Soundside

It’s been quite a week for one Seattle scientist, after getting an unexpected late-night call from a Swedish phone number last week. That call turned out to bring good news: Dr. Mary Brunkow is sharing this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She’s being honored for research she did decades ago; work that would eventually loom large in developing ways to treat autoimmun...

Two candidates are running to represent Southeast Seattle, including Beacon Hill, the Chinatown-International District, Columbia City, and Rainier Beach. The District 2 seat was left vacant earlier this year when former City Councilmember Tammy Morales left the role. It’s being temporarily filled by Interim Councilmember Mark Solomon, but he’s going to step aside once voters decide whi...

We open this weekend's warmup with a fun chat about the TASVEER FILM FESTIVAL.  Soundside's Libby Denkmann spoke with Tasveer Executive Director Rita Meher about what everyone can expect for this year's festival, and what exciting things they've got coming soon! Then producer Jason Burrows takes it away with the standard issue warmup. LINKS: Tasveer Film Festival SPORTS! Mariners vs Tigers -...

Vocal pro-Palestinian protests have been happening within one of the Seattle area’s biggest industries. Groups of tech workers at various companies have campaigned to end their employer’s relationships with the Israeli government. One such group, called No Azure for Apartheid, has occupied the Microsoft campus and disrupted corporate events.   Guests: Hossam Nasr - forme...

The news hit like a gulp of bitter cold brew: Seattle-based Starbucks announced last month the company would be closing hundreds of stores and laying off another 900 corporate employees.  Tuesday, October 7th, it was reported that another 369 employees will be laid off here in Washington State in December due to store “closures.” This follows a restructuring plan laid out by CEO B...

Today marks two years since Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups carried out multiple coordinated attacks in Israel - killing over a thousand people . Around 250 Israelis were taken hostage.  It was a day of unconscionable atrocities and hatred. And war has only made the horrors grow. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to the Un...

Wildfire smoke is deadly and getting deadlier. A recent study published in Nature estimates that if warming continues at the current rate, smoke exposure could kill 70,000 Americans a year by 2050… and researchers expect that Washington could feel some of the biggest impacts.  Some researchers say the study points to some of the strongest evidence so far that climate change is endanger...

In a bid to make progress on homelessness during the pandemic, Seattle began housing people in a shelter at the Civic Hotel, just a few blocks from the Space Needle. The space offered wraparound services and, unlike some other shelters, didn’t require its clients to be sober.  And all in all, it seemed like things were going pretty well. Then Seattle stopped sending people there. Rooms...

Seattle Public Schools have only been back in session for about a month, but it’s already been a busy year for the district.  We wanted to get caught up on what’s been happening, so we reached out to Interim Superintendent Fred Podesta for a conversation last week.  We talked with him about school lunch protests, the budget, and a proposed pilot program to bring a school enga...

Last week renowned primatologist Jane Goodall died at the age of 91.  Goodall spent 65 years studying wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. Her work showed that chimpanzees make and use tools, and have emotions, empathy and their own culture. She changed our understanding of the world around us.  But it went far beyond just that - in her later life Goodall was an advocate: for conservation, huma...

We’re talking about the future of a big job today: King County Executive. Whichever candidate is elected to this position will oversee the sheriff’s department, manage public health, transportation, public housing, and jails… according to the King County website , they’ll lead one of the largest regional governments in the United States. The last time we had an open r...

The Major League Baseball playoffs started this week and the Mariners, once again, did not take the field.  But this year, that’s actually a good thing.  Your Seattle Mariners finished on top of their division for the first time in nearly a quarter century and have a first round bye in the playoffs. The team’s first ALDS game is Saturday.  It has been an absolute rollerc...

We didn't have time on the broadcast, but don't worry... Soundside producer Jason Megatron Burrows has all the events for you to enjoy this weekend. LINKS: Oktoberfest Northwest - Washington State Fair Event Center Oktoberfest - Leavenworth Washington OktoBEARfest - Woodland Park Zoo 2025 Tacoma Greek Festival   OysterFest The Northwest Chocolate Festival U District Chow Down & Street Par...

