Week in Review: June 14, 2024 - with Lilly Ana Fowler

"We Can Do Better": Reid Saaris Aims to Revamp Education as State Superintendent from Hacks & Wonks

“Students return to Garfield campus following deadly shooting with increased police presence, calls for more to be done on campus and across city to address gun violence — UPDATE” by jseattle from Capitol Hill Seattle Blog

“Between gun tragedies, Garfield students discuss gun violence prevention” by Jared Brown from KNKX

“Kent-Meridian High School mourns two students killed in separate shootings” by Cornelius Hocker from King5 News

“Spending Money Earmarked for Student Mental Health Will Require Action from Skeptical Council; Saka Abruptly Cuts Off Presentation on Transportation Equity” from PubliCola

“Afternoon Fizz: Meanwhile, In Burien…” from PubliCola

“Burien police chief resigns as camping ban remains unenforced” by Lauren Girgis from The Seattle Times

“Gov. Jay Inslee says WA will make clear that hospitals must provide emergency abortions” from The Associated Press

“Seattle continues to delay vote on new delivery driver pay law” by David Kroman from The Seattle Times

“Ethics commission looks into possible conflict of interest on Seattle City Council vote” by Lilly Ana Fowler from KNKX

“Summer Covid surge hits Washington state” by Kate Walters from KUOW

Respiratory Illness Data Dashboard | Washington State Department of Health

“Medical examiner rules Tacoma ICE detainee died of natural causes” by Lilly Ana Fowler from KNKX

Find stories that Crystal is reading here

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[00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Tuesday topical show and Friday week-in-review delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at OfficialHacksAndWonks.com and in our episode notes.

If you missed our Tuesday topical show, Reid Saaris, an educator and former nonprofit leader, joined me to discuss his campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Today, we're continuing our Friday week-in-review shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome to the program for the first time, today's co-host: reporter covering social justice issues for NPR member station KNKX, Lilly Ana Fowler. Welcome.

[00:01:22] Lilly Ana Fowler: Hi, Crystal - thanks for having me.

[00:01:24] Crystal Fincher: Hey, thanks for joining us. Well, we have a number of news items to discuss this week, starting with really just tragic, heartbreaking news on a variety of fronts - all dealing with gun violence over this past week - at schools in our region, from Garfield High School to Kent Meridian High School, and other shootings throughout the city. Just a really troubling, horrifying week for our region, schools, students, parents, families, everyone - that really has caused a lot of people to pause and reflect. What have we seen over the past week happen?

[00:02:03] Lilly Ana Fowler: We had a teenage boy who was shot - the football player - last week at Garfield High School. He was apparently trying to break up a fight and was shot in the process. And the person who killed him is still at large - they think that it's a student, but I don't think that's even been verified yet. And so it's horrible news. I wasn't actually on the scene last week, but I did cover the shooting that happened in 2022 at Ingraham High School, and I was on the scene for that. And as a reporter, it doesn't matter how many of these school shootings you cover. It's just horrific. Parents are frantic, students are scared, administrators are trying to get control of the situation, but things are moving so quickly. And to have this happen again in the community - Ingraham is North Seattle, now we're seeing this happen in the Central District - it's just horrible. And I think people are at a little bit of a loss of what to do to make the situation better. I am doing some follow-up reporting today about what students are pushing for as far as solutions are concerned, but that's what we've seen so far.

