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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Families won't know which Seattle schools may close until fall
Seattle Public Schools families have braced for a list of 20 elementary schools that might close to come out this month.
But district leaders will not be releasing that list this summer after all.
Superintendent Brent Jones said he now aims to present the list in September.
In a message sent to families Tuesday, Jones said the new timeline reflects concerns that summer break is not an ideal time to engage people for input.
RELATED: Will closing schools really balance the budget for Seattle Public Schools? Parents have their doubts
"We've heard from our community," Jones wrote. "Families and staff want to understand our planning process and react to proposals."
The board will vote on the final school closures plan in December, before winter break.
For weeks, Jones had pledged to share the closure list sometime in June.
But now, Jones said officials need more time this summer to "thoroughly consider" feedback and refine the plan. It comes after the district hosted a series of community "well-resourced schools" meetings, including one that devolved into frustrated parents booing and shouting at Jones and other district leaders.
RELATED: Tensions flare at Seattle school closure meeting
Families will still get an update on closures this week.
During the school board's meeting Wednesday — when families had expected to learn which schools were on the chopping block — Jones will give a presentation on the criteria the district is using for closures, including budget and enrollment data, building conditions, programs at specific schools, and community input.
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Not-so-fresh water: How to avoid getting poop-sick from Seattle lakes
With the sun blazing and temperatures expected to climb into the low 80s Friday, Seattleites will be eying area lakes and swimming beaches for relief from the heat.
But before you take the plunge, consider several factors that could prevent you or your furry friends (and pets) from getting sick or worse from bacteria and toxic algae that could be lurking in your favorite swimming hole.
First and foremost: The air gets hot in the Pacific Northwest a lot faster than the water, and that applies to both saltwater and freshwater sources. The temperature of water in Puget Sound on Thursday, according to satellite readings from NOAA, was just over 51 degrees, even though the sun was shining and outside temperatures closed in on 80 degrees.
RELATED: 8 mistakes to avoid if you're going out in the heat
In addition to cold water, the main dangers in Seattle area lakes and saltwater swimming areas are toxic algae and bacteria. KUOW reached out to King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks for tips on how to enjoy the water and avoid getting sick. This list was compiled with the help of three King County sources: Ecologist Daniel Nidzgorski, and water quality planners Wafa Tafesh and Rachael Gravon.
Tip No. 1 – Know before you go
The Washington Department of Ecology monitors the water at 52 high-use saltwater swimming beaches throughout the state and posts sample results from Memorial Day through Labor Day on a Beach Status map.
Meanwhile, King County conducts weekly tests from mid-May to mid-September for high bacteria levels and toxic algae at public swimming beaches on Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish, Green Lake and other popular spots. As of Thursday, the county listed three beaches with high bacteria counts — Enatai Beach, Houghton Beach and Andrews Bay Beach at Seward Park.
RELATED: How risky is it to swim in Washington lakes?
The county also measures water temperature at popular swimming spots and advises people to stay out of the water when the water is below 70 degrees.
Tip No. 2 – Recognize toxic algae
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Mysterious posters in courthouse garage could have jeopardized Auburn police killing case, judge says
The trial of an Auburn police officer charged with murder went to the jury Thursday, but not before a dramatic discovery the judge said threatened to jeopardize the case.
Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson faces charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for twice shooting Jesse Sarey on May 31, 2019. Nelson is the first police officer charged under a new state standard for misuse of deadly force.
Before closing arguments could take place, Judge Nicole Gaines Phelps told a packed courtroom at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent that Tim Leary, one of Nelson’s defense attorneys, arrived early Thursday to find dozens of fliers hung in the courthouse parking garage pointing out Nelson’s two previous deadly force incidents while working at the Auburn Police Department. The court had excluded information about these previous cases from the trial.
Leary removed the posters but Judge Phelps was concerned that jurors could have seen them, providing grounds for a mistrial.
“Whoever is doing things like this — you are severely jeopardizing this case,” Phelps said. “This is not a way to make sure justice is done, because if one of our jurors or multiple numbers of our jurors have been exposed to this, it means we could potentially have to start over with this trial.”
