UW professor David Baker wins 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry

a 62 year old man in a black t shirt sitting at a kitchen table in his home smiles while holding his smart phone in front of him

At his home in Seattle, Nobel Laureate David Baker talks with Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Deepmind, co-recipients of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, announced Oct. 9. (Ian C. Haydon/UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design)

With two other researchers, University of Washington biochemistry professor David Baker received the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for his work in computational protein design. 

Translation: He is a pioneer in designing and creating artificial proteins. His co-recipients are Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, artificial intelligence researchers at DeepMind Technologies Limited, a British-American research laboratory and subsidiary of Google. 

“Let’s be honest. This is as good as it gets. He’s a local kid. Garfield High … Now he has a global impact,” said UW president Ana Mari Cauce at a Wednesday press conference at the university. “Other scientists cite his work as critical to their work.”  

“He has created proteins that we have never seen before,” said Timothy Dellit, CEO of UW Medicine and the University of Washington School of Medicine. 

Baker, 62, has been a UW School of Medicine researcher since the early 1990s. 

“The idea that you could make new [proteins] was a crazy idea … It was kind of the lunatic fringe for many years,” Baker said. “We’ve learned a lot about designing proteins with new functions … We are just at the beginning of the impacts.”  

Proteins are strings of amino acids that occur in nature. Proteins support other biochemical structures, act as catalysts to help form hormones and enzymes, and affect cells. “Proteins are the workhorses for all living things,” Baker said. 

The artificial proteins leading to the Nobel Prize could be used to create new vaccines, block infections, aid Alzheimer’s and cancer research and help break down plastics at the molecular level, among numerous other applications. 

Baker’s lab is on the UW campus. Half of the lab houses many graduate and post-doctoral researchers designing proteins on computers. A glass wall separates them from a biochemistry lab where the materials are mixed to see if new proteins work as intended. 

“You have to have very precise movements and structures,” said post-doctoral researcher Florence Hardy.  

“It’s very exciting. Intense,” said Ph.D. candidate Avi Swartz.  

Post-doctoral researcher Yujia Wang is designing proteins to speed reactions in enzyme research. Ph.D. candidate Stephanie Harris is designing a protein to be used as a tool to study how cells signal each other. “I think it’s cool,” she said. 

Baker has published more than 640 peer-reviewed research papers and been awarded over 100 patents, while co-founding 21 biotechnology companies. 

Cauce noted that the 62-year-old Baker is young for a Nobel Prize winner, adding that for him “The best is yet to come.” 

More Briefs

Everett voters appear to be on track to approve a new minimum wage of $20.24 per hour, nearly four dollars higher than the state minimum wage.  

Initiative 24-01 was passing with 58% of the vote Tuesday night. If it succeeds, large employers in Everett with over 500 employees will begin paying the $20.24 minimum wage beginning July 1, 2025. For companies with 15-500 employees, the minimum wage will be phased in, beginning at $18.24 on July 1 and reaching the same rate paid by large employers by 2027, which will be adjusted annually for inflation.

The measure does not apply to businesses with fewer than 15 employees.  

Supporters of the Everett Deserves a Raise campaign argued the higher wage is necessary to offset rising costs of rent, groceries, gas and other life expenses that are contributing to residents getting displaced from the city. The measure was backed by unions including UFCW 3000, the Snohomish & Island County Labor Council and the Public School Employees of Washington.  

Everett voters were tasked with choosing between two similar and competing minimum wage measures this election. Initiative 24-02, known as Raise the Wage Responsibly, also would have increased the minimum wage to $20.24 over time, but allowed businesses to count tips, health care and retirement contributions toward a worker’s minimum wage.  

The backers of this alternative measure, including the Washington Hospitality Association, argued the tipped wage credit and other exceptions would allow higher pay for workers without hurting businesses also feeling the impact of inflation.  

Initiative 24-02 was losing by 59% after the first ballot count Tuesday night. Had both measures passed, the one with more Yes votes would have superseded the other, according to the Everett Herald.  

