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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Behemoth moth lands in Bellevue, alarming agriculture officials
One of the world's largest moths showed up in Bellevue, Washington, to the astonishment of the homeowner who found it basking in the sun on the side of his garage — and the alarm of entomologists.
How did an Atlas moth, with massive orange wings wider than an outstretched hand and wing tips resembling a pair of cobras, get from Thailand to the Seattle area?
An advertisement on eBay reveals that someone in Bellevue has been illegally importing and selling live cocoons of the tropical insects online.
Atlas moths are a federally quarantined pest in the United States. It is illegal to buy, keep, or sell live moths, including their eggs, caterpillars, cocoons, and paper-plate-sized adults.
In July, Patrick Tobin got an email from a homeowner in Bellevue who wanted to know what insect was basking in the sun on his garage.
“As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what it was. Because I teach about this moth in my insect ecology class,” said Tobin, an entomologist at the University of Washington.
“It's an incredibly beautiful moth,” he said. “The snake head on the wingtips, it's just an amazing design, and it's such an incredible example of mimicry.”
Entomologists believe the wingtips serve to fool potential predators into thinking a cobra, also native to the Asian tropics, is poised to attack.
“Even if you aren’t on the lookout for insects, this is the type that people get their phones out and take a picture of – they are that striking,” entomologist Sven Spichiger said in a Washington state Department of Agriculture press release asking for the public to report any sightings of the behemoth moth.
“It's like if all of a sudden you saw a black rhino walking down I-5,” Tobin said of the tropical moth’s appearance in suburban Bellevue.
Tobin asked the homeowner, who declined to comment for this story, to capture the insect. An hour or more after the homeowner first saw it — initially thinking it was a snake — it was still clinging to the wall. He trapped it in a zippered plastic bag, the kind you might store pillow cushions in, and took it inside.
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King County will propose new facilities to serve people in behavioral health crisis
King County officials said Thursday that current resources for people in behavioral health crisis are at a breaking point, and they are seeking to open more facilities to serve them.
The plan will include proposed walk-in facilities for people who need “urgent care” related to mental health or addiction, as well as longer-term residential options.
King County Executive Dow Constantine said he has brought together a coalition including legislators, law enforcement and service providers to deliver policy proposals to the King County Council alongside the proposed budget next month. They will focus on adding more same-day care, more beds, and workforce development.
Constantine said there’s currently no walk-in facility for people in crisis in King County, which forces people to go to hospital emergency rooms to seek care. He said King County has lost one-third of its mental health beds in the past five years and there’s just one 16-bed behavioral health crisis facility where hospitals and first responders can currently refer people.
Leo Flor is the director of the King County Department of Community and Human Services. He said a coalition of stakeholders will flesh out details very soon. He acknowledged that changing the situation will not involve “a small amount of money.”
“Our task over the next few weeks is to work with this coalition and others who are not in the room to get specific about how many facilities, where they should be, what more services they might need, and then to propose what it would cost,” he said.
Flor said the county expects to award contracts to run the facilities. Officials didn’t address potential funding sources.
Several members of the coalition said they were impressed by the crisis care facilities they saw on a recent trip to Arizona, on a tour organized by State Rep. Tina Orwell and State Sen. Manka Dhingra, and they hope to draw on that example.
Naomi Morris is a nurse who works at the Downtown Emergency Services Center to keep people in crisis out of jail and emergency rooms. She said people in crisis can recover, but they need places to go and staff to help them.
Morris said her uncle had schizophrenia and struggled until he ultimately found care later in life.
“And the last 15 years of his life we got to watch him be stable and enjoy a beautiful end. And I would love to see that be the same for the people I serve," Morris said.
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What would you spend $38 million on? (It has to be ferries): Today So Far
- Washington State Ferries just got some fresh federal funding. Now it has to decide what to do with it.
- Washington has a shortage of 911 dispatchers.
- Flooding and outages and chilly air. Seattle's new youth jail doesn't work too well.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 11, 2022.
You have $38 million, and you have to spend it on Washington state's ferries. How do you spend it?
