With the upcoming general election approaching, KUOW, Seattle’s NPR Station, sat down and talked with professionals to talk about the fact that, “Seattle voters will decide on the biggest property tax measure in the city’s history, the $1.5 billion transportation levy.” In the article, “When it comes to Seattle’s property tax levy, renters are not immune,” it is discussed that the levy would fund things like bridge repairs and bus lanes, and the fate of this may hinge on the city’s makeup of homeowners and renters. Within Seattle, the population is made up of 55% renters and 45% homeowners, which is relevant to this discussion because renters and homeowners tend to vote differently when it comes to property tax increases. Renters are more likely to approve of a property tax increase while homeowners are more likely to disapprove of the levy. What is the reasoning behind this? One answer is salience. CSDE Affiliate Isabelle Cohen, an economist who studies taxes, states that, “salience is the idea [that] you’re more aware of some taxes than others. If you’re a homeowner, you’re getting that bill from the county and you’re sort of saying, ‘Wow, this is what I’m paying.” Those who have paid off their mortgages are more aware of property taxes and renters are generally less aware of how property taxes are impacting their monthly rent. Dr. Cohen discusses the individual impacts on renters and homeowners, explains salience, and more. Read the rest of the article to learn more about the upcoming property tax vote.

CSDE Affiliate Joan Casey was recently quoted in the Los Angeles Times Article, “Wildfire smoke raises dementia risk more than other pollutants.” According to a landmark study of more than 1.2 million Californians, exposure to wildfire smoke increases the odds of being diagnosed with dementia more than other forms of air pollutants. These findings have large health implications, especially in western states where air pollution produced by wildfires now accounts for up to half of all fine-particle pollution. Researchers looked at a type of particulate-matter pollution called PM 2.5 which is 30 times smaller than the width of human hair and is small enough, “to penetrate deeply into the lungs and cross over into the bloodstream, where they can cause inflammation.” Exposure to these particles have shown to increase the risk of dementia and various other conditions like heart disease, low birth weight, and asthma. Dr. Casey states that “we increasingly see that PM 2.5 is tied to virtually every health outcome we look at.” Dr. Casey and collaborators analyzed the health records of more than 1.2 million Kaiser Permanente Southern California members who are 60 or older between the years of 2009 and 2019. This article covers work presented at the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2024 (AAIC) in Philadelphia and is currently under review, visit the link to read more about this research.

CSDE external affiliate and former CSDE T32 Fellow Delaney Glass and her colleagues at the University of Massachusetts-Boston published an article in the special issue “Biology, conflict, and mental health: understanding the physiology and trauma of forced migration” in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. Their paper “Coming of age in war: Early life adversity, age at menarche, and mental health” reviews the empirical evidence regarding exposures to armed conflict and forced migration and timing of puberty. They also discuss mental health implications and the ethics of working with conflict-affected youth populations.

CSDE Affiliate Anthony L. Bui was recently interviewed by NBC News on his recently published study, “Disaggregated Suicide Mortality Rates Among Asian American Youths and Young Adults by Ethnic Subgroup,” in JAMA Pediatrics. In this interview, Dr. Bui, who is a pediatrician and investigator at the UW School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s, discusses why, more Asian young people are dying by suicide — and some subgroups are faring worse than others. Suicide has become the leading cause of death for Asian American youth. “Certain Asian American minorities and Pacific Islander groups fare even worse, [and] Vietnamese American youth face a particularly high risk.” While at surface level, Asian American suicide rates seem to be lower when compared to other groups, lumping all Asian American groups together doesn’t paint the whole picture, says Dr. Bui. In his study published in JAMA Pediatrics, Dr. Bui examined the suicide rates of Asian American youth (aged 15-19) and young adults (aged 20-24) between 2018 and 2022. Visit the NBC News interview and the research study in JAMA Pediatrics to learn more about Dr. Bui’s findings.