[00:03:21] Crystal Fincher: We also saw tragedy take the lives of two Kent Meridian students this week - one at the hands of a 50-something-year-old man who saw three teens walking into a Big 5 sporting goods store - it is a sporting goods store - with an Airsoft rifle. They were going to return the rifle. This guy who said he's an off-duty security guard was in a parking lot. In that same parking lot were King County Sheriff's officers running a training exercise. This man said that he has seen crime happening in this parking lot before, his son is going to martial arts classes next to the Big 5. Saw these kids walking in with the rifle to return it, decided to confront them with his gun drawn, took down one of the boys - this is just a random old man taking down a boy - and shot another one because he mistook them returning a rifle for them going to rob the store and commit an armed robbery. He made statements to the police that were contradicted by video, according to the police report - saying that he approached them with his gun holstered, or certainly not pointed at them, that he ordered them to drop the rifle. Of course, if you imagine that from their point of view, it's just a guy coming - pointing a gun at you and yelling. They did drop the rifle, and they were screaming at him that it was not a real gun, it was just an Airsoft rifle. He fired on the boy, then stood over him, and repeatedly fired more until the boy was dead. Just an absolutely senseless, tragic instance that made national and international news, certainly, but is just another dimension of gun violence that we saw. And another student was discovered shot and deceased in a park adjacent to Kent Meridian. So they had a vigil for two students that were lost to gun violence in this past week. And we're seeing these different types of gun violence. So I guess for what's happening in schools, particularly what's happening at Garfield, what has the community response been and what have the students' response been?

[00:05:51] Lilly Ana Fowler: So after police shot and killed George Floyd in 2020, there was this big push to get police officers out of schools. And Garfield used to have a officer there - The Seattle Times just wrote about this - and he left. And so I think some parents are talking about bringing school resource officers back. But I was reading about the studies that have been done on SROs, or resource officers, and whether or not they make schools safer. And I think the evidence is really mixed. There are some studies that have shown that they bring down incidents of violence or fights, but it comes at a cost. And so there are more - in particular - Black students and students with disabilities being wrapped up into the justice system at an early age if there are officers on campus. So I think it's a pretty thorny issue and I can totally understand a parent's perspective - they're in a panic, there's violence at school. Of course, you're going to want to do something and that's an obvious place to reach. But based on the research that I've done - Does it actually work? I think that's a more complicated question to answer. So that's one aspect of the debate.

I am actually later today talking to one of the leaders with Seattle Student Union - and they're a student-led group - they've been really impressive, actually. They first started getting involved in politics, really, with the pandemic, with COVID - and they were pushing for more masks at school. And so that's how they started. But then, as we all know, right after that, there was the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd. And there was the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where all these students were shot and police did nothing but stand by. And so they paid attention to that and became involved in the gun debate. And then the Ingraham shooting happened and they were involved in that - they helped pass a statewide assault weapons ban. They were instrumental in that, which is super impressive for a student group - these are middle school students and high school students doing this, on top of going to class. And so now they're back pushing for mental health help. They've already gotten some funding for it - the initial round was $4 million for mental health counselors and that sort of thing. And then the Seattle City Council, as I understand it, approved through the JumpStart Tax, which is the tax on big businesses that Seattle has - they got money from that tax for $20 million for mental health help. That money, though, has not been spent. So what they're pushing for at this point is - Hey, Seattle City Council, Seattle mayor, you approved this money, we won, we got $20 million for mental health help. Can we actually spend it and get this help into schools? And see how it does and see if it helps? Because I talked to one of the student leaders of Seattle Student Union yesterday, and what she said to me is - People are already trying to make a judgment about whether or not more mental health help will actually make a difference without actually spending the money. And so she told me - You know what? We need to actually make a real effort in doing that before we make any kind of judgments about whether or not it's effective.

[00:09:22] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And as you related to - and I think PubliCola covered - that's going to take further action from the mayor and council to make happen. Thankfully, the students calling that into question and saying - Hey, where is this money? - did create some pressure to get that moving. And I think that we will probably be hearing more about progress on that soon from the council and mayor, but certainly those resources cannot be provided soon enough.

