Monday Evening Headlines

SoundSide brings you beyond the headlines with news and conversation rooted in the Pacific

Northwest.

I'm Libby Dankman.

Every week I sit down with local journalists for SoundSide's front page, where we give you

a shortcut to understanding the latest news and cultural moments and how they affect us

here in the Puget Sound region.

It's all here on SoundSide, on the radio or streaming Monday through Thursday at noon

and 8 p.m. on KUOW on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Good afternoon from the KUOW newsroom, this is Seattle Now.

I'm Paige Browning with a roundup of today's top stories, it's Monday, March 23rd.

And we can't bring you any of the news and interviews you get from Seattle Now without

the support of our listeners.

Seattle Now is a show made by KUOW Public Radio.

We don't get commercial support or any federal support, as you may know.

And our spring fundraising drive started today.

We know not everyone's in the position to give a gift to Seattle Now every month or even

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We can make this show because listeners step up to donate to cover their listening and

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Pay it forward today and become a monthly donor or give a one-time gift.

Support Seattle Now at the link in the show notes.

And thank you so much for listening.

In our top story, no ICE agents have been assigned to C-TAC airport yet following President

Trump's orders to send them to undisclosed airports.

Ruby DeLuna has the latest.

Messenger Sharon Fight is traveling to France, but she arrived early for TSA, but not just

to avoid the lines.

We dropped off some gift cards for the TSA, employees.

I felt like we could help just a little bit since they're not getting paid at this time.

Fight dropped off grocery cards at the airport's conference center.

There are two donation bins where people can drop off non-perishable food items.

spokesperson Perry Cooper says the response from the community and airport tenants have

been heartfelt.

The thing that's the hardest for them right now to get here with the increasing gas prices

is to get enough money to fill up their cars.

TSA workers have not been paid due to the partial government shutdown over funding for

the Department of Homeland Security.

Ruby DeLuna, K-U-O-W news.

Updates on a couple of high-profile court cases today, prosecutors have found that the

man charged with fatally shooting Inaquan is not guilty by reason of insanity.

Quan was a pregnant woman and owner of a Japanese restaurant in Belltown.

Cordell Gusby was charged with murder for killing Quan and her unborn child in 2023 when

she and her husband were sitting in their vehicle.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed Gusby was legally insane at the time of the attack.

He'll be committed to a state psychiatric hospital in lieu of a prison sentence.

And in the shooting deaths of two Rainier Beach high school students, prosecutors have filed

charges against a 16-year-old from Renton.

He's accused of killing 18-year-old Ty John Stewart and 17-year-old Trevey Hoffmuse

on January 30th at a bus stop near their school in South Seattle.

Casey McNurtherney is a spokesperson for the King County Prosecutor's Office.

King County prosecutors charged on Friday were two counts of first-degree murder each

with a firearm enhancement and also one count of unlawful composition in the second degree.

Prosecutors are seeking to have the suspect charged as an adult, which could allow for

a harsher sentence.

The juvenile was 15 years old at the time of the shootings, but turned 16 last week.

Two things to keep an eye out for, first more measles.

Public health officials are warning anyone who passed through CTAC Airport on March 9th

that they may have been exposed to measles.

A Canadian traveler was at the airport between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. that day and has since been

confirmed with a measles diagnosis.

Health officials say people could fall ill between now and March 30th.

28 measles cases have been confirmed in Washington State this year.

Want to watch for a really dry summer ahead?

Washington Snowpack remains at just over half of normal and climate observers say conditions

are likely to get worse.

KNKX Environment Reporter Bellamy Pale Thorpe has the story.

This winter has been one of our warmest and driest on record.

October through February was the third warmest start to the water year on record in Washington.

And those records are long.

They go back to 1895.

Karen Bumbacko is Washington's deputy state climatologist.

She says the warm temperatures meant precipitation in the mountains falling as rain, not snow.

Even after the turnaround this past week, the snowpack is still at about 61% of normal.

Meanwhile, the Climate Prediction Center issued an El Niño watch and a seasonal outlook

for May through April.

