Tag Archives: King County

Voices

OPINION | King County, Port of Seattle Must Demand Humane Conditions for ICE Deportation Flights

by Angelina Snodgrass Godoy

On Tuesday, May 2, ICE resumed its deportation flights out of King County’s Boeing Field. This is the shameful result of a federal judge’s ruling last month that despite known abuses on deportation flights, the County is not allowed to decline to participate in them, as it did when Dow Constantine issued an executive order in May 2019. (Since that time, deportation flights have been routed through Yakima.)

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Features

A Changing of Worlds: The Liminal Space of Comet Lodge Cemetery

by Alex Garland

The history of a place often solidifies as the days tick by, with old documents scanned and archived for online viewing, books written and published about historic people and places, and a growing interest in genealogy and ancestry. Some places, however, seem to wither, becoming forgotten, overgrown, and cast into the murky waters of time’s eternal trickle. Seattle’s Comet Lodge Cemetery near Graham Street on the southeast edge of Beacon Hill is one of those places that has fallen out of memory for many.

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Community

The Emerald Guide to Reproductive Health Care Access at King County Hospitals

by Megan Burbank

While Roe v. Wade has dominated headlines, abortion access was eroding in Washington State long before the U.S. Supreme Court decision. That’s because of the proliferation of mergers between secular and religiously-affiliated hospital systems in our state. When these mergers go through, reproductive health care services are often lost in the process, a result of hospital policies rooted in religion. Catholic hospitals, for example, abide by a set of ethical-religious directives for health care established by bishops; about half of Washington State hospital beds are in institutions that abide by these policies. They ban abortion, can disrupt services like miscarriage management, treatment for ectopic pregnancies, end-of-life care, and gender-affirming care, and raise questions about access to birth control services and procedures.

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News

ACLU-WA, Director of Public Defense Call Out Conditions in King County Jail

by Alison Jean Smith

On Feb. 27, dozens gathered outside the King County Jail in Seattle, wielding signs with slogans like “Care Not Cages” and “Dow, Keep Your Promise.” In the summer of 2020, King County Executive Dow Constantine did indeed pledge to close the jail, calling it “decrepit.” Since then, conditions have worsened. In 2022 alone, six people died in the jail, or after being moved from the jail to a hospital, more than in years prior. Four of those deaths were suicides, putting King County well above the national average. 

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News

NEWS GLEAMS | WA Needs to Build 1M Homes Over Next 20 Years; Cohort Applications Open for Black Storytelling

A roundup of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!

curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷

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News

King County Will Help Preserve and Activate 32 Green Space Projects in the South End

by Agueda Pacheco Flores

Several projects around the South End aimed at preserving and activating green spaces just got a major boost in funding. In January, King County awarded a combined $52 million to 32 projects across King County. It’s part of Executive Dow Constantine’s goal to save, preserve, and enhance the last 65,000 acres of urban canopy, forest, farmland, and green space around the county. 

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News

Health Through Housing Initiative and Chief Seattle Club to Provide Housing With Culturally Competent Social Services

by Lauryn Bray

In December 2022, King County and Chief Seattle Club announced that the Salmonberry Lofts in Pioneer Square became the fifth Health Through Housing building to begin moving tenants in. The Health Through Housing initiative is a “regional approach to address chronic homelessness at a countywide scale.” Introduced by King County Executive Dow Constantine in his 2020 budget speech, the Health Through Housing initiative dedicates one-tenth of a cent of sales tax revenue to the purchase and renovation of motels, hotels, and other buildings to be converted to emergency and permanent housing. 

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News

King County Communities Make History With Participatory Budget Process

by Agueda Pacheco Flores

Dozens of people from around unincorporated King County communities showed up to the Skyway’s fire station last week to celebrate a first for Washington: the conclusion and results of a participatory budget. Millions of dollars went to 45 community projects, organizations, and groups.

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News

A New Public Safety Narrative Fuels Stephan Thomas’s Run for King County Prosecutor

by Mike Davis

This week, Stephan Thomas, a former King County prosecutor, announced he will run for King County prosecuting attorney. Thomas, who served as the office’s director of community justice initiatives until 2019, joins an expansive pool of candidates that includes current King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg’s chief of staff, Leesa Manion; King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski; and Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell. 

Satterberg, who served for 14 years, recently announced he will not seek reelection. The growing field of high-profile candidates likely indicates a competitive race. 

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News

Is the Vote Accurate and Secure? A Walk Through the King County Elections

by Phil Manzano

For the most part, the detailed inner workings of the King County Elections facility aren’t big news. But continuing challenges to the outcome of the Nov. 2020 presidential election begs the question: Is King County’s election ballot counting process accurate and secure?

I headed to King County Elections, a nondescript building off Southwest Grady Way near the I-405 and SR67 interchange to get a close look. I met with Jerelyn Hampton, ballot processing manager, essentially the point person for King County’s ballot integrity, and Halei Watkins, communications officer for King County elections.

“Interest in the security of our elections has definitely grown over the last year and a half,” Watkins said. “It has sustained itself well since the 2020 presidential election, and we continue to hear from folks who have questions about how our system works. But that also feels natural, it’s not a bad thing for people to ask questions about how it all works.”

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