You talked about parents - the PTSA has officially, formally called for school resource officers through at least the end of next year, asking that to be funded. They asked for students who don't feel safe returning to school for the remainder of this year to be excused - that was the extent of those actions. As you said, several other students from Garfield and the community have said absolutely more mental health resources are needed, needing more support services, alternative response, and resources in the community just for people to have - especially teens - to have a place to go where they can spend time, where they aren't looked at as nuisances or loitering, and where they can recreate, and get resources, and hang out and thrive, and just have positive alternatives for places to be, which are in much shorter supply these days than they were several years and decades ago. The one thing - as I look at this externally - certainly there's a restarting of the conversation or an invigoration of the conversation around school resource officers. And the PTSA from that school is calling for it, certainly some folks see the need. What I have seen consistently happen in these situations is for people to look at - Well, let's drop a cop in here and that be the end of the solution. Even if they do that, there is no reality in which that is the only thing that needs to happen to make schools more safe and to reduce gun violence in and around schools. And I also notice that there's a lot of talk about school resource officers immediately after this shooting that we did not see immediately after the Ingraham shooting. And I find that interesting and worth examining.

[00:11:34] Lilly Ana Fowler: I find that interesting, too. You're absolutely right about that - two very different neighborhoods where shootings happen. Does Ingraham have a school resource officer?

[00:11:45] Crystal Fincher: No. No Seattle schools have any school resource officers right now. And so really interesting to see the community reaction surrounding Ingraham versus Garfield. And also just seeing community and media reaction in focusing on the school resource officer and not all of the other things that are as important, that are vital to reducing all kinds of violence, but particularly gun violence in all of our schools. Strong safety nets, strong mental health support, strong activity and support services, family support services - all of those things that studies have shown, but also communities know and have shown, how vital and important those things are. And so, are we as eager to advocate for all of those things? Or are we just going to stop at SROs and say - All right, that's done. I think there's a lot to examine in the response, I think that we do need to listen to the community - everything that the community is saying - and respond to all of those concerns that the community has.

[00:12:54] Lilly Ana Fowler: Yeah, it just makes sense that with such a complicated issue that it's going to take a multi-pronged approach to even come close to making things better, and I do hope that the community realizes that. I grew up in a border town - Nogales, Sonora, Nogales, Arizona - what was supposed to be this dangerous border town right next to Mexico. I would ride my bike in the streets, I would walk to school - I never experienced any of this. And this is a place that has drug tunnels. And when you see it in the headlines, all you read about is the drug violence there. Never had any issue growing up there. And so it really breaks my heart to see kids, teenagers, and middle school kids dealing with what they have to deal with at the age that they're at. It's already so hard to grow up and deal with peer pressure and bullying - and you add gun violence on top of that, and I can hardly imagine.

[00:13:50] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Well, we will continue to follow developments in there and look forward to your coverage with the students coming out later today.

I also want to talk about the latest piece of news in a longstanding saga in Burien about how they're choosing to deal with or not deal with their homeless population and ordinances that they've passed that many feel are unconstitutional, that seem to be unconstitutional on their face - they're facing a lot of litigation because of those. But the police chief for Burien is resigning. This is following a refusal of the King County Sheriff, who is who Burien contracts to provide their police services. Sheriff said - Hey, your ordinances are unconstitutional. We won't be enforcing them with our police resources. That has caused a lot of consternation - move to defund, move to say that they didn't have faith in Chief Boe to continue, if that's going to be the stance. That was also followed by a vote of no confidence by police officers in the city manager of Burien and the mayor there. So just a lot that has happened. But this chief has now resigned as the police chief of Burien. He's going to take a position elsewhere. What do you see in this whole thing and what does this development mean to you?

[00:15:11] Lilly Ana Fowler: Burien was the first place I lived in when I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, and I immediately noticed that it just demanded attention. And as a friend put it to me recently - Burien has no right to demand so much attention as this little suburb. I was there when the whole sanctuary debate was going on - and the mayor and the city council and the public would have these four-hour discussions about whether or not the police there should try to help ICE officials arrest people for being undocumented. And so it seems like there's just a continuation of that where the city council wants a certain kind of law, or lack of law, to be enforced. And other people are saying - No, you can't just do that. Arresting people for having nowhere else to go shouldn't be a thing. And the courts have said this.