No jurors said they had seen the fliers, but Phelps said she’s asked staff to look into who posted them.
Nelson’s encounter with Sarey began when businesses called 911 saying he was banging on windows, throwing rocks, and might be high or in a mental health crisis.
Prosecuting attorney Patty Eakes said Nelson received crisis intervention training three times, at the police academy and on the job, but did not wait for backup or take other measures to de-escalate his encounter before grappling with Sarey and shooting him in the abdomen and head.
Eakes said Nelson “disregarded his training at every step of the way. At each point when he could have safely and without force arrested Mr. Sarey, he instead chose to toss that training aside and take the most aggressive path.”
Nelson’s defense attorneys told jurors that Nelson’s actions were justified because Sarey tried to grab Nelson’s gun and a folding knife in his pocket, and Nelson didn’t know whether Sarey had gained control of the knife or not. Defense attorney Kristen Murray said Sarey stood to challenge Nelson, rather than Nelson pulling Sarey to his feet when Sarey ignored his commands.
“Over and over again the state told you officer Nelson picked up Mr. Sarey, but not one witness told you that. They are relying on video and what they want you to believe the video shows,” Murray said.
RELATED: For murder trial of Auburn police officer, lawyers probe jurors' views on deadly force
She also briefly addressed the defense team’s decision to rest its case without having Nelson testify, contrary to what was promised in opening statements May 16. (On that day defense attorney Emma Scanlan told jurors, "You’re going to hear from officer Nelson. He’s been waiting for five years to explain what happened and tell you what actually occurred.”)
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BNSF Railway ordered to pay $395 million after years of trespassing on Swinomish land
A federal judge on Monday ordered BNSF Railway to pay the Swinomish Tribe $395 million for illegally running mile-long oil trains through the tribe’s reservation for nearly a decade.
Since 2012, BNSF has been hauling Bakken crude from North Dakota to a pair of oil refineries in Anacortes, Washington. To get there, the mile-long trains roll through the Swinomish Reservation, about 50 miles north of Seattle.
BNSF has permission from the tribe to run two oil trains a day, totaling no more than 50 tanker cars, through its reservation.
Instead, BNSF has been running oil trains with 100 or more cars each across the reservation’s northern end up to six times a day.
“The trespass was willful, knowing, and conscious throughout the trespass period,” U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said in his ruling.
As a “conscious wrongdoer,” BNSF “will be stripped of the net profits obtained from its unauthorized interference with another’s property,” Lasnik ordered.
BNSF officials declined to comment on the ruling. Swinomish Tribal Chairman Steve Edwards declined, through a spokesperson, to be interviewed but issued a written statement.
“This land is what we have,” Edwards said. “This is what we kept as our homeland when we signed the Treaty of Point Elliott. We have always protected it and we always will.”
RELATED: Oil train derailed to avoid plunging into Puget Sound, tribal leader says
BNSF and the Swinomish Tribe agreed that the company had trespassed but had been arguing over how much profit the company should be forced to disgorge — the legal term for coughing up illegal profits.
“We know that this is a large amount of money. But that just reflects the enormous wrongful profits that BNSF gained by using the Tribe’s land day after day, week after week, year after year over our objections,” Edwards said.
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Seattle crows, beloved and feared, may be playing us with their primate-sized brains
Seattle has a thing about crows.
Crows are ubiquitous to the city — a single roost at the University of Washington Bothell campus is home to as many as 16,000 birds. The sight of thousands of crows flying toward the campus at dusk has become one of Seattle’s signature attractions for those in the know.
A crow-filled sky might stir Hitchcockian visions for some, a “murder” of crows harassing people when they venture outside. This is the time of year when Seattleites take to social media with tales of protective crow parents dive-bombing them for unwittingly wandering too close to crow fledglings too young to fly.
The advice to those pleading for help is almost unanimous: Befriend the crows.
But researchers have observed another facet of the human-crow relationship: Crows, which have brains the size of a small primate's, may be playing us.
Related: Where do Seattle-area crows go at night?
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The Supreme Court overturned the federal bump stock ban. What does that mean for Washington state?