Tipped wage credits were a flashpoint issue in Seattle recently. As part of its decade-long phase-in of its highest-in-the-nation minimum wage law in 2015, Seattle allowed businesses like restaurants and coffee shops to count tips toward workers’ minimum wage.  

That exemption is set to expire at the start of 2025. Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth introduced a bill in late July to keep the tipped wage credit in place in response to restaurant and other business owners’ concerns about the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic. Hollingsworth withdrew her bill one week later after facing swift blowback from labor leaders and workers.  

In 2022, Tukwila voters approved a measure to raise the minimum wage — now $20.29 an hour for large employers. Renton voters approved a measure in February 2024 to match neighboring Tukwila’s new wage. Everett would join these cities as having among the highest minimum wages in the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

This article was updated to clarify how Everett's minimum wage would be phased in for medium-sized employers. 

Michael Baumgartner takes early lead in WA 5th Congressional race

Republican Michael Baumgartner (right) leads against Democrat Carmela Conroy (left) after initial results dropped Tuesday night. 

Republican Michael Baumgartner (right) leads against Democrat Carmela Conroy (left) after initial results dropped Tuesday night. 

Republican Michael Baumgartner appears to have defeated Democrat Carmela Conroy in the race for Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District. 

Baumgartner had 60% of the vote after Tuesday night’s initial ballot count. Conroy was trailing with 40%. 

Baumgartner is a familiar face in Spokane politics. He was a state senator from 2010 to 2019, and currently serves as Spokane County treasurer. Before entering politics, he worked as an economics officer for the U.S. State Department in Iraq and a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. 

Conroy spent 24 years as a foreign service officer and diplomat with the U.S. State Department. She has also worked as a deputy prosecutor in Spokane County and recently chaired the Spokane County Democratic party. 

The 5th District covers the easternmost part of Washington. Much of the district is agricultural, but it also includes major cities like Spokane, Pullman and Walla Walla. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, has represented the district since 2004. In February, she unexpectedly announced that she would not seek reelection. Baumgartner got 28.5% of the vote in a 11-person primary, one of the most crowded races in Washington this year. 

On the campaign trail, Conroy and Baumgartner were split along party lines on most issues. Baumgartner listed securing the southern border as a top priority, while Conroy emphasized her support for abortion rights. 

Republicans have historically held a large advantage in the 5th District. The last Democrat to hold the seat was Tom Foley, who served as Speaker of the House and was defeated by Republican George Nethercutt in 1994. 

Kamala Harris takes Washington’s 12 electoral votes

a ballot drop box

A ballot drop box on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, one week before the November 5 election. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

Vice President Kamala Harris has likely captured Washington’s 12 electoral votes in the presidential election, but the results nationwide are not yet known.

After the first vote count in Washington on Tuesday, Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz had 59% of the Washington vote, followed by 39% for former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, and other candidates took less than 1% of the vote.

For the latest updates on the presidential contest, visit PBS Newshour online or on live television.

Washington voters have chosen the Democratic nominee for president each election since 1988, but for the four presidential elections before that, Washington picked the Republican nominee. In the 2020 election, Washington voters chose President Joe Biden over Trump by a 58% to 39% margin.

Although in the Western half of the United States, only California and Texas have more electoral votes than Washington, presidential candidates do not usually spend much time campaigning here because the state has become such a reliable vote for the Democratic nominee.

But over the state’s 135-year history, the presidential vote has regularly gone back and forth between the Republican and Democratic parties; and once, in 1912, Washington voters chose the Progressive Party candidate for president.

Senate: Maria Cantwell takes lead against challenger Raul Garcia

Sen. Cantwell on election night

Incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington greets the crowd after a clear victory on election night at the Seattle Convention Center. (Grant Hindsley for Cascade PBS)

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell appears headed toward reelection with 60% of the votes tallied in the first statewide ballot drop Tuesday. 

Her GOP challenger, Dr. Raul Garcia, was trailing with 40% as of Tuesday evening. Votes will continue to be counted over the following days. 