[00:16:12] Crystal Fincher: Courts have definitely said this. The Supreme Court may weigh in on this very soon - as early as tomorrow, but certainly in the next few weeks it is expected. Really, it's an ideological challenge and it's a policy challenge - Burien is such an outlier in how so many cities, across a wide variety of ideologies with a wide range of populations, have chosen to deal with this. Burien has really taken one of the harshest approaches and anti-evidence based approaches that we've seen. And so this was not a surprise, but also seems unfortunate. They also say that they're struggling to recruit people. This certainly isn't helping where the police department is saying they don't have any confidence in their city leadership.

Also, an interesting tidbit that was covered in PubliCola this week - was in response to a records request, it was revealed that the city manager there, Adolfo Bailon, has been relentlessly calling the police on homeless people in the park next to City Hall. It was revealed he called 911 over the course of 5 weeks - 42 times, or more than once per workday on average. When looking at what the police actually responded to and what they said, there wasn't any illegal activity by any definition going on. One person had a tarp, but that wasn't illegal. Bailon suggested that there was drug paraphernalia. No paraphernalia was found. One of the quotes from a police report was like, People were there waiting for the person who stores their stuff to arrive. I smelled burnt pill, but no one had paraphernalia. Very friendly and understand group was educated of the camping laws and general trespass info. They were clearing up to move. None of those 42 calls appear to have led to an arrest. Several were downgraded in priority after officers responded - my goodness, what a waste of resources tied to this one person. I know I would be really irritated if someone called me 42 times, and it turned out I wasn't actually needed. And this comes at quite a cost to the City of Burien - I don't know how their residents feel, but what a mess going on in that city. And man, it just continues - and every detail just gets funkier than the last. They need to get it together.

Also do want to talk to news this week - we got a Supreme Court decision that maintained access where it's available for mifepristone, the abortion drug. And news in Washington this week that Jay Inslee is saying that Washington hospitals must provide emergency abortions. What action is he taking and why?

[00:19:00] Lilly Ana Fowler: It's just really a clarification. They're saying - We need to specify that in the law, those services include abortions. And so if somebody travels to Washington state, which as I understand it has been happening a lot - I think there's been an increase of about 50% of women coming to Washington state to have an abortion because it's become illegal in so many other places. So I think he just wanted to make the law stronger, which is a good thing. As a reporter here, when the Supreme Court ruled on Roe vs Wade, we should realize that we are really fortunate here in the sense that it's safe here and it's not in danger in any kind of way. And so this is really about helping women in other states who are less fortunate than folks here.

[00:19:49] Crystal Fincher: I actually think it's both. Certainly, we're in a much better position than our neighboring state, Idaho, who has banned abortion and is a big source of the huge increase in the amount of people who are coming to Washington for abortion care. We do have a couple of significant challenges when it comes to access here in Washington state that aren't because our laws on abortion are weak. But one is that we have a very large network of religious hospitals, a lot of Catholic hospitals. And so this clarification is particularly, I think, helpful and justified in this case, because we do have a number of hospitals who don't provide elective care, and it is emergency care. And so specifying that emergency reproductive care does explicitly include abortion - and they are obligated to provide abortion services - is a helpful clarification, particularly in that case. And especially in rural counties, which are also seeing an influx of out-of-state people, the access - just the amount of hospitals in rural areas are declining. There have been a number of closures of health care centers for financial reasons. And so just the proximity to people in a lot of eastern Washington counties and a lot of rural counties has been limited. And at the same time that access is being constrained, they're seeing much more demand. And so just being clear that abortion services are protected, I think, is relieving to a lot of people. And it's prudent to take these steps, especially right now, while they're available - and not knowing what other action is coming down the pike. We did see this decision - but this decision from the Supreme Court, while it was welcome, certainly in this instance, did telegraph potentially future challenges to come in the same vein. And we also see efforts across the country to limit not just access to abortion, but increasingly to contraception. And so just making sure that our laws are as strong as possible in Washington in this and several other areas under attack - I'm thinking of especially LGBTQ rights - is of the utmost importance. And so I think this was a very welcome move by Jay Inslee here.

