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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WSU research discovers new Covid-like virus in bats
Researchers at Washington State University say they've discovered a new Covid-like virus that could be transferred from bats to humans.
The virus, named Khosta-2, was recently found in a Russian lesser horseshoe bat. Researchers behind a new study say the virus is resistant to current vaccines for Covid. Those who've already had Covid-19 and developed antibodies could be susceptible to it as well.
Scientists say this discovery highlights the need to develop a universal vaccine that works against these types of viruses. Hundreds of such viruses have recently been discovered in bats in Asia, but weren't capable of infecting humans. These newly discovered viruses however, were able to infect human cells in a lab.
“Right now, there are groups trying to come up with a vaccine that doesn’t just protect against the next variant of SARS-2 but actually protects us against the sarbecoviruses in general,” said Michael Letko, a WSU virologist. “Unfortunately, many of our current vaccines are designed to specific viruses we know infect human cells or those that seem to pose the biggest risk to infect us. But that is a list that’s ever-changing. We need to broaden the design of these vaccines to protect against all sarbecoviruses.”
Letko is co-author of a new study on Khosta-2 published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
The good news, right now, is that the new virus is missing a few traits that help pathogenesis in humans. There is concern that could change, however, if this virus, Khosta-2, combines with a second virus, like SARS-CoV-2.
“When you see SARS-2 has this ability to spill back from humans and into wildlife, and then there are other viruses like Khosta-2 waiting in those animals with these properties we really don’t want them to have, it sets up this scenario where you keep rolling the dice until they combine to make a potentially riskier virus,” Letko said.
In addition to Letko, Seifert and Gunn, co-authors on this study include Shuangyi Bai and Stephen Fawcett of WSU as well as Elizabeth Norton, Kevin Zwezdaryk and James Robinson of Tulane University.
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Should Seattle Public Library employees carry Narcan?
The Seattle Public Library is reviewing its policy on employees carrying and administering Narcan.
Narcan is a prescription medicine used to treat a known or suspected opioid overdose. It’s also known by the generic name "naloxone."
Currently, the Seattle Public Library advises employees not to carry or administer Narcan, a nasal spray, on the job. A review of this policy was prompted by an employee.
"A staff member inquired with their supervisor about potentially bringing Narcan to work and administering it for patrons that might need it," said Rick Sheridan with the Seattle Public Library.
Sheridan says the existing policy is in place to protect the library and staff from possible liability issues. The King County Library System has a similar policy.
In the event of a suspected opioid overdose, Seattle Public Library staff are instructed to call 911.
A spokesperson says they expect to have an update on the review this week.
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Idaho man pleads guilty to white supremacist attack at Lynnwood bar
A man from Idaho has pleaded guilty to a hate crime committed at a Lynnwood, Washington, bar in 2018.
Jason Stanley, 46, has pleaded guilty to a violent hate crime, and for making false statements to law enforcement officials, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
“Mr. Stanley and the other subjects in this case attacked and injured the victim based on his race,” Special Agent in Charge Richard A. Collodi of the FBI Seattle Field Office said in a statement. “Until all citizens in Washington state feel safe from threats and violence based on their race, ethnicity, gender or beliefs, the FBI will continue our commitment to investigating federal hate crimes and protecting civil rights.”
Stanley is the fourth and final member of the group of attackers to plead guilty to the racist assault. The other three include: Randy Smith, 42, of Oregon; Jason DeSimas, 47, of Tacoma, Wash.; and Daniel Dorson of Corvallis, Ore.
According to the Department of Justice, Stanley, Smith, DeSimas, and Dorson went to the Rec Room Bar and Grill on Dec. 8, 2018. Early reports on the incident state that the group showed up at the bar displaying white supremacist symbols, made Nazi salutes, and were visibly drunk.
While there, they began interfering with a DJ's equipment. The DJ, a Black man, objected, and the four men assaulted him. Bystanders came to his defense and were also injured during the attack.
“The defendant, a known white supremacist, singled out and attacked a Black man because of his race – violent, hate-driven conduct that has no place in our society today,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The convictions that we have secured in this case make clear that the Department of Justice will continue to use every resource at its disposal to fight white supremacist violence.”