It could go toward delayed maintenance on a number of vessels. Then there's the staffing issues that Washington State Ferries has been suffering from over the past couple years. The state aims to upgrade boats to electric and hybrid systems. And, oh yeah, there's that ferry that just crashed into the Fauntleroy Dock and now needs millions in repairs.
Such options are all on the table for our state, which just got a $38 million bonus from an infrastructure bill passed in DC. On today's Seattle Now podcast, KUOW's Casey Martin dives into what WSF could be considering when it comes to this fresh funding. Though, if you ask riders ... they just want the ferries to run on time.
Whatever happens, it will be needed. The ferries are heavily relied upon, and not just for tourists. Don't tell the folks in Kitsap that I said this, but in many ways Kitsap is an extension of the Seattle side of the water — especially Bainbridge Island. I've often posed a question to people: If you had to choose between sitting in traffic for an hour (or more), or taking a scenic boat ride to work, which would you choose? A lot of folks in Kitsap have answered that question. The ferries carry crowds of commuters in and out of Seattle each day. They take their paychecks over the water to Bremerton, Silverdale, Poulsbo, and more. For them, any extra money to get the boats running smoothly is great news. Without those ferries, Seattle would lose a significant chunk of Kitsap workers (or just doctors and lawyers if we're talking about Bainbridge).
And side note: If you ever want some cheap, local entertainment — take the final ferries out of Seattle in the early a.m. hours and just people watch. I've seen a passed out Iron Man, and groups singing "their song" that they heard at a bar ... but they were singing two different songs at the same time.
Another sector of state services is also feeling some strain — 911 dispatchers.
As Northwest News Network's Austin Jenkins reports, the Washington State Patrol has a dispatcher vacancy rate of 40%. WSP communication offices in Bellevue, Yakima, and Marysville are less than 50% staffed. This is happening after WSP closed its Wenatchee office this year.
The centers are fielding emergency calls from landlines, cell phones, and text messages, and call volumes are up. Read the full story here.
And another arm of law enforcement in Seattle is dealing with its own unique set of challenges — floods, chilling air, and power outages ... all in one building.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding King County's youth detention center in Seattle (aka the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center). Now it's suffering from another controversy as the building doesn't seem to work. Workers noticed that parts of the building were freezing, so they plugged in portable heaters, which in turn tripped circuit breakers. Also, toilets didn't seem to flush. All that was annoying, but what really hit hard was the flooding.
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Historic US-Canada ferry route will miss its 100th anniversary
The U.S.-Canada border is almost back to its pre-pandemic ways, but not the 100-year-old ferry route between Anacortes and Sidney, BC. Ongoing crew shortages at Washington State Ferries mean the international run won’t resume until next summer at the earliest.
This was supposed to be the summer to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cross-border ferry service between Anacortes and Sidney, near Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island. But the route remains suspended.
John Vezina, planning and customer and government relations director for Washington State Ferries, said domestic and commuter routes have priority for restoration. So, the international run will be the very last to return.
“It looks like we won’t have the crewing and vessel availability until next summer," Vezina said. "But there is absolutely no plan — unless the Legislature directs otherwise — to permanently cancel it.”
Travelers headed to the greater Victoria region from the northwestern U.S. have two other options. The private Coho ferry is running again out of Port Angeles, and BC Ferries departs from just across the northern border in Tsawwassen.
“It is disappointing that this important connection between the Peninsula and the United States will continue to be suspended, however we recognize that Washington State Ferries is making every effort to restore its former routes,” Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil Smith said in June. “The Town was looking forward to celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the ferry service this year with the community of Anacortes, which has been a Sister City to Sidney since 1996. We remain committed to this ferry route and look forward to its return.”
The route between Sidney and Anacortes started in 1922 on a converted kelp carrier.
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West Seattle Bridge will open in September
You hear that? If you listen closely, you can hear all of West Seattle erupting in a unified cheer upon hearing the news that the West Seattle Bridge is slated to open on Sept. 18, 2022.
