Briefs

The Washington Supreme Court revised its previous stand on what it means to have a “jury of your peers” in a decision issued Thursday.

Race discrimination in jury selection violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee, Justice Susan Owens states at the beginning of her simple-yet-dramatic opinion, which was signed by all her colleagues on the court.

Owens notes that previous rulings by the Washington Supreme Court fell short of the objective to remove racism from the jury selection process.

In 2010, a Black defendant appealed a trial court decision after a second potential Black juror was removed from the jury box in his trial for robbery, drug and firearm charges. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal at the time, but has now ordered Theodore R. Rhone’s case to be retried – 13 years after he made his appeal.

After the court swore in the jury, Rhone made the following statement: “I would like to have someone that represents my culture as well as your culture. To have this the way it is … seems unfair to me. It’s not a jury of my peers.”

Owens said Rhone was asking for “a bright line rule establishing a prima facie case of discrimination when the State peremptorily strikes the last member of a racially recognized group” from the potential jury pool. But the Court did not agree to adopt this rule in 2010.

The justices changed their minds in the years following because of all they have learned since then regarding the impact of implicit bias in jury selection, Owens wrote in her opinion.

The 2023 opinion was related to a different matter in Rhone’s case, but as Owens wrote, “We take this opportunity to revisit and correct that decision.”

“Given the unique factual and procedural history of this case and in the interest of justice, we recall our prior mandate, reverse Rhone’s convictions, and remand for a new trial,” she wrote.

Ten times more Washingtonians died from the flu during the 2022-2023 season compared to the previous flu season, the Washington Department of Health reported on Thursday.

A total of 262 Washington residents were reported to have died from the flu between the beginning of October 2022 and the end of April 2023, including 257 adults and five children. The Health Department reported 26 laboratory-confirmed flu deaths during the 2021-2022 flu season. Officials believe COVID-19 mitigation efforts, including masking, staying home and limited gatherings, may have kept flu activity down for the past few years. 

Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates as many as 57,000 flu deaths occurred between Oct. 1, 2022 and April 29, 2023. The CDC reports one positive statistic concerning this year’s flu season: Hospitalizations decreased 75% for children and by about half for adults. Federal officials credit the flu vaccine for these decreases, but also note that flu vaccination rates have gone down nationally in certain groups, including children and pregnant people, compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

Washington Health Secretary Dr. Umair Shah advised people to become more diligent about getting a flu vaccine now that masking and social distancing are less common again. 

“The flu vaccine is your best protection against this serious disease. Even if you get the flu, if you’ve been vaccinated, typically your illness is milder and you aren’t as likely to need to go to the hospital,” Shah said in a DOH statement.

In Washington, flu activity rose at the end of October and peaked by the end of November. The DOH’s Flu Overview page has more information about this season’s outbreak.

Several states offer free college tuition for Indigenous students from federally recognized Native nations. For nations like the Chinook Indian Nation who have been fighting for federal recognition for the past 20 years, these higher-education opportunities have been denied, until recently. 

Clatsop Community College announced on May 6 at the North Coast Inclusion Seminar that they would be the first higher-education institute within the Chinook Indigenous lands to grant free tuition to the nation.

“I saw no other option.” Chris Breitmeyer, president of Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon, said in a press release. 

“Knowing that hundreds of tribes are receiving these incredible opportunities while the Chinook Indian Nation is left to fend for themselves should upset every single Oregonian,” Breitmeyer said. “It is our responsibility to do better by our indigenous communities, and we are proud to support the Chinook Indian Nation in this way. We know we have done the right thing, and encourage other higher-ed institutions to follow suit.”

Chinook leadership believes that local support for the Chinook Indian Nation is pivotal to their continued efforts for federal recognition, and is grateful to Clatsop Community College for prioritizing Chinook citizens and respecting the nation’s sovereignty. 

“Clatsop Community College has made a significant commitment to honoring our place within the community, reaffirming our status as an active tribe, and supporting our members as they work to cultivate better futures for themselves,” said Rachel Cushman, secretary/treasurer of the Chinook Indian Nation Tribal Council. She called the college’s decision a move toward building economic security for her people. 

The Chinook Indian Nation hopes that other higher-education institutions in Washington and Oregon will follow the lead of the University of Oregon (which offers a similar program) and Clatsop Community College to treat them with the same respect and offer the same opportunities as federally recognized nations. 

This morning, the Seattle City Council took an early step toward limiting the circumstances under which gig companies can deactivate workers’ accounts on their platforms.

During the Public Safety and Human Services Committee meeting, Council staff gave a presentation on draft legislation that would set parameters for when and why workers could have their accounts deactivated and create an appeals process, among other things. 

The bill states that companies’ deactivation policies must be “reasonable and be reasonably related to the network company’s safe and efficient operations.” Unreasonable policies include deactivations related to number of hours worked, acceptance or rejection of work offers, and low ratings by customers, among others.

The policy would require companies to give 14 days of notice before deactivation; provide documentation substantiating the deactivation; and allow workers to appeal their deactivation to a person with authority to reverse the decision.

