Artist Natalie Niblack works amongst her project entitled ҳ3 Birds / Three Degrees during the setup for Exploring The Edge at Schack Art Center on Sunday, March 19, 2023, in Everett. The paintings feature motion-activated speakers that play each birdճ unique call. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Artist Natalie Niblack works amongst her project entitled ҳ3 Birds / Three Degrees during the setup for Exploring The Edge at Schack Art Center on Sunday, March 19, 2023, in Everett. The paintings feature motion-activated speakers that play each birdճ unique call. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Editorial: An opinionated look back at 2024’s Herald editorials

Among highlights and lowlights: Boeing’s struggles, light rail’s arrival and the return of orcas.

By The Herald Editorial Board

A review of some of the year’s “In Our View” editorials offers a look at 2024’s accomplishments, missed opportunities, struggles and works in progress.

“Rep. Larsen outlines ‘to do’ list for opioid crisis,” Jan. 27: With a 12-month average increase of 37 percent in reported overdose deaths in the state reported by federal officials from August 2022 to August 2023, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-2nd District, releases a report for his district’s five counties that outlines the fentanyl and other drugs crisis and makes several recommendations.

“I want to be responsive to the people I represent,” Larsen said. “I want to show them we’re going to be part of solutions here. And second, there’s a broader goal to share this with other members of Congress and let them know: Here’s how you can put together your own report.”

Update: The most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Washington, like most of the nation, seeing a slow easing of fentanyl and other drug overdose deaths.

“Boeing safety failures draw more eyes on its jets,” Feb. 10: The blow-out of a door plug on an Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet on Jan. 5 has raised new concerns for the safety and quality of the airliners, so much so that flight booking websites offer customers a filter that excludes Boeing-built planes.

From the editorial: “Bean-counters, along with the bottom line, must also assess the financial risks — including inattention to production problems that result in quality and safety concerns — that weigh on the confidence of customers, both among the airlines ordering jets and the passengers booking flights.”

As outlined in a following editorial on June 22“Boeing quality proving difficult to recapture” — further flight incidents and reports of quality issues continued to plague the aerospace giant.

In response, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it was reversing an earlier approach that granted too much oversight to Boeing’s own inspectors. “The FAA’s approach was too hands-off, too focused on paperwork audits and not focused enough on inspections,” Mike Whitaker said during a June 13 hearing before the Senate transportation committee.

Update: A federal judge earlier this month rejected a plea deal that would have had Boeing plead guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and pay a fine over the fatal crashes of 737 Max jets that killed 346 people. Boeing and the Justice Department were given 30 days to decide how they would proceed.

“Lawmakers miss good shot for fewer traffic deaths,” March 2: Traffic deaths in the state continued their recent highs with 772 in 2023, a 43 percent increase since 2013’s 438 deaths. Yet, attempts to address that increase, including a proposal to reduce the legal blood alcohol level for drivers to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent, failed to find enough support in the state Legislature.

Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste supported the bill, but turned attention to hiring of law enforcement and drivers’ responsibility: “You know what the fatality picture looks like? It isn’t pretty,” he said. “One, we need boots on the ground, and we need people to just do the right thing in terms of how they operate their vehicles.”

“Community Transit making most of Link’s arrival,” March 26: With the much-anticipated arrival of Sound Transit’s Link light rail service to Lynnwood later this fall, Community Transit was preparing for how light rail service would allow it to reroute and expand service throughout Snohomish County, particularly with the addition of its new Swift Orange Line, connecting its Blue and Green lines.

“With the Lynnwood extension opening up, we can pull all of that service out of King County and redeploy it within Snohomish County,” CT CEO Rick Ilgenfritz said. “With the pattern we’re seeing coming out of the pandemic, with the high-frequency routes seeing the most utilization, and light rail coming to Lynnwood, we have the opportunity to rebuild our network to be a much higher frequency, much more compact and dense network within Snohomish County.”

“A welcome return of grizzlies to the North Cascades,” March 30: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service announce their final analysis of plans to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades, a species whose last confirmed sighting was near Snohomish County’s Glacier Peak in 1996. Research, study and changing administrations required a 30-year process. Some, including residents in Darrington who held up signs declaring “Hell no to grizzlies,” opposed the decision. But others say the danger of a few bears among 9,800 square miles of wilderness is overstated.

“At an age when we’re losing biodiversity at breakneck speed, we’re gonna need to take advantage of every opportunity to try to restore native species and biodiversity every chance we get,” said Joe Scott, an associate director with Conservation Northwest.