[00:22:01] Lilly Ana Fowler: Yeah, it is interesting to see that the sort of Catholic takeover of hospitals is so strong here in the Pacific Northwest, given that we're one of the least religious areas in the country. And yet that is still very much a problem here. And there is also - I think one of the first things that folks were worried about when Roe vs Wade was overturned was also just doctors getting in trouble for helping women from out of state. And so that still is very much a possibility in any case.

[00:22:33] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. You are absolutely correct in that we are much more fortunate when it comes to our rights here in Washington state than unfortunately in an increasing amount of Republican states, including those very close to us.

I also want to talk about a story that you have certainly covered - and that is about the delay that Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson has announced for the PayUp repeal, which is the minimum wage legislation for gig work drivers. What is happening?

[00:23:07] Lilly Ana Fowler: It is a mess. It has been a wild ride. So at the beginning of this year, this law took effect - brand new law. It's supposed to mandate that the people who bring you food through DoorDash, Uber Eats earn at least the city's minimum wage, which is $19.97 an hour. Almost immediately, Sara Nelson and other council members on the Seattle City Council say - I think we need to fix this law because orders are way down, people aren't using DoorDash and these other apps because the app companies have imposed new customer fees. I have seen anywhere from $5 to $25 in fees on these orders now. So like Instacart, I've seen a person order $200 worth of groceries and have to pay an extra $25 for delivery. DoorDash - their standard fee is $4.99. And so all of a sudden, that burger and fries that you're ordering from DoorDash late at night is a lot more expensive. And so orders are down, restaurants are noticing, everybody's unhappy. So city council says we gotta fix this. But the way that they want to fix it is by cutting worker pay. They basically have said - We're going to pay workers less. And we hope that by paying workers less, DoorDash, Uber Eats, and other app companies will eliminate the customer fee, and the orders will go back up, and everybody will be happy. Of course, there's plenty of workers who are saying - No, I'm not happy about that proposal.

I don't know the last time I've seen so much pushback about a city council proposal - it's been talked about for months. And now they say - in the interest of introducing even more amendments and thinking about it more, that they've delayed the full council vote. So we are at kind of a loss at what's happening because city council isn't talking to reporters, they're not talking to the public, they're not being transparent about what these so-called amendments even are. They're supposed to be meeting today, in fact - labor advocates, the app companies, City Council. Hollingsworth is supposed to be meeting with everybody and supposedly she has these amendments. What they are - your guess is as good as mine because they won't tell us. And they said they're meeting today and then possibly again next week, and then they hope to bring it to a full council vote. So we'll see, but I don't know if they have the votes anymore to get this passed, honestly.

[00:25:54] Crystal Fincher: Well, and that's the issue. And the reason why they don't currently have the votes is because of ethics issues, really. One, Tanya Woo was found by the director of Seattle Ethics and Elections to have a conflict of interest because her husband and father-in-law own a restaurant that has a DoorDash contract. And there are still questions surrounding Sara Nelson, but at this point in time there's been no opinion saying that she does have a conflict of interest. But with losing Tanya Woo's vote - who would be a vote in support of repealing the minimum wage - it is questionable. It looks like Joy Hollingsworth is the swing and deciding vote here. And so Councilmember Hollingsworth has said that she is potentially exploring a compromise. As you said, setting up these meetings with app companies and labor advocates. Really interesting that that's even a conversation, seeing as the district she's representing is the one that was previously held by Kshama Sawant, who was repeatedly elected. And Hollingsworth certainly did not run on a repeal of any minimum wage. It could certainly be argued she talked about addressing homelessness and she talked about public safety. And certainly if she were looking to move differently in those areas, that would not be surprising to people who voted for her.

