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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Hydropower in western U.S. resurges after hitting 20-year low
Hydropower production in the western United States increased 13% in 2022, bouncing back after falling to a 20-year low the year before.
A long-lasting drought has been reducing the flow of water over dams, and the energy they produce, in much of the West.
With 145 large federal dams, Washington state is the nation’s leading producer of hydropower.
More snow and rain in 2022 fueled a 17% surge in power production in Washington, including a 19% increase at Grand Coulee Dam, the nation’s largest producer of hydropower.
Hydroelectricity generation at rivers in Oregon jumped 19% during the 2022 “water year” from October 2021 to September 2022.
“Water year 2021 was especially dry in Eastern Washington, most of Oregon, and most of Idaho,” Assistant Washington State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco said in an email. “2021 also featured an exceptionally dry spring and of course the record-breaking June heat wave.”
The 2022 power surge in Washington and Oregon helped the western electrical grid rely a bit less on the fossil fuels that are driving climate change and worsening droughts and heat waves. The more hydropower that enters the electrical grid, the less climate-damaging fossil fuel has to be burned to keep the region’s lights on.
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Would you put olive oil in coffee?: Today So Far
- Starbucks' latest innovation is putting olive oil in coffee. Would you drink it?
- Days are getting longer, but it's still dark and cold these days. So try making your home a little more homey.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 22, 2023.
Starbucks wants to put olive oil in your coffee. Upon reading that, you likely had one of two responses: "Um, OK, interesting," or "Gross!"
Those were the two responses I got from the KUOW newsroom when I ran a quick, informal poll. Though some folks submitted and voted for a third option: "Distraction from recent bad press."
Today, I have blended a spoonful of olive oil into my coffee and I am drinking it as I write this newsletter. My initial reaction? Coconut oil is better. Also, butter is better. I generally put one of those in my coffee each morning. A lot of people do. Adding a form of fat (like cream) is not new to the coffee world.
Starbucks isn't simply adding olive oil to straight coffee, as I did. Its Oleato line is a handful of coffee drinks that include olive oil among their ingredients, like a latte, a cortado, or even an espresso martini. Oleato debuts today in Milan, Italy. It will brew up at U.S. locations this spring, then Japan, the UK, the Middle East, the moon, and beyond.
The way Starbucks makes it sound, Oleato is so new, it will change the coffee world as we know it. But as stated above, it's not entirely new (seriously, coconut oil is way better). But with any new product comes branding! As Starbucks puts it, CEO Howard Schultz had a couple inspirational trips to Italy. In 1983, he saw how Italians embraced coffee and wanted to bring that experience to the USA. We can't deny that Starbucks has since dramatically changed coffee culture across the world.
On a more recent trip to Italy, Schultz says he discovered another quirky cultural trait — taking a spoonful of olive oil each day. He tried it himself and quite liked it. Then, like a mad scientist, he poured that olive oil into his coffee and crafted a concoction that will change the world! Schultz then leaped from his bathtub and ran through the streets of Milan yelling, "Oleato! Oleato!" Wait, hold on ... I'm getting my world-changing legends mixed up.
Actually, it resulted in Starbucks' Oleato coffee drinks.
“I was absolutely stunned at the unique flavor and texture created when the Partanna extra virgin olive oil was infused into Starbucks coffee,” Schultz said in a statement announcing the new coffee line. “In both hot and cold coffee beverages, what it produced was an unexpected, velvety, buttery flavor that enhanced the coffee and lingers beautifully on the palate.”
At this point in my cup of coffee, I can confirm that olive oil does add a buttery flavor. I should point out, though, that there is another thing you can use to add a buttery flavor to coffee — butter.
I'm reminded of another coffee-branding legend, also from a Seattle company. Bulletproof Coffee says its roots go back to a trip its founder Dave Asprey took to the mountains of Tibet. After a tough trek through harsh conditions, Asprey was served a tea drink that had yak butter in it. And snap! He was invigorated. It gave him wings! (Wait, stop, that's actually Red Bull; it's hard to keep all this branding straight). Asprey returned to the United States to expand upon this revitalizing concoction and today we have Bulletproof Coffee, which contains butter and MCT oils (coconut oil).