Cantwell, 65, lives in Edmonds and has served as a senator for more than 20 years. She moved to Washington in 1983 and served three terms in the state House from 1986 to 1992. Cantwell then was elected to the U.S. House in 1992, but lost her reelection campaign in 1994. She took down Republican U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton in 2000 and has held the Senate seat since. 

She chairs the Senate Commerce, Science & Technology Committee, where one of her accomplishments was sponsoring the CHIPS & Science Act, which allocated nearly $250 billion over five years for technology research and manufacturing. This included four semiconductor projects in the Pacific Northwest, creating an estimated 2,880 jobs. 

Her campaign has spent nearly $3.6 million, compared to Garcia’s campaign spending of $617,000, according to federal campaign disclosure records. 

Yakima physician Raul Garcia has worked as an emergency room doctor for more than 25 years, and has described himself as a Cuban immigrant who fought for the American Dream. He dropped his bid for governor and instead chose to run for U.S. Senate early in the election cycle. Previously, he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2020, losing in the primary. Garcia calls himself a moderate conservative, and says he takes a “common sense” approach to policy issues. 

Gov. Inslee approves plans for WA’s largest wind turbine farm

About a dozen wind turbines are on a hill; an empty road is in the foreground.

Wind turbines on a hill near Ellensburg, Wash., November 19, 2022. Washington’s electricity needs are expected to double by 2050. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

Gov. Jay Inslee has approved a revised plan to populate the Horse Heaven Hills south of Kennewick with the largest wind turbine farm in Washington. 

His approval leaves intact more than three-quarters of the originally requested number of turbines. While Inslee gave his approval on Oct. 18, his office and the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council confirmed that approval to Cascade PBS on Friday. 

This Horse Heaven Hills project has aroused the most contentious disagreement among several clean energy projects in Washington. The proposed turbine farm has drawn scrutiny for its possible impact on Native cultural sites and on wildlife in the area, as well as its visibility from the Tri-Cities. Tri-Citians have also questioned the effects of the wind farm on ferruginous hawk nests.

In September the Site Evaluation Council voted 4 to 3 to approve the recommendation. Opponents of the project have until Dec. 17 to appeal the decision to the state’s courts.

Inslee has been pushing new wind turbine projects and solar panel farms to be located across the state as part of his campaign to trim the state’s carbon emissions. In an Oct. 18 letter posted to the Council’s website last week, Inslee said that the Council had adequately addressed the environmental, cultural and community impacts of the project. But the letter also had an undercurrent of impatience over the delay, since the Horse Heaven Hills project took most of this year to be approved.

“We will not meet our state’s urgent clean energy needs if the path to a final recommendation from the Council spans multiple years and contains conditional micrositing process requirements that further prolong final siting approval for a significant portion of the primary project components,” Inslee wrote. “I strongly encourage the Council to identify opportunities to increase its efficiency and provide for more timely decision-making. You can expect my office to engage with you on this critical issue before the end of my administration.”

The original plans by Scout Clean Energy of Boulder, Colorado, called for either a maximum of 147 670-foot-tall wind turbines or 222 500-foot turbines along a 24-mile east/west stretch of the Horse Heaven Hills, producing a projected 1,150 megawatts of wind power. The plans also called for two 500-megawatt solar panel farms on the east and west sides of the 24-mile stretch.

After some back-and-forth between the Council and Inslee’s office, the council set a 0.6-mile buffer around 60 to 70 ferruginous hawk nests, a 0.25-mile buffer around historic Native American fire sites and a one-mile buffer alongside Webber Canyon, another culturally sensitive spot for Indigenous nations. The Council ordered that the eastern solar farm be removed from the plan because of its proximity to sensitive Native cultural sites.

If 500-foot turbines are installed, that would trim the number of turbines by approximately 50, from 222 to roughly 172. If 670-foot turbines are installed, that would cut the number of turbines by approximately 34, from 147 to roughly 113. More precise figures will be calculated later.

