KUOW Blog
News, factoids, and insights from KUOW's newsroom. And maybe some peeks behind the scenes. Check back daily for updates.
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Stories
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As Seattle’s Covid orders end, so will extra pay for food delivery drivers
As of Tuesday, Nov. 1, an estimated 40,000 gig workers will no longer receive extra pay for their work. That’s because Seattle’s Covid emergency proclamation that offered workers extra protection is ending at the end of October.
For many workers like Carmen Figueroa, the extra pay was financial boost.
“I was finally at a point where I wasn’t financially drowning,” said Figueroa, a gig worker with DoorDash. “Now that our pay is going to be cut in half, I’m going to start drowning again.”
With hazard pay ending Figueroa says she’ll have to work more hours to make up the difference.
“It seems so trivial, but $2.50 to me, it’s the world,” she explained.
Figueroa is not alone. Michelle Balzer fills and delivers grocery orders for Instacart. She says every dollar counts.
“We’re still dealing with high gas prices, and we're dealing with inflation across the board, especially in our groceries,” Balzer said.
Earlier this month the mayor’s office announced the end of the emergency proclamation as the city heads toward recovery and revitalization. Seattle’s hazard pay for food delivery workers has been in effect since June 2020.
In addition to the extra pay, the emergency order also provided paid sick leave.
"That sick time has been a godsend because it’s really kept me afloat on the times that I’ve had Covid or have gotten injured to kind of rest my ankle,” Balzer said.
The city’s paid sick leave for food delivery workers expires in six months. Come January 2023, the state’s paid sick time kicks in.
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Ghosts on a boat: Today So Far
What would you do if you woke up late at night, and someone was smoking next to your bed?
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for October 28, 2022.
Joni was a straight-laced 19-year-old. Everything had to be neat before she left the house. She was generally skeptical. Joni describes herself as "rigid."
Perhaps the reason for her disposition is that Joni had dreams and goals, and no time for nonsense. She set her sights on a travel industry job, and found such a role working for a cruise company offering trips along Northwest rivers, though the Caribbean, to Tahiti, and to Alaska. It came with perks, quite attractive to a young person — free trips on cruise ships. Joni took full advantage. Many of her younger colleagues liked sailing up to Alaska where, at the time, the drinking age was 18. That wasn't the appeal for buttoned-up Joni, however.
"I was a typical Virgo," she said. "I took my profession very seriously, so consequently I didn't really drink around the people I worked with."
But the excitement of a free Alaskan trip soon faded, as Joni discovered that passengers and crew weren't the only ones aboard the boat. They were sharing this trip ... with something else.
"I think we were two nights into the cruise and I had turned in rather early, got in my little, tiny bunk — sound asleep by 11 p.m." Joni recalled.
Around 2 a.m., she awoke to the smell of cigarette smoke. She thought someone must have been smoking outside her room, in the hallway, but upon further inspection, no one was there.
"I glanced around the room and noticed sitting on the bed next to me was a woman who was dressed in this beautiful peach-colored summer dress, sitting there smoking a cigarette and blowing smoke rings into the air."
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Joni stared at this women, wondering why she was there in her room.
"I leaned over and turned on the light, and she was still there, but now she was a little bit less solid," Joni said. "So I rubbed my eyes, put my head on the pillow and turned out the light and thought, 'I'm not going to deal with this.' I still smell cigarette smoke, and of course, now my heart is racing."
What happened next? Well, the smoking woman wasn't alone. To find out more, you'll have to listen to "Ghosts like vacation too," a special story from KUOW Shorts. It's one of a Halloween handful of stories KUOW released this week that includes creepy children, a river ghost, haunted theater attire, Northwest ghost hunters, and a renter who finds that the house he lives in holds a mystery ... but the house fights back to keep its secrets. Check out those stories here:
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Only 15% of Washingtonians have gotten the updated omicron booster
Only 15% of Washington residents have gotten the new Covid booster shot, updated for omicron, according to state public health officials.
"This is concerning, because we're rolling into respiratory virus season, and we really urge all Washingtonians who are eligible to make getting their bivalent booster a priority. It's especially important for seniors," said Lacy Fehrenbach with the Washington State Department of Health.
About 95% of Washington residents 65 and older completed their primary Covid vaccine series.
Fehrenbach says that she expects a winter swell of Covid, flu, and RSV cases in children.
