Across Washington, government agencies and nonprofits are scrambling to help 930,000 state residents who will lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, food benefits starting Nov. 1 due to the ongoing federal shutdown.
On Friday, a federal judge in Rhode Island blocked the Trump administration from halting SNAP benefits that feed 42 million Americans amid the ongoing government shutdown.
During the hearing, an attorney for the Justice Department argued the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program no longer existed because Congress had not appropriated funds for it, and that it was up to the administration whether to tap $6 billion in contingency funds to keep the program running.
The Rhode Island ruling came just minutes after a federal judge in Boston said plaintiffs in a similar case are likely to prevail on their claim that suspending SNAP benefits is unlawful. That judge said she is still weighing a request for a temporary restraining order to maintain the payments.
In a last-minute effort, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson is diverting $2.2 million to food banks across the state. Many low-income, no-income, or disabled residents who are SNAP-eligible people rely on food banks for groceries every day.
However, Aaron Czyzewski, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the non-profit Food Lifeline, said it may be too late for governments to intervene, and SNAP recipients are now left to rely on the kindness of friends, family, and their communities for help.
He said they are also seeing more and more federal government and military families in need and actively reaching out, asking for help.
“There were 200 military families who were needing support for Thanksgiving groceries,” Czyzewski told KIRO Newsradio. “That list is now up to 800 families.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal partnered with the City of Seattle on a resource fair to help other federal workers with food and bills, who were impacted by the shutdown.
One of those workers, Alison Jowers, a furloughed federal contractor, shared, “I was able to stockpile some food, so I have a little bit to get me by. I have rent for November. If this continues, I may not have rent for December.”
Jamie Lynn Wheeler with Northwest Harvest said, while a lot of nonprofits stockpiled food and other resources in anticipation of SNAP benefits running out, they are thinking outside the box for ways to help.
“I’ve even seen, with Halloween around the corner, people trying to provide packaged food from their front doors that way,” Wheeler said.
The Edmonds Food Bank is teaming up with the Feed Me Hospitality and Restaurant Group to deliver extra food and repurposed food to people in need.
“The combination of inflation, increased grocery costs, the shutdown, SNAP cuts, and then already us dealing with food cuts from food we would normally receive,” explained spokesperson Kelly Lewis. “All of that is hard.”
Private companies are also chipping in to help. Instacart is offering customers who receive SNAP benefits 50% off their next grocery order. DoorDash is waiving service and delivery fees for 300,000 orders for SNAP recipients. And GoPuff is donating $10 million to help SNAP recipients.
Bank of America said it’s delivering $5 million to immediately support families and individuals experiencing urgent food needs. The money will go to nearly 100 nonprofit organizations currently addressing increasing needs at the local level in communities nationwide. In addition, the corporation is committing $250 million over the next five years to support food insecurity across American communities.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Your neighbors might soon need extra assistance putting food on the table.
That’s because on Nov. 1 the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin freezing food aid payments used by about 1 in 8 Americans for groceries. A cornerstone of the nation’s social safety net, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is said to be out of funds as the government shutdown enters its second month.
Some experts estimate that even a one-month pause would plunge nearly 3 million low-income recipients into poverty. The charitable food system, already strained by the rising cost of living and Trump administration aid cuts, has braced all week for an overwhelming surge from the 42 million people who rely on SNAP.
Philanthropy can’t fill the gap. Food banks, pantries and other nonprofits maintain they are equipped to be the last resort — not the essential service they’ve been impossibly tasked with providing.
But they say you can still ease hardship in your community. Here’s how:
You can search for nearby food aid groups by entering your ZIP code on https://www.findhelp.org or Feeding America ‘s website.
Donation preferences will vary but most food banks say that cash is more helpful than canned goods. They know which products are needed most in their area and can stretch every dollar to buy them at cheaper prices. Monetary donations also give flexibility to purchase culturally relevant products and special dietary foods that don’t often show up in their donation streams.
Because they spend so much money buying food, many wholesalers offer them deeper discounts and even donated items. For example, Island Harvest President Randi Shubin Dresner said her food bank spends about $7 million annually on food purchases. They recently bought large enough quantities that the distributor then donated 25,000 pounds of peanut butter.
“We have relationships,” she said. “We leverage those relationships all the time — but especially at times of disaster or high crisis need.”
But some pantries might want donated food. Corie Burke said the situation is so dire in her rural North Carolina community that Glen Alpine Food Pantry just needs more product.
Many also need volunteers to pick up, sort or deliver food. Burke said older generations are “aging out of their ability to do physical labor” and that pantries can’t get enough able-bodied people to lift the 60 pounds she routinely has to carry.
She emphasized that even 9-to-5 employees can find volunteer shifts after work because Second Harvest Food Bank affiliates like hers offer a range of pickup hours.
Hunger relief groups emphasize that their clientele shouldn’t be treated as desperate enough to just accept whatever food comes their way.
“Think about when you’re sitting with your family at a meal,” Dresner said. “It’s not just that you’re eating. You want to feel good about what you’re eating.”
Needs will vary from community to community. But here’s a list of some recommended food donations that provide nutrition, flavor and dignity:
1. Canned protein such as beans, meat or fish
2. Chunky, low-sodium soup
3. Dry rice
4. Canned vegetables
5. Peanut butter
6. Boxed mac and cheese.
7. Spices
Dresner added that many food banks accept just about any nonfood item you can find at the store. She suggested donating personal care products because many families may stop buying them when the loss of cash assistance forces them to make difficult decisions about what they can and cannot put in the grocery cart.
It’s also worth thinking about cultural food preferences and dietary restrictions. Those who follow Muslim or Jewish religious traditions might look for halal or kosher products. Food banks also need alternatives for vegetarian and gluten free recipients.
Food banks tend to already get fresh produce from retail partners and special USDA support. But this fall could look different after the Trump administration cut a nutrition program that buys commodities from U.S. farmers for emergency food providers.
Mutual aid refers to reciprocal support networks of neighbors who promptly meet each other’s most pressing needs when existing systems fail to make them whole. They emphasize “solidarity” with each other as opposed to “charity” for another beneficiary.
The groups have grown in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic exposed gaps in the social safety net. You can search for ones near you at https://www.mutualaidhub.org/ or find their pages on social media sites such as Instagram.
This localized form of support can be especially helpful for marginalized folks — such as people with disabilities or medically fragile children — who are physically unable to line up at food distribution sites.
The Free Formula Exchange is an example of a nationwide mutual aid network. The free online tool connects families who need baby formula with others donating theirs.
Your neighborhood might also have what’s known as a community fridge. These are fridges, perhaps powered by a participating local business, where neighbors place food for anyone to grab. Search for one at https://freedge.org/ or ChangeX.
“You don’t need to prove that you are poor to access those benefits,” said Freedge co-founder Ernst Bertone Oehninger. “The fridge doesn’t ask you any question. You can just go and help yourself with the food that’s there.”
The benefit is that they are centrally located and accessible. Many community fridges run 24/7. Donation guidelines vary and often depend on the jurisdiction’s food code.
Oehninger can’t promise that Freedge’s database is completely up-to-date or an exhaustive list of every location out there. They recommend checking Instagram, where many community fridges post their current needs.
GiveDirectly is delivering one-time $50 cash transfers to households with children that receive the maximum SNAP allotment.
The nonprofit is partnering with Propel, an app that helps millions manage their benefits, to send funds on the same day that recipients lose out on their usual SNAP deposit. The effort is aimed at immediately empowering families to meet their individual needs with no strings attached and without having to wait in long lines.
The public can donate to the emergency response at GiveDirectly’s website. Propel already committed $1 million and GiveDirectly says the “more we can raise, the more days we can cover families who missed their SNAP payments.”
