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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Blocked by prosecutors, Seattle judge reassigned to parking and traffic tickets
A Seattle judge who recently came under fire from city prosecutors has been reassigned. KUOW has learned that Judge Pooja Vaddadi will focus on parking tickets and traffic infractions instead of criminal cases.
A spokesperson for Seattle Municipal Court said Thursday that Judge Vaddadi will remain in this role as long as the Seattle City Attorney’s Office continues to file affidavits disqualifying her from future criminal cases.
RELATED: Why is Seattle’s rent so high? Justice Department investigates possible price fixing
Earlier this month, Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison said her office will seek to exclude Vaddadi from all future criminal cases after encountering “a pattern of biased rulings.”
A memo from Davison's office stated, “The resounding input from attorneys that have appeared in [Judge Vaddadi’s] courtroom believe that her decisions demonstrate a complete lack of understanding, or perhaps even intentional disregard, of the evidence rules, even on basic issues.”
In an interview with KUOW, Judge Vaddadi, speaking on her own behalf and not for the court, denied any bias and said Davison never raised those concerns before seeking to have her disqualified.
“That’s why it did come as a surprise because in my head, in my heart, I have been impartial in every way that I have approached each case that comes in front of me,” Vaddadi said. “I only look at the facts before me, I only look at the law, and I do my balancing with community safety and what’s best for the defendant that’s in front of me.”
She said the criminal division of the city attorney's office has not supplied the case numbers that would allow her to examine the rulings they object to, but she would welcome the chance to discuss those concerns. In the meantime Vaddadi said handling parking tickets and traffic infractions is the best way to ease the strain on the court created by the city attorney’s actions.
“Technically it’s not a demotion, honestly I wouldn’t consider it one anyway,” Vaddadi said. “And judges in other jurisdictions do cover infractions so it’s not outside of what a judge does.”
Vaddadi said Seattle Municipal Court is somewhat unique in that parking tickets and traffic infractions are usually handled by appointed magistrates rather than by elected judges. But some of those magistrates may now be assigned to criminal cases to rebalance the workload.
“I really just want to help the best way that I can here,” Vaddadi said. “I would love to sit in my own courtroom to do the criminal cases that I’ve been elected to do. But ultimately I am a part of the court and – I don’t want to just be sitting around doing nothing.”
The city attorney disputes Vaddadi's version of events. A spokesperson for Davison's office told KUOW that Vaddadi was given prior warnings about concerns related to her performance. "At least one of the conversations – in which specific concerns were raised – took place in August of last year," Tim Robinson, communications manager for the Seattle City Attorney's Office, wrote in an email to KUOW.
Experts say prosecutors and defense lawyers routinely file "affidavits of prejudice" to disqualify judges from individual cases. But it’s a rare step to block a judge from all criminal matters.
This week, the court announced the response from the municipal court’s Presiding Judge Faye Chess.
“Under court rules, the Presiding Judge has reassigned Judge Vaddadi to handle traffic infractions and parking tickets since she is unable to hear criminal cases in formal court due to the affidavits,” court spokesperson Gary Ireland said.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office, as well as the King County Department of Public Defense, declined to comment on the judge’s reassignment.
Prior to her election to the bench in 2022, Vaddadi worked for seven years as a public defender and practiced in Seattle Municipal and King County Superior Courts.
RELATED: Week in Review — The legislative session, a plan for growth, and a Seattle judge disqualified
This post was updated on 3/22/24 with Judge Vaddadi's response to the reassignment announcement, and on 3/25/24 with a comment on her statement from the Seattle City Attorney's Office.
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Put cops back in school and shut down the street, Garfield High parents say after another Seattle shooting
Fiona is familiar with gun violence around Seattle's Garfield High School. The 17-year-old senior has sheltered in place while in a classroom, at basketball practice, and while jumping hurdles on the school's track — all in response to shots fired nearby.
Listen to this full story on Seattle Now
Still, when her mom called to let Fiona know that her friend was shot at a nearby bus stop on March 13, it came as a shock.