“This monumental effort has repaired the cracks and made the bridge stronger and safer," said Heather Marx, program director for the West Seattle Bridge. "SDOT is confident that the bridge will now stand strong for decades to come, fulfilling its original intended lifespan. We appreciate the community’s resilience as we navigated the uncertainties of this project.”
The Seattle Department of Transportation announced the reopening date on Thursday, Aug. 11. It says that the bridge is ready for cars and trucks after crews added about 60 miles of new steel cable to the bridge (SDOT calls this its "backbone"). Crews also repaired cracking along the bridge that originally shut it down in 2020.
The Spokane Street Bridge, or the lower bridge, will also open on Sept. 18.
There is a caveat — there is still more work to be done, and that has to be finished in time for the September deadline. This work includes: paving; epoxy injections, and carbon fiber wrapping. SDOT also wants to install "safety inspection platforms" inside the bridge.
The West Seattle Bridge has been out of commission ever since cracks were discovered in March 2020. The cracks were so severe that the city shut the bridge down, which is the most heavily-used connection between West Seattle and the rest of the city, effectively cutting it off.
“It is a relief to be so close to the end of this difficult closure," Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement. "We recognize how painful this closure has been for so many people, businesses, and communities. Their safety has been at the core of this repair effort since the beginning. As we reopen the bridge and reconnect our city, we are bringing our communities together with the confidence that the bridge is now stronger and safer for everyone.”
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Ferry service ... from Des Moines? Walk-on sailings to Seattle launch this week
KUOW talks with Des Moines City Manager Michael Matthias about the city's new walk-on ferry service to Seattle.
Starting this week, commuters have a new option to travel into Seattle from the south, thanks to a new walk-on ferry out of Des Moines.
“We’re located on the (Puget) Sound, and the Sound provides opportunities that land-based transportation doesn’t provide,” said Des Moines City Manager Michael Matthias. “We wanted to encourage people to come to Des Moines, experience Des Moines; we wanted to provide a way for our residents, and visitors, and people who live down here to get to Seattle in a convenient way. And we thought that this not only provided recreational and fun opportunities to be on the Sound, but also contributed to alternatives to sitting in your car, stuck on I-5, going up to Seattle, paying for parking…”
After studying the potential for a walk-on ferry, the city of Des Moines footed the bill to bring one to town. Currently, the ferry is a pilot program to see how well it will be embraced. The pilot is slated to run through Oct. 9.
Des Moines is located to Seattle's south, along the shore of Puget Sound between SeaTac and Federal Way. The ferry will sail four times a day between Des Moines and Seattle’s Bell Harbor. It can carry about 60 walk-on passengers per trip. An adult ticket costs $10.
“It’s really cool. It’s very sleek. It’s fast ... we had full ridership on our initial cruises, and it took 30 minutes exactly to get from Des Moines to Seattle,” Matthias said.
The city will continue to monitor how well it is used, and why — recreationally or for commuting? Another goal is to bring Seattleites down to Des Moines to hang out.
"We hope that the experience of coming to Des Moines will show people a unique, different look at Puget Sound than you would find elsewhere," Matthias said.
Matthias also said that a benefit of the ferry will be a decreased carbon footprint of car commuters. The city has a shuttle to take people from the Angle Lake light rail station to the ferry.
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Seattle passes protections for abortion and gender affirming care
The Seattle City Council has passed two pieces of legislation related to abortion protections and gender affirming care.
One measure makes it a misdemeanor to interfere, intimidate, or threaten someone seeking an abortion. The other measure adds new civil rights protections for those people, as well as those seeking gender-affirming care.
It also allows the city's Office of Civil Rights to investigate claims of discrimination against someone based on their pregnancy outcome.
The measures are slated to go into effect 30 days after Mayor Bruce Harrell signs them.
Both bills were sponsored by Councilmembers Tammy J. Morales, Lisa Herbold, and Dan Strauss.
Councilmember Tammy Morales also plans to introduce a proposal on Friday, Aug. 12, that would regulate pregnancy crisis centers to make sure they don't make false or misleading statements to people they are trying to dissuade from having an abortion.