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Key takeaways from Mayor Harrell's upbeat 2023 State of the City address
In his second State of the City address as mayor, Bruce Harrell used the Space Needle as a metaphor to talk about his vision for the future, sounding optimistic and upbeat about the progress his administration has made and where Seattle is headed next.
But Harrell also pointed to some grim realities that the city is facing and his plans to address them. Here are the biggest takeaways from Harrell’s address.
Renewed focus on the city’s drug crisis
Last year, according to Harrell, nearly 600 people died from drug overdoses in Seattle.
“These are our sons and daughters. These are our brothers and sisters. These are moms and dads. These are people in our city. These are human beings who need treatment and care,” Harrell said.
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Lead or formaldehyde in your makeup? WA lawmakers want to eliminate them
Some lipsticks and foundations sold in Washington state contain lead, and some body lotions and hair products contain formaldehyde, according to the state ecology department. Lawmakers in Washington state want to change that.
Washington's Legislature is considering banning the manufacture and sale of cosmetic products that contain formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing agents, certain amounts of lead, and some other chemicals. If the bill becomes law, those cosmetics would be gone from store shelves in Washington by 2026.
“Many ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products are associated with cancer and developmental and reproductive harm,” said Megan Liu, with the organization Toxic-Free Future, during a public hearing about the bill. “And women of color are disproportionately exposed to harmful chemicals in their cosmetics.”
The state ecology department said in the hearing that products marketed to Black people and immigrant communities tend to have higher levels of concerning chemicals. In particular, hair-straightening products are associated with uterine and breast cancer.
“This bill ensures safer cosmetics are available in Washington,” said Holly Davies, a toxicologist for the state health department. “It will also reduce toxic exposures on consumers, especially consumers living in communities that are already overburdened by pollution. The Department of Health is particularly concerned about reducing people's exposures to lead as there's no known safe level of lead.”
Liu said some retailers, including Sephora, Target, Walmart, and Ulta Beauty, have already committed to selling cosmetics free from toxic chemicals — so such products do exist.
Industry spokespeople at the hearing argued that formaldehyde-releasing agents are not the same thing as formaldehyde.
And state Rep. Mary Dye (R–Pomeroy) said that banning those agents would hurt low-income people by forcing them to replace cosmetics more often.
“We all are very concerned about making sure our products are safe,” she said. “Preservatives are important to keep the products safe from dangerous and hazardous bacteria and mold. For those that cannot afford to throw away unused products … these preservatives give a longer shelf life.”
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Is there AI in your art?: Today So Far
- A recent Consumer Reports assessment found high levels of toxic heavy metals in popular chocolate bars.
- Air India's recent Boeing purchase has gotten a lot of attention, and for a good reason.
- Where is the line between original work and AI art?
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 21, 2023.
A recent Consumer Reports assessment found high levels of toxic heavy metals in popular chocolate bars. Two products on the heavy metal list come from Seattle company Theo Chocolates.
Before you get depressed over the cruel world taking chocolate away from you (and in turn reach for something else that probably isn't healthy, either), a UW Medicine dietitian tells KUOW that there is no reason to freak out.
“I would say, especially for pregnant women and children, probably not more than an ounce a day of dark chocolate of these ones that are found to have a little bit higher levels of lead and cadmium," Judy Simon said. "These heavy metals are ubiquitous, they're in the air, they're in the soil."
In other words, don't gorge for hours on chocolate. Just have a small treat. Such moderation is probably good advice for most (guilty) pleasures in life — sweets, beer, Maury Povich, social media, orange mocha frappuccinos and gasoline fights.
The heavy metals that Consumer Reports found in 28 products were lead and cadmium, which in large amounts and over time can be harmful to people. It's written a letter to various companies asking them to address the issue. Read the full story here.
Air India's recent Boeing purchase has gotten a lot of attention, and for a good reason. Boeing has had a hard time in recent years, with federal investigations and software problems. The company was laying off workers even before pandemic slowdowns.
So the sale of 737 MAXs, 787 Dreamliners, and 777X jets is great news for the company. In total, Air India ordered 290 Boeing jets. The order will support more than 1 million jobs. Read the full story here.