She notes that a few factors are at play that will add up to increased cases. Many people have lowered immunity after a couple years of pandemic precautions (masks, social distancing, etc.). That means not as many people's immune systems have been exposed to viruses. Also, as colder, wetter months arrive, more people will be heading indoors to mingle with crowds.
So far, virus data from the state shows flu activity is minimal. Two people have died from the flu this season.
RSV cases are higher than normal in Washington state. RSV symptoms are similar to the common cold, but can also include pale skin in kids.
A reminder: You can still order free Covid tests from the state, online, each month.
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Seattle wants to put its money where its graffiti is
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has announced a new plan to address a surge of graffiti in the city.
Harrell is not only calling on multiple city departments to address the graffiti — he’s also looking to citizens in the community to support these efforts.
“We're going to enhance our volunteer programming and coordination," Harrell said. "Building on experience from anti-graffiti volunteers, our plan will include up to 1,000 graffiti-abatement kits.”
The $940,000 anti-graffiti plan is outlined in Mayor Harrell's budget proposal, which the Seattle City Council will vote on next month. The proposal aims to encourage more public street art in place of the graffiti. It also will pay for the graffiti-abatement kits, which will contain all the tools necessary to clean up graffiti.
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Proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger under state scrutiny
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is now weighing in on the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons stores.
Ferguson also joined his counterparts in the District of Columbia, Arizona, California, Idaho and Illinois to express concerns about the $4 billion shareholder payout in November that’s part of the merger.
In a joint letter to Albertsons, the attorneys general noted that federal and state laws forbid companies to enter agreements that would substantially lessen competition or restrain trade. They say paying a dividend this size before the merger is approved could deprive Albertsons of cash and affect its ability to operate and compete with Kroger.
The letter urged Albertsons to hold off on the dividend until the merger is completed.
Union leaders representing 26,000 grocery workers in Washington applauded the move, adding that any rush payment would threaten thousands of jobs, reduce consumer choice and increase costs.
Last week, Kroger announced plans to buy Albertsons. If approved, the acquisition would create a company with nearly 5,000 stores with an annual revenue of $200 billion.
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Where leaded gas still flies in the United States
The United States banned leaded paint and leaded gasoline decades ago, but many floatplanes and other small aircrafts still run on leaded fuel.
Federal officials have taken a major step toward changing that.
RELATED: Investigators find faulty part in seaplane that crashed near Whidbey Island, warn others
Small airplanes are the largest source of lead pollution in the air of Washington state, pumping about 17 tons of the brain-damaging substance into the air each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
This month, the agency said that leaded aviation fuel endangers public health, especially that of children living or attending school near airports that dispense the harmful fuel.
The nonprofit group Friends of the Earth first petitioned the EPA to get the lead out of the fuel used by small planes 16 years ago. The agency is now taking public comment on its long-awaited, but preliminary, finding.
“Their finding is a good first step but, really, what we need is some sort of the legislation or some regulation to actually get rid of leaded fuels from airplanes, because it’s really causing a lot of health problems,” said activist and former South Seattle state Rep. Velma Veloria.
King County International Airport in South Seattle is one of the state’s biggest sources of airborne lead because of all the small, piston-engine planes that fly out of the airport more commonly called Boeing Field.
“We share the concern about trying to find a safe way to reduce the use of leaded fuel and are going to do what we can to facilitate the conversion to unleaded fuels,” said airport director John Parrott.
Veloria is working with a coalition of community groups to oppose King County’s expansion plans at Boeing Field.
“Most of the people in our communities are low-income people of color,” Veloria said.
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Seattle home prices down a smidge, but nowhere close to affordable yet
Various indicators show a slowdown in the real estate market in the central Puget Sound area. That has raised hopes that homes could become much more affordable soon.
Don't hold your breath.
According to data from Zillow, it’s true that average home values have come down by about 6% since the real estate market peaked in April.
Over a third of homes for sale have been cutting their price lately, but those savings are eclipsed by the 48% increase in home values since September of 2019, just before the pandemic.
"The key to making housing more affordable is an increase in supply," said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow.
There are many reasons the supply of homes is constrained: Restrictive zoning policies, for example. Now, market forces are worsening that underlying shortage. A major problem, currently, is that home owners are not selling.
"They are locked into these low 2.5%, 3% fixed rate mortgages, and they’re not willing to trade them for a much higher rate today," Divounguy said.
Mortgage rates today are around 7%.
Nationally, the supply of homes for sale is 3% higher than it was a year ago, but still 38% lower than in 2019.
