Soundside

Unionized Starbucks workers have started their fourth day on strike.  Workers walked off the job in over 40 cities last week .  And this year’s strike has gotten attention from high-profile politicians. Both Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson and New York's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani called on customers to boycott the coffee chain.  Last week, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) urged S...

You’re probably heard the term “microplastics.” And you’ve probably also heard that they’re bad for you.  A write up from Stanford Medicine says, quote, “they’re in the water we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the air we breathe.” But what exactly are they?  A local doctor is helping us understand what exactly these partical...

In early October, film buffs around the region received some bittersweet news… The historic Egyptian Theater in Capitol Hill – which had been closed for repairs – would not reopen as a public theater. The Seattle International Film Festival decided to end its lease, saying it was a difficult decision but that it just wasn’t financially feasible.  This comes on the bac...

Here at Soundside, we've got lots of plans this weekend. Paige Browning is playing in a Kickball tournament, while Jason is planning on cheering for her... Supervising Producer Sarah Leibovitz is doing LAUNDRY... What joy! As for YOU, here are all your options from this week's Weekend Warmup...  LINKS:  SIFF Cinema Italian Style 2025 Sew, Quilt, Needlework, Craft, Expo & Festival in...

Seattle has been a target of anti-car activism since at least the early 1960s, when the construction of I-5 carved up the Chinatown International District. Washington architect Paul Thiry said the creation of the freeway signaled when Seattle started to lose its identity as a city. But what would a less car-centric Seattle actually look like? Whom would it benefit? And is it even feasible?  T...

Seattleites have been closely watching election results for nearly a week since polls closed. That’s because the city’s mayoral candidates were in a tight race. Longtime Seattle politician and current Mayor Bruce Harrell is trying to win a second term. His challenger is Katie Wilson, a Democratic socialist who has never held elected office before.  Last night’s vote tally ga...

Bruce Lee holds a special place in Seattle’s heart – and Seattle played a key role in Bruce Lee’s life. He attended the University of Washington. He taught martial arts around the city. And after his tragically young death, at the age of 32, Lee was buried at Lake View Cemetery on Capitol Hill.   A biography by author Jeff Chang traces this journey alongside the cultura...

After a monthslong search, the Seattle Public Schools district finally has a new superintendent.  The Seattle School Board voted to name Ben Shuldiner as the lone finalist for the role. Shuldiner is currently the superintendent of the Lansing School District in Michigan.  He’ll be the fourth superintendent in the last decade.  Back in March, former superintendent Brent Jones a...

Seattle's pro women's soccer team have returned to the National Women's Soccer League playoffs. Seattle Reign play the Orlando Pride on Friday in a win-or-go-home match. But do the Reign have the potential to make a deep playoff run?  Soundside producer Gabrielle Healy gets into it. Plus, everything you need to know about coach Laura Harvey and ChatGPTgate .  Guest Susie Rantz , writer f...

It’s weekends like these where you WANT a solid plan for what to do, so you’re not just stuck sulking about the weather.  And while Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows may be on his way to sunny Florida AS WE SPEAK for a weekend in Tampa, he still left us with a smattering of potential options: LINKS: Port Gamble Ghost Conference Best of the Northwest Fall Show 2025 - Seattl...

It’s getting harder for unhoused people in Tacoma to find a place to spend the night. Last week, the city council there voted narrowly, 5-to-4, to expand buffer zones where encampments are not allowed.  The new ban, which went into effect this week, includes areas within two blocks of public schools, parks, libraries, and most of downtown and Hilltop. Critics say this only makes it hard...

In April, 25-year-old Alex Kuhnhausen died of a bacterial infection he contracted at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. This isn’t unheard of – last year, there were 39 deaths reported in Washington prisons.  But the details of Alex Kuhnhausen’s decline and death raise questions about decisions by prison officials and medical staff; decisions that many believe con...