The Washington State Republican Party owes $5,000 in fines after Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission, a campaign watchdog for the state, found the committee to be in violation of state campaign laws in 2023 and 2024. 

The fines are related to four campaign finance and political advertising violations, the PDC said in a statement Tuesday, and administrative charges were filed by PDC staff earlier this month. 

PDC staff allege that the state party illegally contributed to the political action committee Let’s Go Washington by transferring $100,000 from the Republican committee’s exempt fund for unallowed activities. The PDC noted that exempt accounts can only be used for limited purposes and can not be used for direct contributions to other campaigns. 

Let’s Go Washington is the sponsor behind the four initiatives included on the general election ballot this year that seek to overturn Democrat-backed programs such as the state’s cap-and-trade program, the capital gains tax and the long-term care program.

The state Republicans were also fined for depositing $106,500 in anonymous contributions on Sept. 17 and failing to disclose the source of those contributions. The state party then amended the disclosure report to reveal contributors a few days before the PDC hearing on Oct. 24

According to the disclosure commission, political committees cannot hide sources of contributions as “anonymous” if they know the source. Campaigns and committees cannot accept more than $500, or 1% of total contributions in a year, from anonymous sources, the PDC added.

The PDC also alleged that the Republican committee failed to include sponsor identification in a 2023 campaign text, then failed to submit expenditure reports for the texts on time. The state party was 87 days late submitting the reports, which was also 80 days after the 2023 general election.

Committees and campaigns are required to include sponsor identification in such text messages.

The Republican Party has 10 days to ask the commission for a reconsideration, and up to 30 days to appeal to a Superior Court. Additionally, $1,000 of their fine can be suspended if the state Republican Party meets conditions laid out by the PDC, including transferring $100,000 from the non-exempt fund to cover the cost of the illegal expenditure from the exempt fund.

In a statement to Cascade PBS from GOP Chairman Jim Walsh, he said that the party always cooperates with the PDC and supports transparency at all levels regarding campaign finance laws, but said that recently he believed the PDC has reached some “hasty conclusions about a grab-bag of minor WAGOP projects.”

“The timing of these hasty conclusions is worth noting—right around the general election,” Walsh said. “The WAGOP will consider all options in responding to the PDC’s conclusions, as allowed by law and tradition. But there’s no need to match haste with haste. For the next few days, the WAGOP is focused on winning elections.”

Update 3:45 p.m. October 30, 2024: This article has been updated with a statement from Washington GOP Chairman Jim Walsh.

Whitman County searching for about 250 missing election ballots

The state capitol building

The Washington Capitol building in Olympia in a January 2024 photo. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Whitman County is investigating how hundreds of election ballots went missing somewhere between the printing plant and voters’ homes.

County Auditor Sandra D. Jamison said she has verified that all the ballots were processed out of the Spokane printing plant on Oct. 16 and were scanned by the U.S. Postal Service into their system. But they do not know yet what happened to the roughly 250 ballots after that.

Jamison said she is working directly with postal officials in Washington to retrace the next distribution steps in hopes of finding out what happened.

“I certainly understand how frustrating it is for those of you who have not yet received a ballot,” she said in a letter to voters and the media. 

The Whitman County elections staff is asking voters to call their office at 509-397-5284 if they did not receive a ballot, and another one will be issued to them. Any voter in any county who is missing their ballot may also print a replacement by signing in to vote.wa.gov.

“Rest assured that I am diligently investigating this matter. My goal is to make sure that every Whitman County registered voter receives a ballot and has the opportunity to participate in this election,” Jamison wrote. 

Open enrollment for 2025 health insurance through the Washington Healthplanfinder starts Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 15, 2025, the Washington Health Benefit Exchange announced this week.

This includes individual private health and dental plans, as well as state health insurance through Medicaid, known as Washington Apple Health.

Washingtonians who do not have health insurance from an employee, spouse or government program can browse through health and dental plans for the following year online. Beginning 2025, at least 74 qualified health plans and nine dental plans will be offered.

