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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5 fire safety tips to consider this Labor Day Weekend
Whether your Labor Day weekend plans include sitting around a campfire or grilling out, state officials are urging Washingtonians to prioritize fire safety.
Fire departments across the state responded to a total of 4,647 incidents over Labor Day last year, resulting in over $2 million in property loss, according to the State Fire Marshal's Office.
And although the most common incidents last year were rescue and emergency medical services, the Fire Marshal's Office says fire-related events amounted to the largest monetary losses.
To prevent these types of incidents and keep everyone safe, the Fire Marshal's Office asks state residents to:
- Follow local burn bans or fire restrictions, whether you're at home or visiting another part of the state.
- Avoid lighting consumer fireworks. They're illegal in Washington at this time of the year.
- Always use grills outdoors and make sure they're placed far enough away from buildings, decks, and overhanging tree branches. Never leave the grill unattended and keep a fire extinguisher, bucket of water, or garden hose within reach. (Also, regularly clean your grill to prevent grease buildup, which can cause dangerous flare-ups.)
- Make sure your vehicle's exhaust system is functioning properly to avoid sparks hitting dry vegetation. Also, never park on dry grass, because hot exhaust systems can start fires, and avoid operating equipment in dry, grassy areas.
- Secure all trailers, boats, and other recreational equipment before traveling, and make sure no objects, such as chains, drag on the road.
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Sara Nelson, Dionne Foster differ on how to tackle substance use in Seattle City Council race
Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson is facing a tough race to keep her at-large seat this November, after finishing the Aug. 5 primary more than 20 points behind her opponent.
Nelson has made addressing substance use disorder a central issue in her campaign. Her challenger Dionne Foster comes from the nonprofit world. And while they are not polar opposites on this issue, Foster has some clear differences with Nelson.
When it comes to Seattle’s strategy for people struggling with addiction, Nelson refers to her own recovery from alcoholism as a touchstone. She said it’s a journey that began abruptly five years ago, during the depths of the pandemic.
“I decided to check myself into treatment one day, it was actually September 24, 2020, when I saw my son doing video on his cell phone and he should have been in class on zoom,” she said. “And so I smashed his phone with a hammer and I realized that that was an overreaction. And I had been drinking, and I decided that it was time to make a change.”
Nelson went to Lakeside-Milam, a residential treatment facility in Kirkland, where she went through detox, then weeks of counseling and education. She found it so effective that she successfully obtained $300,000 in city funds to pilot free residential treatment for people referred by caseworkers in Seattle.
She’s also pushed for sober housing for people in recovery. But as she faces a progressive challenger this election season, Nelson is stressing her support for a broad array of approaches, not just abstinence.
“We’re all wanting the same thing, I believe, which is recovery,” she said. “Recovery doesn’t necessarily have to imply abstinence, it really means helping people get their lives back together.”
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Seattle installs visual barrier at Denny Blaine, breaks park into naked, clothed sections
Seattle Parks and Recreation installed new signs and fencing at Denny Blaine Park Wednesday in response to an order from a King County judge.
The park is now divided into two sections: The one closer to the water, where people are allowed to be naked, and the upper section, closer to the parking lot, where clothing is required.
King County Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung called for the installation of a four-foot tall visual barrier last week, but Chung refused to close the park for a second time.
RELATED: Seattle's Denny Blaine Park will stay open, but add 'visual barrier'
A group of park neighbors sued the city, hoping to ban nudity at Denny Blaine Park, arguing that the popular nude beach was attracting illicit behavior like public masturbation and drug use. Some nearby homeowners said the lewd acts were devaluing their properties.
Beachgoers at the park Wednesday said they were not the cause of disturbances, and it was in their interest to keep the “positive vibes” and “good spirit” at Denny Blaine alive and well.
In addition to the division of the park and the “visual barrier,” the proposed abatement plan calls for adding park rangers to curb illegal behavior.
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Lummi Nation police officer shot during traffic stop; suspect now in custody
A Lummi Nation police officer was shot multiple times during a traffic stop early Monday morning. The suspect is now in custody after an hourslong search.
Just before 1 a.m. Monday, the 37-year-old Lummi Nation officer was investigating a traffic incident in the 3200 block of North Red River Road, after a car had driven off the road and into the ditch, according to a Facebook post by the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office.