In instances where companies suspect workers of engaging in “egregious misconduct,” the companies will be able to deactivate accounts immediately rather than waiting until the end of the 14-day investigation period. Egregious misconduct includes assault, sexual assault, unlawful harassment, theft, fraud, DUI and a number of other criminal actions.

Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis are leading the Council’s work on a suite of policies, called the PayUp Legislation, meant to improve working conditions for independent contractors on gig apps. Last year Seattle passed a minimum wage for gig workers. Earlier this year they created a gig-worker paid sick and safe time law.

According to Council staff, gig workers have raised deactivation as a key concern during the city’s stakeholder meetings with gig workers and app-company representatives. Workers expressed frustration with a lack of transparency around why they’re being deactivated and a lack of recourse.

At this morning’s Council meeting, speaking through a translator, food delivery worker Georgina Rojas said she was deactivated from DoorDash last year without explanation and the company did not respond to her appeals. Without her source of income, she started to fall behind on bills, and after three weeks she decided she had no choice but to switch to working for a different app company.

Representatives from Instacart and DoorDash also testified at the meeting, expressing concern with the policy, especially around limits to their ability to quickly deactivate workers and the disclosure of certain private information. 

As draft legislation, the policy is in its earliest stages. The next step is for Councilmember Herbold to officially introduce the bill for consideration and potential amendment by the rest of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed a bill intended to help survivors of sex trafficking access housing, health services and more in Washington. 

“This is important because many survivors don’t know that services exist and there are people available to support them through their journey to healing,” said Jeri Moomaw, executive director of Innovations Human Trafficking Collaborative and co-founder of Washington Against Sexual Exploitation (WASE Forward), in a news release.

Signed on May 4, Substitute Senate Bill 5114 was written by and for survivors of adult sex trafficking, according to the WASE coalition of 34 agencies working to prevent commercial sexual exploitation of vulnerable people.

The coalition hopes the money will be spent on culturally responsive programs and services tailored toward those disproportionately affected by human trafficking, including communities of color.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, and Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, will fund services like legal advocacy, safety planning, substance-use disorder treatment, housing, health services and education.  

Different factors make Washington particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, according to the Attorney General’s Office, including its border with Canada, rural landscape and “abundance of ports.” 

King County’s Trailhead Direct service returns for its fifth year this weekend to shuttle car-free hikers between Seattle and North Bend trailheads on weekends and holidays through Sept. 4. 

The county invested in a shuttle service in 2017 amid concerns about both climate change and recreation access. It opened some of the region’s most popular hiking trails to those who either don’t use cars or who don’t want to deal with the traffic congestion that plagues these trails during peak hours. Cyclists, rejoice: Each shuttle includes bike racks with space for two to three bikes. 

The route starts at the Capitol Hill light-rail station every half hour, but users can also board at the Downtown light-rail station and the Eastgate freeway station. Stops include the North Bend Park & Ride and the trailheads for Little Si, Mt. Si and Mt. Tenerife. The longest ride takes one hour between Capitol Hill and Mt. Tenerife. 

Users can walk or roll onto shuttles and pay as they would for bus and light-rail rides. The one-way $2.75 fee can be paid using cash, an ORCA card or the Transit GO app. Users 18 and under ride for free.

As Washingtonians continue to suffer the fatal effects of fentanyl, three local advocates took to the stage at the Crosscut Ideas Festival on Saturday and spoke about how to support people experiencing substance-use disorder.

"Overdose does not have to be fatal,” said Brad Finegood, strategic adviser at Public Health – Seattle & King County. 

Finegood’s brother died of a drug overdose, something he believes could have been prevented if the person who had been with his brother at the time of his death knew what an overdose looked like. 

He and his co-panelists — Julian Saucier, a drug policy advocate currently in recovery from substance-use disorder, and Darcy Jaffe, senior vice president of safety and quality at the Washington State Hospital Association — agreed on what’s not working: criminalizing people who are experiencing addiction; shaming and judging; stigmatizing substance-use disorder. 

Seattle, like many other cities throughout the country, has seen an increase in deaths related to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. Panelists noted fentanyl has impacted communities of color in particular, and rural areas as well.

The three emphasized different ways to confront the crisis, like educating youth and making naloxone — which can reverse the effects of a drug overdose — more accessible.

More than a third of U.S. species are imperiled or at elevated risk of going extinct, and more than 150 species already have. Experts say biodiversity loss is a trend just as threatening as climate change to keeping the Earth habitable.

How to increase the public’s understanding of the biodiversity crisis — and how people can act on both that challenge and on climate change — were the two main topics of a Crosscut Ideas Festival panel on Thursday about the biodiversity crisis.

