Soundside

"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." You may not totally understand what that means, but some say these are the 26 words that made the internet what it is today. And congress may be ready to repeal them. Written and passed in 1996, the law Section 230 shields websit...

Dujie Tahat can be described in many ways: a poet, a critic, podcast host, and political consultant. In addition to all those titles, they can now add a new descriptor: Seattle’s Fifth Civic Poet. Guest: Dujie Tahat, Seattle Civic Poet Links:  Poetry Foundation: salat to be read from right to left Northwest Review: All American Ghuzal Four Way Review: BALIKBAYAN FILLED WITH THEORY...

Humans have changed a lot from our cave dwelling days, but one thing that has stayed the same is our need for connections with others. Maybe it’s not so much the need for protection from animal predators anymore, or cooperating to take down a mammoth. Still, our evolution has instilled in us the need to connect with others. And we don’t do so well when that connection gets tenuous.&nbs...

For the past 80 years, the Fulbright Program has supported scholars, artists, writers, and professionals in connecting with international institutions to do cutting-edge work. At its heart, the Fulbright is an exchange program that funds research and projects outside of participants’ countries. It aims to build international relationships and cultural competency between Americans and the res...

This Saturday, March 22nd, the Wing Luke Museum will hold a gala that honors its namesake.  Wing Luke was born in 1925 in China. He moved to Seattle at age 6, and grew up helping his family run their laundromat and store. In 1962, he became the first person of color on Seattle’s City Council.  Wing Luke would have turned 100 last month, but he died tragically at an early age. ...

Last year, pro-Palestinian “liberation zones” popped up all over American campuses, demanding that universities divest from Israel and advocating for an end to the war in Gaza. Now, ICE’s arrest and detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in Columbia University’s student protests, has created a climate of fear and frustration among student protesters across the country.&nbsp...

If you are looking outside, seeing a little sunshine peeking through the rain, some tulip bulbs starting to sprout, maybe you have some buds on your flowering trees... You might be thinking, "What can I do to really get in the Spring spirit today?"  Well, Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here to help you fill your weekend with whimsy and get out there and enjoy the first day of Spring. LINK...

Washington’s Democratic lawmakers are pushing forward with a promise they made last year to change a law they saw as problematic … but that they helped pass anyway.  The law in question came from a voter initiative, commonly known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights. It was a Republican-led effort to increase parents’ ability to monitor their kids’ school records, in...

Every Monday, Demar, Red, Cambo, Anthony and Vik give listeners a glimpse of life inside the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla on their podcast Concrete Mama.  The show focuses on the experience of being incarcerated. Three of the hosts are currently at Washington State Penitentiary, two were formerly incarcerated there. They all share their perspectives and explore the complexitie...

For a year and a half, Monisha Harrell served as Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle – the number two position in the executive office. The last name she shares with the Mayor, Bruce Harrell, is no coincidence. Monisha Harrell is the mayor’s niece.  She was the first Black lesbian senior deputy mayor in the City of Seattle’s history, and she also says that her tenure with th...

WWAMI is an acronym for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho… and it refers to a program created by the University of Washington that allows dozens of medical students from those states to study at the UW School of Medicine.  The aim is to produce highly-skilled doctors who will go back and practice in rural, underserved areas of the Western U.S. But not everyone is happ...

The state’s Department of Natural Resources says it’s coming up with backup plans to address the growing threat of serious wildfires in Washington. This, as it's typically close working relationship with federal forest managers has frayed under the Trump Administration.  Some of this started in mid-February, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut thousands of probationary emp...

The federal government will be funded through September after several Senate Democrats joined Republicans in passing a continuing resolution late last week. However, the deal provoked a huge backlash against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who organized a handful of Democrats to avert a government shutdown. House Democrats from Nancy Pelosi to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wanted their Senate cou...

TGIF, amirite? I mean, yeah, it’s Thursday, but I know you’re thinking about it.   Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here to help you make your weekend epic. LINKS: Taste Washington - Every day, from March 13–17 The Grand Tasting Nosferatu with Radiohead: A Silent Synced Film Seattle Reign FC -  Home Opening Match vs Gotham FC Seattle Reign FC Game Days...

Breakthrough Energy, a collection of organizations founded by Bill Gates in 2015, announced a slew of staffing cuts this week.  These organizations focus on accelerating things like sustainable energy and other environmental technologies. They had a promising beginning with a range of wealthy investors joining Gates to provide funding.  But now, dozens of employees have been let go. And...

The One Seattle Comprehensive Plan is working its way through city council. It dictates how the city will grow over the next twenty years, including where density is allowed.  While the details are still being worked out, the comprehensive plan has a new type of zoning: Neighborhood Centers. This part of the plan could affect up to 30 neighborhoods in Seattle – including places like Mon...

Huckleberries appear in any number of Northwest products like ice cream, syrups, jams, teas, pies, tinctures, and vodka, but they are incredibly difficult to grow on farms.  Instead, huckleberries grow at high elevations in fields, and are found mostly in forests that have recently burned.  Native people have been picking huckleberries for generations and huckleberry harvests in the moun...

The Washington state House on Tuesday approved $100 million in funding aimed at helping local police departments hire more officers.  House Bill 2015 aligns with Governor Bob Ferguson’s priorities, and he’s threatened to torpedo any state budget that doesn’t include increased police funding.  It’s been a contentious budget cycle in Olympia. The state’s facin...

Behold the Rain-beers, a herd of giant bottles with human legs galloping majestically across the Cascade foothills.  This motif was part advertisement, part cinema — the brainchildren of Heckler Associates, a local ad agency that made Rainier Beer’s personality and brand into the stuff of Seattle legend.  Today Rainier is no longer an entirely local product — it’s...

The government’s about to run out of money. There’s an ongoing, multi-fronted showdown in the courts over who has the power to cut federal spending after it’s been appropriated. And also a little bit of a trade war brewing with new U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel just announced. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal shares her view from the House of Representatives with Soundside. *Note:...

On March 10, 2025, Soundside aired a segment about a high number of deaths among people detained at the South Correctional Entity, commonly known as SCORE. After it aired, our staff was contacted by a SCORE official, who objected to two claims made in our broadcast.  One, was an assertion that reports regarding unexpected fatalities that occurred at the facility were not posted within the req...

Artificial intelligence is starting to underpin everything we do, whether we like it or not. And at the highest levels, companies like Google and Open AI are saying their AI is on the verge of crossing a humanlike threshold that we’ve only seen in science fiction. This is prompting all kinds of conversations about sentience and the possible dangers of a superintelligent computer system.&nbsp...

It’s the end of the week for us here at Soundside, and we’ve been making our weekend plans.  That means if you’re searching for something to keep you occupied this weekend, you’re in the right place.  Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here in the nick of time to give you all the highlights. LINKS: Emerald City Comic Con Sequim Sunshine Festival Penn Cov...

70,000. That’s the number of jobs the Department of Veterans Affairs will cut over the next six months. This comes from an internal VA memo leaked to the public this week. It’s the latest in a series of mass layoffs conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In a video released yesterday, VA Secretary Doug Collins said that the changes are necessary to make the depa...

In the 1980s, Seattle's music scene was hooked on disco. The success of "Saturday Night Fever" meant venues opted for groovy vinyl over live band performances, and songs like Chic's "Good Times" were on constant rotation. That made room for a similar but modified version of the song's simple breakbeat by a group called The Sugarhill Gang, who quickly brought "rapping" to a nationwide audience. As...