I think what they're finding out is that attempting to repeal any minimum wage legislation is very unpopular. There was a recent polling done showing that 60% of Seattle voters are in favor of keeping this PayUp legislation - they do not want to repeal. The two councilmembers that have been most vocally in favor of the repeal - Sara Nelson and Tanya Woo - now have approval ratings from voters that are upside down, more view them negatively than positively. Certainly, it seems like this is contributing. But again, just goes to - as we've talked about several times on this show - the importance of who you portray yourself to be and how important it is that that actually be authentic. Because when you attempt to govern in a way that's different than how you ran, you're going to run into some roadblocks. But I think overall, the argument just isn't flying with Seattle residents. Seattle is a pro-worker city. Period. They prove that over and over again, whether it's taxing employers to better take care of workers, demanding living wage legislation, legislation not only ensuring wages, but proper, fair, good working conditions for people over and over again. This is not surprising that Seattle residents feel this way and have this belief. I think it is surprising seeing the council make this one of their first actions while Seattle does feel this way.

[00:28:43] Lilly Ana Fowler: Absolutely. At least they could have given the law a little more time to play out and see how it goes. And this will be a big loss for Sara Nelson if it doesn't go through. Because as you said, this is one of the first things they decide to tackle. And why - when the law had just gone into effect - that's what workers have told me. Give it a shot. Give it a chance at least. And the other thing I want to just quickly mention is that you mentioned Woo. She still has not made it clear that she's planning to follow the advice from the Ethics and Elections Commission, which to me is wild. If I was an elected official and Ethics Commission told me you should recuse yourself from this vote, I would be very clear with the public and my constituents that I was planning to follow that advice and she has not done so.

[00:29:35] Crystal Fincher: Is there any precedent for anyone breaking with the recommendation from Seattle's commission to recuse themselves?

[00:29:42] Lilly Ana Fowler: The executive director of the Ethics and Elections Commission, who I've been talking to constantly - he's very responsive - Wayne Barnett told me that he has not had anyone ignore his advice in 20 years.

[00:29:57] Crystal Fincher: Wow. So certainly would be literally unprecedented to ignore this and to take that vote. And it is shocking to hear that it's even being considered, especially when we look at - the public outcry surrounding ethics lapses, whether it's in courts across the country from the Supreme Court on down to seeing different elected officials and their ethics lapses, and how negatively that's perceived by the public. Just really interesting to see that that's still under consideration. But I think the general premise that - Hey, it's workers' fault that DoorDash is charging everyone these high fees - also isn't landing with voters. DoorDash and Uber - Drive Forward, the non-profit group that is basically an arm funded by these delivery companies, who actually wrote the legislation according to Sara Nelson - and they've been charging these high fees all across the country. And I think it has really been shocking to people to hear how little delivery drivers are getting of the fee that is charged and how much they are relying on tips, and that's totally optional, and that they're winding up not even making minimum wage without this legislation, which a lot of drivers reported did help. So just really interesting to see here, in this larger conversation where now we're seeing a bunch of retail stores, grocery stores say - Hey, we're deciding to lower prices - which a lot of people are interpreting as, so you've been price gouging us this whole time. And again, seeing DoorDash and Uber charging these exorbitant fees. And as these fees have gone up, restaurants and drivers and customers are not getting a break - just seeing increasing fees with a larger percentage going to these companies, smaller percentages going to everyone else in the equation. And to basically scapegoat drivers for this profit play is what it looks like to a lot of people. And it's just not flying with a majority of voters in Seattle, certainly.

[00:31:56] Lilly Ana Fowler: It is important to point out that we are only the second city in the entire country who has a law about these gig delivery drivers earning the minimum wage. So part of what labor advocates are worried about is - Look, if they get this repealed here, they'll know they can go to any city in the country that tries to pass a law like this and get that law repealed if they're just persistent enough. And so it has nationwide implications. Seattle City Council is being watched by people all over the country right now.