Here are three takeaways from the session, which featured author and magazine editor Michelle Nijhuis; Paula Sweeden, who works on wildlife and natural resource management policy for Conservation Northwest; and Bruce Stein, who works on species extinction and biodiversity for the National Wildlife Federation: 

1. Biodiversity loss is about way more than saving the whales. It also involves the malfunction of a system of interconnected species at varying levels of individual vulnerability. “When a species starts to go extinct, it’s usually going to take something else with it,” Sweeden said. To save species, we need to think even the most common ones before they’re in harm’s way. Stein noted that biodiversity is also about genetic variation, which helps species and ecosystems adapt. 
2. Biodiversity is threatened by many things — including our own individual actions. For Sweeden, one of the biggest factors is that people aren’t usually very good at connecting how our individual and communal decisions affect biodiversity loss. That lack of awareness can make it hard to push policy changes. 
3. There are biodiversity wins happening in Washington state. Restoring natural ecosystems to their best, most biodiverse selves can be a result of climate action, Sweeden said. Millions of dollars from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, the state’s new cap and invest system, is devoted to natural climate solutions that protect older forests that heavily remove carbon.

It’s the last day of virtual sessions for the 2023 Crosscut Ideas Festival, and Friday night’s VIP event kicks off our in-person sessions with … slime? 

You might want to bring your poncho.

If you haven’t bought tickets but are interested in attending, you still have a chance — the Festival will culminate in an all-day Saturday in-person event including art installations, workshops and keynote speakers at the Amazon Meeting Center, 2031 Seventh Ave. Find a full list of speakers, sessions and ticket prices at crosscut.com/festival. 

Here are today’s remaining virtual sessions: 

• The New Abortion Underground: After the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion access has become increasingly restricted in many states. The landscape harkens back to before Roe, when grassroot groups like "the Janes" created underground networks to provide access. Judith Arcana, a former “Jane” whose Chicago arrest and mugshot became representative of the movement, joins us to discuss her experience living in the pre- and post-Roe era. Arcana is joined by Kelsea McLain, an abortion rights activist and deputy director of Yellowhammer Fund, which works to ensure access to stigma-free and inclusive sexual-health education. The session starts at 9 a.m.
   
• Spiritual Rx for Mental Health: While yoga is on the rise as the popular new workout, Deepak Chopra's new book, Living in the Light, argues the exercise is also a holistic approach to well-being that includes the body, mind, and spirit. Chopra, a clinical professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego, is a pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. He is also the author of more than 90 books translated into 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. Amna Nawaz, the co-anchor of PBS NewsHour, will moderate. The session starts at 11 a.m. 
   
• KCTS 9 presents "Your Last Meal" live podcast taping: "Double Dare" host Marc Summers!: Friday’s VIP event includes a live taping of Your Last Meal, the James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast and the #1 food podcast on Apple Podcasts. Seattle-based host Rachel Belle is joined by Marc Summers, known best as the host of the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare. Find out what he would choose for his last meal, then follow along as Summers and Belle dig into the dish’s history, culture and science. The event includes catered food, drinks and some light morbid humor. 

The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Amazon Meeting Center, 2031 Seventh Ave. Don’t have a VIP ticket? You can use code SLIME to get 50% at checkout.

The Crosscut Ideas Festival is back for day three. 

In case you missed it — the Crosscut Ideas Festival is a gathering for newsmakers, changemakers and innovators to come together and discuss current events and the issues of our time. Along with virtual sessions running through Friday, the Crosscut Ideas Festival will culminate in an all-day Saturday in-person event including art installations, workshops and keynote speakers.

Each day, we’ll offer a synopsis of what’s to come. Here are today’s virtual sessions: 

• Building the Education-to-Work Pipeline: The education-to-work pipeline is a system designed to help students transition to the workforce, involving mentorship programs, alternative options to traditional education and coordination with outside employers. While the system is good in theory, it is a bit more difficult in practice. Speakers include Kelvin Dankwa, a mentoring program coordinator at Seattle Public Schools; Rebecca Wallace, assistant superintendent of Secondary Education and Pathway Preparation; Angie Mason-Smith, senior program officer at Washington STEM; and Dr. Angela Jones, director of the Washington State Initiative at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The session starts at 9 a.m.
   
• Crosscut Reports live podcast taping: What happened in Olympia?: After the end of the Washington Legislative session, Crosscut Reports reviews which bills passed, which failed and which didn’t quite make it to the finish line. Host Sara Bernard is joined by Crosscut reporter Joseph O’Sullivan and Axios reporter Melissa Santos to discuss the new laws and political dynamics that have emerged, including the possibility of new gun regulations and moves on housing and education funding. The session starts at 11 a.m. 
   
• Our Biodiversity Crisis: Climate change isn’t the only environmental issue plaguing our planet. America’s wildlife is in crisis — last summer, 60 experts who co-authored a study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment said that biodiversity loss was equally as critical. The issue can be reversed, though, if we look to solutions within reach. Speakers include Bruce A. Stein, chief scientist at National Wildlife Federation; Paula Sweeden, policy director at Conservation Northwest; and Michelle Nijhuis, author and journalist at High Country News. The session starts at 2 p.m. 

Interested in attending? Tickets are still on sale for Thursday’s and Friday’s virtual events and Saturday’s in-person sessions at the Amazon Meeting Center, 2031 Seventh Ave. Find a full list of speakers, sessions and ticket prices at crosscut.com/festival.