If enrolled by Dec. 15, coverage will begin Jan. 1, 2025.

Enrollment for free or low-cost coverage is available for individuals and families who qualify. Eligibility can be determined through visiting the official website. Apple Health coverage was expanded in July 2024 for all, regardless of citizenship status.

Cascade Select plans (public option) which cover more services before deductible and lower monthly premiums will be available statewide, including in Lincoln and Gray’s Harbor counties for the first time.

Cascade Care Savings, the state’s health care insurance subsidy program, is available to everyone in the state, regardless of citizenship, which the state started offering during last year’s enrollment period for 2024. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients and those with noncitizen status are eligible for federal premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions.

The state expects about 300,000 people to use the health care marketplace.

Hundreds of ballots were damaged after a Clark County ballot box was found burning in the Fisher’s Landing neighborhood of Vancouver Monday morning. A suspicious device was found next to the box, Vancouver police said.

A similar incident had been reported about an hour earlier across the river in Portland, damaging three ballots. Police say the incidents likely are connected.

Around 4 a.m. Monday, the Vancouver Police Department received a call about the ballot box at 3510 SE 164th Ave. smoking and on fire. The FBI also is investigating the incident, police said.

Ballots suffered both fire and water damage, though the full extent is not yet known. While all Clark County ballot boxes were freshly equipped this year with fire suppression devices, it did not prevent the damage in this incident, Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told Cascade PBS. Some ballots were able to be processed and counted, he said.

Elections officials in Clark County are drying the ballots for a more accurate assessment of the damage, and will contact affected voters, Kimsey said. He said the county will also mail replacement ballots to those affected, with an explanation of what happened. Kimsey also encouraged voters who deposited their ballots at that drop box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact the county to get a new ballot. Voters can also check their ballot status at voter.votewa.gov.

Kimsey said Clark County elections will also collect ballots from its 23 drop boxes by 5:30 p.m. between now and the election, and encouraged voters to get their ballots in before the boxes are emptied. Law enforcement will also step up patrols near the drop boxes, Kimsey said.

It is the second time in a month that a Clark County ballot box was targeted with a suspicious device. The earlier incident took place Oct. 8, before general election ballots had been sent to voters.

Vancouver is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, which has a closely contested race between U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA3) and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

Free school lunches increased by 32% in the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. That means at least 70% – 775,000 of Washington’s 1.1 million students – have access to free school lunches.

In the 2023-2024 school year, 1,269 schools offered free meals funded by the federal government, also known as the Community Eligibility Provision, to students, and that number increased to 1,523 schools the following year. Schools get community eligibility to provide free lunches to all students regardless of income if they can document high numbers of students from low-income families.

OSPI worked with the state Legislature to increase the number of students eligible for free lunches by supplementing the funding of federal programs to cover the full or partial cost of school meals for eligible students.

To be eligible, students’ family income must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. A family of four that makes a monthly income of $3,380 or less is eligible for free student lunch.

However, the federal dollars aren’t enough to cover the increased demand for these lunches, leaving the burden for schools to pay for it in their budgets or make up the difference in their paid school lunch programs.

OSPI is requesting additional funding to make up these differences due to increased school participation, requesting $108 million a year for the program, a budget increase of $17.5 million annually.

During the pandemic, many families and students received universal free breakfast and lunch, but that ended in 2022. In 2023, a bill was passed requiring districts to pursue community eligibility to continue providing meals, falling short of its original goal to provide free meals for all students, as California and Maine do.

 At schools with universal free meals, staff are freed from tracking and collecting meal debt from students and can instead focus on quality meals, OSPI said. OSPI said these universal meal programs are an economic boost to families in need.

“When students participate in universal meal programs, their participation can save their families up to $1,200 per year that they might otherwise be spending on meals during the school day,” said State Superintendent Chris Reykdal in the press release email. “Especially as we all battle rising inflation and our budgets getting tighter, these programs provide much needed financial relief to families statewide.”