In the world of Star Trek, there are holodecks — rooms that create a holographic world that people can interact with. In this futuristic version of storytelling, people don't often read books, watch movies, or play video games. Instead, they actively take part in a story, moving through holographic versions of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, catching a crooner's concert at a Las Vegas lounge, or just hanging out in a small Irish town with quirky locals. Someone wrote these "stories," but the computer has to take over to make them happen, adapt to the real people, adjust plots, introduce new characters, and so forth. So who is actually writing these futuristic tales? The human or the AI? Star Trek once got even more complex when a ship's holographic doctor grew beyond its program and wrote a story on its own. But future publishers refused to acknowledge any rights to the story because they did not consider a hologram, an AI, a real person.
These sci-fi scenarios were written for TV back in the 1990s, and take place a few hundred years from now. But in reality, these questions and ethical issues are happening right now. AI is getting artistic.
KUOW arts reporter Mike Davis has taken a look under the hood of a few creative artists who incorporate AI into their work, starting with Karl Stedman. He isn't an author. At least, he wasn't an author. All it took was seven hours and ChatGPT and he is now published. Unlike countless writers who struggle over pages and plot points for months to years, Stedman used AI to assist with the writing, and then further used AI to illustrate the book. The first story is about AI tech on a spaceship that desires to make its own decisions, so it rebels against the human crew.
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Consumer Reports finds heavy metals in popular chocolate bars, including 2 products from Seattle
Consumer Reports tested a range of chocolates and found heavy metals (lead and cadmium) in 28 popular dark chocolate bars, including products by Ghirardelli, Hershey’s, Trader Joe's, Lindt, and Seattle-based Theo Chocolate.
Two products from Theo Chocolate are on Consumer Reports' list, including "Organic Pure Dark 70% Cocoa" and "Organic Extra Dark Pure Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa."
In a statement, Theo Chocolate said “... we are confident that our products meet the standards set forth in our industry and are safe to be consumed.”
UW Medicine registered dietitian Judy Simon says there is no need to panic — you can still eat dark chocolate.
“I would say, especially for pregnant women and children, probably not more than an ounce of a day of dark chocolate of these ones that are found to have a little bit higher levels of lead and cadmium.”
"These heavy metals are ubiquitous, they're in the air, they're in the soil," Simon said.
Consumer Reports has issued a letter to the chocolate companies, along with 55,000 petition signatures, urging them to make a commitment to address the heavy metals.
Researchers used California’s cadmium and lead limits for their study because there are no federal limitations set on heavy metals in foods.
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With new chairs, Washington's GOP and Democrats focused on next round of local candidates
Washington's Republicans and Democrats recently chose their state party chairs, who are now focused on establishing the next generation of candidates for local races.
Shasti Conrad is the new chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. She’s the first woman of color to hold the position.
Conrad is not only the first woman of color to lead the Washington State Democrats, but at just 38 years old, she’s also the youngest chair in the organization's history.
“We are ushering this next generation of leadership into the Democratic Party and it feels really great to be leading such an important organization at this time.”
The Washington State Republican party recently re-elected Caleb Heimlich, who has been the chair since 2018. At 37 years old, Heimlich is one of the youngest Republican state party leaders in the country.
Heimlich has been the chair since 2018. He says his number one focus this year is to recruit good people to run for office and train them, so they know how to run campaigns.
He added that there will be a lot of training, and events to encourage people to get active at the local level.
Both Heimlich and Conrad plan to work on supporting candidates running at the local and national levels.
Each of them shared that they have an eye on securing a candidate from their party in Southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in 2024. That district saw a shakeup in 2022 when incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler was ousted by other GOP candidates from her right in the primary election. Then, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez won the November election, flipping the district from red to blue.
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Youth cannabis vaping is highest in states where weed is only medically legal, study says
Rates of cannabis vaping in youth are highest in states where only medical marijuana is legal, according to a new study out of Washington State University.
About 27% of high school seniors in states where cannabis is legal for medical use only reported vaping cannabis, according to the study. This same group reported the highest rate of underage usage.
Meanwhile, only 19% of high school seniors living in states where recreational cannabis is legal — or states where it is completely banned — reported vaping the plant.