The for-profit crowdfunding platform has put together a centralized Feeding Communities Hub where users can find verified fundraisers and nonprofits seeking help affording groceries, stocking pantries, distributing meals or funding mobile food banks.
GoFundMe’s Essentials Fund also provides cash grants to those struggling to afford everyday necessities. The company is committing at least $350,000 from October through December to help get people back on their feet.
Very little safety net is left once you take away SNAP.
It’s not possible for a nonprofit network to fully fill the gap in food insecurity, according to Christopher Wimer, the co-director of Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Consider that Feeding America says food pantries provide about 1 meal to every 9 provided by SNAP.
“The best thing would be a robust SNAP program that’s not being turned on and turned off because of the shutdown,” Wimer said.
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
A decade after a landmark study proved that feeding peanut products to young babies could prevent development of life-threatening allergies, new research finds the change has made a big difference in the real world.
About 60,000 children have avoided developing peanut allergies after guidance first issued in 2015 upended medical practice by recommending introducing the allergen to infants starting as early as 4 months.
“That’s a remarkable thing, right?” said Dr. David Hill, an allergist and researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and author of a study published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics. Hill and colleagues analyzed electronic health records from dozens of pediatric practices to track diagnoses of food allergies in young children before, during and after the guidelines were issued.
“I can actually come to you today and say there are less kids with food allergy today than there would have been if we hadn’t implemented this public health effort,” he added.
The researchers found that peanut allergies in children ages 0 to 3 declined by more than 27% after guidance for high-risk kids was first issued in 2015 and by more than 40% after the recommendations were expanded in 2017.
The effort hasn’t yet reduced an overall increase in food allergies in the U.S. in recent years. About 8% of children are affected, including more than 2% with a peanut allergy.
Peanut allergy is caused when the body’s immune system mistakenly identifies proteins in peanuts as harmful and releases chemicals that trigger allergic symptoms, including hives, respiratory symptoms and, sometimes, life-threatening anaphylaxis.
For decades, doctors had recommended delaying feeding children peanuts and other foods likely to trigger allergies until age 3. But in 2015, Gideon Lack at King’s College London, published the groundbreaking Learning Early About Peanut Allergy, or LEAP, trial.
Lack and colleagues showed that introducing peanut products in infancy reduced the future risk of developing food allergies by more than 80%. Later analysis showed that the protection persisted in about 70% of kids into adolescence.
The study immediately sparked new guidelines urging early introduction of peanuts — but putting them into practice has been slow.
Only about 29% of pediatricians and 65% of allergists reported following the expanded guidance issued in 2017, surveys found.
Confusion and uncertainty about the best way to introduce peanuts early in life led to the lag, according to a commentary that accompanied the study. Early on, medical experts and parents alike questioned whether the practice could be adopted outside of tightly controlled clinical settings.
The data for the analysis came from a subset of participating practice sites and may not represent the entire U.S. pediatric population, noted the commentary, led by Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a child allergy expert at Northwestern University.
However, the new research offers “promising evidence that early allergen introduction is not only being adopted but may be making a measurable impact,” the authors concluded.
Advocates for the 33 million people in the U.S. with food allergies welcomed signs that early introduction of peanut products is catching on.
“This research reinforces what we already know and underscores a meaningful opportunity to reduce the incidence and prevalence of peanut allergy nationwide,” said Sung Poblete, chief executive of the nonprofit group Food Allergy Research & Education, or FARE.
The new study emphasizes the current guidance, updated in 2021, which calls for introducing peanuts and other major food allergens between four and six months, without prior screening or testing, Hill said. Parents should consult their pediatricians about any questions.
“It doesn’t have to be a lot of the food, but little tastes of peanut butter, milk-based yogurt, soy-based yogurts and tree butters,” he said. “These are really good ways to allow the immune system exposure to these allergenic foods in a safe way.”
Tiffany Leon, 36, a Maryland registered dietician and director at FARE, introduced peanuts and other allergens early to her own sons, James, 4, and Cameron, 2.
At first, Leon’s own mother was shocked at the advice to feed babies such foods before the age of 3, she said. But Leon explained how the science had changed.
“As a dietician, I practice evidence-based recommendations,” she said. “So when someone told me, ‘This is how it’s done now, these are the new guidelines,’ I just though, OK, well, this is what we’re going to do.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
New York’s attorney general on Monday proposed regulations for its crackdown on addictive social media feeds for children, including rules for verifying a user’s age.
The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, passed last year, prohibits social media companies from showing feeds personalized by algorithms to users under 18 unless they have a parent’s consent. Instead, feeds on apps like TikTok and Instagram would be limited to posts from accounts young users follow.
The law also bars companies from sending notifications to users under 18 between midnight and 6 a.m.
The proposed rules for implementing the provisions include standards for determining a user’s age and parental consent.
“Companies may confirm a user’s age using a number of existing methods, as long as the methods are shown to be effective and protect users’ data,” Attorney General Letitia James’ office said.
Options for confirming a user is at least 18, for example, include requesting an uploaded image or verifying a user’s email address or phone number to check against other information, the office said.
Users under 18 who want to receive algorithmic feeds and nighttime notifications would have to give the companies permission to request consent from a parent.
Supporters of the law said curated feeds built from user data are contributing to a youth mental health crisis by vastly increasing the hours young people spend on social media.
“Children and teenagers are struggling with high rates of anxiety and depression because of addictive features on social media platforms,” James said in releasing the rules, which are subject to a 60-day public comment period.
Online age check laws — on the rise in the U.S. — have garnered opposition from groups that advocate for digital privacy and free speech. More than 20 states have passed age verification laws, though many face legal challenges.
The New York attorney general’s office noted Instagram and other social media platforms themselves have been implementing various forms of age assurance in recent months.
“The incorporation of age assurance methods into the infrastructure of social media platforms is a positive development that demonstrates the technical and financial feasibility of age assurance methods for these platforms,” the office said. “Unfortunately, voluntary adoption of age assurance methods has not achieved the level of protection of minors required by the (SAFE) Act.”
After the rules are finalized, social media companies will have 180 days to implement the regulations.
Bellevue is seeking community input on a proposal to expand its speed safety camera program, part of its effort to eliminate serious traffic crashes.
The proposal would install speed cameras in more areas, including hospitals, school zones, and crash-prone roads.
Speeding remains a leading cause of fatal and serious crashes in Bellevue, according to officials. The city’s broader deployment of cameras is part of its Vision Zero strategy, a commitment to end severe traffic injuries and fatalities by 2030.
Bellevue said it will review camera placement to ensure no single community is disproportionately affected. Officials said they are committed to ensuring that no single community is unfairly targeted.
The money collected from camera fines would also support low-income neighborhoods and areas with higher numbers of traffic crashes.
ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump and other Republicans have long criticized states that take weeks to count their ballots after Election Day. This year has seen a flurry of activity to address it.
Part of Trump’s executive order on elections, signed in March but held up by lawsuits, takes aim at one of the main reasons for late vote counts: Many states allow mailed ballots to be counted even if they arrive after Election Day.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month said it would consider whether a challenge in Illinois can proceed in a case that is among several Republican-backed lawsuits seeking to impose an Election Day deadline for mail ballots.
At least three states — Kansas, North Dakota and Utah — passed legislation this year that eliminated a grace period for receiving mailed ballots, saying they now need to be in by Election Day.
Even in California, where weekslong vote counting is a frequent source of frustration and a target of Republican criticism, a bill attempting to speed up the process is moving through the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
The ballot deadline section of Trump’s wide-ranging executive order relies on an interpretation of federal law that establishes Election Day for federal elections. He argues this means all ballots must be received by that date.
