Public Health warns of May 2nd measles exposure at Capitol Hill brewery

If you are vaccinated you should not have to worry but the health department has put out an alert about a Canadian who “visited multiple public locations in Renton, Bellevue, Seattle, Everett and Woodinville while contagious with measles” in early May including a popular beer hall and brewery on Capitol Hill.

Public Health says the visitor arrived here April 30th and spent four days around the city and the Eastside before flying home out of Sea-Tac on May 3rd. Unfortunately, they had a very busy itinerary including a stop on Capitol Hill.

Officials say the infected person was at Capitol Hill’s Stoup Brewing at Broadway and Union from 4 to 8 PM on Friday, May 2nd.

“Measles virus can remain in the air for up to two hours after someone infectious with measles leaves the area,” local health officials said. “Anyone who was at the following locations during the times listed could have been exposed to measles.”

Health officials have not said if any new case have been connected to the exposures but did say the visitor’s case is not connected to any previous local measles cases.

Exposure alerts are likely to continue. Continue reading

When will Capitol Hill-grown magic mushrooms be legal in Seattle?

A wavy cap found on Capitol Hill (Image: CHS)

A home-grown culture of psilocybe cubensis (golden teachers). (Image: Colby Bariel)

By Colby Bariel/UW News Lab

A Capitol Hill expert has taught hundreds of people, from grandmothers to neuroscientists how to cultivate magic mushrooms guiding many into the world of psychedelics.

With years of teaching experience, they cover the responsible use of entheogens, contemporary psychedelic theory, and their therapeutic applications.

“Psychedelics are meaning-making chemicals,” the expert tells CHS. “Magic mushrooms are therapeutic, not medicinal.”

Their work is facilitated by a 2021 Seattle City Council decree decriminalizing the noncommercial cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms and several other entheogens. This decision has allowed Seattle residents to engage in home-mycology and explore the spiritual, religious, and therapeutic experiences offered by psychedelics.

But Seattle is not yet safe for psychonauts. And the shadows of the Trump administration have darkened the situation to the point where recent progress here is being slowed and rolled back.

While personal psilocybin cultivation is decriminalized, its use remains illegal. In February, a man on First Hill was busted for what police said was a “drug lab” with thousands of dollars worth of magic mushrooms set up inside a First Hill apartment unit.

Organizations like REACH (Responsible Entheogen Access & Community Healing Coalition) Washington are advocating for state-level entheogen decriminalization.

Oregon is already a step ahead. Continue reading

Pikes/Pines | No, you can’t (entirely) blame your Capitol Hill pollen allergies on botanical sexism

Sunflowers need insect visitors to move their pollen around and many bees are happy to oblige! (Image: Brendan McGarry)

Dandelions and their relatives are examples of monoecious plants that have both male and female parts contained within a single flower (though their flowerheads are actually made up of many individual flowers). (Image: Brendan McGarry)

I spend a lot of time outside. I tend the garden, I walk the dog, I nerd out on nature, and I even manage to sit still and relax occasionally.

These are all activities I am grateful to be able to enjoy because I know that not everyone has the same opportunities, nor can they enjoy certain seasons with the same zest.

Unlike a few of my close friends, I don’t have seasonal allergies, and have never had to look at pollen counts or use medications to simply struggle through each day. (Though woe is me, I am fairly certain I am allergic to hops.) According to the CDC, around a quarter of the adults in the US have the seasonal allergy rhinitis or hay fever, which is caused by the body’s reaction to plant pollen – so it’s not unreasonable that those of you reading don’t share my joy right now.

Most plants produce pollen and all pollen is produced for one purpose – to transfer male gametes from one reproductive structure to another, receptive one. You might read this as “I’m allergic to plant sperm,” but that’s not quite accurate. Pollen are gametophytes that generate sperm once they come into contact with an embryo sac – be that on the pistil of a flowering plant or the female cone of a gymnosperm (e.g. conifers). Just like the plants that produce them, pollen is extremely varied, the better to be conveyed by a variety of animals, as well as wind, water, or a mixture of all of the above. (If you really want to get into the weeds, both pollen and the embryo sac can be considered separate organisms from their parents but let’s not complicate things.)