“My heart, like, immediately dropped … I was so sad," Fiona said. "I know they are going to be alright, but still — the PTSD and this ongoing cycle. Nothing has been done. I dunno, it needs to stop.”
RELATED: 7 graphics on kids and guns in the Seattle area
At around 2:40 p.m. that day, someone fired a gun from a light-colored SUV toward a bus stop near Garfield High School where many students were standing, according to the Seattle Police Department. A 17-year-old girl was shot in the leg and injured. She was not the intended target.
Such incidents are now familiar to the Garfield High School community. The school has experienced frequent shootings in recent years. For example, a series of altercations put Garfield and other nearby schools on lockdown last October. In June, three nearby shootings that did not involve students prompted another lockdown.
Garfield parents have had enough.
On Wednesday afternoon, some parents organized a demonstration to call attention to local gun violence, and to urge city leaders to take greater action. Some parents say they have solutions, despite what they perceive as little movement from city leaders.
“We feel a little forgotten here," said Melanie Skinner, Fiona's mom and an organizer of the event.
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Cougar that attacked women was 'pretty fat,' didn't act out of hunger, vet says
Five women who fought off a young male cougar on Tokul Creek trail north of Snoqualmie "did the right thing," according to a veterinarian with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The cougar attacked Keri Bergere, 60, while she was cycling with her friends, sinking its teeth into her jaw and pinning her to the ground. The other women fought it for 45 minutes before a Fish and Wildlife officer made it to the scene and shot the cougar.
RELATED: A cougar attacked them. They fought back for 45 harrowing minutes
At one point, Auna Tietz, 59, found a 25-pound boulder, the size of a large melon, and dropped it on the cougar's head several times. The cougar released Bergere about 15 minutes into the struggle, giving her time to scramble away.
Dr. Kristin Mansfield told KUOW the blows Tietz dealt with the heavy rock may have stunned the animal, giving her friend the chance she needed to get away.
"You do what you can with what you have available, and it's a really good chance that that was a significant action that they took to slow him down," Mansfield said.
Once the cyclists got the cougar off Bergere, they were able to pin it under one of their bikes. Officer Chris Moszeter arrived at the scene, and he shot the cougar between the shoulder blades. In an exclusive interview with KUOW, the women said it was a heartbreaking moment.
Mansfield said that gunshot wound "obliterated" much of the evidence of the women's struggle with the cougar.
One of the women had a two-inch knife and used it to stab the wild cat, for example, but the gunshot wound made it difficult to see those lacerations. The state necropsy did note several wounds on the body.
Read the full necropsy:
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Why is Seattle’s rent so high? Justice Department investigates possible price fixing
Following reports of alleged price fixing in the rental market, including in Western Washington, the U.S. Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into a third-party service used by large, corporate landlords.
The alleged scheme involves a company called RealPage, which sucks up proprietary data from landlords and spits out pricing recommendations. The service has also caught the attention of Western Washington leaders.
RELATED: AI tool helps Seattle landlords collude to keep rents high, report alleges
King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda is familiar with how technology can increase rents. When she was on the Seattle City Council, she helped shut down another tech company that operated like “Ebay for renters.”
“We heard a lot about this in the University District where prospective renters were going to apply for a rental unit online, and in real time, they would see the rental asking price scale up in front of their eyes, like Ebay," she said.
Moratoriums on that technology, including one in Seattle, appeared to have been effective. That company is no longer in business. The use of a different third-party technology to set rental prices is at the center of the DOJ's investigation.
The DOJ probe will look at a company called RealPage, which allegedly uses an algorithm to turn landlords' private data into recommendations on how high to set rent, which are then shared with all subscribers to its market analytics service.
If true, it could mean that multiple landlords are colluding on rental prices, though that collusion is hidden under the hood of RealPage's technology.
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'Overturning historical trauma.' Tulalip Tribes celebrates new laws supporting Native education in Washington schools
Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law 21 bills surrounding tribal resources and acknowledgements at the Tulalip Resort Casino on Tuesday, including two related to Native American education programs in K-12 schools.