“This is like allowing persons who arrive 3 days after Election Day, perhaps after a winner has been declared, to vote in person at a former voting precinct, which would be absurd,” the executive order states.
It follows a pattern for the president, who has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of such ballots even though there is no evidence they are the source of widespread fraud. The issue is tied closely to his complaints about how long it takes to count ballots, his desire for results on election night and his false claims that overnight “dumps” of vote counts point to a rigged election in 2020, when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
But ballots received after Election Day, in addition to being signed and dated by the voter, must be postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service indicating they were completed and dropped off on or before the final day of voting.
Accepting late-arriving ballots has not been a partisan issue historically. States as different as California and Mississippi allow them, while Colorado and Indiana do not.
“There is nothing unreliable or insecure about a ballot that comes back after Election Day,” said Steve Simon, the chief election official in Minnesota, which has an Election Day deadline.
In his executive order, most of which is paused by the courts, Trump directs the attorney general to “take all necessary action” to enforce federal law against states that include late-arriving ballots in their final counts for federal elections. He also directs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to condition federal funding on compliance.
Republicans in five states have passed legislation since the 2020 election moving the mail ballot deadline to Election Day, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks election legislation.
Earlier this year, GOP lawmakers in Kansas ended the state’s practice of accepting mail ballots up to three days after Election Day, a change that will take effect for next year’s midterms. Problems with mail delivery had prompted Kansas to add the grace period in 2017.
Kansas state Sen. Mike Thompson, a Republican who chairs the committee that handles election legislation, compared the grace period to giving a football team extra chances to score after the game clock expires.
“We need this uniform end to the election just so that we know that all voters are operating on the same time frame,” he said.
California has long been a source of complaints about the amount of time it takes for ballots to be counted and winners declared.
“The rest of the country shouldn’t have to wait on California to know the results of the elections,” U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the Committee on House Administration, said during an April hearing.
He said California’s “lax election laws” were to blame for the delays.
The nation’s most populous state has the largest number of registered voters in the country, some 22.9 million, which is roughly equivalent to the number of voters in Florida and Georgia combined.
California also has embraced universal mail voting, which means every registered voter automatically receives a ballot in the mail for each election. The deadline for election offices to receive completed ballots is seven days after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by then.
A survey of some 35,000 Los Angeles County voters during last fall’s election found that 40% waited until Election Day to return their ballot.
Election officials say the exhaustive process for reviewing and counting mail ballots combined with a large percentage of voters waiting until the last minute makes it impossible for all results to be available on election night.
Under state law, election officials in California have 30 days to count ballots, conduct a postelection review and certify the results.
Dean Logan, Los Angeles County’s chief election official, told Congress in May that his team counted nearly 97% of the 3.8 million ballots cast within a week of Election Day in 2024. Jesse Salinas, president of the state clerks’ association, said his staff in Yolo County, near Sacramento, already works 16-hour days, seven days a week before and after an election.
Assemblyman Marc Berman introduced legislation that would keep the state’s 30-day certification period but require county election officials to finish counting most ballots within 13 days after the election. They would be required to notify the state if they weren’t going to meet that deadline and give a reason.
“I don’t think that we can stick our heads in the sand and pretend like these conspiracies aren’t out there and that this lack of confidence doesn’t exist, in particular among Republican voters in California,” said Berman, a Democrat. “There are certain good government things that we can do to strengthen our election system.”
He acknowledged that many counties already meet the 13-day deadline in his bill, which awaits consideration in the Senate.
“My hope is that this will strengthen people’s confidence in their election system and their democracy by having some of those benchmarks and just making it very clear for folks when different results will be available,” Berman said.
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Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre doesn’t know how to tell his children where their mother went after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her last month.
When his nearly 2-year-old son Noah asks for his mother before bed, Clouatre just tells him, “Mama will be back soon.” When his 3-month-old, breastfeeding daughter Lyn is hungry, he gives her a bottle of baby formula instead. He’s worried how his newborn will bond with her mother absent skin-to-skin contact.
His wife, Paola, is one of tens of thousands of people in custody and facing deportation as the Trump administration pushes for immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day.
Even as Marine Corps recruiters promote enlistment as protection for families lacking legal status, directives for strict immigrant enforcement have cast away practices of deference previously afforded to military families, immigration law experts say. The federal agency tasked with helping military family members gain legal status now refers them for deportation, government memos show.
To visit his wife, Adrian Clouatre has to make an eight-hour round trip from their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to a rural ICE detention center in Monroe. Clouatre, who qualifies as a service-disabled veteran, goes every chance he can get.
Paola Clouatre, a 25-year-old Mexican national whose mother brought her into the country illegally more than a decade ago, met Adrian Clouatre, 26, at a southern California nightclub during the final months of his five years of military service in 2022. Within a year, they had tattooed each other’s names on their arms.
After they married in 2024, Paola Clouatre sought a green card to legally live and work in the U.S. Adrian Clouatre said he is “not a very political person” but believes his wife deserved to live legally in the U.S.
“I’m all for ‘get the criminals out of the country,’ right?” he said. “But the people that are here working hard, especially the ones married to Americans — I mean, that’s always been a way to secure a green card.”
The process to apply for Paola Clouatre’s green card went smoothly at first, but eventually she learned ICE had issued an order for her deportation in 2018 after her mother failed to appear at an immigration hearing.
Clouatre and her mother had been estranged for years — Clouatre cycled out of homeless shelters as a teenager — and up until a couple of months ago, Clouatre had “no idea” about her mother’s missed hearing or the deportation order, her husband said.
Adrian Clouatre recalled that a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staffer asked about the deportation order during a May 27 appointment as part of her green card application. After Paola Clouatre explained that she was trying to reopen her case, the staffer asked her and her husband to wait in the lobby for paperwork regarding a follow-up appointment, which her husband said he believed was a “ploy.”
Soon, officers arrived and handcuffed Paola Clouatre, who handed her wedding ring to her husband for safekeeping.
Adrian Clouatre, eyes welling with tears, said he and his wife had tried to “do the right thing” and that he felt ICE officers should have more discretion over arrests, though he understood they were trying to do their jobs.
“It’s just a hell of a way to treat a veteran,” said Carey Holliday, a former immigration judge who is now representing the couple. “You take their wives and send them back to Mexico?”
The Clouatres filed a motion for a California-based immigration judge to reopen the case on Paola’s deportation order and are waiting to hear back, Holliday said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Paola Clouatre “is in the country illegally” and that the administration is “not going to ignore the rule of law.”
“Ignoring an Immigration Judge’s order to leave the U.S. is a bad idea,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a June 9 post on X which appeared to refer to Clouatre’s case. The agency added that the government “has a long memory and no tolerance for defiance when it comes to making America safe again.”
Prior to the Trump administration’s push to drive up deportations, USCIS provided much more discretion for veterans seeking legal status for a family member, said Holliday and Margaret Stock, a military immigration law expert.
In a Feb. 28 memo, the agency said it “will no longer exempt” from deportation people in groups that had received more grace in the past. This includes the families of military personnel or veterans, Stock said. As of June 12, the agency said it has referred upward of 26,000 cases to ICE for deportation.
USCIS still offers a program allowing family members of military personnel who illegally entered the U.S. to remain in the country as they apply for a green card. But there no longer appears to be room for leeway, such as giving a veteran’s spouse like Paola Clouatre the opportunity to halt her active deportation order without facing arrest, Stock said.
But numerous Marine Corps recruiters have continued to post ads on social media, geared toward Latinos, promoting enlistment as a way to gain “protection from deportation” for family members.
“I think it’s bad for them to be advertising that people are going to get immigration benefits when it appears that the administration is no longer offering these immigration benefits,” Stock said. “It sends the wrong message to the recruits.”