A microscopic view of the pollen grains from a diversity of plants reveals a hallucinatory range of shapes, colors, and textures that help transport them between plants and protect them from getting gobbled up or destroyed by the environment. (Pollen can last for days, where raw sperm would not last hours in most conditions.) Animal pollinated plants tend to have larger, stickier, and more protein rich pollen to cling to pollinators and offer them a reward, while wind pollinated plants tend to have lighter, loftable pollen, (some even have air sacs) to balloon them as far as possible.

A couple weeks ago, Justin (our illustrious leader here at CHS), sent me an unreal looking image of a Georgia skyline filled with pollen. Accompanying this (real) image (from six years ago) were comments blaming the highest pollen count in state history on cities planting only male trees. I am often late to the party on social media happenings (Justin once asked me a question on Twitter and I finally responded a year later and didn’t even realize how tardy I was), but apparently a few years ago the idea of botanical sexism hit TikTok by storm after a single video rested the weight of all pollen allergies on the shoulders of city planners, horticulturalists, and arborists “only planting male trees.” The idea is that these male trees spew forth their pollen everywhere, and with nowhere to go, they just go forth to clog up our bodies with histamines.

Botanical sexism is a term coined by a researcher and horticulturalist named Tom Ogren, who theorized that because of a supposed preferential planting of male plants in landscaping, we are having more societal issues with pollen allergies. At surface value, this sounds pretty reasonable, and it’s true that in some cases, tree varieties bred to not produce fruit or seeds (remember the cherries of last month’s Pikes/Pines) or only clones of male trees get planted in urban spaces. Gingko trees are a good example of this, because female gingkos are almost never planted as street trees or in ornamental gardens because their prodigious fruit production is frankly horrendous, generating rotting piles of inedible fruit that can become health hazards. Continue reading

Huh? Proposal would create Seattle ‘Loud Music Venues’ earplug law

 

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻 

Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 👍 

 
 

Capitol Hill is a neighborhood of music. A Seattle City Council member wants to help protect your ears.

A bill discussed Wednesday morning by Councilmember Dan Strauss and his Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee would create new regulations requiring designated “loud music venues” to “offer patrons hearing protection with a noise reduction rating of at least 20 decibels, for free or for sale on the premises.”

“If hearing protection is offered for sale, at least one option must be offered for $1.00 or less,” a presentation (PDF) on the proposal reads. Continue reading

City of Seattle announces $7M in youth mental health spending

From the city’s 2024 report (PDF) on youth mental health

Seattle has announced $7 million in new partnerships as it expands mental health services for teens and young adults.

The spending was included in Mayor Bruce Harrell’s priorities as his office responded with a $14.5 million plan focused on intervention, mental health, and “school-based safety specialists” following last year’s deadly shooting at Garfield High School.

The spending announced this week includes a new partnership with Talkspace, an online therapy platform, increased staffing at school-based health centers, and “other holistic approaches,” plus seven local mental health and wellness organization serving youth ages 13 to 24 “through a suite of virtual and in-person care options,” the city said,

The funding through the Department of Education and Early Learning will expand access to in-person and telehealth mental health services to support Seattle’s middle and high school students, as well as youth up to age 24, in 2025 and 2026.

The new services are being readied to launch early this year. Continue reading

Part gym, part bar, here’s what new Capitol Hill Henry’s Gymnasium looks like — UPDATE

(Image: Henry’s Gymnasium)

(Image: Henry’s Gymnasium)

Capitol Hill’s newest addition to its fitness and health scene has a “Comprehensive Recovery & Wellness Suite” and a “Full-Service Bar.”

Henry’s Gymnasium is now open on Boylston.

CHS reported here in September on the latest plans for the facility filled with “high-energy music” and “crystal chandeliers throughout” and an expansion of the Henry’s Gym concept that launched in 2023 in Lower Queen Anne.

“Henry’s distinctive new location in the 100-year-old Boylston Garage is more than just a gym,” owner Glen Swain said in a press release announcing the opening. “We’re community-oriented and focused on truly celebrating diversity while honoring the human spirit and community history through art.” Continue reading

Kaiser Permanente is ending 30-year legacy of Capitol Hill midwives helping Seattle moms and babies

(Image: Kaiser Permanente)

(Image: CHS)

By Mina Sakay/UW News Lab

As expectant parents begin their pregnancy journey, many seek out midwifery care to reduce the use of medical interventions in labor. But starting in early 2025, that care will be harder to find as decades of midwife-assisted births on Capitol Hill is coming to an end.