When the officer approached the driver, they opened fire and shot the officer "multiple times," before fleeing the scene on foot.
Multiple agencies responded to the incident, according to the sheriff's office. The shooter is now in custody, as of 3:15 p.m. Monday.
The officer who was shot was immediately transported to emergency medical care and has since undergone surgery.
"Today, we faced a horrific incident that has deeply affected our community," Whatcom County Sheriff Donnell "Tank" Tanksley said in a statement in the Facebook post. "I want to emphasize our unwavering support for the office and their family during this difficult time. We are working diligently to investigate this incident to help ensure that justice is served."
More information was expected later in the day after the suspect was caught.
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Geeks, parents, and baby names. Should pop culture name your baby?
When my wife Nina told me we were going to be first-time parents, one of the first things I started thinking about was a baby name. Sure, I also thought about parenting styles, how I could rewatch all of “Star Trek” with him, and the potential for starting a band. But baby name ideas was top of the list. It had to be something personal, a bit unique, and hold meaning. I wanted a name from pop culture.
But is that really a good idea?
I'm a nerd so there was no getting around it — geek baby names. I tossed around ideas from sci-fi, literature, and classic movies. In the end, two things were certain: The baby name would have to mean something to both Nina and I, reflecting both our backgrounds and interests. Also, it wasn't going to be Jean-Luc Oxley.
As we found out, sourcing baby names from pop culture isn't so easy. It can be a double-edged sword.
This article on parenting, pop culture, and baby names comes from KUOW's "Meet Me Here" podcast featuring Pam Redmond and Sophie Kihm with the baby name website Nameberry. Listen to the full episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.
If you ask Pam Redmond, creator of the website Nameberry which is all about baby names, choosing a pop culture name has a lot of “potential downsides.”
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King County prosecutor pauses youth felony diversion, citing high reoffending rates
Since 2021, the King County Prosecutor’s Office has referred youth accused of misdemeanors and those facing nonviolent felony charges to a coalition of nonprofits. But now prosecutors say recidivism rates for the felony participants appear to be unacceptably high, and they will “pause” felony referrals until they get more data.
King County has spent $16 million over the last four years to fund the work of Restorative Community Pathways in an effort to divert youth away from courts and detention. But as KUOW has reported, King County officials have been criticized for lax oversight of the programs and funding involved, and RCP has struggled with capacity issues .
Critics call the prosecutor’s decision to limit use of the program long overdue.
King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion notified county officials of the change in a July 17 letter, saying an analysis performed by Seattle University Economics Professor Claus Pörtner tracked 902 case referrals (676 misdemeanors and 226 felonies) for a maximum of 24 months. Within that time, youth referred to Restorative Community Pathways for misdemeanors had a reoffending rate of roughly 37%, while youth referred over felonies had a higher recidivism rate of 53%.
Manion said the analysis had serious limitations, such as a small sample size and lack of a control group. But still, she said, recidivism exceeding 50% bolstered her decision.
“There are some folks that may interpret that as a 50-50 shot of success, or maybe a ‘flip of a coin’ type of success,” she said. “That’s not actually how I read the data – but because of that, and because we have discretion, I made the decision to temporarily pause felony referrals” into Restorative Community Pathways, she told KUOW.
Manion said these programs could be providing other benefits that aren't reflected in the analysis.
“Recidivism is one data point, but it’s not the whole story," said Jasmine Vail, the communications and development coordinator at Restorative Community Pathways.
She and Manion both noted that the analysis only tracks participants for two years when three years is accepted best practice.
But at the same time, Vail said, “it’s our responsibility to understand what’s going on and why there’s a felony pause connected to recidivism rates, and adjust accordingly, because we want the best quality of service given to our youth, especially youth that are high risk, high needs.”
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Seattle City Council names 6 finalists to replace Cathy Moore
The Seattle City Council has selected six finalists to fill the District 5 seat left open when former Councilmember Cathy Moore stepped down earlier this month.
Moore's replacement will be selected on July 28.