HB 1879 renames the state’s Since Time Immemorial curriculum on Native American history, culture, and government in honor of late Democratic state lawmaker and Tulalip Tribes member John McCoy (luliaš). McCoy sponsored a bill establishing the original curriculum, which was adopted in 2015 — a decade after McCoy first proposed legislation the for the program.
McCoy, who died last year at age 79, championed various laws related to tribal rights and sovereignty. A computer programmer by trade, McCoy also helped the Tulalip Tribes build its digital infrastructure with high-speed internet and computers.
RELATED: This is how you create a curriculum the Tulalip way
“I think the thing he’s done is not only building those bridges, but opening those doors for tribal leaders to come in and tell their side of the story,” said Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman Teri Gobin. “If we’re not in telling our stories, somebody else is telling it.”
McCoy, whose father had been among many children punished for speaking Indigenous languages at Native boarding schools, also advocated for the presence of tribal language education in Washington’s public schools. Inslee signed a bill Tuesday backing the creation and expansion of those programs in K-12 schools, along with literacy supports for Indigenous students.
RELATED: 'I'm still healing.' Boarding school survivors recount stories of abuse, trauma
State Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D-Anacortes), who was present at Tuesday’s signing, said the new legislation takes a step in reversing Native American cultural erasure by the school system.
“It sets a foundation to be able to build language programs within public school systems that help bring the language back to Native American tribes and … overturn the historical trauma of how education was used to destroy who Native Americans are,” she said.
RELATED: What hides in the records from WA Catholic Native boarding schools? Tribes may soon find out
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Seattle Public Schools' latest budget proposal: Tapping into reserves, changing school start times
Seattle Public Schools might dip into its reserves for a second year in a row — and borrow money from other district funding pots — to cover the majority of a projected budget gap of more than $100 million next year.
That's according to district leaders' latest proposal, unveiled Wednesday, to balance the budget for the 2024-25 school year.
In all, the district would use $32 million of its ending fund balance, then borrow between $25 and $35 million from its capital building fund. That's called an interfund loan, and the district would need to repay the fund, with interest, by June of 2026.
On Wednesday, Superintendent Brent Jones repeatedly acknowledged tough decisions lie ahead.
"Please know we are carefully considering all perspectives as we navigate these complexities and strive to make decisions that are in the best interests of our students and staff," he said.
Other proposals in the financial plan include changing school start times from a two-bell system to three bells in 2025 — something parents rebelled against the last time it was proposed.
The district has operated on a two-bell system since the 2016-17 year, as part of an effort to start the school day later for teens, who need more sleep than younger kids.
But district officials now say switching back to three bells would shave about $9 million from its transportation budget — largely because about 80 fewer buses would be needed daily.
The district also proposes cutting central office staffing and spending by about $8 million, and saving about $7 million by reducing school staffing.
The plan also suggests the school board delay the repayment of the rainy day fund they drained to cover last year's $131 million budget deficit.
The district also may once again charge students to participate in sports. The district hasn't collected athletic fees since 2015, when the district received $2.7 million to cover transportation costs. But now, district officials say the change could generate up to $1.1 million in revenue.
No school closures are slated for next school year, but they might be part of a multi-year plan expected out in May.
The school board won't vote on next year's budget until July.
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As Seattle lost 10K Amazon employees, the company added corporate workers in Bellevue
Amazon’s Seattle headcount shrunk significantly over the past few years, while the tech giant steadily added employees in nearby Bellevue.
At its peak in 2020, Amazon employed about 60,000 corporate workers in Seattle, a company spokesperson told KUOW. Today, Amazon has about 50,000 employees in its home city. Amazon attributed the decline to a combination of layoffs and relocations.
RELATED: Disaster relief delivered by Amazon
Meanwhile, Amazon has grown to nearly 12,000 corporate employees in Bellevue, where the company says its future growth will be concentrated.
“I think that the Eastside in general has a reputation for being more business friendly, so that's definitely an attraction to invest there,” said Elliott Krivenko, a real estate analyst with CoStar Analytics.