We're expecting higher chances of above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation.

And so yes, that's even before this El Niño will kick in.

The watch indicates that El Niño conditions could take hold as soon as this summer, meaning

more warmer than normal temperatures, followed by another drier than normal winter.

I'm Bellamy Pale Thorpe reporting.

Climateologists say this all means we can expect lower stream flows, potential stress on water

supplies and increased risk of wildfires.

A few shorter stories to keep tabs on this week, Northbound I-5 near Bellingham is still

closed due to landslides and there's no reopening date yet.

A massive landslide that gave way last Thursday dumped an estimated 2 to 3,000 cubic yards of

rocks, trees and soil across the highway.

Washington says it will have more information by Wednesday, detours are on state routes 9

and 11.

It could be a busy Saturday in Seattle coming up due to protest organizers planning

another no kings day of action.

Organizers have planned dozens of demonstrations across Washington state on March 28th, opposing

immigration enforcement.

With the main event at Calanderson Park on Capitol Hill, streets may close as people

plan to march to Seattle Center.

And it's already a busy day with light rail opening across Lake Washington.

And a politics note about drinking on the job, the Washington state legislative ethics

board has dismissed a complaint against state house majority leader Joe Fitzgibbon for allegedly

showing up to a committee hearing last month intoxicated.

The board ruled that the Seattle Democrat probably violated decorum rules in the state

house, but did not break any ethics laws.

Fitzgibbon has apologized for drinking before the February 25th meeting.

In sports news, for the first time in the history of the FIFA men's world cup, an indigenous

sovereign nation will formally be part of the event.

The Puyallup tribe will host activities throughout Northwest Public Broadcasting's Lauren Gallup

reports.

The Puyallup tribe of Indians Pierce County and the City of Tacoma signed an agreement

this week for their joint efforts to host events for the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer.

This is the first time an indigenous sovereign nation has formally been part of the World

Cup.

James Rideout is a tribal council member.

The way I express this to our membership is that this is innovative.

This is the first of its kind.

To have an indigenous community that's supporting FIFA soccer, how incredible is that?

The tribe, together with the county and city, will host a kickoff celebration and fans

own events during the World Cup, while multiple matches are played in Seattle.

Festivities on Puyallup land begin on June 12th.

I'm Lauren Gallup reporting.

It was a tough weekend for local college basketball fans.

The Gonzaga men's team got knocked out of the NCAA tournament Saturday after losing to

Texas.

Meanwhile, the UW women's team lost a close one to TCU in overtime yesterday.

And Auburn University knocked the Seattle University men's team out of the National

Invitational Tournament on Sunday.

And that means there are not any Washington teams left in the NCAA or NIT tournaments.

A sunny year story to end on.

The Seattle Seahawks are paying big money to keep Star Wide Receiver Jackson Smith and

Jigba.

The NFL Network reports that in Jigba, last year's offensive player of the year, has signed

a four-year deal for more than $168 million.

He'll be the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history.

Next time on Seattle now, Black Displacement in Seattle's Central District is an old

history.

But thanks to a new study, we have a better understanding of what Black homeowners are

struggling with.

We asked them what their major challenges to affordability were, and Property Tax was the

number one.

86% of survey respondents said that Property Taxes was a huge barrier to affordability.

Here more Tuesday morning.

That's all for today from the KUOW Newsroom in Seattle.

Our producer is Andy Hurst at I'm Page Browning, Seattle now and KUOW are members of the NPR

NPR Network.

A reminder, it's our fundraising drive, there's a link to donate in the show notes.

We'll see you later.

SoundSide brings you beyond the headlines with news and conversation rooted in the Pacific

Northwest.

I'm Libby Dankman.

Every week I sit down with local journalists for SoundSide's front page, where we give

you a shortcut to understanding the latest news and cultural moments and how they affect

us here in the Puget Sound region.

It's all here on SoundSide, on the radio or streaming Monday through Thursday at noon

and 8 p.m. on KUOW on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts.