KUOW Public Radio

Seattle has been one of the fastest growing metro areas in the nation for a long time. It was still in the top ten last year, despite lots of anecdotes about people leaving.

Construction of new homes hasn't kept up with demand. That’s the main reason why housing is very expensive here.

But a new federal housing law could help. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act will quietly become law at midnight on Saturday unless President Trump vetoes it Friday.

So what's it mean for Washington state?

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Story and photos: Joshua McNichols

Lenny Kaye has been Patti Smith's guitarist since the early days, when he was a rock critic, and she was doing poetry readings. It all started in 1971, he says: "I went over to the loft where she was living with Robert Mapplethorpe and she read me her poems and I just kind of put some rhythmic energy behind the poems. ... It was not meant to be anything."

'Music belongs to the moment': Patti Smith's guitarist Lenny Kaye is 'Goin' Local' Kaye's collaboration with Smith began in 1971 and continues to this day. He says she taught him to trust his musical sensibilities — and to always keep evolving. Now 79, he has his first solo album.

Oil prices have spiked around the world in recent months after the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. But the on-and-off hostilities have done more than simply raise gas prices in a straight line — they've caused gas to become more expensive one week, only for the price to fall the next. Prices go up when fighting rekindles or the strait is closed, and drop when peace talks resume. They're climbing again after Trump said the tenuous ceasefire was over.

How to deal with seesawing gas prices Gas prices have fluctuated since the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and left consumers unsure of what they'll pay at the pump.