Who is an apology for? The answer is more obvious when the person you’re apologizing to is standing in front of you. You want their forgiveness. Or for them to feel better. Or for you to feel better. But when the people who were hurt, or those who hurt them, are long gone – what does apologizing actually accomplish? That’s one of the questions behind a recent essay in the New Yor...

It’s finally fall, which means the return of colorful flannels, blundstones, and the occasional raincoat. These are the clothes that have come to define Seattle fashion… which, if you haven’t heard, is bad. That’s at least according to a longheld stereotype about our city’s aesthetic.  People like to make fun of the way Seattle-ites dress. They’ve labeled...

The federal government is headed for a shutdown. Congressional leaders from both parties met with President Trump yesterday at the White House. They failed to make progress towards a funding deal. Democrats say they want to reverse some Medicaid cuts that Republicans passed earlier this year – and extend tax credits for people on Obamacare plans. Meanwhile, Republicans falsely claim tha...

President Trump designated antifa as a domestic terrorist organization last week.  He followed up with a memo directing the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate individuals and groups engaged in political violence and intimidation. Trump cited antifa as a reason to mobilize 200 Oregon National Guard troops , which are expected to arrive in Portland within the next week. The p...

When homicide detective Ian Carter arrives at the scene of a murder, the victim is posed to look like  Ophelia from Hamlet . Not that any of the detectives on the scene realize that... The person who will crack open that clue, and other twisted literary references, is on the other side of their Oregon college town; English professor Emma Reilly. She’s struggling to get  to class on...

Rena Priest is best known for her poetry. As Washington’s poet laureate between 2021 and 2023, she traveled around the state doing readings and spreading awareness of poetry. She was the first Indigenous poet to hold that role and is a member of the Lummi Nation. Now, she’s bringing her keen observations and sharp wit to non-fiction. She’s the author of a new collection of essays...

Christian Sidor is a professor in the UW Department of Biology and curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Burke. And for the last 18 years, he’s been traveling back and forth to Zambia and Tanzania, collecting fossils from the Permian period. The Permian lasted about 47 millions years and ended 252 million years ago with the Triassic Period.  Sidor has found a lot of Permian specimen...

Congress is barreling toward a government shutdown and Democrats are weighing whether they should use their leverage in this negotiation. They want to extend Obamacare subsidies and potentially roll back some cuts to Medicaid. President Trump has threatened mass firings of federal workers in the event of a shutdown. All of this is going on as the country is grappling with a rise in political viole...

It’s crush season in Washington, a time when grape growers and winemakers are usually very busy, working insane hours to make new wine.  But a huge percentage of the state’s highest quality wine won't get made this year.  Sluggish wine sales have meant growers are letting some of their best fruit rot, sometimes right on the vine. And Washington growers and winemakers alike ar...

The Mariners have made the playoffs as the AL West champs, and they're facing the Dodgers for the final games of the regular season, but hey... there's ALWAYS more to do this weekend! Check it out: LINKS: SPORTS!! Mariners vs Dodgers - Final games of the season! Fri/Sat/Sun UW Huskies vs The Ohio State Buckeyes   Sat 12:30p Sounders vs Vancouver Whitecaps   Sat 7:30pm Reign vs NC Courage...

This week, we're looking at the special election in Washington’s 5th Legislative District, which covers Issaquah to Enumclaw. State Sen. Victoria Hunt, a Democrat, was appointed to the seat and is running to keep her job this fall.  Republicans think they could flip this district. They’d like to claw back a little power from Democrats, who currently hold majorities in both th...

Did you catch Kimmel last night? It was his first night back after Disney pulled him off air about a week ago. Most likely, you only saw it after the fact. That's because Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns 38 ABC affiliates, including KOMO here in Seattle, announced earlier this week that they would continue to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! until further notice. Kimmel’s show was suspended...