The numbers, which were first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, reflect a shift in growth strategy Amazon first signaled in 2019 following a series of political battles with the Seattle City Council. Amazon plans to grow to 25,000 employees on the Eastside, including its critical worldwide retail operations team.
The shift has helped Downtown Bellevue’s commercial real estate market fair better than average for the region, according to Krivenko.
“Downtown Bellevue is still outperforming,” he said. “The vacancy rate is a lot lower than it is elsewhere in the Seattle Metro and there has been quite a bit of leasing of late. The first quarter of 2024 has been the strongest quarter that I've seen since fall of 2020 and would be a stellar quarter anytime in history for that submarket.”
It’s a shift Krivenko expects to accelerate when Bellevue is connected to Seattle via light rail. The East Link Extension from Seattle to Redmond is expected to open in 2025.
RELATED: First stretch of light rail service arrives in Bellevue in April 2024
“Once we have that line going across the lake, I think that's going to be the real game changer because then it won't really matter if you choose to work in Bellevue and live in Seattle or vice versa,” he said. “That's a one seat to ride fairly easy to hop on the train and get to one side of the lake or the other.”
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NHL on the Eastside? New hockey arena discussed by Seattle Kraken and Kirkland
The Seattle Kraken are courting Kirkland city leaders for a proposed multimillion-dollar community hockey facility on the Eastside that meets NHL standards.
"Kirkland recently received a proposal from the Seattle Kraken NHL team to build two regulation NHL ice rinks and ancillary support facilities ... at the former Houghton Park and Ride site that is now owned by the City," Kirkland City Councilmember Jon Pascal wrote in a recent Facebook post.
RELATED: Kirkland is the 3rd best city to live in the USA (and Sammamish ain't too shabby either)
If such a proposal is embraced by Kirkland, the team's home games would still be played at Climate Pledge Arena, and the Kraken would still maintain its offices and facility in Seattle's Northgate neighborhood (at Starbucks Rink, which can accommodate up to 600 fans to watch practices).
"To meet the rising demand and to connect with fans across the region, the Seattle Kraken is exploring the construction of additional ice facilities," a Kraken spokesperson said in a statement. "We have submitted a proposal for the development of two community-centered ice rinks at the existing Houghton Park and Ride location."
The spokesperson also noted that the potential Kirkland facility is "a direct response" to the region's growing interest in hockey. It could be used for youth and adult skating and hockey, figure skating, and other events.
RELATED: Climate Pledge becomes first sports arena to earn zero carbon certification
Currently, it's just a proposal as Kirkland leaders discuss how to use the public space that was once a park-and-ride. City documents state that any potential public-private partnership with Seattle's NHL team would be for long-term use.
The old Houghton Park and Ride site is located at 7024 116th Avenue NE, sandwiched between residences to the east, and I-405 to the west.
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‘Safety shouldn’t be a privilege.’ Garfield High parents demand action after student was shot
Garfield High School parents want Seattle leaders to do more to protect students after a 17-year-old was shot in the leg nearby the school last week.
Some parents have organized a “protect and protest'' event Wednesday, exactly one week after the student was shot. Organizers invited the community to protest at each corner of 23rd Avenue at 2:10 p.m., before school ends, to help them bring awareness to the ongoing gun violence in the area.
RELATED: What can be done to prevent further gun violence in or near Seattle schools?
“Our kid's lives are at stake every single day,” said Melanie Skinner, one of the parents organizing the protest outside Garfield High. “God, I’ll try not to cry, but I just — I feel like [Seattle’s Central District] is a community that nobody cares about.”
Parents and community members want city leaders and Seattle Public Schools to take stronger action to protect students and the larger Central District community. They told KUOW they feel like they have to do something to make it clear that something must be done about escalating violence they are witnessing.
“It should not be a privilege to have safety. [It] should be offered to all students," said another Garfield parent, whose name we're not disclosing to protect their child's privacy.
For Skinner, the tension and concern for safety is constantly on her mind.
