Soundside

A harried emergency room doctor rushes between patients; his waiting room is filled to the brim with sick and injured people, he’s dodging a RAT infestation, all while overseeing a new crop of residents getting up to speed on their ER rotation. AND oh yes… sparring with a hospital administrator who’s reminding him: He needs to get those patient satisfaction scores up. It’s...

For years now, members of Seattle's political establishment have been trying to fix one particular street corner: 12th and Jackson, in Little Saigon. This corner is an example of what city leaders call "hot spots" — tiny sections of the city that are home to disproportionate amounts of crime and disorder. A report by the city last year found there were more than a hundred crimes targeti...

Pride is one of the events of the summer here in Seattle. Thousands of people gather in the city throughout the month of June for parties, themed events, and of course a huge parade celebrating and elevating the LGBTQIA+ community here in the Pacific Northwest. But this year, those events may look a little different. And that may be due to pressure from the other Washington. In his first few month...

Certain names linger on the lips of ardent Seattle fans who still rock Supersonics Green & Gold: Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. Detlef Schrempf and Nate McMillan. Ray Allen and Kevin Durant… Players who evoke wistfulness and nostalgia.  Other names bring notes of bitterness, and regret for Sonics faithful: Howard Schultz. The man who sold the team…  And Clay Bennett &ndash...

Trapped in the never ending cycle of, “what do YOU want to do? I dunno, what do YOU want to do?” Well, the weekend is nigh, and Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here with everything YOU need to enjoy your time away from work… LINKS: Scott Shoemaker’s :Probed! – Intiman Theatre Rick Steves, Ann Powers, J. Kenji López-Alt, and Pedro the Lion —...

More than 500 law firms across the United States have signed a legal brief supporting Perkins Coie in a fight against President Trump. The Seattle-based law firm was targeted last month by the Trump Administration with a sweeping Executive Order. The order directs the federal government, in almost all cases, to not hire Perkins Coie or use contractors associated with the firm.  This is just o...

“Patient A,” as she is identified in court documents, artificially conceived a child at the University of California San Francisco Center for Reproductive Health.  She had carefully selected the sperm donor – it was the same one used for her other child.  But she later found out through a genetic database and a private investigator that the doctor who oversaw the proced...

Five years ago, Washington found itself at the leading edge of a once-in-a-century pandemic. The rapid spread of COVID, and the lockdowns that followed, shaped our communities, our health and our work for years to come. In this hour long special, we reflect on how the pandemic changed our region and how its effects still show up in our every day lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

The price of eggs is the talk of the town, and has been, for months. Earlier this year, a dozen eggs could cost you up to eight dollars a carton. Today, you can find them for cheaper. However, farmers continue to deal with the leading cause of that high price tag: the avian flu. To get a local perspective on the disease and the strain it’s putting on egg production, we reached out to a few W...

Amazon is taking a crack at satellite internet.  On Wednesday, the Seattle based tech company plans to launch the first 27 satellites of Project Kuiper. The company bills this as the start of a “constellation” of satellites providing internet all over the world.  In all, it plans to launch more than 3,000 satellites by 2029.  Amazon is trying to take market share from El...

Troublemakers is one of the groups behind #TeslaTakedown, an escalating campaign of peaceful protests outside Tesla dealerships across the country. They’re targeting Musk as his Department of Government Efficiency continues to slash federal jobs and restructure agencies, purportedly in an effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse.  The peaceful activism, along with scattered incidents o...

The Trump Administration is poised to slap worldwide tariffs on friend and foe alike…. Sending Wall Street reeling today. And the president’s crackdown on unauthorized immigration has arrived in Washington, with the first big ICE raid of a workplace in our state in Bellingham.  There’s plenty of news out of D.C. hitting home for Western Washington, and joining Soundside hos...

Seattle has tried, and is still actively trying, many different approaches to addiction treatment: law enforcement diversion programs , housing first, medication assisted treatment, drug court, outreach work, the list goes on. Now, the city has added another attempt to that list by piloting a new program that aims to get people into treatment faster by expanding access to private rehabs.&nbsp...

50 years ago, on Friday, April 4th 1975, two guys from Seattle launched a software company in a  strip mall in Albuquerque NM.. That business would soon relocate to Redmond, Washington… and those Lakeside kids, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, did all right. The Windows operating system would go on to dominate the personal computer industry.  Today, Microsoft is one of the most profitab...

You’ve maybe heard that Washington state’s operating budget has a big hole… in the 12 to 15 billion dollar range? Well, that’s not the only fiscal crater lawmakers are trying to fill. The transportation budget is underfunded by around $1 billion dollars right now, with a bigger deficit projected down the road, if nothing changes. Lawmakers say that would put the brakes on...

President Trump is readying new tariffs that will reportedly be his most aggressive trade policy move yet.  The White House is ready to move PAST a scandal involving the Administration’s top national security officials discussing war plans on the encrypted messaging app Signal.  And meanwhile, Democrats are facing anger from their own voters who are deeply displeased with how the p...

As a resident of a state, you are guaranteed certain rights by your state constitution. In Washington, for example, we have a right to religious freedom and free elections. Oregon is looking at guaranteeing the right for all citizens to live in a healthy environment  – including a stable climate. The state legislature is debating whether to have voters weigh in on the change.  If t...

The Washington State Legislature is in the process of hammering out the  transportation budget, which is estimated to have a BILLION dollar shortfall over the next two years. according to Transportation Committee Chairman Senator Marko Liias . Down in Olympia, both the House and Senate have each been working on their own respective bills aimed at addressing the funding gap to get things like...

Bellevue-based startup OneCourt says its devices enable the “first  tactile sports broadcasts." The goal is to give a deeper game experience for sports fans who are visually impaired, and to deliver it in real time.  A social media influencer recently went viral when he took the tablet for a spin at a Trailblazers game. Portland was the first NBA team to provide OneCourt devic...

The fight over fluoride in drinking water is not new – it’s been around ever since public programs began in the 1940s. But now, there is a push to end fluoridation programs. United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr has criticized fluoridation, claiming it contributes to a host of afflictions, including bone cancer and thyroid disease.  Around the co...

In the United States, immigrants do not have the right to legal representation in the same way American citizens do. But it’s a different story for children who come to this country alone, thanks to the federally funded Unaccompanied Children Program. It provides legal representation to more than 26,000 children by contracting with non-profit legal aid organizations throughout the country. O...

Seattle is taking on one of the more contentious issues to regularly pass through city hall: the Comprehensive Plan. That plan dictates where and how the city will add more people. And previous plans concentrated new apartments and condos along busy streets with access to transit. But why do cities like Seattle have to engage in this planning exercise at all? It goes back to a law called the...

It has been a long week, we’ve seen SUNSHINE, we’ve had the threat of TORNADOES, and now it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy our weekend…  Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here with everything YOU need to know about what to do to beat the rainy blues…  LINKS: Seattle Mariners OPENING NIGHT! - First pitch is at 7:10 Book Event - TILT w/ Emma...

23andMe, the San Francisco tech company known for its direct-to-consumer genetic testing, announced Sunday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  That’s raised a lot of privacy concerns over the genetic records it holds of roughly 15 million customers. The company said that while in bankruptcy court, that data will be handled with the same level of privacy.  But California Attorney G...

Yesterday was one of those days that makes you feel like maybe, just maybe, winter is finally over. Here in Seattle, the sun was shining, the cherry trees blossoming, it was in the 60s… And yes, now there are severe thunderstorms and potential tornado level winds heading our way this afternoon. But –  once those storms are over, it’ll be the perfect time to get back out int...