In a 6-3 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on bump stocks on Friday. So, what does that mean for Washington state's ban on the devices that make semi-automatic guns shoot more rapidly?
RELATED: Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era federal ban on bump stocks
In short, not much.
Alan Gottlieb, founder the Bellevue-based gun rights group the Second Amendment Foundation, said the SCOTUS ruling does not affect the state law banning bump stocks. Nor does the ruling make the state law more vulnerable to legal challenges, Gottlieb said, noting he is not aware of any ongoing legal challenges in Washington.
That's because of the rulings focus on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' federal authority to issue the ban. The justices essentially ruled that the ATF does not have the authority to redefine a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a bump stock as a "machine gun." The federal ban, instituted in 2017 under former President Donald Trump, did exactly that.
RELATED: What the bump stock ban could mean for guns in the U.S.
The federal ban came after a gunman at a Las Vegas concert used guns modified with bump stock devices to kill 60 people and injure 400 in just 11 minutes. The ATF's ban on bump stocks determined the devices effectively transformed legal semi-automatic weapons into illegal machine guns because of the rate of fire.
But that's at the federal level, authority over which the conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled lies only with Congress.
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Boeing, my dad, and Airplane Economics 101
In the months following Boeing’s now-infamous door panel blowout, speculation has swirled that the company’s troubles can be traced back to its decision to outsource so much of its manufacturing. The piece of fuselage in question was built in Kansas by Spirit AeroSystems, once a subsidiary of Boeing that was spun out in search of financial savings.
RELATED: Boeing’s woes mean rising anxiety in Wichita, Kansas, the 'Air Capital of the World'
In retrospect, it’s easy to accuse Boeing of putting profits above all else, but I wanted to understand what went into those decisions over the past five decades. I didn’t have to go very far to find answers. I happen to know an economist and aerospace consultant, who worked for Boeing in the '90s when this outsourcing shift was well underway: my dad, Jerry Nickelsburg.
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Outgoing UW President Cauce reflects on the joys and challenges of 10 tumultuous years
When Ana Mari Cauce accepted the role of president of the University of Washington in 2015, she was upfront with the Board of Regents. She only planned to serve two five-year terms. Now, she's following through on that statement.
"(Ten years) really gives you enough time to get something done and to get something accomplished," Cauce told KUOW. "So this has been planned for a while."
RELATED: While women outnumber men on campus, their later earnings remain stuck
Cauce announced this week that she will exit her role as president at the start of summer 2025. She still has a year on the job. After that, she will go back to her faculty position as a professor of psychology.
Her announcement to step down comes after tense protests around the UW Seattle campus, particularly over the war in Gaza. Cauce said the situation was difficult to navigate. Some universities opted to call police on protest camps. Cauce said that is a difficult decision considering it's your own students who are likely to be arrested or removed. However, she argues that many protesters came from outside the university. The situation at UW came to a peaceful end after talks with the president.
"The truth is that almost no matter when I stepped down ... it probably would have been a difficult one," she said. "And that this has been a very dynamic 10-year period. I started right after Ferguson and the beginning of the Black Lives Matter (movement). We've had Covid. Coming out of Covid was also almost as difficult as going in. And we had the George Floyd moments, so it's been a very, very dynamic period."
"There's no question that this last year has been particularly difficult, and that the war in Gaza has been particularly polarizing, not just on college campuses, but across the country and across the world."
With one more year to go, Cauce said it's too early to begin reflecting on her time in the president's office. She says she focused on a handful of key issues: expanding educational access, and work around population health, climate change, and inequality. Still, she's proud of the work that UW has done during her time in leadership.
RELATED: What comes next for the pro-Palestine protesters at UW?
"We have a program called 'converge' where we meet with (alumni). We have about eight different alumni associations in Asia, and meeting with them all together and seeing how many of our students are actually now deans and heads at universities across the world — that is incredible. I recently had a little bit of time to spend with one of my students who's now the provost at Arizona State University, and seeing how well she's doing. There's just so many moments."
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Seattle library patrons rejoice (quietly). Digital books are back
Readers rejoice! As of midday on Thursday, Seattle Public Library's digital book collection is once again accessible to the public.