These underlying factors have led home values to rise beyond what most people in Seattle can afford.
"In Seattle, homes are about 26% above where they would need to be for affordability to return to normal," Divounguy said.
What can the average household afford?
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How are you feeling about democracy?: Today So Far
- Have you heard folks talking about a second civil war? The state of our democracy is on a lot of minds these days.
- Taylor Swift just shined a spotlight on a Bellevue company.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for October 27, 2022.
For a while now, we've been hearing murmurs from people who either are predicting a second civil war, or just really want one.
KUOW's Kim Malcom focused on the state of our democracy recently, and pointed to a poll conducted by the Associated Press. It states that 9% of us feel our democracy is working "extremely" or "very well." About 52% say it's not working well at all.
Our democracy is on a lot of minds, especially in the wake of Jan. 6, and as we head into the midterm elections next month, and look to the 2024 presidential election. It's safe to say that there are a lot of people who just can't get along these days. Divides are widening, and our Twitter feeds have become less about cats and more about culture wars.
I've thought about this for a while now. Personally, I feel that if some folks really want to duke it out, we should let them resolve it some type of regulated Thunderdome scenario. We can go on with our lives in the meantime. Or if a group of people truly want to secede, just let them have, like, half of one of the Dakotas, or maybe just that panhandle stretch of Oklahoma. They can choose, but that's what they get. However, they don't get things like our American cars, or trips to the moon, or Washington apples, or Apple computers, or the Geek Squad to fix their computers. We keep our beer, too. If the USA is feeling charitable, we can send them what is leftover at the corner store — most likely that Budweiser Clamato drink. We keep our movies and music. They don't get "Independence Day," Marvel movies, Wes Anderson, Spike Lee, or Quentin Tarantino. And we keep Prince, Garth Brooks, Hendrix, Lady Gaga, and the like ... I'm sure they can have Ted Nugent.
The above mentioned (immature) ideas are a big reason why I'm not allowed to make any major decisions, or sought out for rational commentary. If I'm being honest, however, I believe there are more good-natured folks out there who don't want to demonize and rush into a fight over differences. I believe we can be better. I have to believe that, because I'm not sure how well I'd do in the Thunderdome.
Luckily, we have people like Jake Grumbach who can offer a more educated and reasonable lens on the situation throughout the United States. Grumbach is an associate professor of political science at the University of Washington. He also wrote a book on tribalism, "Laboratories Against Democracy," which discusses how national parties and activist groups target state-level politics.
While talking with KUOW, Grumbach notes that American democracy is "under strain these days." On one hand, you have states like Washington that endeavor to increase access to democracy. On the other, there are those aiming to draw unfair district lines, and groups promoting conspiracy theories. This could hurt us in the 2024 election, Grumbach notes, with a lot of GOP candidates leaning into stolen election conspiracies. The party has also been replacing local officials with those who put conspiracy over country.
Which brings us back to all that talk about a second civil war in the USA. Grumbach doesn't think the United States is in nearly as bad of shape as in previous tough times. But that doesn't mean we don't have challenges to address.
"I would say the problems in American democracy are not as severe as those leading up to the Civil War, over a conflict like slavery, or in the Jim Crow era which had mass disenfranchisement, or the long history before the 19th Amendment that allowed all women to vote in the U.S. Right now, we're not in that deep of a hole, compared to the past, but the signs are extremely troubling. One unique danger is the national scope of threats to democracy. This is going to be a long-term struggle.
"I think there are some signs of revitalization and hope. It's still a small number, but many individuals are now more engaged in thinking about democracy, and how to change the rules of the game, and protect the rules of democracy to keep them fair for all, rather than just pursuing the rules that would make your party win. So, I think there's some hope, but we're in quite a troubling time."
Check out Grumbach's full conversation with KUOW's Kim Malcolm here.
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Rain finally puts an end to wildfire season in Western Washington
The 2022 wildfire season in Western Washington is over, thanks to the rain the region has received since Friday.
"Areas around the Bolt Creek fire, specifically the 14,000 acres the fire had burned so far, received between two and four inches of rain over the past week which is plenty to saturate the ground, to get through those dense canopies all the way down to the understory, and it really has halted the spread of the fire," said Matthew Dehr, a meteorologist with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
RELATED: Wildfire season gave Washington a break in 2022
Dehr said that the Bolt Creek fire, as well as others west of the Cascade Mountains, are not expected to grow and more. Fire crews are still keeping an eye out for flare ups in the area, however, and ground crews are watching our for landslides and falling trees along Highway 2.