[00:32:35] Crystal Fincher: They're being watched by people all over the country - this is certainly going to be interesting to follow. For people who have feelings about this, who are impacted by this, who want to reach out and communicate with Seattle City councilmembers about this. Certainly, Joy Hollingsworth would be excellent to communicate with. Tanya Woo, certainly Dan Strauss, and Tammy Morales, those who are not set in stone on how they're going to be voting on this. But certainly Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth looks to be a very pivotal member and vote. And if she decides to move forward with this, this could pass. So certainly letting her know how you feel, as well as the rest of the council. And the mayor - because if the council does take action on this and passes it, it's going to land on Mayor Bruce Harrell's desk - and he's going to have the choice to pass it or not, to sign it, or veto it. And he could certainly choose to veto it. He did champion this legislation when it was passed, so that's going to be interesting to see if it does come to a vote. And then if he did decide to veto it, it would go back to the council for a potential override vote. So still quite a path. But right now. who knows if it's even going to get there. If they do have the votes, it looks like they're struggling. But certainly there is a continued, very well-funded effort backed by these delivery companies and their front organization to try and continue to push this through.

Also, unfortunately - which a lot of people may have figured out due to hearing seemingly everyone coughing and being hoarse in the region, people just being sick and out everywhere - there is a current COVID increase, absolute uptick happening in our region. What are we seeing?

[00:34:22] Lilly Ana Fowler: Yeah, I'm glad I saw some news about this because it's very easy to forget that COVID is still out there and making people really sick. As you just mentioned, anecdotally, all of a sudden I'm hearing from people like - Oh, I got COVID. There is an uptick in hospitalizations, there's an uptick in cases. Now, it's complicated because we aren't testing the way that we used to. So in a sense, we are relying a little bit on word of mouth to hear about this sort of thing. One of the way they know is by doing some water testing, but we don't have the infrastructure in place that we used to have as far as testing and really tracking things, I am getting a COVID shot booster on Friday because I'm just hearing too many people talk about their recent case of COVID - and these are people who never had it before and they're finally getting it. But one of the other things that folks are talking about is that it shows that COVID is still not necessarily seasonal like the flu. And so it's not like we're only seeing it in the fall and winter. We're just getting summer started, and here we have a COVID upsurge.

[00:35:30] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And because so much of the messaging has been - COVID is over, COVID is minor, COVID is done, nothing we have to worry about anymore, socially at least. And that is not the case - COVID is still here. COVID is very serious for a lot of people. Repeated COVID infections have an increasingly negative impact on the ability to resist pathogens of all types. So getting COVID repeatedly can also make you more susceptible to a lot of other illnesses. Like you said, precautions that are recommended - making sure people are current on their boosters, not going places when you're sick, masking especially in indoor places - those standard precautions that we've heard of. As you talked about, there's a lot less testing going on for COVID right now, and even the variants right now are not necessarily picked up with excellent accuracy on COVID tests for people who are testing. So wastewater data is about the best up-to-date information that we're seeing. Washington state has a COVID dashboard that we will link to in our show notes. And looking at the increase - we don't get as detailed information as we used to, but I'm pulling this up right now, and basically the entire greater Seattle region here is in this very dark orange, which according to their key is an increase in cases between 100 and 900% here in this dashboard, which is quite an increase. Looks like it's spreading quite a bit, very fast. Just anecdotally from emergency room doctors - seeing them report that this seems to be very contagious, it can spread very easily. As you said, there are people who hadn't ever gotten COVID who are getting it for the first time now. So just those common sense precautions, especially around vulnerable populations, especially where people don't have a choice to be who may be in those vulnerable populations. So in health care settings and public transit settings - those kinds of areas - I would certainly urge people to be mindful and to communicate with your doctor, stay on top of this information. But kind of the social shorthand is - COVID's over. It's not a thing. We don't have to worry about it. It's just like a cold. And it's not. And we still have to be mindful of that and should spread the word because it's just not really talked about a lot. But we will, like I said, link those resources in our show notes.

[00:37:54] Lilly Ana Fowler: Yeah, one other thing I wanted to mention is there is a new COVID shot coming out, but I think it's not going to be available until August or fall sometime. But just wanted to mention that in case people are trying to weigh when to get their shot - if they had one recently, maybe wait till the fall. But if you haven't had one recently like me, I'm just going to go ahead and get it.

