Saturday Special: Lake City residents search for alternatives as Fred Meyer closure looms, central Washington farmworkers are struggling to work amid immigration concerns, and Washington winemakers brace for what could be their worst year in decades

Seattle Now

KUOW News and Information

Daily News, News

4.7 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Today, we’re bringing you important stories from our public radio newsroom colleagues. As closure of their Fred Meyer draws closer, Lake City community advocates are raising the alarm that the neighborhood is transforming into a food desert. Immigration policies are affecting farm workers in central Washington, who say they’re losing hours and losing ground. And it’s wine harvesting season across the country, but with a slow market, Washington’s winemakers are bracing for what could be their worst year in decades.

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0:53.4	Hey, good morning. Patricia Murphy here. It's Saturday. This is Seattle now. Today we're bringing you important stories from our public radio newsroom colleagues. We'll start with voices in the Lake City neighborhood as the closure of their Fred Meyer draws closer. The closure has prompted community advocates there to raise the alarm that the neighborhood is transforming into a food desert.
1:16.3	K&KX reporter Mitch Borden takes us to Lake City.
1:20.3	The loss of Lake City's Fred Meyer will reverberate across the community.
1:24.8	Just down the street from the store, people line up for groceries at the North
1:28.4	Helpline Food Bank. Yeah, how many are you shopping for? Five people. Okay, you could have six things here.
1:35.9	Volunteers guide people as they pick what they want off tables lined with fresh produce like carrots and
1:41.1	bok choy. Would you like some citrus? Would you like some plums?
1:46.0	You can have 20.
1:47.0	The nonprofit serves a diverse mix of people ranging from immigrant communities, the elderly,
1:52.0	and anyone who's struggling.
1:54.0	The local Fred Meyer donates about 20,000 pounds of groceries to North Help Line annually.
1:59.0	With its closure looming, the group's food access director
2:01.8	Lauren Reed says the food bank is working to figure out how to meet an increase in demand with less.
2:07.7	Gosh, we're preparing for a lot of, a lot more visitors. I mean, we've already seen huge numbers
	...

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