Marine Corps spokesperson Master Sgt. Tyler Hlavac told The Associated Press that recruiters have now been informed they are “not the proper authority” to “imply that the Marine Corps can secure immigration relief for applicants or their families.”
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Congress is considering a bill that would significantly reduce funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Medicare, a necessity for many families across the country.
Vince Hall, the Chief Government Relations Officer at Feeding America, stopped by “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor to outline the impact Congress’s new bill would have on American families.
“Congress is considering a bill that would significantly reduce funding for SNAP, Medicaid, and Medicare, three programs that play a critical role in helping meet essential needs for a lot of families,” Harger said. “This couldn’t come at a worse time. Summer brings higher expenses, and the cost of food and health care remains out of reach for millions.”
The SNAP program provides food benefits to low-income families, supplementing their grocery budget and enabling them to afford nutritious food essentials, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“The SNAP program projects that [the bill] would reduce the number of meals available to people struggling with hunger by 9.5 billion meals per year nationwide,” Hall said. “For comparison, the entire Feeding America network produces 6 billion meals, so the cut would be more than 150% of everything that America’s food banks can produce today, and would lead to very dramatic increases in food insecurity across the country.”
SNAP-eligible foods include fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy products, breads, and cereals. SNAP benefits cannot be used to buy alcohol, tobacco, medicine, vitamins, or hygiene items, according to the USDA.
Hall explained that the bill would also have a massive impact on Medicaid if it were signed into law as it currently stands.
“They’re talking about cutting in the order of $700 billion from the Medicaid program, which is a critical investment in the health care of our people, and helps hospitals, community clinics, nursing homes, and other facilities to take care of our most vulnerable citizens,” Hall said. “This cut would be directed in a harmful way to both their food security and their health security.”
Nearly 14 million children faced hunger in 2023, and one in every five children was unsure where they would get their next meal, according to Feeding America.
“For about 9 million kids in the United States, a school cafeteria is their only reliable, consistent source of balanced and nutritious meals, and they often count on it for both breakfast and lunch,” Hall said. “It’s an important additional problem that we can expect to see across the country if this legislation is signed into law.”
Hall offered a way for people to get involved and enact change in their community.
“If people are concerned about Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP, it’s a really good time to pick up the phone and get in touch with members of Congress,” Hall said. “At Feedingamerica.org/snapcuts, people can fill out a couple of blanks and within minutes, communicate a very strong and important message.”
Listen to the full conversation below.
Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast here.
You’ve been warned, Washingtonians: Feeding deer, elk, moose, and other cervids is no longer permitted in the state.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), a law took effect on May 17 that prohibits certain wildlife feeding in order to help keep Washington’s wildlife healthy.
“People often think they are helping wildlife by feeding them, or simply hoping that providing food will give them a better opportunity to observe their wild neighbors,” WDFW stated. “Unfortunately, feeding wildlife can cause more harm than good, especially with new wildlife diseases being found in Washington.”
These new wildlife diseases include chronic wasting, colloquially known as zombie deer disease. Caused by misfolded proteins, called prions, in the brain and central nervous system, this disease affects deer, elk, bison, antelope, caribou, and moose. Similar to mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, symptoms include drastic weight loss, stumbling or lack of coordination, drooling, listlessness, excessive thirst or peeing, drooping ears, and lack of fear of people.
Chronic wasting disease was first detected in Washington in 2024, and has been a significant concern for WDFW ever since.
“Of particular concern is chronic wasting disease, an always-fatal disease of deer, elk, moose, and related species (cervids) that was detected in Washington for the first time in 2024,” WDFW said. “There is no cure for CWD, and it has the potential to greatly impact Washington’s cervid populations.”
Feeding stations can spread the disease quickly, as it is easier for the animals to transmit it when surrounded by many other animals gathered in an area to be fed. Even salt licks and fruit piles can be risky.
The new law also makes it illegal to feed any Washington wildlife if it leads to cervids congregating and swarming an area—even if someone wasn’t intentionally trying to feed them. If bird feeders or other items attract deer, elk, or moose, they must be removed.
WDFW encourages people to build natural habitats instead.
“The best way is by promoting year-round native habitat at your home or in your communities,” WDFW stated. “WDFW’s Habitat at Home program provides tips for supporting wildlife where you live, work, and play.”
You can report sick animals online through the WDFW’s website.
Follow Frank Sumrall on X. Send news tips here.
A Poulsbo woman who found herself surrounded by a gaze of raccoons Monday has regained her home.
Bridget Mire with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed to MyNorthwest via email on Wednesday the woman stopped feeding the animals.
“Our wildlife conflict specialist for Kitsap County met with the resident, who has stopped feeding the raccoons,” Mire wrote. “The raccoons appear to have started dispersing now that they are no longer being fed, and we are glad for a positive outcome to this case.”
Mire added the best way to avoid a similar situation is to remove attractants and not feed wild animals.
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The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) reported, via a Facebook post Monday, the woman first started feeding raccoons outside her home 35 years ago. Then on October 3, the woman looked outside to find nearly 100 of them.
“She said around six weeks ago the number of raccoons ballooned to more than 100 and the new animals were far more aggressive,” Kevin McCarty with KCSO said in an email to MyNorthwest. “She said she repeatedly had to throw food to them to get them to leave her alone.”
She called for help to which Kitsap deputies responded.
“She was forced to run away in her car to escape the furry and very hungry creatures,” McCarty stated in the video.
The woman told deputies the raccoons started getting out of control about six weeks ago. The woman added the raccoons often surround her day and night demanding food.
She said she had been quoted as much as $500 per raccoon to trap and relocate them. Deputies referred the woman to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to help her “find a solution to her pesky problem,” KCSO stated.
“Our involvement was to make sure she was safe, educate her on what can and can’t be done under the law regarding removal of wild animals, and refer her to the WDFW for further information and assistance,” McCarty told MyNorthwest.
The WILDCOMM team at WDFW referred the woman to wildlife control operators in her area, according to an email from Bridget Mire with WDFW to MyNorthwest on Monday.
Mire added the woman told officials she was working with a trapper. However, “all animals trapped by a WCO must be released on-site or euthanized and properly disposed of, per WAC 220-440-050,” Mire said.
Wildlife experts urge people to not feed raccoons, according to WDFW’s website.
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WDFW said that feeding raccoons can create undesirable situations as raccoons that are fed by people often lose their fear of humans and can become aggressive when not fed. Other recommendations to keep raccoons away are keeping garbage secure, feeding pets indoors, locking pet doors and closing off areas that raccoons could make into a den.
For more on raccoons, visit WDFW’s website.
Editors note: This story was originally published on Oct. 7, 2024. It has been updated and republished since then.
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.
SEATTLE and VICTORIA, B.C. — They’re back!
The first humpback whale mothers and calves of the 2023 whale watching season have arrived in the Salish Sea.
Whale watchers have documented seeing at least three new humpback calves.
“We’ve been eagerly awaiting news of the season’s first humpback calves,” said Pacific Whale Watch Association executive director Erin Gless. “We celebrate every whale’s return, but it’s doubly special when they have a new calf in tow.”
Local humpback whales have their calves in warmer breeding grounds in Hawaii, Mexico, and Central America and then travel to the Salish Sea with their calves.
A black bear was spotted Monday morning in a Kirkland neighborhood less than half a mile away from Bridle Trails State Park.
The bear was seen by Lynn, who said it was on her deck looking for food. She caught the whole thing on camera.
“I was kind of shaken when I saw him,” she told KIRO 7.
Lynn said she had just gone back inside her home when the bear got into her yard and onto her deck.