“I think about it every morning, sending my daughter off to school,” she said. “Like, is she going to be killed today? Is that terrible? I mean, that's how I feel.”
According to a Seattle Police Department statement, the shooting on March 13 was not connected to a homicide that happened later in the day near 24th Avenue South and South Main Street. Investigators are still looking for a suspect. The student who was shot in the leg was not the intended target, according to police.
Newly elected Seattle City Councilmember Tanya Woo attended the East Precinct Advisory Council meeting Monday night, where many Garfield High parents showed up to voice their concerns and talk about solutions.
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Last season was harsh on Washington cherry growers. The USDA is offering help
Washington's sweet cherry growers can now apply for federal aid to help them bounce back from a disastrous 2023 season.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making $500,000 loans available to growers who lost crops — and cash — to poor conditions.
RELATED: $10 cherry grown in Washington state
Washington's Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Rep. Kim Schrier requested this help in a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
"Through no fault of their own, our cherry growers experienced immense challenges and economic losses last season, with data showing growers experienced losses of more than 50%," Schrier said in a statement. "That's why I proudly joined my colleagues in the Washington delegation in calling for a disaster declaration to help our growers recover and prepare for this upcoming growing season."
Extreme high temperatures in Washington state, and heavy rains in California, led to a bad season for growers, who ultimately lost about half their crops. The USDA declared 11 Washington counties as "primary natural disaster areas." They included Adams, Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Walla Walla, and Yakima.
RELATED: Rare, super-luxe greenhouse Northwest cherries fetch top dollar in Asia
In a statement, Cantwell said this disaster designation would help keep cherry industry going this season — "and ensure Washington's famously delicious sweet cherries make it into shopping carts."
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Salmon-spilling company ends fight to resume farming at Puget Sound sites
The company behind a massive spill of Atlantic salmon in 2017 has thrown in the towel on its efforts to keep farming fish at two sites in Puget Sound.
Cooke Aquaculture withdrew its appeal Friday of a 2022 Washington Department of Natural Resources order to shut down its floating farms off Bainbridge Island, just west of Seattle, and Hope Island in Skagit County.
New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke Aquaculture is one of the world's largest aquaculture businesses, with operations in 14 countries.
The company’s decrepit Cypress Island farm, rusting and overgrown with algae and other marine life, tore apart in August 2017, releasing 250,000 fish from another ocean into Puget Sound.
RELATED: Divers' videos capture new suspects in salmon farm collapse
In a press release, the company said the department withheld public documents, making it impossible to argue the case at Thurston County Superior Court effectively.
"At the rate DNR has produced records to date, it would take another six to seven years for all responsive records to be produced by DNR, which is an untenable and inconceivable situation," Cooke Aquaculture said in a statement.
"A further hearing on this matter is futile without Cooke having an opportunity to review DNR's internal records," the company concluded.
In an email to KUOW, Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Michael Kelly accused the company of going on "a lot of fishing expeditions" for public records.
"As a public agency, we have a proud record of providing records to litigants and the public as a whole as thoroughly and quickly as possible," Kelly said.
Public Lands Commissioner Hillary Franz has characterized Cooke's actions as "corporate tantrums."
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Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer will not run for re-election
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer will not run for re-election in 2024.
KUOW confirmed with Troyer's office Tuesday morning that the sheriff does not plan to seek re-election on November's ballot.
Troyer first started working at the Pierce County Sheriff's Office in 1985, and was elected to the sheriff's job in November 2020. His name was well known before that. As the spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff's Office since 1999, he was often the face and voice in front of media cameras.
Shortly after taking office, Troyer became the center of a controversy that led to a high-profile trial.
In 2021, Troyer called for backup on an early morning Black newspaper carrier, alleging he was acting suspiciously. Troyer claimed the newspaper carrier threatened his life and referred to him as a potential porch pirate. Multiple agencies responded to the incident. Troyer was eventually charged with making false or misleading statements to a public servant as well as false reporting.
A jury found Troyer not guilty. The sheriff, however, was added to the Brady List, a list maintained by prosecutors that identifies law enforcement officials with credibility issues.
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