King County ranks in the top two percent nationally for male and female life expectancy, according to a nationwide survey of all 3,147 U.S. counties or county equivalents, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. IHME’s U.S. County Performance Research Team, led by Dr. Ali Mokdad, of Mercer Island, recently presented the survey data (here, in an Excel file) at a health care journalists conference in Atlanta. Researchers gathered life expectancy data for men and for women in each U.S. county, and used 1989, 1999 and 2009 as key touchpoints.
Collaboration in Civic Spheres
Archive for the ‘King County’ Category
UW report: King County a national leader in life expectancy
by Matt Rosenberg May 4th, 2012
Court says Kirkland firm must answer age bias firing charge
by Matt Rosenberg March 22nd, 2012
In a ruling published this week the Washington State Court of Appeals reversed a “summary judgement” signed by King County Superior Court Judge Douglass A. North that a yard foreman working in Dutch Harbor, Alaska for a Kirkland, Wash.-based marine services firm essentially had no basis for claiming he was fired due to age discrimination – rather than intoxication and disorderly conduct, as his employer claimed. The decision by Division One of the state appeals court means that Craig Rice of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, will be able to proceed in King County Superior Court in Washington state with his age bias lawsuit against Offshore Systems, Inc. (OSI), headquartered at 12019 76th Place NE in Kirkland.
King County whistleblower fired day of complaint, but no foul
by Matt Rosenberg March 12th, 2012
After she claimed she was forced to donate volunteer labor to a women’s sports officials association founded by her boss in King County government, a web designer in the Accountable Business Transformation unit of the county’s Department of Executive Services – Lynelle Hofman of Edmonds – lodged a formal ethics complaint with the King County Ombudsman’s Office and was fired the very same day by her division chief Mike Herrin.
The reason given was that she had accessed her supervisor’s computer about a month prior, to forward herself a series of emails between the supervisor and a personnel official about her pending request to be classified as an hourly employee so she could get paid for all hours she actually worked. Contemplated punishment for that action had ranged from a week’s suspension to worse, but had not been decided until several hours after Hofman formally lodged the ethics complaint against her supervisor in DES’s ABT sector, Cindy C-Wilson, of Shoreline.
Ombudsman finds against supervisor, who later resigns
C-Wilson (her last name) was found in a final report issued by the ombudsman’s office in late October to have violated the county’s ethics code by using her work computer to conduct a private business and by entering into a business relationship with a subordinate. C-Wilson voluntarily resigned in November, 2011, seven months after Hofman was discharged on the day of her complaint, April 6, 2011.
Hofman, now 44, subsequently lodged another complaint with the ombudsman’s office in September, of retaliatory firing. But in late January of this year the ombudsman’s office issued another report concluding the charge was not supported by a preponderance of evidence. The reports were obtained by Public Data Ferret using the Washington Public Records Act.
For 5th drunk driving offense in 10 years, Maple Valley man faces felony DUI sentencing by King County judge
by Matt Rosenberg February 28th, 2012
Kenneth Wayne Sandholm, 55, of Maple Valley is scheduled to be sentenced this coming Friday by King County Superior Court Judge Michael Heavey for up to five years in prison on a felony conviction earlier this month for Driving Under the Influence. Sandholm was convicted February 13th, for his fifth DUI offense committed within 10 years – making the most recent one a felony under state law. The circumstances of his arrest are detailed in the probable cause statement and the statement of charges.
Crossing the lines on State Route 18
According to these documents from the case file, Sandholm had four prior (misdemeanor) DUI convictions between 2000 and 2008; in Pierce County Court in 2000, 2005 and 2008; and in Tacoma Municipal Court in 2007. Each of those DUI convictions was accompanied by a conviction for driving with license suspended. On October 29, 2009 Sandholm was observed by a Washington State Patrol trooper driving east on State Route 18 just west of State Route 516 in his blue 1987 Mazda pickup and having major difficulties staying in his lane. The trooper reported that Sandholm at one point lurched from one eastbound lane into another by half a vehicle width, then after correcting, straddled the two lanes again, this time for 10 car lengths. Both before and after this, Sandholm’s vehicle went across the line dividing one lane with the road’s shoulder. The trooper stooped Sandholm, who according to the trooper’s report, had watery, bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol.