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Why Washington is excited about latest climate initiatives in DC
Climate policy analysts in Washington state are excited about the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which passed the U.S. Senate over the weekend.
It includes $369 billion worth of investments in climate initiatives — things like tax breaks for clean energy producers, rebates on electric cars, and heat pumps for consumers.
Jamal Raad, with Evergreen Action, a climate policy and advocacy organization, said the last time the federal government made a major investment in clean energy was right after the Great Recession. This legislation would spend four times as much on climate action.
”And even that investment, that ... $90 billion in 2009 revolutionized entire industries, drove down the cost of wind and solar significantly," Radd said. "And so I don't think you can discount how big of an investment this is and how powerful it can be in supercharging our transition to a clean energy economy.”
Raad said Washington is in a good position to take advantage of the transition with its numerous clean energy policies.
The U.S. House is expected to vote on the legislation later this week.
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Invasive Japanese beetles devouring Eastern Washington crops
Invasive Japanese beetles are devouring crops and gardens in Eastern Washington.
The small and shiny invasive Japanese beetles were first spotted in Washington in the 1980s. Adult beetles devour fruits, flowers, and plants, leaving ghost leaves behind, says Amber Betts, who works for the Washington state Department of Agriculture.
“It’s important to know that this beetle does have the potential to really devastate our crops and our food supply," Betts said. "And so what we're doing right now is trying really hard to eliminate that before it happens.”
Betts said the agency has trapped more than 24,000 beetles so far this year.
The current infestation area of 49 square miles is around Grandview. This includes parts of Yakima and Benton counties.
Betts said the agency is working toward setting up a quarantine where plants at risk for beetles would be checked. The quarantine is likely to start next month.
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CHIPS and dip: Today So Far
- You might not realize it, but the CHIPS Act is pretty exciting. But not everyone agrees with me.
- More monkeypox (MPV) vaccine has come to Washington state.
- Joe Kent takes the lead in the 3rd Congressional District; Herrera Beutler concedes.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 10, 2022.
I often say that the news stories most folks skip over are the most important ones. Maybe they seem boring on the surface. Maybe they don't have enough flair, ire, or drama. But in the end, you're affected. Well, buckle in for this one because President Biden just signed the CHIPS and Science Act!
Even that story I just linked above — they wrote about CHIPS against the backdrop of the raid on Trump's mansion. That's the equivalent of hiding a news pill in peanut butter. I'd argue that CHIPS is an investment in tech that has the potential to dip into our daily lives for generations to come — so it's more like CHIPS and dip.
This is essentially a $250 billion national investment in semiconductor manufacturing, among other technological capabilities (and has nothing to do with the 1980s TV show of the same name). The aim of CHIPS to make America more competitive with countries like China, which dominate microchip manufacturing. There has been a microchip shortage ever since the pandemic started, and that has hit us hard. For example, have you noticed that cars cost a lot more lately? That's partially because of a semiconductor shortage and cars use a lot of them.
If you're like my wife Nina, who wanted to reward herself for completing a two-year career training program with a new PS5, you've discovered that you can't find one anywhere — because there aren't enough microchips. If you care about new, renewable energy, then you should care about semiconductors. If you care about local, homegrown jobs, then you should care about semiconductors. Do you like working from home in your pajamas, making Zoom calls, and answering emails ... you get the idea.
Like I said, that's the aim of CHIPS, but I have a feeling it will have other outcomes. Think of it this way — we invested in the 1960s to go to the moon and now you make phone calls across the globe and watch endless channels of TV (thank you satellites). We invested in DARPA and now you're likely reading this on a smartphone that uses the internet (thank you DARPA). To try and list the influence of these technologies here would be exhausting. I have hope that further investment can benefit us in years to come, especially in a region like ours that has a potent space economy.
But not everybody sees things the way I do. There are critics. KUOW's Soundside just covered the range of perspectives on this. On one hand you have someone like Scott Keeney who founded nLIGHT, a semiconductor laser manufacturing company based in Washington. He's excited about the CHIPS Act because it means more jobs and business.