When you step into the Seattle Asian Art Museum’s new exhibit… you feel small. You’re surrounded by light, blocks of color reaching across the floor, creeping up the walls. The art takes up space, immersing you in light and shadow, as though you’ve entered another world. Steel cubes carved with meticulous designs hang from the ceiling. Papercraft covered in embroidery...

As voters head to the polls amid a contentious mayoral race in Seattle, we’re looking to the past to try to answer a lingering question.  It’s hard to win reelection as a Seattle mayor. The last time it happened was nearly two decades ago.  Why has it been so long?  We're going directly to the source for more: Democrat Greg Nickels was mayor of Seattle for two terms, bet...

TRIGGER WARNING - SELF HARM INVOLVING CHILDREN In 2022, the body of 13-year-old Jay Taylor was discovered behind a grocery store in Gig Harbor.  Jay had died by suicide, a tragedy that only grew more shocking when police realized he’d livestreamed the act on Instagram, encouraged by the people watching.  Jay Taylor was a victim of 764, a global online group of predators that victim...

The immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington has quickly reached capacity this year under the Trump administration’s push to scale up deportations. The population inside nearly doubled in a matter of months, raising some concerns about staffing levels and reported delays for detainees accessing lawyers or medical care. The experience for those inside detention has also shifted in s...

Can you believe that we’re already at the end of October? Time is a weird soup. This week has been jam packed with things, AND we have an election next Tuesday.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s enjoy the weekend!!  LINKS: Seattle Short King Contest Seattle Kraken vs NY Rangers - Sat 11/1 Short Run Comix Festival Seattle Opera - The Pirates of Penzance Brewal...

Like so many others, Jas Ikeda struggled with the images and stories coming out of Gaza – of the widespread destruction and the growing starvation.  Like others, she felt frustrated that more wasn’t being done to help the people caught in the conflict. Unlike most others, Ikeda has a lot of sailing experience. So when she heard about the Global Sumud Flotilla, she jumped at the ch...

Washington State highways and bridges are in need of a serious refresh. That’s according to a WSDOT official who told the Washington State Transportation Commission this month: “We are in the early stages of critical failure due to lack of funding.” -  Troy Suing, Director, Capital Program Development and Management, Washington State Department of Transportation “Prese...

Update, 11:45 am, 10/31: Two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to fund SNAP using the USDA's contingency funds. Read more from The Associated Press . _________________________________________________________________________________ 10/29: More than 1 in 10 people in Washington state rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Most of those recipients are i...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed U.S strikes on four more boats in waters near South America. The attacks happened Monday off the coast of Colombia in the eastern Pacific Ocean.  Hegseth claimed without citing evidence, “the four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics.”  Including this...

Amazon confirmed this morning it is cutting 14,000 employees from its corporate workforce. In a letter sent to employees earlier today, the Senior Vice President of “People Experience and Technology” – basically, HR – at Amazon quoted CEO Andy Jassey, saying “we want to operate like the world’s largest startup… by reducing layers, increasing ownership, an...

It’s Day 28 of the federal government shutdown – just a few days away from this becoming the longest-running shutdown in U.S. history… And air traffic controllers working without pay are feeling it.  Today, the nation’s roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers are getting their first zero-dollar paycheck since the government shutdown began on October 1.  &nbsp...

If you’ve ever hung out in Oregon’s Fort Stevens State Park, you’ve probably come face to face with the Peter Iredale shipwreck.  The British vessel crashed onto the coast in 1906 and has stayed there ever since. Today it has become quite the tourist attraction.  But for all its notoriety, the Peter Iredale is just one of more than 2,000 shipwrecks that happened along a...

At a time when Starbucks is closing 200 of its stores and Amazon plans to replace half a million jobs with robots, one Seattle business has been surprisingly resilient: Costco.  In 1983, Costco opened its first store in Seattle and today it’s the third largest retailer in the world, with more than 900 stores globally. But while Costco is known for its devoted customer base and gene...