Interactive map: King County library system building projects
by Matt Rosenberg January 30th, 2012
A series of construction and expansion projects continue to unfold in the new year in the King County (Wash.) Library System, following voter approval in 2004 of a $172 million bond issue. Courtesy of the library system’s staff we are happy to present a color-coded interactive map including links to project overview/status pages for each facilitity. Each branch name when clicked leads to a KCLS page detailing the respective project. We will seek to keep this map updated here, but going forward, you will always be able to find the most recent version of it at the KCLS 2004 bond-funded projects page. The projects page has additional information, including Frequently Asked Questions.
According to a portion of the December 2011 “Dashboard” report presented to the KCLS board by staff, highlights of the capital improvement plan building program already achieved in 2012 or expected to be completed this year include new facilities in Newcastle and Duvall and expansions in Auburn, Bellevue, and Lake Forest Park. New facilities are expected to progress this year toward an eventual construction start (2013 or later) at Vashon Island, Federal Way (320th St.) and Tukwila. In addition, non-bond construction of new libraries for Renton and Renton Highlands have cleared the design phase.
USER INSTRUCTIONS: Simply click on any branch name below (not the nearby dot) for more project-specific information. Our special thanks to KCLS Web Services Manager Lisa Hill for her assistance developing and sharing a WordPress-embeddable version of the KCLS code we used for the live map here.
Shoreline Mulls Smoking Ban In City Parks
by Matt Rosenberg January 24th, 2012
Shoreline plans to roll out an online survey of residents in the first quarter of 2012 to help officials decide if it should join a growing group of Washington jurisdictions which ban use of tobacco products in their parks and sometimes other outdoor public spaces as well. At a city council meeting last night, members considered as a study item a detailed information packet including a city staff memo on the policy-making process and written presentations from King County – which is taking a regional leadership role in promoting smoke-free public parks. A key provision identified by city staff in the packet is that there is no money for extra enforcement. That would depend on hoped-for effects of signage and enforcement by local parks users and any police or parks staff who happened to observe violations while conducting other work tasks.
Documenting witness intimidation by phone – legally
by Matt Rosenberg January 11th, 2012
Since a Washington State Supreme Court ruling in 2008, King County Jail authorities have been able to continue legally recording phone calls made by detainees. County prosecutors say calls by those charged with domestic violence especially can yield valuable evidence. Signs near phone areas warn all detainees their calls will be recorded and potentially incriminating statements may be used against them. This does not always prevent them from instructing their alleged victims not to testify, or threatening them, as shown in a recent episode of the The Justice Files from King County TV.
One in three murders in King County are domestic violence-related, says King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg.
More episodes of The Justice Files here. Also see King County TV’s YouTube channel.
RELATED: King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor David Martin was part of a research team which supervised analysis of recordings of 25 Washington State felony domestic violence detainees using phone calls to try to convince their wives or girlfriends to recant. The article was published in July 2011 in the journal Social Science and Medicine and is titled, “‘Meet me at the hill where we used to park’: Interpersonal processes associated with victim recantation.” The authors conclude that detainees use a common set of emotional tactics to urge recantation and that victim advocates should work to raise awareness among victims of these tactics.
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Private cash might save state money on two big toll projects
by Matt Rosenberg January 5th, 2012
A study summary presented yesterday to the Washington State Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee says money from profit-motivated private companies could be a way to deliver better value to taxpayers on construction and management of some toll lane projects. Two identified for possible public-private partnerships – also known as “P3s” – were the I-405/State Route 167 corridor and the southeast extension of State Route 509 from near Sea-Tac Airport to connect with I-5. Each would include so called “High Occupancy and Toll” or “HOT” lanes available for a sliding fee to solo drivers and free to carpoolers. The summary released yesterday says, “Despite the higher cost of private capital, it is sometimes the case that P3 delivery can be a better value to the public. Transferring construction and long-term operating, maintenance and preservation risks to the private sector can sometimes result in significant cost savings to the public” although “sometimes…traditional public sector delivery is the better value.”