Christian Maynard is a doctoral student at Washington State University's sociology department and the study’s lead researcher. Maynard said the study's findings could be the result of youth in medical-only states perceiving cannabis use to be less risky.
“It does seem that perhaps youth are getting messages that are associating ‘healthy,’ [and] ‘medical’ with cannabis,” Maynard explained.
There is a big difference between vaping cannabis and smoking it.
Maynard said vaping a substance makes it more highly concentrated, and therefore a lot more potent. Vaping cannabis can be up to 90% potent while cannabis flower is more like 20% potency, Maynard added.
He also pointed out that vaping cannabis could be more popular among youth because it is easier to conceal. These factors open up the potential for the product to be abused, Maynard said.
The study also found that 62% of youth participants who live in medical-only states reported having very easy access to cannabis vaping cartridges. Meanwhile, 52% of high school seniors living in states where cannabis use is either prohibited or recreationally legal reported having easy access to cartridges.
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SPU trustees ask judge to dismiss LGBTQ hiring lawsuit
Four members of Seattle Pacific University's board of trustees have asked a judge to throw out the case against them.
A lawsuit accuses the four trustees of causing harm to SPU by not allowing the school to hire LGBTQ employees.
The named trustees — Matthew Whitehead, Mark Mason, interim SPU President Pete Menjares, and Dean Kato — argue that this case is asking a judge to "referee a religious debate."
A coalition of SPU students, alumni and faculty are suing them for upholding the school's anti-LGBTQ hiring policy in 2022. That came despite coordinated protests and requests by students that the school welcome members of the LGBTQ community to campus.
The plaintiffs allege that the policy is discriminatory, harms the school's reputation, and therefore worsens existing enrollment and hiring struggles.
On Friday, the defendants told a King County Superior Court judge that the students don't have the standing to sue on behalf of the school. They argue the lawsuit is an effort to punish leaders of a religious, evangelical Christian institution.
The judge will decide whether to dismiss the case within 60 days. Otherwise, it is scheduled to go to trial in September.
In response to a request for comment, the university shared a statement from attorney Nathaniel Taylor with Ellis, Li, and McKinstry, which is representing SPU.
“We appreciate the court’s careful consideration of the arguments. Whether the case is dismissed now or later, the lawsuit against these trustees has no merit and ultimately just hurts Seattle Pacific University. The First Amendment means courts do not make decisions about the religious mission of a Christian university.”
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When should police pursue?: Today So Far
- Redmond and Portland are the first Northwest cities to get electric firetrucks.
- Washington lawmakers are weighing the differences between "reasonable suspicion" and "probable cause" as they consider changing police pursuit rules.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 17, 2023.
"Electric firetruck" might sound like a Tom Wolfe book, or an album by a 1960s psychedelic prog rock bank, but it's actually the latest innovation being embraced by Northwest fire departments.
Redmond and Portland have placed orders for one electric firetruck each. Redmond's council approved $2.3 million to buy the vehicle this month. That money also covers new charging equipment to operate it. This costs a lot more than the average firetruck, but the city is using a $600,000 grant from the state, plus donations from private companies to lessen the financial burn.
It will take a couple years before Wisconsin-based Pierce Manufacturing will have the electric firetruck ready for delivery to Redmond. The Volterra, which is not an '80s glam band (I checked), is the electric truck model the fire departments have ordered. It uses electricity for everything from driving to pumping water, but it has a diesel motor to power things up should the batteries be depleted. Tom Banse has the full story here.
Just in case, if there are any local bands out there crafting a psychedelic sound, feel free to use "Electric Firetruck" for anything. Just leaving that there for you.
What's the difference between "reasonable suspicion" and "probable cause?" That's not a trick question. It's an important distinction that lawmakers at the Capitol in Olympia are weighing right now.
A bill aimed at changing Washington police pursuit rules just passed out of a House committee this week. The bill would alter a rule that passed in 2021 as part of a few police accountability upgrades. Since then, police have been required to have probable cause to chase a car. Also since then, police have reported that many drivers are not stopping for them. One driver even called 911 to have dispatchers tell the officer following him that he was not pulling over and cited the new law preventing police pursuits as his argument.