RELATED: Seattle City Council goes from Cathy Moore to Cathy-Less
The candidates include:
- James M. Bourey, the executive director of the Seattle Architecture Foundation. He also previously served as city manager in Newport News, Va., and Greenville, S.C.
- Katy Haima, a community planning manager for the city of Seattle. She's worked for the city in various roles for the last decade, namely in the Office of Planning and Community Development.
- Nilu Jenks, who previously ran for this seat in 2023; Jenks came in third in the primary behind Cathy Moore and ChrisTiana ObeySumner. Jenks is the political and partnerships director for FairVote Washington.
- Debora Juarez, who previously represented District 5 on the City Council, including as president. As a member of the Blackfeet Nation, she was the first Native American to serve on the Council when she was first elected in 2015. She opted not to run for reelection in 2023.
- Julie Kang, the director of professional and continuing education at Seattle University. Kang also serves on numerous community boards, including the King County Citizens' Election Oversight Committee, the Seattle City Club Board, and the Korean American Coalition of Washington Board.
- Robert D. Wilson, a senior product manager at Amazon who addressed his lack of experience in public office in his application letter. "If you are looking for someone with extensive experience in elected office," he wrote, "you can save yourself time by putting my application down right now." He's been with Amazon for nearly a decade and served in the Navy before that.
They were selected from a pool of 22 candidates who sought a chance to represent the district that encompasses North Seattle, including portions of Greenwood up through Broadview, Bitter Lake, and Lake City.
The finalists will appear at a public forum at North Seattle College on July 21 and again on July 22 during a special council meeting. The City Council members are expected to hold a final vote to appoint Moore's replacement on July 28.
Moore decided to step down in June in the midst of her first term on the City Council, citing "recent health challenges." Her last day on the job was July 7.
Hers was the third vacancy left on the council in just two years.
Former City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda left her post in January 2024 to take a seat on the King County Council. Then, former Councilmember Tammy Morales stepped down last January, citing bullying and gaslighting at the Council.
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Fans of Little Red Hen, banjos and fiddles in hand, rally to save Seattle honky-tonk
The Little Red Hen has a sign promoting “live country music.” It’s a honky-tonk landmark in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood.
Opened first in 1933, it moved to its current location in 1968. The venue hosts local musicians and dancing, from country to bluegrass to open mic nights and karaoke. But now patrons are alarmed over its potential closure.
On Tuesday nights, the bar’s bluegrass jam attracts so many players, they spill onto the sidewalk outside. Stan Hall is the president of Outlanders Progressive Bluegrass Social Club, which organizes the event.
“This is the overflow jam,” Hall said. “So inside, you’ve got about 10 pickers right now and that’s probably a little large for the circle, so they start to break off. They play out here, and then we have our — we call it the dumpster jam. They play out back in the parking lot.”
RELATED: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library survives WA funding cuts — for now
In the wake of the pandemic, Hall’s organization focused on seeking out places for local musicians of all ages and levels to play together.
“Once Covid hit, we lost the longtime jams and people didn’t know where to go anymore after that,” he said. “If we fancy ourselves a musical city, we’ve got to fight for it, right?”
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Washington's biggest utility pays customers to save energy during heat wave
With temperatures expected to hit the 90s in much of Washington Wednesday, the state’s largest utility is paying some customers to save energy.
Puget Sound Energy is paying customers to temporarily dial back their electricity use to keep power prices down.
Demand for electricity is expected to surge as people flee the heat and crank up the air conditioning.
A surge in air conditioning during a heat wave in July 2024 drove up regional electricity use by Puget Sound Energy customers by more than one-third, according to the Energy Information Administration.
RELATED: It’s about to hit 90 degrees in Seattle. Here’s how to keep your pets cool
Such spikes in demand could force PSE and other utilities to buy expensive power on the open market.
“Customers’ efforts to collectively contribute to smoothing out the demand during high demand periods helps us transition to cleaner energy and keeps us from going to the market or using those more costly facilities to generate more energy,” Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Gerald Tracy said.
During extreme-weather events such as heat waves or wintertime cold snaps, Puget Sound Energy asks customers to reduce or shift their electricity use away from peak hours and activates programs that reward customers who do so.
Customers who sign up for “PSE Flex” programs get paid to do things like turn up their thermostats a few degrees or charge electric vehicles late at night.