"There are a lot of very damaged trees in that area now," Dehr said. "I mean it's 14,000 acres, it's quite a large area that got impacted by the fire so, luckily, we have not seen any landslides or debris flow in that area yet. However, we do continue to get rain."
The Department of Natural Resources says that stretches along Highway 2 are at risk of debris flow. There may be road closures in the future.
The Bolt Creek fire burned mostly on U.S. forest land that hadn't burned in the last century. It required a large firefighting response for about 41 days, in Snohomish County.
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Court says Everett's bikini barista dress code is unconstitutional
Everett's dress code targeting bikini baristas is unconstitutional, according to the latest ruling on the issue, which has been working its way through the courts for years.
The Everett Daily Herald reports that the U.S. District Court in Seattle found that the dress code violates equal protection clauses of the United States Constitution, as well as Washington state's constitution.
RELATED: Are bikini baristas a Pacific Northwest phenomenon?
The controversy over bikini baristas in Everett has gone back and forth for years. The conflict goes back to 2009 when the police department opened an investigation into a chain and uncovered prostitution, as well as indecent exposure.
The city eventually passed a dress code ordinance for the coffee stands in 2017 that ordered workers to cover up. Baristas responded with a lawsuit, arguing that their clothing represents speech. A court paused Everett's dress code while the case continued.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle sided with the city in 2019. Now, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington has weighed in. It concludes the city's rules are unconstitutional.
The new ruling published last week states the ordinance was shaped by gender-based discrimination, adding it "‘encourage(s) a humiliating, intrusive, and demoralizing search on women, disempowering them and stripping them of their freedom.”
The ruling further states: "This Ordinance clearly treats women differently than men by banning a wide variety of women's clothing, not just pasties and g-strings, or bikinis. The restrictions are so detailed they effectively prescribe the clothes to be worn by women in quick service facilities. In sum, the City has failed to demonstrate how this disparate treatment of women is substantially related to the achievement of the Ordinance's stated objectives."
RELATED: Inmate wants graphic undercover bikini barista videos, city of Everett fights back
The most recent court conclusion grants, and denies, parts of the city's request for summary judgment. Most of the plaintiff's claims were dismissed, except for the argument around the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The city and the plaintiffs are ordered to now meet and discuss how to proceed.
Angela King contributed to this report.
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Praying Bremerton coach will be back on the field in 2023
The Bremerton High School football coach whose religious freedom case was upheld by the United States Supreme Court could be back on the sidelines by March 2023.
Attorneys for Joe Kennedy and the school district agreed in court to reinstate the former assistant coach, according to NPR. The court also ordered the district to not interfere with or prohibit Kennedy from offering a prayer. It is not clear yet how exactly his post-game prayers will resume.
Both sides have been ordered to submit their wording for the final order by Nov. 8. There is also the issue of paying for Kennedy's legal costs over the past six years. Kennedy has the option to request the district pay for them.
The Bremerton School District raised concerns over Kennedy in 2015 after hearing about post-game prayers he was conducting on the football field. Players would join the public employee on the field, and some told officials they felt pressured to join in, despite their differing views, in order to gain favor with the coach, and in turn, playing time in the game. The district attempted to make accommodations, but Kennedy ultimately resigned from the job (he was not fired) and took the matter to court.
Courts sided with the district all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided earlier this year that Kennedy should be allowed to pray on the 50 yard line.
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How things are going with Starbucks' union talks
Seattle coffee giant Starbucks resumed negotiations with employees seeking to unionize some of its stores this week, however, Noam Scheiber who covers workplace issues for The New York Times tells KUOW that the bargaining did not last long.
"Company officials got upset that union representatives were trying to broadcast the session on Zoom, and were upset that they were trying to record the session. So they all ended pretty quickly," Scheiber told KUOW.
Scheiber says unionization efforts have slowed in recent months, and it's unclear whether union employees will achieve concessions in writing.
Starbucks has approximately 9,000 company-owned stores across the United States. Employees at about 250 stores have voted to unionize over the last year. Starbucks responded by increasing benefits and pay at non-union stores.
The National Labor Relations Board is exploring those actions. The company says federal law prevents it from offering certain benefits to unionized stores during bargaining.
Read Scheiber's full conversation with KUOW here.
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