It’s the latest milestone as the library system works to recover a cyberattack last month that halted services.
E-books and downloadable audio books are once again available on OverDrive and Libby.
“While restoring e-book access is a significant step toward the library’s recovery, we still have work left to do to bring other systems back online,” said a post on the library’s Shelf Talk Blog.
Several services remain unavailable, like public computers and in-building Wi-Fi, and library staff warn that wait times for digital books may be longer than normal.
They also say some titles may not have copies available, and new books haven't been added to the electronic collection since May 21.
Details of the ransomware attack that downed systems over the Memorial Day weekend have not been shared. It’s also unclear exactly when all library services will be up and running again.
For now, the library’s 27 branches are open and simply functioning in a low-tech capacity. The welcome return of e-books and e-audiobooks comes just in time for patrons to start their summer reading.
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Supreme Court, siding with Starbucks, makes it harder for NLRB to win court orders in labor disputes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for the federal government to win court orders when it suspects a company of interfering in unionization campaigns in a case that stemmed from a labor dispute with Starbucks.
The justices tightened the standards for when a federal court should issue an order to protect the jobs of workers during a union organizing campaign.
RELATED: Starbucks kicks off bring-your-own-cup effort to reduce waste
The court unanimously rejected a rule that some courts had applied to orders sought by the National Labor Relations Board in favor of a higher threshold, sought by Starbucks, that must be met in most other fights over court orders, or injunctions.
The NLRB had argued that the National Labor Relations Act, the law that governs the agency, has for more than 75 years allowed courts to grant temporary injunctions if they find requests “just and proper.” The agency said the law doesn’t require it to prove other factors and was intended to limit the role of the courts.
Following the decision, Starbucks said, “Consistent federal standards are important in ensuring that employees know their rights and consistent labor practices are upheld no matter where in the country they work and live.”
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Federal grant to help people in Northeastern Washington get hooked up to the power grid
Some people in Northeastern Washington aren’t hooked up to the power grid. Now, a new $5 million federal grant will help more than 200 people get access to power.
“We're aware of a lot of those areas within our service area where the power stops,” said Steve VanSlyke, manager for Ferry County’s Public Utility District No. 1.
RELATED: Demand for electricity in the Pacific Northwest expected to jump 30%
The grant will help parts of Ferry and Okanogan counties connect homes to the grid for the first time, extending 30 miles of underground electric distribution lines. The service area includes parts of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and other tribal members who live off the reservation.
The underground lines will prevent power outages from things like falling tree limbs or wildfires. The grant also will help upgrade one of the rural area’s substations, which will help make the grid more resilient.
According to the state Office of Financial Management, 37% of people in the public utility district’s service area are considered under the federal poverty level, with the lowest per capita income in Washington.
These rural areas disproportionately face larger burdens as the state transitions to carbon-free power sources, VanSlyke said.
Without access to the grid, people often rely solely on carbon-emitting power sources, VanSlyke said, like diesel generators.
“Those are the people that are going to be most adversely affected by being priced out of carbon emitting fuels,” he said. “Those resources just aren't gonna be available, or they're going to be priced out of them in the near future. So getting affordable energy sources to these people is going to be a big deal.”
RELATED: Northwest companies charge toward battery tech revolution
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Makah tribe clears major hurdle toward resuming traditional whale hunts
SEATTLE (AP) — The United States granted the Makah Indian Tribe in Washington state a long-sought waiver Thursday that helps clear the way for its first sanctioned whale hunts since 1999.
The Makah, a tribe of 1,500 people on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting for gray whales.
The decision by NOAA Fisheries grants a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which otherwise forbids harming marine mammals. It allows the tribe to hunt up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years, with a limit of two to three per year. There are roughly 20,000 whales in that population, and the hunts will be timed to avoid harming endangered Western North Pacific gray whales that sometimes visit the area.
Nevertheless, some hurdles remain. The tribe must enter into a cooperative agreement with the agency under the Whaling Convention Act, and it must obtain a permit to hunt, a process that involves a monthlong public comment period.
Animal rights advocates, who have long opposed whaling, could also challenge NOAA’s decision in court.
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