In one PSE Flex program, customers get $25 to enroll and $1 for every kilowatt-hour they save during brief windows when power demand is peaking.
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Washington state bans invasive ivy
Washington state has banned the sale or transport of English ivy and its cousin, Atlantic ivy.
The leafy holiday decorations are also aggressive invaders of Northwest forests.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture on Wednesday added 19 species to its quarantine list of plants and seeds that cannot be sold or distributed in the state due to their potential to wreak havoc on agricultural and natural areas.
None of those noxious weed species attracted nearly as much attention as the two European ivies.
“Local jurisdictions and Washington state spend millions of dollars, either in volunteer hours or actual funds, to remove ivy from forests, urban forests in particular,” said landscape architect Kristi Park of Bellingham. “So, the fact that you could turn around and buy it just blew my mind.”
RELATED: Have a Holly Noxious Christmas? State board eyes un-jolly label for invasive greenery
In 2002, Washington’s Noxious Weed Control Board listed three cultivated varieties of English ivy and one of Atlantic ivy as “Class C noxious weeds,” but that designation carries no restrictions on growing or selling a plant.
Some nurseries, big-box retailers, and online stores continue to sell ivy in Washington state. They have to stop doing so by Aug. 9.
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Bolder efforts needed to save Northwest's endangered orcas, report finds
Efforts to save the Northwest’s endangered orcas are not working on either side of the U.S.-Canada border, according to an international panel of scientists.
In a new report, the panel of 31 researchers call for bolder measures to bring the endangered whales back from the brink of extinction.
The whale experts say these orcas urgently need comprehensive action for quiet, clean, salmon-rich waters.
“It's a declining population, and it's a population that we predict will be declining for a generation or two, and then that decline will accelerate rapidly towards extinction if we don't turn this around quickly,” said Rob Williams, chief scientist with the nonprofit Oceans Initiative in Seattle and one of the report’s coauthors.
The salmon-eating orcas, known as southern resident killer whales, were declared an endangered species in Canada in 2001 and in the United States in 2005.
A patchwork of projects and regulations since then has failed to boost their numbers.
“Whatever it is we're doing, collectively, cumulatively, is not enough. The population is still declining,” Williams said. “The whales need more salmon and less noise, and we need to somehow reduce the impact of toxic chemicals on the whales’ health and reproduction.”
RELATED: NOAA firings in Seattle include orca-saving employee of the year
Noise can prevent orcas from finding the salmon they hunt using echolocation.
Many cargo ships have voluntarily slowed down in recent years to make less noise in orca waters, and regulations in Washington state in 2025 widened the space boaters are required to give the whales to 1,000 yards. Canadian officials are considering requiring boats to stay 1,000 meters (1,094 yards) away.
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Trump casts shadow over Seattle’s city attorney race
Four years ago, Ann Davison’s victory in the race for Seattle city attorney was seen as an upset, fueled by voter distress over drug use and petty crime. Now Davison faces three challengers in her quest for a second term — and they’re banking on Seattle voters’ opposition to the second Trump administration.
Davison went public in 2020 with her disillusionment with the local Democratic party, which she accused of failing to address social disorder on the streets of Seattle. After a failed bid for lieutenant governor as a Republican in 2020, she won the race to become Seattle's city attorney in 2021.
The three Democrats running against her in this year's race are highlighting her Republican credentials to voters.
“I really do think it’s irrelevant,” she said in a recent interview. “This is a nonpartisan race and I’m a problem-solver.”
Davison said one of her biggest accomplishments was reducing the impact of what her office refers to as “high utilizers,” 118 people who generated thousands of misdemeanor criminal referrals. Those people weren’t getting booked into jail when she took office, and she worked to change that.
Davison said staying focused on local conditions is the best way to increase public safety. Early reports suggest crime is dropping in Seattle and King County this year, joining national trends.
“These three-and-a-half years I’ve been in office have been significant," she said. "I think the city has turned — we’ve shown that safety is important. We’re not done but that’s been kind of the most significant piece for me personally and professionally."
But in a city that has seen vigorous protests against Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, Davison’s three Democratic opponents say her party affiliation is relevant to voters.
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