The change currently being proposed would lower the bar for police pursuits from probable cause to reasonable suspicion.
Remember how Thomas Magnum of "Magnum PI" fame investigated cases? You're all deeply familiar with the greatest detective of the 1980s, right? Sure you are. Any way, Magnum would always say he had this "little voice" in his head that indicated when something was up. This was basically a hunch. There's no evidence. There's nothing else to indicate anything bad is going on. It's a gut feeling. Despite what TV cop shows tell you, police can't do anything with a hunch.
The next level up is reasonable suspicion (which is what the bill proposes to implement). This does not require evidence of a crime. Rather, a cop just has to reasonably feel that something is up, and can then further investigate. They can detain you, but they can't arrest you. When California Highway Patrol Officer Francis "Ponch" Poncherello is on his police motorcycle and notices a car swerving all over the road, he could have reasonable suspicion that the driver is impaired. So he may try to pull the car over to further investigate. But Ponch doesn't know if a crime (drunk driving) is happening. He would have to get a breath test to indicate the driver's blood-alcohol level is above the legal limit — that's actual evidence, and therefore probable cause, which is the next level up.
Police need probable cause to make an arrest. When Inspector Harry Callahan is eating a hot dog from across the street of a bank, and notices a car lingering with its engine running, he might have reasonable suspicion that something bad is happening (honestly, he might not even have that). He can't really do much, legally. But when the bank's alarm goes off and a man exits with a big bag of cash, shooting a shotgun into the air, while running to his getaway car, then the inspector definitely has probable cause that a crime has been committed.
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Amazon wants employees back at the office, announces hybrid plan
Amazon is the latest Seattle-area company to shift its work plans and order employees back into its offices under a hybrid home-remote model.
In a letter to Amazon employees, CEO Andy Jassy said the company has been able to observe working habits and models ever since the pandemic sent many office workers home. Among the lessons learned during that time, Jassy said that it is "easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture when we’re in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues."
RELATED: Should downtown Seattle go from office space to living space?
"When you’re in-person, people tend to be more engaged, observant, and attuned to what’s happening in the meetings and the cultural clues being communicated. For those unsure about why something happened or somebody reacted a certain way, it’s easier to ask ad-hoc questions on the way to lunch, in the elevator, or the hallway; whereas when you’re at home, you’re less likely to do so. It’s also easier for leaders to teach when they have more people in a room at one time, can better assess whether the team is digesting the information as intended; and if not, how they need to adjust their communication."
Jassy said that there may be some exceptions to the rule, but Amazon's new policy is that employees be in the office at least three days per week. The policy begins on May 1.
In his letter, Jassy not only makes an argument for bringing employees back into the office, he points to the business communities around Amazon's offices. He states, "this shift will provide a boost for the thousands of businesses located around our urban headquarter locations in the Puget Sound, Virginia, Nashville, and the dozens of cities around the world where our employees go to the office."
A "boost" is also the word Seattle Metro Chamber President & CEO Rachel Smith used in in a statement following Amazon's announcement Friday. Smith said the move will "provide a much-needed boost for Seattle’s local businesses and help reinvigorate downtown."
"Employers like Amazon are — rightly — recognizing and honoring that employees are placing a premium on flexibility, while at the same time understanding that humans are an essential element of dynamic workplaces, downtowns, and neighborhoods," Smith said.
Sawyer the dog
The announcement comes less than a week after Amazon ran a seemingly contradictory commercial called "Saving Sawyer" during the Super Bowl. The ad shows people working and learning from home through the perspective of Sawyer, the dog.
Sawyer loves remote work, as the humans keep him company with treats and attention. But, when the family transitions back to the office and school, Sawyer watches the family leave through the window. He is bored with no one to play with and sadly lays on the floor.
Soon, sadness becomes mischief, and he takes his feelings out on the house. Sawyer decides to be a “bad dog” by destroying the couch, remote, lamp, and more. Finally, the family orders a dog kennel from Amazon. But the kennel is not for Sawyer to be locked away during the day. It's for Sawyer’s new canine rescue friend. The commercial ends with Sawyer and his new furry buddy sleeping on the daughter's bed.
