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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Yes, that's a worm in the blackberry you just picked
Seven years ago, my friend and colleague Ann Dornfeld sent me the photo above, showcasing worms in her blackberries.
She wanted me to find out why there were worms in her blackberries. She had picked them and frozen them, and when she pulled the tray from her freezer, noticed that each berry had a tiny friend frozen on top: a worm that had been nesting inside that then climbed on top to escape the sub-zero temps, to no avail.
The story I wrote exploded. Our readers were disgusted — and also a little annoyed that we gave them information that they did not need to know, as these larvae worms are not dangerous to human health.
Now, every August, I message our social media producer to let them know it's that time of year again — let's gross out Seattle, I say, with no small amount of glee.
And here's a fascinating story about how this region got Himalayan blackberries, by Ann Dornfeld.
P.S. I picked blackberries last weekend. There were probably worms, and it didn't matter. So don't let this story ruin your summertime fun.
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Seattle! You can get free Narcan delivered to you
If you appear to be snoozing on the sidewalk, Meghan Hushagen, a nurse who works on Aurora, will wake you up.
“There are people sleeping on the ground all around Seattle; every time I pass by someone who looks like they’re in too deep a sleep, I ruin their nap, check in to make sure they’re okay,” said Hushagen.
Hushagen worries some of these people may be under the influence of opiates, which is why she gives them a nudge to see if she should deploy her ready stash of Narcan, the brand name for Naloxone, which revives a person who may be fading.
Naloxone is free to anyone who orders it in King County – mailed to your door – and Hushagen said she wishes everyone would carry it with them.
On Monday, Hushagen used her Narcan.
“I was working at my permanent supportive housing building,” she said via Instagram messenger. (She had posted about her experience on the social media platform and I wanted to know more. She is my best friend's sister-in-law.)
“A resident came in and said that there was an overdose happening at the ampm across the street from the building," Hushagen recounted. “Staff and myself ran over to check, after grabbing Narcan and found a man unresponsive on the ground. He was experiencing agonal breathing, was not responsive to sternal chest rub.”
They administered Narcan five times. Hushagen said that fentanyl is so strong at the moment that it’s taking more doses of Narcan to bring someone around. The man had a pulse the whole time, so they waited for emergency medical services to arrive.
“He was slowly coming to when we left,” Hushagen said.
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Port Angeles teachers union authorizes strike as negotiations stall
Teachers in Port Angeles have voted to authorize a strike. And if their issues and concerns aren't addressed, they too could be walking the picket lines come this Thursday, which is the first day of school.
The teachers, who are members of the Port Angeles Education Association, are calling for smaller class sizes and more planning time. Their current contract ends Wednesday.
The 250-member union also claims the district has only scheduled four partial bargaining dates since June, adding the district “has yet to agree to the supports our students and our educators need to be successful.”
The district says resolving this issue as quickly as possible is its priority. But school officials are also advising on the district's website that families "explore alternative childcare."
“If the district team is willing to come in, commit the time and attention then we can reach an agreement,” said John Henry, president of the Port Angeles Education Association in a written statement. “Get the district to the table and we can get this done. PAEA is ready. We have been since February.”
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Seattle Children's nurses hope proposed pay hikes will attract — and keep — new graduates
September 1 will be an important day for nurses at Seattle Children's Hospital. That's when Washington State Nurses Association is urging members to vote "yes" on a new contract proposal.
The tentative deal includes a $10 hourly raise for the 1,700 nurses represented by the group within the next 12 months. And by 2024, newly graduated nurses would earn $47.60 an hour— the highest starting rate in the city. Nurses on the first step of the proposed pay scale would see a nearly 50% wage increase by the end of the three-year contract.
“The best way to retain newer nurses and grow the next generation is to raise the floor,” said Pamela Chandran, labor counsel for the Washington State Nurses Association, in a written statement. “We were able to make the wage scale more equitable for nurses at the lower end of the scale while ensuring that senior nurses received increases we’ve never seen before at Children’s.”
Seattle Children's Nurses held a couple of informational pickets earlier this month, highlighting their calls for better working conditions and staffing shortages. The union says those pickets helped it win unprecedented raises for its members.
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Chinook Indian Nation members rally for federal recognition
Members of the Chinook Indian Nation rallied Monday on the steps of a federal building in Seattle to raise awareness for their long fight to get federal recognition.
Chairman Tony Johnson, whose tribal name is Naschio, said his great-great-grandfather and other leaders first hired lawyers to sue for their lands back in the 1890s.
Federal recognition would mean access to federal dollars for healthcare and housing for this group of tribes, which are based in Southwestern Washington, particularly Pacific County. The rally was the start of a campaign by Chinook leadership, they said, to pressure Washington Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell to use their influence in Congress to get the Chinook recognized.