“I have lots of flowers on my deck, he was knocking those over,” she said. “He went and he got to the hummingbird feeder and he drank that and it fell off.”
Her yard is fenced so she isn’t sure how the bear got in or out.
“He gets to the stairs there and he’s rubbing his behind on the fence,” she recalled.
She’s lived in this neighborhood for nearly 50 years and said she’s never had this sort of thing happen before.
“I didn’t like it,” she said.
However, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said it isn’t uncommon for people to see bears in the area because of how close Bridle Trails State Park is. The park has signs up warning people of a black bear in the area.
Experts said if you encounter a bear you should make yourself appear big and make lots of noise. They also recommend carrying bear spray with you as well. As for homes, it’s recommended that you remove all pet food or bird feeders and secure trash cans as this can attract bears as well.
Kitsap Transit wants riders to help choose where a new Port Orchard Transit Center would be located through a new survey. The new transit center is aiming to be placed somewhere in downtown Port Orchard to help keep pace with the growing community.
“The facility that we have there currently is essentially a two-lane road which we have taken over one lane where the buses line up on the sidewalks and traffic has to drive around the buses,” Kitsap Transit’s Executive Director John Clauson said. “And there really isn’t much more as far as passenger amenities.”
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Clauson believes the buses, and its passengers, need more room as Kitsap County is projected to grow by 100,000 in population over the next 30 years. But the new transit hub won’t be ready anytime soon. The transit center is rumored to take longer than five years to complete.
“It might even take longer,” Clauson said. “The part of the area that we’re looking at currently houses the Kitsap Regional Library, and the library is planning to move into a new community center that the city is building. So, all of those pieces have to fall in place before that building will become available. It’s going to take us a while. We’re just looking at a site right now. We’ll have to go through the environmental engineering, design, all of that and certainly soliciting funds to help construct it.”
Clauson said in addition to growing their facilities, it’s also expanding equipment.
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“A lot of the transit systems are moving rapidly into zero-emission equipment,” Clauson said. “We’ve got, by the end of 2024, supply chain issues might change that a little bit, but we expect to add 30 battery electric buses and we’re looking into the feasibility of generating our own hydrogen to do hydrogen fuel cell buses — yet another form of zero-emission. We’re in the process of wanting to expand our services on the road. We’re working hard to hire additional operators, but we’ve got plans to expand our service substantially.”
To sound off on which location a new Kitsap Transit hub would fit best, complete the city’s survey here. The survey closes June 6.
Follow Micki Gamez on Twitter or email her here.
The Washington State Transportation Commission has kicked off its ferry fare-setting process for 2023-2025, with an online survey to learn more from riders on increased rates.
The ferry fare revenue requirement set by the Legislature in the recently passed 2023-2025 transportation budget is $418.6 million. The commission will determine how to meet that expectation in the coming months and wants to hear from the public along the way.
WA ferry system peak season surcharges begin Monday
An online survey is open until 5 p.m. Friday, June 9, allowing participants to share opinions on fare adjustment options. Survey results will help inform how passenger, vehicle, and peak season fares could be adjusted to meet the updated revenue requirements.
Update 3/7 2:00 p.m.:
The City of Seattle stated they are hitting the pause button on the removal of the linear grove of Pike Street cherry trees.
“The removal of the cherry trees has been temporarily postponed to listen to the perspective of community members and to fully consider their concerns,” a spokesperson for the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects wrote in an email to KIRO Newsradio.
The spokesperson also later confirmed for KIRO Newsradio that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office was involved in the decision.
“The Office of the Waterfront, in collaboration with the mayor’s office, made the decision to delay the removal of the trees,” the spokesperson wrote. “We are going to be meeting with a handful of stakeholders in the next couple of days to listen further to their comments prior to advancing our work.”
Save the Market Entrance, the community group advocating for preservation of the trees — which asked Mayor Harrell for a “stay of execution” — also commented on the Tuesday announcement.
“We are so grateful to Mayor Bruce Harrell for looking carefully at what can be done,” said Save The Market Entrance president Ruth Danner when reached by phone by KIRO Newsradio Tuesday afternoon. “And we appreciate Councilmember Lewis for getting involved.”
This is a developing story.
If a cherry tree falls along Pike Street — or if a total of eight of them fall — will anybody hear?
As reported by David Kroman in The Seattle Times a few days ago, a linear grove of cherry trees more than four decades old in downtown Seattle is slated to be cut down to make way for bike lanes and wider sidewalks.
The Pike Street cherry trees were planted in 1980, and they blossom briefly every year, just like the beloved trees on the UW campus and in so many yards and parking strips around the city. There were originally 12 or 13 trees in total, planted on each side of Pike Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Over the decades, four or five have died or been damaged and later removed.
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That block is slated to get wider sidewalks and a bike lane in each direction as part of a project to better connect downtown and Capitol Hill. This means the trees have been marked for removal — and that removal could be happening as early as Monday morning.
“Construction on this block will begin on March 6, and the tree removal [will] likely be one of the early steps in construction,” according to an email from Lauren Stensland, a consultant to Waterfront Seattle, a City of Seattle project working to redevelop the waterfront and adjacent areas of downtown Seattle.
There was a public process that weighed, among other things, the future of the urban grove, Stensland wrote, but the cherry trees did not make the cut for being kept and nurtured along what many consider to be one of the most picturesque blocks in downtown Seattle.
“SDOT [Seattle Department of Transportation] has involved the community on the development of the new streetscape on this block,” Stensland wrote. “There was a desire for trees with a longer lifespan that will eventually arch over the street below and frame sightlines to the Pike Place Market sign and clock and not block the existing pedestrian lighting.”
And that’s a shame, said Ruth Danner, president of a non-profit group called Save The Market Entrance.
“Those trees line the entrance to Pike Place Market,” Danner told KIRO Newsradio early Monday morning. “When you go from the city into Pike Place Market, you know that you are going someplace special and different, [and] all of First Avenue there by Pike Street is a unique step into the past.
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“I’ve lived in that neighborhood,” Danner continued. “It’s a place for people to come together and get a breath of fresh air and a change from the city pace.”
Danner said volunteers from her group visited Pike Street on Sunday and tied yellow ribbons on the eight remaining cherry trees — ribbons made from yellow and black caution tape.
Save The Market Entrance said that, counter to what some have claimed, the cherry trees are not diseased and don’t need to be removed. Danner said that with proper care — which is actually the responsibility of the adjacent property owners, not of the city — the cherry trees could live for 80 years or more, according to author and Seattle tree expert Arthur Lee Jacobson. Danner also said plans are to replace the cherry trees with elms, which she said will require even more maintenance and watering than the trees currently along Pike Street.
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Danner also said she knows of no plans to transplant or otherwise save the trees for relocating elsewhere, even though Daniel Beekman of The Seattle Times recently reported a net loss of 255 acres of tree canopy in Seattle in the five years ending in 2021.
Save The Market Entrance is not interested in pursuing a legal strategy, but Danner said the Pike Street cherry trees mean a lot to countless people who won’t fully realize what’s been lost until the trees are gone for good, and springtime arrives downtown without the trees and their blossoms.
As long as the trees are still standing, Danner said her group won’t give up.
“What we really want is for Mayor Harrell to issue a ‘stay of execution,’” Danner said, “so that we can find alternatives — whether the trees can remain there or be re-gifted to a low-income neighborhood that would cherish them and honor them.
“We just need more time,” she said.
You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News, read more from him here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast here. If you have a story idea or a question about Northwest history, please email Feliks here.
I recently spent about 45 minutes on a simple transaction – with an employee of a major corporation. It was one of those transactions where the computer wasn’t cooperating, and the sales rep and I both spent way too long sitting there waiting for something to happen.
