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September 16, 2019

Where there’s wildfire, there’s smoke. Protecting ‘clean-air refugees.’

Smoke from the Thomas Fire, viewed from Santa Barbara on December 5, 2017.

Summer in Seattle offers a luminous respite from the rest of the year. The clouds depart and carry away the rains as the sky shades cobalt blue and the sun casts golden light from Puget Sound to Mount Rainier. The city feels liberated. Or so residents recall of an earlier time. In the past decade,…


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September 11, 2019

Wartime history found in secret compartment on Beacon Hill

This letter thanking the Seattle lodge of the International Workers’ Order for support for Soviet war relief was found hidden in a ceiling of a house on Beacon Hill.

A Beacon Hill couple recently discovered a secret compartment in the basement ceiling of their 1920s house. Hidden inside the compartment was an intriguing collection of World War II and early-Cold War documents that reveal the activities of the Seattle chapter of a mostly-forgotten national organization, as well some other more provocative political activities from…



September 9, 2019

Project aims to boost care for opioid use among homeless

Tents line a street in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.

On August 21, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the University of Washington’s Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute (ADAI) announced the Meds-First Initiative that expands an innovative approach to treating opioid-use disorder for high-acuity populations to four locations in Washington. The treatment sites are located across the state in North Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and Walla Walla. “Medication…


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September 5, 2019

Over 4,100 earthquakes strike west of Puget Sound, but you can’t feel them

Pacific Northwest Seismic Network recent events in the Puget Sound region.

West of Puget Sound, the ground is trembling — but even if you live over there, you probably wouldn’t know it. An episodic tremor and slip (ETS) event appears to be underway, according to scientists at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. ETS tends to happen once every 14 months or so, when the Cascadia subduction zone gets a…


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August 29, 2019

Mental health benefits of nature should influence city planning, says UW study

Sao Paulo, Brazil.

City planners should consider the mental health benefits of green spaces when making plans for the future of their cities. That’s according to a new study out of University of Washington that says urban green spaces can help improve mental health. The study found that accounting for the economic impacts of these benefits might help cities prioritize…


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No minorities, no meat? Gig economy deepens cities’ divides

Downtown Seattle, 6th and Pine.

When an Indian customer of online food delivery service Zomato tweeted that he had canceled his order because it had been assigned to a non-Hindu worker, and his request for a Hindu denied, thousands weighed in. Last month’s incident was among a long series of allegations of discrimination related to religion, race, gender or sexual…


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How tech keeps Seattle’s transit system running — and why more innovation could be coming

King County Metro Low Floor 40' HEV.

Amid a sea of green rectangles on a computer monitor, one had turned red. A RapidRide bus — the red rectangle — was traveling a bit too rapidly. It was almost 11 a.m. on Friday, August 23 in the King County Metro Transit Control Center (TCC). Coordinators sat in front of large monitors, tracking the…


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August 28, 2019

Seismic ‘slow-slip’ event happening now, but will it increase the chance of an earthquake?

Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS) event of August 2019. This plot of the first two weeks of this episode is color coded by time (blue earliest, red latest).

Seismologists are monitoring a seismic event that they say is happening right now. It’s called a “slow-slip” event. According to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, this event happens about every 14 months. PNSN has been tracking it for about two decades, ever since the Nisqually earthquake. Think of Earth as…


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August 26, 2019

‘The lack of affordable housing is actually costing us’: Cantwell promotes affordable housing bill in Spokane

Affordable housing program (HOME), Riverwalk Point - Spokane, Washington.

Had U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell stood at 1 S. Madelia St. just a few years ago, she would have been in a used car lot. But on Tuesday, she was in the the lobby of an affordable housing complex now home to more than 100 residents. Cantwell was joined by Spokane leaders on Tuesday as…


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August 22, 2019

‘Hidden’ data exacerbates rural public health inequities

A rural town in Skagway, Alaska, September 2018.

Differences in the health of rural residents compared to their urban neighbors are startling. In Washington, for instance, rural residents are one-third more likely to die from intentional self-harm or 13 percent more likely to die from heart disease. However, while statistics like these help guide public health policy and spending, they can hide even…


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