After his arrest, Stanley told the FBI that he wasn't in Washington state at the time of the assault. This led to a second charge of making a false statement to law enforcement, to which he also pleaded guilty.
The four men are members of multiple white supremacist groups who came to Western Washington for a meetup.
A sentencing hearing for Stanley is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2023. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for the hate crime, and a maximum of five years for making a false statement.
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Seattle will launch a new unit of crisis responders under revamped 911 system
This fall, the Seattle mayor’s office and city council have agreed to jointly create a new type of crisis response unit to be available when people call 911.
Right now, 911 calls in Seattle go overwhelmingly to police or the fire department. To offer more options — like in Austin, Texas, for instance, where dispatchers offer “police, fire, medical, or mental health" — Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold said they have to first undertake “back-of-the-house work." That means installing new software that allows for “criteria-based dispatch” at the city’s Community Safety and Communications Center.
“They’ve identified the vendor, I believe they’re finalizing the contract,” Herbold said. “The new system will have to be installed. They’ll have to get trained on it.”
Simultaneously, Herbold said, the mayor and council will determine the details of a new crisis response unit that 911 callers can request for non-emergency calls.
Emergency dispatchers “won’t be able to flip the switch until we have a response to offer, right? But I expect that early next year,” she said.
Herbold said they haven’t yet decided which agency will house the new unit, but she envisions a unit that could do wellness checks, and other calls that may not require medical aid or law enforcement.
The Seattle Fire Department currently operates Health One, where teams of firefighters and caseworkers take referrals and check up on people who have had contact with the 911 system. But Herbold said one goal of the new unit would be to ease the staffing shortages for firefighters or police.
“Sending somebody like a CSO, community service officer, to see first, and then calling in additional help if needed is, I think, a much more effective way to use our very limited public safety resources,” she said. Community service officers are civilians who currently handle outreach and non-criminal calls within the Seattle Police Department.
Bill Schrier, a strategic advisor to the Seattle Community Safety and Communications Center, further explained how the center is currently operated.
“All 911 calls are answered first here, at the Seattle Community Safety and Communications Center (CSCC) Department, which we usually just call ‘Seattle 911,’” Schrier said. “Generally, CSCC dispatchers route calls to SPD, SFD, and to the Sobering Unit operated by DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center). There are no other alternative responders for dispatch of CAD incidents by CSCC at this time.”
The system is complicated, he added.
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Seattle Solidarity Budget coalition opposes funds for what it calls 'soft cops'
A coalition of progressive groups in Seattle will oppose Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposal to pay for 26 additional rangers in the city’s parks.
In a press conference Thursday, the Solidarity Budget coalition, which led the effort to cut Seattle Police Department funding in 2020, highlighted priorities for their members in Seattle's upcoming budget meetings.
The coalition will urge its supporters to advocate for everything from safe lots for people who are homeless to park their vehicles, to safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure in South Seattle.
The Solidarity Budget coalition said one of its highest priorities will be to keep people out of King County jail, where four people died by suicide in the past year.
Angélica Cházaro is with the member group Decriminalize Seattle. She said during the budget process they’ll press for resources for people who are homeless, and for safer streets.
“There is a public safety crisis in Seattle. But it’s not the one that you’ve been hearing about on the news,” she said. “It’s a crisis of having one of the deadliest jails in the country. It’s a crisis of our unhoused neighbors dying at record rates. Not to mention the unacceptable deaths of pedestrians and cyclists.”
Cházaro and other coalition members condemned any funding for what they called “soft cops,” including the proposed park rangers in that category.
“When we say, ‘Defund SPD and fund community needs,’ we do not mean fund responders who may not be armed but who will also act to funnel people into jail or into other coercive settings,” Cházaro said.
If approved by the city council (acting as the Seattle Park District Board), Harrell’s proposal for the Seattle Park District would nearly double the district’s levy, to between $115 million and $118 million in 2023. In announcing the funding proposal, Harrell said the park rangers would “enhance safety and promote voluntary compliance of park rules.”
Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold said the council and mayor have also agreed to launch a new crisis response unit in the next several months. She said they haven’t decided which agency would house the unit, but she views SPD’s community service officers as one possible option to perform wellness checks and other non-emergency calls.