Anyway, finally, it was done, I said thank you, and he said thank you for being patient, and by the way, you’ll probably be asked to rate my performance.
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And then he added, just to let you know – the scale is one to ten, but it’s actually a pass-fail system. Nines and tens count as passing, but anything below nine is considered failing. Have a nice rest of your day.
And I looked at him, and I said “that’s ruthless.” And he agreed yes it was.
And I thought to myself – why do corporations do this to people?
I got the feeling that he’s been through this before – he’s dealing with a frozen computer, the customer takes the survey, “rate your experience 1-10”, and the customer likes the guy, but because of the delay, he gives him an eight, thinking that’s not too bad, when in fact he just flunked him for something out of his control.
It’s like blaming the pilot for being last in the de-icing line.
Now I suppose it’s possible this is not really how the system works, that it is not pass-fail, and the employee just told me that to boost his score – but then that also would reveal the problem with systems like this – they can be gamed.
And it’s everywhere! I’ve had these surveys pop up after getting a latte, going to the dentist, and of course, flying to New York – “Tell us about your experience.” “Well, I wish New York was about three hours closer, and that ice didn’t exist, so I give you an eight!”
Anyway – I want to know if this actually works. So if you have a job where you get evaluated this way – at your convenience go to the inbox at MyNorthwest.com, and tell us if these ratings are helping your performance, or just making you paranoid.
After teasing Gee and Ursula listeners last week with the possibility of a universal school meal program, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has announced a proposal to the Washington State Legislature requesting an additional $86 million dollars a year in funding for school meal programs as a step towards providing universal school meals to all Washington students.
The money will be able to provide 21.5 million more lunches and 500,000 more breakfasts to the 330,000 K12 students that experience hunger but whose families do not qualify for food assistance under current guidelines.
During the course of the pandemic, the federal free school meal program through the Department of Agriculture’s Child Nutrition COVID-19 waivers provided meals to any student that needed them, no matter their family income, but that program sunset this past June after federal funding tied to pandemic emergency spending expired.
The amount of students eligible for meal waivers in Washington state continues to rise, from 43.31% of students in 2020 to 46.73% in 2021.
“Throughout the pandemic, I was asked consistently, what are we learning from the most unprecedented crisis of the last 100 years as we think forward,” Reykdal said. “Our students had the opportunity to access meals in ways they’ve never done before with the partnership of the federal government and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But so this school year, despite rising costs of living, and more employment insecurity from families, we’re unfortunately not going to be able to feed all families, because those federal waivers and flexibilities and resources are going away”
State superintendent teases WA universal school meal program
If the proposal is approved by the State Legislature, the 2023-24 school year would be the start date for the program.
Some states whose schools are offering free meals to all students include California, Vermont, and Massachusetts.
Senator T’wina Nobles, an outspoken proponent for the policy change, spoke in a news conference to how a universal program can really change the lives of students and families with reflection on her own experience raising four kids
“We were a young broke military family and many times qualified for free and reduced lunch. When there was a spike in our income, and we didn’t qualify, we sometimes qualify just for reduced and other times we didn’t qualify and had to pay for lunch.” Nobles said, “I think the inconsistency does make it challenging for families because life happens, and sometimes just a small increase in income can make it seem like there’s affordability when really this extra financial expense can really be a burden”
The funding expansion does more than just provide opportunities for students to get food, but it would also free up system administrators from having to track down school lunch debt.
“We have nutrition specialists and school districts who spend an extraordinary amount of their time tracking down meal debt,” Reykdal said. “There are places still sanctioning students and denying them access to programs and opportunities as a result of not being able to pay meal debt.”
State Representative Marcus Riccelli asked at the meeting, “Do we really need a global pandemic to ensure that we are feeding kids and that all Washington Students have access to healthy, nutritious food?”
“I think the answer is a resounding no,” Riccelli said. “We don’t need a global pandemic to feed kids. With this proposal and the work that will follow, this is an important next step to ensuring that free school meals are for all students. And it’s critical action toward meeting our collective goal of ending childhood hunger in Washington.”
The Washington Department of Health (WADOH) is pretending men can breastfeed. It’s virtue signaling at its most irritating.
The WADOH posted a celebratory tweet for Black Breastfeeding Week, which is August 25-August 31. The tweet aims to “recognize Black people who #Breastfeed and #Chestfeed.”
But the movement itself doesn’t recognize “chestfeeding” in its materials. And it’s women that breastfeed — not merely “people.” It appears WADOH added the term to continue the fiction that men can breastfeed. It’s erasing women in the process.
On this 10th annual #BlackBreastfeedingWeek we recognize Black people who #Breastfeed and #Chestfeed.
Black Breastfeeding Week has a full schedule of events! Check them out on their page or on their website: https://t.co/pd7nvzZjpX#BBW22 pic.twitter.com/tfy4CCE7Z4
— WA Dept. of Health (@WADeptHealth) August 26, 2022
The term “chestfeed” is used when transgender men (biological women) breastfeed. It’s also a way to erase women as gender extremists seek to influence the culture into believing there is no difference between men and women. But the very use of the term “chestfeed” is an indication that there is a difference.
Some transgender men maintain their breasts, while others undergo “top surgery” to remove breast tissue. Since they’re biological women, they can still breastfeed. But transgender men may not feel comfortable using the term “breastfeed.”
For women who claim to not have a gender, the term “chestfeed” is the equivalent of a “they/them” personal pronoun. It’s considered a gender-neutral word for a female act.
Though men, generally, do not lactate, some transgender women (biological males) seek medical intervention to lactate.
“Transgender women may also be able to lactate with the support of medications and pumping. Medical care is usually needed, as the medications require prescriptions and do have potential side effects that people should be aware of,” the website Motherly claims.
Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for a child. But the organizers behind Black Breastfeeding Week believe the rates of black women who breastfeed to be low.
Using old CDC data, the organizers report on its website that while 75% of white women breastfed, only 58.9% of black women did the same.
“The fact that racial disparity in initiation and an even bigger one for duration has lingered for so long is reason enough to take seven days to focus on the issue,” the organizers say.
The good news is the data is no longer correct. It’s from 2008. The most recent data, from 2021, shows 73.6% of black mothers breastfed with 84.1% for white women.
Given the importance of breastfeeding, there’s obviously nothing objectionable with working to increase the percentage of black women — and all women — as much as possible. So what’s stopping black women from breastfeeding as much as white women? Slavery.
The Black Breastfeeding Week founders blame the lower stats on “unique cultural barriers and a complex history connected to breastfeeding.
“From our role as wet nurses in slavery being forced to breastfeed and nurture our slave owners’ children often to the detriment of our children, to the lack of mainstream role models and multi-generational support, to our own stereotyping within our community — we have a different dialogue around breastfeeding and it needs special attention,” its website reads.
Lactation racism is also a reason too few black women breastfeed, apparently. The movement’s founders chide the “blatant disparity in breastfeeding leadership as well.”
“It is not debatable that breastfeeding advocacy is white female-led. This is a problem. For one, it unfortunately perpetuates the common misconception that black women don’t breastfeed. It also means that many of the lactation professionals, though well-intentioned, are not culturally competent, sensitive, or relevant enough to properly deal with African American moms. This is a week to discuss the lack of diversity among lactation consultants and to change our narrative,” the website reads.
To be clear, the WADOH doesn’t really care about this issue. Its social media team merely wants you to think that they do because of health equity, or whatever new progressive term they’re pretending is legitimate. This lets them kill two birds with one stone: pretending to care about black people and the trans community.
But if the department cared, they’d put together their own resources rather than link to a website that hasn’t been updated in years.