For a brief time twenty years ago, the Clinton administration recognized the Chinook Indian Nation, but the Bush administration revoked that decision in 2002 after another Indigenous nation in Washington state, the Quinault, appealed to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Johnson said during a speech on Monday that the Chinook nation, which is made up of five tribes – the Cathlamet, Clatsop, Lower Chinook, Wahkaikum and Willapa, according to OPB – refused to sign a treaty that would force them to lose their land, and therefore was never moved to a reservation.
“That place where I drove from this morning with my wife and two of my five kids is the place where our sovereignty springs from,” Johnson said. “We are a sovereign nation, regardless of the government's confusion, and our sovereignty comes from the land and our ancestors.”
Johnson’s son Tahoma Johnson was there as well, and he said opportunities for work and housing in Pacific County are scarce. He lives in a trailer on someone else’s property, according to his father.
“That really bugs me because a recognized Chinook [nation] would have an opportunity to provide him housing,” Johnson said.
Rachel Cushman, the secretary-treasurer for the Chinook, said she was just 15 in 2002 when she heard the news of the Bush administration’s revocation of her tribe’s status. After crying with her mother, she still had to get on the bus and go to work – at the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, where she was apprenticed to a fish biologist.
“I didn't want to go into a space that made me feel less than, because that's how I felt my whole life,” Cushman said. “I felt less than. And I was made to feel less than. I went into an office full of Native people feeling less than.”
Cantwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zack DiGregorio, a spokesperson for Murray, said in a statement that she understands how important tribal recognition efforts are and "how critical it is that all voices involved be heard" but didn't commit to making any changes.
"She will continue to do her best to serve as a voice in the United States Senate for Washington’s Tribal governments and Tribal people,” DiGregorio said via email.
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More than $1 million forfeited to Romanian government in connection with federal fraud case
A couple who constructed an elaborate bunker on their property near Olympia will forfeit more than a million dollars to the Romanian government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Seattle.
The forfeiture comes after a years-long saga. It began when the Radu and Diana Nemes, a couple from Romania, allegedly engaged in a massive fraud and money laundering scheme to avoid paying imported diesel fuel taxes.
Eventually, the couple moved to Yelm, Wash., where earlier media reports say they joined Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment led by new age spiritual leader JZ Knight. While in Yelm, the couple purchased several properties.
In 2014, they waived extradition and returned to Romania. That same year, the FBI searched their properties.
According to reporting at the time by NBC News, agents found “a fully equipped and furnished underground bunker” along with weapons. The $1.2 million that will be returned to the Romanian government comes from the proceeds from the sale of the couple’s U.S. property and other assets.
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Gas prices continue to drop across Washington state
Gas prices are continuing to drop in Washington state.
AAA is reporting that the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Seattle is at $4.94, down more than 31 cents compared to a month ago. The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Tacoma is currently $4.68. It's $4.80 in Olympia.
Gas is still far more expensive in Seattle compared to this time last year, where the average was $4.03 — about 91 cents less than today's average.
Nationally, people are paying an average of $3.85 per gallon. Hawaii and California are seeing the highest gas prices, at more than $5 per gallon of regular gas. Prices remain the lowest in Arkansas, with drivers paying an average of $3.35 at the pump.
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Following arts reporter Mike Davis
After taking care of a few things at KUOW's offices, arts reporter Mike Davis recently toured exhibits at Seattle's Wa Na Wari. He gave us a behind-the-scenes look at his day.
Check out the video below.
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Monkeypox outbreak spreads in WA
The risk of the monkeypox virus, or MPV, remains low for the general public in Washington state, according to health officials.
But the outbreak continues.
There are now 392 cases in Washington, according to the state Department of Health, including infections in one infant and a teenager.
There have been 12 hospitalizations in the state. No deaths have occurred in Washington.
To date, the LGBTQ+ community has seen disproportionate impacts from the virus. But officials stress anyone, anywhere can get infected.
"We must continue to remember this is a contact-based virus. It is not limited to any community,” said Dr. Umair Shah, state secretary of health.
MPV spreads through close, prolonged contact with an infected person's skin or body fluids, or contact with shared objects like clothes or bedding.
"Viruses do not have a pre-determined plan to impact one community over another,” said Manny Santiago, executive director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission. “Both behaviors and the social context in which a communicable disease is spread have much to do with the impact that it's going to have on different communities."
Health officials say everyone should pay attention to any new rashes on their skin, cover the rash to limit contact with others, and see a health-care provider.
Vaccines are available but the supply is very limited, as is eligibility.
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Seattle's food truck future: Today So Far
- Seattle is reconsidering its food truck regulations.
- Today So Far taking a vacation.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 26, 2022.
As Seattle further emerges from the pandemic, I have a hopeful vision of city life. I would love to see a city where some people work from home, or have a hybrid schedule, living in corners of Seattle that are more affordable. And while they are home, they are able to walk down the street to a food truck for lunch, or dinner, or late night munchies.