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Fishing boat lifted out of orca waters after 5 weeks on sea floor
A salvage team successfully lifted the Aleutian Isle onto a barge Wednesday afternoon, more than five weeks after the fishing boat sank into the depths off San Juan Island.
Coast Guard officials say some diesel spilled from the boat as a crane lifted it out of the water. They reported “light sheening” on the surface of Haro Strait near San Juan Island’s Mitchell Bay.
“Some of that sheen did escape beyond the boomed area, but was too light to be recovered,” a Coast Guard Facebook post states.
The salvage team had to pump out all the seawater from the waterlogged vessel to make it light enough to lift out of the sea without breaking apart.
Now they plan to remove remaining diesel from the boat before transporting it to a shipyard.
The boat sank while fishing for sockeye salmon in critical habit for the Northwest’s endangered orcas. All five crew members escaped onto a small skiff, with no injuries reported. A 2-mile sheen of diesel spread across the surface, and San Juan residents reported a strong smell of diesel for hours.
The cause of the sinking and diesel spill have not been determined. An eyewitness reported watching the Aleutian Isle run aground at the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes the day before it sank.
Some dents in the hull, as well as a broken-off top section of the mast, were visible once the boat emerged from the waves, but it is unclear whether that damage occurred before or after the boat sank 240 feet beneath the surface.
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Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a Seattle summer day?: Today So Far
- The driest Seattle/Tacoma summer on record.
- The housing market in the Seattle area is cooling down. What does that mean?
- Monkeypox is infecting about 20 people each week in Washington state.
- King County's budget plans for law enforcement.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for September 22, 2022.
I recently watched Cosmo warily watching the sky outside our home. He was oddly avoiding going outside and had a general vibe of being weirded out. Watching this, my wife Nina paused for a moment before saying, "Has Cosmo ever seen rain?"
Cosmo is our puppy. He came to us from Texas this summer and is less than a year old. I thought, "Of course he's seen rain. This is the Northwest." Turns out, I'm probably wrong. Summer 2022 is the driest summer on record for the Seattle-Tacoma area. Most of the rain we got over the season came on Sept. 16, probably the day Cosmo was being weird(er than usual).
Cue that Blind Melon song.
The National Weather Service reports that we got about half an inch of rain over the summer. That places 2022 at the top of the list of driest summers. Second place goes to 2017 with .52 inches of rain. In 1998 and 1987, we got 1.28 inches and 1.33 inches, respectively. And rounding out the top five, summer 2000 got 1.36 inches.
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Bezos' ranking falls among list of world's richest people
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is slipping when it comes to being one of the richest people in the world. He's now listed as No. 3 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and No. 4 on the Forbes list, right ahead of Bill Gates.
Bezos lost the top spot to Tesla CEO Elon Musk last year and has now fallen behind Indian infrastructure tycoon Gautum Adani on both lists.
Bloomberg reported that Adani vaulted into the top three on Monday, the first time a person from Asia has made it that high into the rankings.
The Puget Sound Business Journal notes that Bezo's fortune fell by more than $44 billion this year, largely because the company stock (where most of his fortune is tied up) has taken a hit. Bezos now has a net worth of more than $145 billion.
Side note: Elon Musk (richest person in the world), Gautam Adanai (second richest), Bill Gates (fifth richest person), and Mark Zuckerberg (22nd richest) are all college dropouts.
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Sea-Tac Airport prepares following weekend of abnormally long lines
Sea-Tac Airport officials along with the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, say more staff will be on hand at the airport this weekend, following last weekend's long checkpoint lines that stretched far into the adjoining parking garage.
Travelers reported waiting for hours to get through the lines that snaked out of the main terminal and into the parking area. Some reported missing flights. Sea-Tac officials said the average wait time was about 90 minutes.
The TSA said it screened more passengers on Sunday, Sept. 18, than during any other morning since the pandemic started. Sea-Tac Airport officials have called the wait times experienced Sept. 17-18 "unacceptable." After conducting a deep dive into the weekend delays, the Port of Seattle says there were three causes:
- Maintenance and construction removed two lanes at one checkpoint.
- Summer travel volumes did not subside as they usually do during this time of year. Sea-Tac says this "reflects changing trends."
- TSA brought in extra staff from around the USA to handle summer travel volumes. Because airport volumes usually drop about 15% after Labor Day, the extra staff was sent home. But that didn't happen this year and high levels of travelers have continued to use the airport this month.