While someone looks to have used Microsoft Paint to update its logo to say 2022, the website lists events from 2020. Its August 30th event lists its black breastfeeding week panel starting at 1:00 a.m. EST with no location. It’s also odd for a celebratory week to begin on a Thursday and end the following Wednesday.
WADOH would have caught these discrepancies if they cared a little more than just offering up appearances. And it’s a shame that they don’t really care: the issue is actually important — regardless of the race of the mother and child.
Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3–6 pm on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Check back frequently for more news and analysis.
Several community organizations came together Saturday morning to help feed Washington’s military families.
The Military Family Advisory Network, Food Lifeline and Nourish Pierce County hosted a free drive-up food distribution event at Clover Park High School in Lakewood, serving more than 700 military families.
“We believe that no family should ever have to worry about how to put food on their table,” said Delia Johnson, Director of Programs at Military Family Advisory Network. “Here in the JBLM area, our partners, Nourish Pierce County and Food Lifeline, are always looking for volunteers.”
All three organizations are a part of the Washington Military Family Coalition, launched by Food Lifeline in 2021, a coalition of organizations working to solve hunger problems for veterans and military families across the state.
A measure to designate additional parking facilities for homeless communities in Pierce County has been struck down.
Pierce County’s toolbox to mitigate its homelessness problem includes the sanction of parking lots for the homeless living out of personal vehicles. 27 such spaces exist, and the county will expand that figure to 60 under a contract with Homeward Bound, a nonprofit that provides administrative services for the homeless.
In April, the Pierce County Council approved a measure that would have expanded on that strategy: permit short-term safe parking facilities on unincorporated county grounds— including commercial and civil property.
Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier has vetoed that measure.
“The biggest issue was it was done as an interim regulation, which short circuits the normal public engagement process,” Dammeier told KIRO Newsradio.
“They made a very broad expansion to all civic uses in Pierce County. That means all parks, all daycare centers, senior centers, schools, and government buildings.”
“I knew that we were not prepared to do that; the community was not prepared to address that constructively. We needed to give the community the opportunity to understand and get on board.”
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The executive suggested that he was in talks with the council to pair down the proposal to remove properties from the proposal more likely to create pushback, places like daycares and schools.
“Unfortunately, for some reason that I don’t fully understand, [the council] chose to go a different direction,” Dammeier continued.
“Again, we support safe parking done well. And we’re learning how to do that and have some sites are doing very well. It was just a broad expansion that I couldn’t support.”
The Pierce County Council chair could not be immediately reached for comment.
“We know there are countless people currently living in their cars without a safe place to stay. Allowing regulated, safe parking sites for people and families provides a secure, temporary place for them to find stability as they work to improve their financial situation and seek permanent housing,” wrote Council Chair Derek Young in a news release.
“We have waited too long to respond to the growing homeless crisis. This is just one way we can begin to tackle meeting the needs of our most vulnerable residents.”
Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
A couple of months ago, I started getting press releases for several new books and TV shows, all revolving around the same famous American chef: Julia Child.
In late November I watched a new documentary called Julia. Last month The Food Network launched a cooking competition show called The Julia Child Challenge, featuring eight home cooks and Child’s recipes. There’s a new non-fiction book called Warming Up Julia Child by Helen Horowitz, and a few weeks ago HBO Max released a show called Julia, a dramatization of Julia Child’s life in the 1960s starring Sarah Lancashire, David Hyde Pierce, and Isabella Rossellini.
“[The show focuses on the time] when she invented food television, where the roles in her marriage were flipped. It felt like a really exciting second act story,” said executive producer and creator Daniel Goldfarb, who also wrote and produced The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Julia Child is a celebrated American icon, but I wondered why so many projects are happening all at once.
“We just came out of a couple of years where a lot of people were spending a lot of time at home,” said Goldfarb. “The idea of cooking to take you to new places and connect with people and the joy of eating good food. I think, also, we’re in a moment in time where Julia’s optimism and Julia’s joie de vivre and Julia’s unsinkableness is really inspiring.”
Horowitz’s book centers on Child, but highlights the six most influential people in her career, including her adoring husband, Paul Child.
“The one thing that I came away with is Paul’s incredible helpfulness,” Horowitz said. “He encouraged her at every step of the way. He talks about what his role is on [Julia’s TV show] The French Chef and his role is completely behind the scenes. He helps shop for the show, he hauls the materials, he cleans up after the show, does all the washing. And he never seemed jealous at all. He seemed grateful for the opportunity.”
She says the timing of her book was purely a coincidence. As for the serendipity of so many projects being released at the same time,
“It might have to do with the pandemic,” Horowitz. “All of us were trapped in our homes, but you had a lot of time. I think that’s part of it. People dusted off their books and said, ‘I want to try that.'”
The book she’s referring to is Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Child’s first cookbook, released in 1961 when she was 49 years old. The book launched her career and is still one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time. It’s what food stylist Christine Tobin referenced when she cooked all the food you see on HBO’s Julia. Food was such a huge part of the production that they built her a fully operational kitchen adjacent to the set, so she could pull steaming dishes from the oven and immediately run them out to the set for filming.
“In episode three, the burgers studded with butter are just luscious,” said Tobin, who is based in Boston just like Child was. “We see Julia’s roast chicken and croutons, which is one of my favorites.”
Tobin says she doesn’t use old Hollywood styling tricks; all of the food on set was delicious, high quality, and happily consumed by the cast and crew between takes.
“Not one thing is fake,” said Tobin. “Everyone asks me that. Everything was her recipes and fresh, and I was so lucky to have markets that I was able to visit that were actually some of Julia’s favorite markets. It was really wonderful.”
Today’s media landscape is flooded with cooking shows and competitions, food podcasts (ahem!), and cooking influencers on Instagram. But hopefully, all of this new Julia Child programming will keep America’s original, and beloved, celebrity chef relevant to younger generations.
Listen to Rachel Belle’s James Beard Award nominated podcast, “Your Last Meal.” Follow @yourlastmealpodcast on Instagram!
King County put out a survey this week, asking residents living in unincorporated areas to weigh in on plans for “reimagining public safety.”
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The survey is designed around the idea that “the practice of law enforcement in the United States and in King County includes a history of harmful impacts and barriers to the families, health and futures of Black, Indigenous, and communities of color.” The hope is to ask residents from unincorporated King County — which encompasses a wide swathe of BIPOC communities — to provide feedback on how that can be addressed.
“Reimagining public safety is part of a County-wide focus that prioritizes personal and community wellness and dismantling systemic racism,” the county details in its explanation for the survey. “Our solutions must focus on meeting the needs of our communities to ensure safety and wellbeing — not just traditional methods of policing and criminal justice.”
The survey contains a variety of questions, asking residents about their experiences calling 911, the type of help they received, and whether they wished “another type of professional” had arrived to address a non-violent call.
It also gauges the level of trust respondents have in law enforcement officers in their respective communities, while measuring the level of comfort people have in trained crisis responders accompanying police on 911 calls.
Feedback gathered from the survey will be used to help build pilot programs set to launch in 2022.
To help stop the spread of COVID, the Tokyo Olympics told competing athletes that their families could not accompany them to Japan. And that included breastfeeding babies.
“Right now I’m being forced to decide between being a breastfeeding mom or an Olympic athlete — I can’t have them both,” said Kim Gaucher, a shooting guard for the Canadian national basketball team, in a viral Instagram video where she’s holding her infant daughter.
“The basketball team is going to be gone for 28 days,” Gaucher continued. “People have told me to try to pump. I don’t have enough milk in me to train as a high-level athlete and feed her, all while stocking a 28 day supply. It’s 2021, let’s make working mums normal.”