[00:38:13] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, good to be current. They just announced that they just approved a new booster for the fall. And so I think early availability was anticipated as early as September - certainly that could be October-fall timeframe in general for the new booster. But because that is still months away, if you aren't current, you should get current with this current shot and then certainly look to your doctor for guidance on what you should do there. But there will also be a new booster in the fall, which protects against severe illness and hospitalization, mostly - doesn't always stop just getting it, but it can certainly keep it from being as serious as it can. That is definitely a concern, as is long COVID, which a percentage of people - up to one in six people - who get those is the current estimate, winds up with long COVID, which can present in a variety of ways, many challenging, troubling ways, with the circulatory system and blood clots and respiratory illnesses, autoimmune challenges. So lots of people with long COVID saying - Please protect yourself. You don't want to get this. If I had it to do over again, I would try and do everything I could not to get this and urge for a public comprehensive response that encouraged the same. We'll see how that turns out. But certainly be aware, stay tuned, take precautions. And hopefully we see these levels drop off fairly soon.

Final thing I wanted to talk about today is an issue you have been covering consistently and unfortunately news of death at the ICE detention center. What was learned here?

[00:39:49] Lilly Ana Fowler: So we had a 61-year-old man - an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago - Charles Leo Daniel, who was found dead at the ICE detention center on March 7th. He had been held in isolation and solitary confinement for years - close to four years at the ICE detention center and then around nine or ten years in the Washington State prison system before that, serving a sentence for a second degree murder, 16 year sentence. There's a group called La Resistencia, an activist group, who has for years consistently, persistently been fighting for the shutting down of the ICE detention in Tacoma. Which at one point we thought might actually happen because they banned private prisons in the state. This private prison company, GEO Group, runs the facility - it's an ICE facility, but it's run by the private prison company. That got caught up in court, it's not going to happen anytime soon, ICE detention center seems here to stay, this guy dies. La Resistencia thinks he probably died by suicide because of the horrific conditions he lived in and because the last person to die at the ICE facility in 2018 died by suicide. Turns out, Pierce County Medical Examiner finally - after more than three months - comes out with its report. We've all been waiting. I've been checking in on them every week saying - Hey, are we ever going to know why this guy died, how he died? Finally, they come out with a report. Two lines. Just says - Died of natural causes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure. That's it. That was what the report said. Of course, activists, immigration advocates say they want a more thorough report. It doesn't really reflect the kind of life he lived. This is a guy with severe mental illness on top of physical medical issues. And so that's where we're at - I don't think the report left many people satisfied.

[00:41:54] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and to your point - just the delays, the lack of information, the years-long lack of transparency and answers about so many issues, including other deaths that don't have good answers, the neglect that appears has been happening there, and abuse. Elected officials, Congress members being turned away when trying to examine the facility - just really alarming there. And also that people are languishing there for years and years. This is not supposed to be a prison. This is a detention facility pending findings in their case, finding in a deportation proceeding or trial, pending some action - they may be released back in the community. Whatever the case is, they're not supposed to be there for years for any reason, really. And that this is happening and that people are dying here is certainly alarming - just wish we had better answers, certainly. And hope we get better transparency and the ability to enforce the laws of our state here when it comes to this facility that just seems to be operating outside of the law right now.

[00:43:04] Lilly Ana Fowler: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, Charles Leo Daniel, the man who died - he was ordered deported and then stayed there. Why? We're not sure. It could have been a lawyer was trying to appeal his case or something like that. But again, this is somebody who had auditory and visual hallucinations, and he was not in okay state of mind or physical. If you could imagine us out here - the kind of advocacy we need and persistence we need to get adequate medical care just in the regular world - you can imagine what it must be like for somebody detained at a facility like this.

[00:43:42] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Well, we will stay on that story also. And with that, we thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, June 14th, 2024. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today was reporter covering social justice issues for NPR member station KNKX, Lilly Ana Fowler. You can find Lilly on Twitter at @LillyAFowler. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. And on other platforms, you can find me at @finchfrii everywhere. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. And be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full text transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes.

Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.