I'm going to annoy some TSF readers with this statement, but when I lived in Portland (it's OK, I won't mention that city again ... breathe) many years ago, it was pretty easy to grab a bite en route to work, class, or a friend's place. Food trucks were tucked into various corners of the city. An array of innovative, fun, and convenient food was accessible. Upon moving back north, one criticism I had of Seattle, it's that I wished there were more food trucks. The trucks we have are awesome. Why wouldn't we want more?
As KUOW's Ruby de Luna reports, Seattle is reconsidering many of its regulations around food trucks with the aim of making a better business environment for them. These rules have been in place since 2011. But the Seattle Department of Transportation noticed they didn't make much sense during pandemic times (they didn't make much sense in 2011 either, in my opinion), so SDOT modified food truck rules over the past couple years to make things a bit easier. Now, SDOT is looking to update the city's approach to food trucks when these modifications expire in 2023. In short, it wants to "streamline" the food truck process and offer "one-on-one coaching" for businesses.
"I think if SDOT can bring down the street vending permit fees, you should see more food truck activity in the streets of Seattle," said Lori Johnson, executive director of the Washington State Food Truck Association.
"Before SDOT decided to change the regulations, they weren't allowing more than two food trucks per block face, that's why you weren't seeing many of them grouped together," she added. "And it's super hard, and super expensive, to find private property to group them together."
If you're a food truck in Seattle, you can find a plot of private property, in a decent corner of the city, with plenty of foot traffic and customers, to set up shop. Or you can go through the city to find a public spot to dish up. But this is Seattle, so either of those options are going to come with hefty price tags. Either the private landowner is going to want sky-high rent (or what some would laughably call "market rate"), or the city is going to want sky-high fees, but that will hopefully change as SDOT evolves into 2023.
Among the changes SDOT is proposing, that limit of two food trucks per block will be nixed. Also, restrictions that push trucks 50 feet away from buildings will be gone. And a ban on food trucks from being within 1,000 feet of a high school will go away.
Further changes for street vending will go beyond food trucks and influence outdoor dining alongside restaurants. And they will open up street-side vending to businesses outside of food, like flowers and crafters.
There's one other piece of not-news that I want to address with all the TSF readers out there.
Here's the thing: Nina and I eloped in 2020. Two years later, we're going to have a honeymoon. So in other words, I'm going to be away and Today So Far will be taking a break for a couple weeks.
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California bans new gas cars by 2035. Northwest states to follow.
The California Air Resources Board voted Thursday to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by the year 2035. The move is expected to trigger big changes in the Northwest and beyond.
While the new rules don’t affect cars and trucks that are already on the road, the end is in sight for the sale of gasoline-powered cars up and down the West Coast.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says his state will adopt the California rules by the end of the year. Washington Department of Ecology officials say they will begin the process in September.
Inslee advisor Anna Lising said the state will still pursue its more-ambitious but nonbinding goal of ending gasoline car sales by 2030.
“It’s the law,” she said.
Oregon officials say they’re also following California’s lead to start turning away from the internal combustion engine.
California has mandated a steep increase in sales of zero-emission vehicles, such as electric and fuel-cell cars, starting in just four years.
- 35% by 2026
- 68% by 2030
- 100% by 2035
A limited number of plug-in hybrids, which can run on electricity or gasoline, would still be allowed on the market.
"The combustion engine has endured for a hundred years, right? But like the way of the steam engine, it’s time for it to phase out," California Air Resources Board member Davina Hurt said before the vote. "It’s necessary, and it’s the technological advancement I think we all want to see for a better world."
Across the country, 15 states (including California) follow California’s policies on zero-emission vehicles. Those states account for about a third of all car sales nationwide.
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Take a breather from the news with these arts and culture picks
Every week we reach out for recommendations on events around Seattle. Today, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm spoke to Crosscut’s arts and culture reporter Margo Vansynghel.
This is a series of outdoor dance performances. It's contemporary dance. The dancers are performing in the natural environment, so it's always a little bit different. Whim W’him started doing this during the pandemic, so that when all the venues were closed you could still spread out, and be socially distant, and safely watch art. This summer they’re presenting a performance called "Touch," which explores the ways we come together to support each other.
Anthony White: Limited Liability, at Seattle Art Museum
This show is running until January of next year, but I still think you should go see it right now. I love that there's so many symbols in it, so many things that you can decode. You can kind of keep coming back to the work. I kind of compare it to being like a digital era archaeologist. You just go back and you try to dig it up. He also has this interesting technique that I really like. He uses kind of a hot glue gun. There's strings of plastic that come out and he kind of paints with that. When you come closer to the paintings they have this really interesting texture. Go and see this star before he leaves for New York or LA.
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