At the end of June, the Tokyo Olympics listened to Gaucher’s plea and loosened their policy. Breastfeeding babies are allowed to accompany their athlete mothers, but they are not allowed in the Olympic Village where Olympic competitors stay. Babies have to stay at an outside hotel with a caregiver, a stressful inconvenience that’s forced many mothers to leave their babies behind.
“It’s doing the athlete a disservice to not have something in place to support them and help them so that they can focus on one of the most important athletic performances of their life,” said Laura King, a pro gravel cyclist.
When King got pregnant, she was surprised how little information was out there for pregnant athletes.
“My doctor said, ‘We do not recommend cycling as a sport during pregnancy at all,'” King said.
Catherine Cramm, an exercise physiologist and leading expert in the field of maternal fitness, thinks that’s ridiculous. She’s devoted her career to studying evidence-based prenatal and postpartum fitness.
“The fact that an OB would tell someone to never ride your bike during pregnancy is such a blanket statement,” Cramm said. “Yes, you can fall off the bike. But a woman who rides all the time, her risk is very different than a woman who has never ridden a bike. There are so many health care providers that it is not their expertise to know about exercise during pregnancy. They just make that blanket statement, and that is such a disservice to their patient. If they don’t know, find out or refer. There’s some discrimination for women. Part of the thing that we’re always fighting against is an exercise expert who gets pregnant, writes a book, and it really has nothing based in science. It’s a study of one.”
When a doctor tells an athlete with a healthy pregnancy to stop engaging in their sport, or an Olympic committee doesn’t consider the biological needs of female athletes, it furthers the gender inequality that already exists in the sports world.
When King was pregnant, the only material she could find is a book called Exercising Through Your Pregnancy, co-written by Cramm. She said the book became her bible.
“I rode my bike over 4,600 miles over pregnancy and competed in races,” said King, who ignored her doctor’s advice. “I rode two and a half hours the day before I gave birth and then six days after having a baby.”
Cramm says women know their bodies better than anyone and can slow down or stop if they need to.
“What I always tell women is, you are your own little study,” Cramm said. “They know their body. I always say mom is going to feel it before the baby. That’s really true. If she feels overheated, if she’s feeling tired, those are the signs for her to slow it down because you don’t want to have your baby be impacted by this.”
Research shows that only good can come from exercising during a healthy pregnancy, for both the mother and the baby. Cramm says exercising five to six days a week for at least 30 minutes makes a fetus stronger and more resilient, and increases blood flow to the placenta. Moms and babies maintain healthier weights, even postpartum. Exercise benefits all pregnant women, not just hard core athletes like King who got back into racing about a month after giving birth.
“There were times where I’d stop [riding] and I’d be eating and I’d pump and bring the milk home in a little freezer milk bag in my back pocket,” King said. “But then there were other times where my husband came along and brought our daughter in the car and followed me so I was able to stop and breast feed along the way. But one [race] I did on my own and ended up just pumping while I was riding. It worked! I didn’t know if it would.”
Crumm recommends consulting a specialist. In Seattle, Bodies For Birth is owned by a pre- and post-natal exercise specialist and registered nurse.
Listen to Rachel Belle’s James Beard Award nominated podcast, “Your Last Meal.”
One year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, bringing with it economic devastation across the state.
In those 12 months, King County has seen a 20% hike in people on food assistance. And one in 10 county residents say they don’t get enough to eat — that’s nearly double the pre-pandemic figure.
Seattle personal chef Ariel Bangs knew as soon as COVID hit the Northwest that people were going to go hungry.
“I realized, ‘Oh, we need to support more people around getting food, because everybody is going to be shut in,'” she said.
Seattle cyclists deliver food to needy families during pandemic
Bangs runs a business called Healthy Creations, which helps advise people on how to cook nutritious meals and grow their own food.
Taking those skills, she started an all-volunteer program called the Plant Based Food Share to get boxes of fresh produce to families in need.
“We have so many volunteers from so many different walks of life, with so many different [areas of] expertise,” Bangs said. “We have people that are like, ‘I have a background in fundraising, and marketing, and PR, grant-writing, research.'”
Driven entirely by donations and grants, the program delivers enough healthy, vegan foods in each box to last the average family an entire week. There are also recipes for easy and nutritious meals that can be made from those ingredients, and materials to grow vegetables at home, as well as COVID safety items like masks.
But it’s not just a lifeline for those who receive the food; it’s also critical for those who grow it.
“I was really intentional about wanting to support small, family farms, small BIPOC-owned (Black, Indigenous, people of color) farms, small businesses,” Bangs said.
Larger farms tend to have contracts with grocery chains, which have sustained those farms through the pandemic.
“Traditionally, most of all the produce is purchased from corporate farmers, people who have the ability to be a little bit more well-known,” Bangs explained.
But smaller farms are left suffering due to the pandemic. Small restaurants that buy from their local farms have closed or reduced their hours, canceling their produce orders. And with fewer people getting out and less spending money flowing, farmers’ markets have suffered a drop in sales.
This is something Angel Mitchell noticed when she bought her Port Angeles-area farm, Angel’s Acres, last year.
“There was an existing customer base at the farmers’ market, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been in previous years,” she said. “Of course, numbers were down in 2020.”
It was a bold move to purchase a new business during a pandemic and recession, but Mitchell wanted to get into an industry that would feed people at a time when so many were going hungry.
Luckily, with its purchases of produce from Mitchell each week, the Plant Based Food Share helped make up for the loss in sales.
“That was such a blessing — I don’t know what we would’ve done without Plant Based Food Share in our first month of operating the farm,” Mitchell said. “Plant Based Food Share really stepped in and helped us build our capacity.”
That also meant far more food going to hungry people, instead of to waste.
“Being new farmers, we would be looking around and like, ‘Oh my gosh. We have 50 pounds of cucumbers. I didn’t even know these cucumbers were planted,'” she said. “Plant Based Food Share absolutely helped with reducing our food waste.”
In seeking out small and organic farms, the Plant Based Food Share especially focused on farms owned by people of color.
As Mitchell explained, the Black community does not have a history of owning land.
“The historic barriers for a lot of us with land, all of these things really kind of cut us off from being a part of an ecosystem,” she said.
And it comes full-circle. As food and seeds are delivered to BIPOC communities, they now get the chance to grow their own vegetables — even if it’s from the windowsill.
“We’re going to teach you how to grow your own food — which, because we’re not normally able to do that, because we don’t have property, that’s one gain,” Bangs explained. “The other is, you’re going to get really great produce that you can play around with every week.”
Bangs said they make a point of reaching out to BIPOC communities with the produce boxes because of the traditional difficulties that marginalized populations have had with getting healthy food.
“They’re not able to access the farmers, they’re not able to access the chefs or even the small businesses, because people are working, their heads down, they don’t really have a lot of money, it’s really expensive to live in Seattle,” Bangs said. “And if you live out of Seattle, then there’s another factor because how are you going to get the things? Maybe you don’t have a car, or maybe you work all the time.”
It’s an effort that has made a difference in lives across the Puget Sound.
“We are stronger together, and it’s good to go out on a limb and support people that you don’t consider first,” Mitchell said.
Now, the Plant Based Food Share is celebrating its first birthday this week — after getting food to 35,000 people in the greater Seattle area in that first year. And the movement shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
“It’s been really amazing just how this has transformed, where we thought [at first], ‘Oh, we’ll probably get food to like 20 people,’ which we did when we started,” Bangs said. “And then it just kept growing.”
To fuel that expansion, the Plant Based Food Share is in need of volunteers and donations — including donations of food, soil, and farm equipment. You can sign up to lend your help — or to receive a food box — at the Plant Based Food Share’s website.
