined both sides of Bothell Way Northeast for blocks. In Shoreline, hundreds more waved along busy Aurora Avenue North as passing drivers honked in support.
In Everett, organizers estimated at least 3,000 people joined the protest, the largest ever on the plaza outside the Snohomish County Courthouse.
“I wasn’t expecting this many people,” Indivisible Snohomish County organizer Naomi Dietrich told the Everett crowd. “I should have, but I wasn’t.”
“I believe this day will make history,” Dietrich said.
The state’s biggest protest was in Seattle. People marched toward the Space Needle from a nearby Tesla dealership — the site of weekly protests against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk — and from Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill.
Attendees' homemade signs displayed a mix of anger, anxiety and creativity: “Fight for our Democracy,” “Protect Due Process,” and many more personal insults directed at current occupants of the White House. Ten-year-old Sinan, whose parents asked that his last name not be used, made a sign proclaiming “Education Rules, Unlike this Guy,” and depicting Trump as Caligula. Sinan said education is important, “So we can learn what happened, history, so we don’t repeat it.”
Organizers included the progressive activist group Indivisible. Seattle Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat, addressed the crowd at Seattle Center, as did leaders of nonprofit and labor organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and Planned Parenthood. Democratic Representatives Suzan Delbene and Rick Larsen spoke in Everett.
A spokesperson for Indivisible told KUOW more than 6,000 people registered for the Seattle event. The group later estimated attendance at Seattle Center to be 25,000.
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