“Everything from your smart phone was manufactured by our lasers, NASA satellites are using our lasers to measure global warming changes — a wide range of applications,” Keeney said.
And then you have someone like Alan Sykes, professor of law at Stanford and "economist by training," who argues that CHIPS could cause the sector to go stale.
“You end up with inefficient, higher-cost production than you would if you would have let the market work on its own,” he said, adding that the government should keep its hands off such innovation and says that the U.S. already has a steady supply of semiconductors from Taiwan.
Sykes says that the CHIPS Act plays into protectionist rhetoric that rose during the Trump administration. Check out the full story on Soundside.
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Washington now has a lot more monkeypox vaccine on hand
Washington state has not had enough vaccines for all the people at high risk of the monkeypox virus, also called MPV. Now, several thousand more doses are on hand with more coming soon. That means more clinics now have the vaccine for those most at risk.
Washington state has roughly 213 confirmed cases of MPV, and 85% of those cases are in King County. Most of the cases have been confirmed via Dr. Matthew Golden’s clinic — the only place that had vaccines back in late July.
"The number of clinical sites that can treat people has grown quite a bit and now includes Kaiser Permanente, Swedish, Poly Clinic, Evergreen, several other UW sites," Dr. Golden said. "And we expect additional clinical sites to be able to treat patients in the weeks to come."
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Washington was among 19 states that requested less than a full share of vaccine available to it in July — less than 50%. But Jess Nelson, the public information officer for the Washington State Department of Health, said those figures are misleading.
"The data used in that story was pulled on July 22, and only included Washington’s Phase 1 and Phase 2A orders of 3,550 doses," Nelson explained. As of July 25, the Department of Health ordered 3,660 more doses, and they arrived in the state and were distributed.
The state is operating under a kind of triage, reserving the limited doses for those most at risk, a strategy that has been utilized to help promote equitable vaccine access.
"We know that first-come, first-served approaches aren’t always the most equitable and don’t always reach those at highest risk of recent exposure,” Sharon Bogan with Public Health Seattle & King County said in late July.
With the latest shipment of vaccines, doses have been sent to Whatcom, Skagit, Island, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties. More have also arrived in King County, where the majority of cases are located.
To date, Washington has been allocated more than 17,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, but it is able to order only 40% of that amount or 6,900 doses, Nelson said. The state will be able to order an additional 5,180 doses on Aug. 15.
The Department of Health is encouraging all those in the high-risk group to get vaccinated. This includes, but is not limited to, men who have sex with men.
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Looking for love, and orcas ... a rom-com review: Today So Far
- Washington's 3rd Congressional District has been watched closely as the primaries heated up, and it has more eyes on it than ever.
- Move over "Sleepless in Seattle." Sorry "Twilight." There's a new rom-com in the Northwest thanks to the formulaic stylings of Hallmark.
This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 9, 2022.
Washington's 3rd Congressional District has been watched closely as the primaries heated up, and it has more eyes on it than ever.
Votes for Joe Kent have now overtaken incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler by 960 votes, as of yesterday's count. Kent now has 23% of the vote, and Herrera Beutler has 22%. Washington's primary system sends the top two vote-getters to the main election in November, which means that if the results hold, Kent and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez will be on the November ballot. Gluesenkamp Perez currently has 31%.
The 3rd Congressional District covers southwestern Washington; basically north of Portland along the Columbia River and includes a range of rural and urban communities. Despite being far away from other parts of Washington, the 3rd has been watched closely because Herrera Beutler was one Republican member of Congress who voted to impeach former President Trump. Kent, on the other hand, is backed by Trump and has favored election conspiracy theories (which have no real evidence). Read more here.
The Herrera Beutler / Kent race is one to watch, which is why I bring it up here. But that's not really what I want to talk about. I want to talk about love.
Move over "Sleepless in Seattle." Sorry "Twilight." There's a new rom-com in the Northwest thanks to the formulaic stylings of Hallmark — "Splash of Love."
And yes, I consider "Twilight" a romantic comedy. I certainly laughed a lot watching it.
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