Update: The federal agencies responsible for the plan have not announced a date for the start of the reintroduction program.

“Tesla’s Autopilot may be ‘unsafe at any speed,’” May 3: A fatal collision between a Tesla Model S sedan — with its self-driving feature engaged — and a motorcyclist on Fales Road in Maltby was among scores of recent reports of incidents with serious injuries or fatalities involving Teslas with its “Autopilot” in use, including 736 crashes between 2019 and 2022. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study concluded: “Tesla’s weak driver engagement system was not appropriate for Autopilot’s permissive operating capabilities.”

Along with some software bug fixes, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced it was cutting the price of its self-driving feature by $4,000.

From the editorial: “Motorists considering a Tesla would be better off waiting for more bug fixes … and forgo serving as beta-testers for Musk’s still ‘unsafe at any price’ vision of an autonomous vehicle future.”

“State must return foster youths’ federal benefits,” May 11: Washington state is among several states that keep federal Social Security benefits that are meant for children in state foster care systems, claiming that money — about $900 a month — as reimbursement for their care. A report by the Children’s Advocacy Institute gave Washington and two other states C grades for recent reforms and consideration of a proposal before the state Legislature to halt the practice.

From the editorial: “That $900 a month — invested on behalf of youths while in foster care, then returned to them at adulthood with some guidance on how to use it toward their greatest benefit — can make far more difference to them and the state than it does now.”

“For 50 years, Schack Art Center there for creation,” June 8: With The Schack, originally the Arts Council of Snohomish County and renamed for long-time patrons Idamae and John Schack, marking its 50th anniversary, the fine arts organization celebrated with events throughout the year.

Judy Tuohy, Schack’s executive director, explained its place in Everett and Snohomish County: “This has always been a working man’s town,” Tuohy said. “And it’s a working artists town. So instead of a museum, we wanted to be a visual arts working center. That’s why we’re successful in our community and in the county. Because we wanted to make sure that artists were able to work here, people were able to come and learn and were able to also celebrate the art through our exhibits.”

“Light rail reshaping the future of Snohomish County,” Aug. 31: The arrival of Link light rail at its Mountlake Terrace station and Lynnwood terminus ushers in service to Snohomish County, long awaited by commuters, residents and officials, including Snohomish County Executive and Sound Transit board member Dave Somers: “With the Lynnwood Transit Center, you’re going to be able to get to light rail from local bus service, Community Transit bus service,” he said. “It’s going to be — if not the — one of the most heavily used stations in the system for quite some time.”

Update: The line’s arrival in Snohomish County ramps up anticipation for Link’s eventual extension north to Paine Field and Everett Station as part of ST3. There’s hope that the current arrival date of 2042 can be shortened to 2038.

“Keep AquaSox in Everett with a downtown ballpark,” Nov. 10: With the Everett City Council expected to choose between three options for the future of Minor League Baseball in Everett — renovate Funko Field, build a new stadium downtown, or do nothing and likely bid farewell to the AquaSox — a committee’s financial analysis of the options and a decision by the council is expected soon.

From the editorial: “A downtown ballpark could turn a solid single into extra bases from increased economic opportunities; a longer and complementary fan season … more foot traffic downtown supporting businesses, steps from the Everett Station and its eventual light-rail terminus; and development that builds on the city’s livability.”

Update: While a final decision on whether a stadium will be built and its funding plan is pending, the council voted Dec. 18 to move forward with selection of the downtown site. A design could be completed later in 2025 or early in 2026, and a field and facilities could be ready for the 2027 season.

“After 50 years, the message in orcas’ Penn Cove return,” Nov. 14: Since brutal and deadly roundups of killer whales in Penn Cove in 1970 and 1971, no orca whales had been seen at the Whidbey Island cove in the decades that followed. That absence ended this fall with the return of L pod to the cove where the famed whale Tokitae, among the last surviving captive orcas, was caught, along with other pod mates, and transported to a Florida marine park. Amid plans to return Tokitae to Salish Sea waters, the whale died the year before.

From the editorial: “If we’re going to assign significance to the actions of observably intelligent marine mammals, you can take the return of L pod to Penn Cove as a sign of forgiveness, a message of remembrance or as encouraging evidence of a species’ resilience.

“But we also should see it as a reminder of our responsibility to return to sustainable health the habitat of salmon, orca and more.”

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