Amazon's new work policy would force humans to leave their pets, like Sawyer, at home for three days of the week.
The 90-second spot could have cost up to $21 million. It costs an average of $7 million for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl, according to Forbes. An estimated 113 million people watched the big game, according to Nielsen.
An Amazon spokesperson reached out to KUOW after this article was initially published and commented that the company has dog-friendly offices which allow employees to bring their dogs to work. Amazon says that it has 10,000 dogs registered with its human resources department at more than 100 company buildings in the United States and Canada. It expects to expand the dog-friendly perk to 20 more corporate buildings in 2023, including in Australia.
Seattle-area companies move back into the office
Amazon's back-to-the-office announcement comes about a month after Starbucks made a similar decision. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wrote a letter to employees, arguing that remote work threatens the culture of "human connection" that Starbucks strives for. After Jan. 30, Starbucks employees were ordered to be in the office three days a week. Two of those days must be on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Both Amazon's and Starbucks' announcements come roughly a year after Microsoft and Expedia, made their decisions to emerge from pandemic remote work. Microsoft fully reopened its Redmond headquarters in early 2022, and said that it would be standard for employees to work from home part of the time (preferably less than 50%). Expedia's policy was similar.
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Should downtown Seattle go from office space to living space?: Today So Far
- Why not turn empty office space into needed housing space?
- Seattle's cost-of-living woes have expanded beyond Western Washington. Eastern Washington communities are now seeing rising rents and other costs.
- Washington is among a handful of states taking aim at foreign entities that want to buy U.S. farmland.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 16, 2023.
Here's the situation: Downtown Seattle has a lot of empty office space, and it doesn't look like it will fill back up soon; at the same time, the city severely needs more housing.
Why not turn that office space into living space? That's an idea that has imaginations lighting up around Seattle.
As KUOW's Joshua McNichols puts it, downtown Seattle has financially been supported by three core groups: office workers, tourists, and residents. Office workers have been disappearing, and tourism slumped over the past few pandemic years. In turn, downtown has taken a few hits. That has folks thinking about ways to revitalize the area, included in that thought is the potential of converting office space to living space, and perhaps more.
"We could adapt oversized retail spaces, too, build some interior walls, or take some out, carve those spaces up into new kinds of spaces that allow new uses that we haven't thought of before," Joshua says in his recent story covering this issue. "Could underused offices also become day cares, schools, or performance spaces?"
Joshua's story reminded me of a visit to see my brother in Kansas City, years ago. He had found an apartment in a corner of the city that was previously more industrial. The building was not initially intended to be a residential space, but times changed. It was converted, and the resulting apartments were impressive. I would have rather lived there than in most buildings built for apartments. Similar moves have been made in Portland, Ore., around its Pearl District, though admittedly, residents there are clearly in a higher tax bracket.
The result of such moves made my brother's corner of Kansas City more active and productive. The farmers' market was up and running during the day, diners, pubs, barbers, and more operated into the night. In other words, the neighborhood was alive, instead of brief daytime activity before going dead after 5 p.m. (sound familiar?).
Tacoma has experimented with this idea too, and has already been converting office spaces into residential spaces for a while now. Seattle could benefit from that experience. But that doesn't mean there aren't challenges around such office-to-housing conversions. It also raises an important question: Who is downtown Seattle for? Check out Joshua's full story on this issue here.
Seattle's cost-of-living woes have expanded beyond Western Washington. Eastern Washington communities are now seeing rising rents and other costs.
"Living in Yakima, I have seen housing costs increase both to buy homes as well as rent," Crosscut reporter Mai Hoang told Soundside. "What surprised me when I actually looked at the data was how severe the increases were, and how severe it was in certain places."
Hoang recently reported on the rising costs of living on the east side of Washington state for Crosscut. It's not just Yakima. Other communities like Walla Walla and Spokane are experiencing rising costs of living, to a level that is pushing out many established community members. Part of the issue, according to Hoang's reporting, is that a shift to remote work during the pandemic gave people an option to live in areas they are more attracted to — smaller towns and cities, and areas closer to outdoor recreation, etc. Just as Seattle has seen after waves of higher and higher paychecks flooding into the city, other communities have now observed rents rising.
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