Looking ahead, there will be more staff on hand this weekend.
Managers are also encouraging travelers to use the SEA Spot Saver app and the Clear and Pre-check options to make sure they can zip through the airport. Checking luggage is another suggestion — fewer items going through checkpoints can speed up the process.
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Seattle area organizations helping Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic in wake of Hurricane Fiona
Seattle-based World Vision is preparing to send relief supplies to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, which have been ravaged by Hurricane Fiona.
But it's in a holding pattern right now because power is still out across much of the island and the port is closed. Check here for ways to donate.
The Dominican Association of Washington also plans to send relief to victims in the Dominican Republic and is currently accepting donations. It is asking for various supplies such as toothpaste, diapers, disinfectant products and soap, clothing, and non-perishable food.
Donations to the Dominican Association of Washington can be made via its website. Donations can also be dropped off at its office on Capitol Hill Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays, between 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. More details here.
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Monkeypox continues to infect about 20 people each week in Washington state
Despite declining case numbers in Washington state, the monkeypox virus, aka MPV, continues to infect at least 20 people a week, according to a new dashboard launched by the state's Health Department.
It's mostly men (97% of cases), people between the ages of 25 and 44, and King County residents who have gotten monkeypox in Washington state. Those same demographic groups have been lining up for MPV vaccines in the largest numbers.
About 3,000 people are fully vaccinated against the virus in Washington, but thousands more started the series of shots and have yet to finish.
The painful rash and illness has hospitalized 15 people in the state, but no one has died from MPV in Washington. King, Pierce and Snohomish counties have seen the most cases so far.
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Carless in Seattle: Today So Far
- Can you go carless in Seattle? Or can you go carless to commute into Seattle?
- Adrian Diaz picked to be next Seattle police chief. City Council still needs to confirm.
- Washington has a lot more registered voters, but there is an age gap.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for September 21, 2022.
It's official(ish)! Adrian Diaz has been picked to become Seattle's new police chief. If that name sounds familiar, that's probably because Diaz has already been on the job as interim police chief for about two years.
Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that he selected Diaz for the job out of three finalists. The City Council still has to approve the selection, so it's not entirely official just yet.
Amid the prepared speeches and handshakes (see video of that here), there was one moment that has been lingering with me ever since Tuesday's announcement — an unplanned, frank comment from Councilmember Debora Juarez. She was part of the police chief committee that selected finalists for the job and said that it was one of the most "honest, raw, emotional meetings" she has experienced while in office. She noted the committee addressed some issues that have been difficult to discuss over the past two years, such as "defund the police," rising crime, and homelessness.
"But I think the thing I was most impressed with, and made me proud, is that I felt — and I don’t always feel this way — that I was finally in a safe room where people could say what they really feel and believe because they love this city, without being called a name, without getting a death threat, without people coming to their homes. You can say, ‘I don’t want, and I am concerned about, homeless people,’ that doesn’t mean you want to criminalize the homeless. You can say, ‘I’m not happy with the police,’ that doesn’t mean you hate the police.”
Despite Seattle's passive-aggressive profile, a lot of names do get thrown around town, usually in place of a genuine, firm argument. It can be quite off-putting, even when we're talking about a serious issue or good cause. I don't think this is what Juarez was aiming for when she said it, but I'm not sure I've heard anyone really call us out on it.
“We did not want this to turn into performative gestures, politicizing it, virtue signaling, all that bullshit," she continued. "No, we want to talk about, ‘our city is hurting, it needs to be healed.’”
I know not everyone agrees with me on this, but another reason this comment has stuck with me is because it can be refreshing to hear an elected official, in front of an official seal, swear like the rest of us. I'm probably not supposed to admit that, so please keep that between us.
Read the full story on the police chief announcement here.
An interesting factoid came through KUOW's newsroom recently: 80% of Washington adults are registered to vote. That's more than a decade ago, so voter registration is on the rise. But here's the thing, a lot of this increase has been among people age 65 and older. There has been much smaller growth among Millennials and younger voters. Read more here.
This week is a Week Without Driving. At least, it is for a lot of elected officials who are being encouraged by Disability Rights Washington to ditch their car commute to really learn the ups and downs of carless living.
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