Our Northwest

WA Juvenile Institutions to Close

(pictured: John Maio, resident of  Maple Lane)

  
CENTRALIA, Wash. – Three years from now, one of Washington's five juvenile lock-ups will be empty – shuttered to save money. That decision has sparked allegations that lawmakers are putting politics ahead of the needs of mentally ill kids. What we're talking about is the Maple Lane School near Centralia. Initially, its closure will actually cost taxpayers millions of dollars. But more than that, one expert fears it could have deadly consequences.

A Quiet Crisis: Housing for the Elderly

Affordable housing is tough enough to find when you're young and healthy. But for older Americans, it's even harder. Retirement homes are nice, but not everyone can afford it. They're often built in areas far from urban centers where most senior services are located. In the final story of our aging boom series, KUOW's Ruby de Luna profiles the ID Village Square in Seattle's International District. The housing and mixed service development is an example of a senior-friendly community in an urban setting.

City Jails Take Spill Over Prison Pop

In the Willamette Valley, Lane County's criminal justice system is changing. Years of underfunding and jail crowding at the county level have left cities housing and incarcerating more inmates. From Oregon Public Broadcasting, April Baer reports.

Foster Care Across International Borders

Lisa Kirkman lives with her seven-year-old daughter in Calgary, Canada. But her twelve-year-old son has been in a series of Oregon foster homes. Her case has gotten a lot of attention in Canada. As Amelia Templeton of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports, the story is extremely complex. It shows how hard it is to figure out what's in a child's best interest across an international border.

Counting the Homeless

SEATTLE - Census Bureau workers in the Northwest are trying to find ways to get a more accurate count of the homeless. They're in the midst of a three-day effort to visit soup kitchens, shelters and the streets to find people without addresses. At the Union Gospel Mission in Seattle, workers passed out hygiene kits to spread the word. Cecilia Sorci[SOAR-see] is spokeswoman for the Northwest census office.

Cecilia Sorci: "We have to actually reach out to these folks and let them know. And it's primarily...the shelters and meal sites, that's the easier place to count folks. But it's those living outdoors, maybe those who may be mistrustful of government, may have reservations about sharing their information, thinking that it won't be kept safe."

Accurate census counts matter because federal funding is distributed to local governments based on population. Sorci[SOAR-see] acknowledges her agency won't catch every homeless person during the three-day push. But she hopes it will be an improvement over past census counts.

Copyright 2010 KPLU

Final Resting Places for the Indigent

("David" by Mary Larson. Photo by John Ryan.) 

Economists like to keep tabs on various sectors of the economy: Retail sales. Housing starts. Interest rates. But one of the truly invisible indicators of just how bad the economy has been lies at the county morgue. The number of unclaimed bodies left at the morgue has risen in the last year.
In part that's because families can't afford to come pick them up, and put them to rest.
It's a trend that's happening all over the country. In some places, the body count has risen as much as 50 percent over the last few years. But in King County, there's an effort underway to make sure even the unclaimed get a proper memorial. Carol Smith Reports.