Kaiser Permanente’s Capitol Hill-based midwives will no longer deliver babies at Swedish First Hill Hospital in Seattle, according to more than one Kaiser Permanente medical professional, effectively ending the oldest hospital-based midwifery program in Seattle.

Certified nurse-midwives are medical professionals who offer personalized support and care to patients. Midwives deliver babies and provide holistic family-centered care during pregnancy, labor, and after birth.

The Kaiser Permanente Capitol Hill Midwifery Clinic — originally Group Health before the health care giant swallowed up the smaller provider in 2015 — has been open to the community since 1990, providing services and care to families, according to the Change.org petition created by community members hoping to save the program.

The year of the merger, the former Group Health Capitol Hill campus transitioned from a focus on maternity services, forging a partnership with Swedish. Previously, around 1,700 babies a year took their first breaths of fresh Capitol Hill air at 15th and John.

The new babies land on First Hill these days. Often, there has been a Capitol Hill midwife to help.

“The importance of having certified nurse-midwives in every ob-gyn practice is crucial to improving health outcomes of both babies and mothers,” said Alice Ambrose, a medical assistant at the Kaiser Permanente Capitol Hill Midwifery Clinic. “The Kaiser midwives are trained in full spectrum perinatal healthcare and Kaiser is one of the only places left in Seattle that they can do this work.” Continue reading

COVID-19 in 2024: Seven million doses later around Seattle, it’s time to get vaccinated ahead of respiratory virus season

By Ava Gonzalez/UW News Lab

Despite the current low totals of COVID-19 and flu cases, health officials are warning against complacency as Seattle approaches peak respiratory virus season and a 7 million milestone fo total COVID-19 vaccine doses in King County since the start of the pandemic.

“While current COVID and flu cases are low, these numbers can be misleading as we head into the peak of the year’s illness season,” said Amy Xie, a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer assigned to Seattle/King County Public Health. “The important message here is to not let our guard down.”

Since its release in late August, just under 7% of King County residents (approximately 162,000 people) have received the most recent vaccine, but recent count data of COVID-19 vaccination among residents shows a probable increase in numbers as the respiratory virus season approaches.

“The CDC recommends both the flu and COVID-19 vaccine at the same time for eligible people,” said Jessica A. Bender, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Co-Medical Director of the UW Long COVID Clinic. “We have seen over the last few years that this is very safe and effective, and it can be more convenient for people to avoid multiple trips to the doctor or pharmacy.” Continue reading

Access Walk returns to Volunteer Park to help state’s safe abortion access organizations

(Image: Access Walk)

With health and reproductive rights increasingly being determined at the state level, Access Walk is taking steps to support choice by strengthening Seattle’s ability to help people from across the nation. Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park will host the 2024 Access Walk this Saturday with funds and donations raised at the event going towards services people need most when seeking care far from their homes, like lodging, food and, gasoline.

Access Walk co-founder Jeff Pyatt tell CHS the fall of Roe v. Wade inspired a family discussion at the dinner table. After pondering what they could do to assist birthing people, they came up with an idea for the walk. The first was held in Volunteer Park in 2023.

“This is a basic healthcare right—abortion is. Having it be banned or hard to receive in so many states, and having abortion services in Washington that are available, but for access, hard to get here, I feel like we have a moral imperative to make sure that anyone who needs to get here for an abortion can, and if we can help them with lodging and fuel and transportation and meals, then we’re doing good work,” Pyatt said. Continue reading

Extravagant, inclusive, and filled with music and chandeliers, Henry’s Gymnasium plans fall opening in The Boylston Garage

(Image: Henry’s Gym)

Last November, CHS broke the news on that Henry’s Gymnasium — part gym, part social club, part bar — was coming to Capitol Hill.

This November, the new addition to Boylston Ave will finally open.

Extravagance takes time.

“Capitol Hill and Seattle will be gaining a landmark establishment in design and philosophy. I am confident Henry’s will present an exciting mix of lighting, sound, and finishes acting in concert to produce an environment unique to the fitness industry,” Jeff Nagel of the NAGELsport firm that designed the new venue said in a press release on the opening soon gymnasium.

“Of the several hundred fitness projects we have designed to date, this will be the most extravagant design — extravagant as a gift to the users, not an icon to itself,” Nagel said.

The new Henry’s will fill all three floors of the $6.2 million adaptive reuse overhaul of The Boylston Garage by developer Asana Partners that will turn the building into a new-era fitness facility complete with the latest workout equipment and a bar: Continue reading