Soundside

On Tuesday the Senate Finance Committee voted to move forward with Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services.  His nomination now heads to the Senate floor, where he’s expected to be confirmed.  As the secretary of the HHS, Kennedy would have oversight over 11 agencies including the FDA, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health. Kennedy...

The United States is drastically retooling its foreign aid to meet a new presidential administration's “America First” goals. The State Department will reportedly absorb the foreign aid agency USAID, which is also a target of Elon Musk’s government efficiency agency, DOGE. Democrats say this move by the Trump Administration is illegal and unconstitutional and congress would need...

The threat of a trade war against the United States' nearest neighbors is off for now. Last week President Donald Trump said he was placing a 25% tariff on goods from North American trading partners Mexico and Canada. In an executive order, Trump said he was using the United States’ economic leverage to push the countries into better border enforcement. He also said he was seeking to balance...

When Brian Niccol took the helm as CEO of Starbucks last fall, his mandate was to reverse a decline in customer traffic.  He’s been rolling out changes in recent weeks. Niccol announced last month that the coffee chain would be reversing its open-door policy as part of something called the “Coffee House Code of Conduct.” That means no more sitting on the coffee house Wi...

In his storied career, Paul Tazewell has dressed American revolutionaries, a scarecrow and a tinman, and witches with a penchant for pink and green. It’s hard to list all the projects the award-winning costume designer has been responsible for on Broadway, but here’s a sample:  Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, The Color Purple musical, In The Heights, and Hamilton, for which h...

Shon Barnes stepped into the role last week, officially taking the reins from interim Chief Sue Rahr. Barnes was previously the Chief of Police in Madison, Wisconsin. You may have seen him on the news late last year, when a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison thrust the community, and its police department, into the spotlight. In Madison, Barnes was known for his advocacy for...

For decades, the Hanford Site in central Washington produced plutonium for the United States’ nuclear arsenal. But since its operations were shuttered, starting in the 1960s, the site has become an ongoing headache for regulators in charge of cleaning up its radioactive waste.  Today, there are 177 underground storage tanks housing 56 million gallons of the country’s most toxic ra...

The weekend is tantalizingly close to being a reality, only a FEW hours away... So, why not get started making plans RIGHT NOW!? Fortunately, Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here as usual to give you a sneak peek at what's happening around town! LINKS: 5th Annual Fremont Soupocalypse - Thursday through Sunday Fatlesque Fest NW - Thursday through Saturday at the Triple Door Strange Bre...

Sue Rahr’s tenure as Seattle’s Chief of Police is coming to an end. The interim chief took over the office during a rocky moment for SPD: she inherited a police officer staffing crisis and a workplace where senior staff had filed legal complaints over their treatment, alleging discrimination and sexism on the job .  Rahr’s appointment to the position happened the same week,...

Happy Lunar New Year! Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake. And it’s an extra special Lunar New Year in Washington, because this year, for the first time, it’s a state holiday. Festivities have already been happening in many places, but the festival officially goes for the next 15 days, with celebrations all over the state. For Chinese and other Asian cultures, a critical...

Journalists are struggling to keep up with the breakneck pace of major policy decisions coming out of the White House.   At Soundside, we have to prioritize how our team approaches the firehose of news. And for the past week we’ve been asking you, the audience, to give us feedback about how you want the show to handle covering the Trump Administration 2.0. And boy, did you deliver....

Most of President Trump’s closest allies appear to be cheering on his major changes to immigration policy – which have been numerous. These include executive orders suspending America’s refugee resettlement program, ramping up and expediting deportations, halting asylum claims and canceling existing appointments, and more.  But one program has exposed a major rift in MAGA wo...

In 2023, Seattle City Council waded into controversy by passing a long overdue tree protection ordinance. The law regulates whether homeowners can remove trees on their property and designates certain trees as “protected.”  This is all amidst a city goal to increase tree canopy. But that “protected” label is often misleading, according to a new story out in Invest...

Former Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson has been sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison. The decision was handed down Thursday, after Nelson was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for the killing of 26 year old Jesse Sarey. And this represents a milestone: Nelson is the first Washington police officer to be charged and convicted for the use of deadly force while o...

What does it take to run a thriving business in Washington? Lately, for a number of business owners around the Sound , the answer seems to be “too much.” January has seen the closure of a number of long time Black owned businesses in the Seattle area – including Jackson’s Catfish Corner and Flowers Just-4-U in Seattle’s Central District, Plum Bistro in Capitol Hill, L...

Washington lawmakers are once again considering legislation to cap rent increases across the state. This year’s iteration would limit rent hikes to 7 percent over a 12 month period – with exemptions like new construction.  A similar bill was introduced last year, it died in committee in the senate. Since then, a couple of those “no” votes have left office. And sup...

The week isn’t over, but I know a lot of us are wishing it were. Well, if we’re so focused on the weekend, why not get an early start making plans?  Fortunately, Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here to give us an early look at what’s happening around town.  LINKS:  For Your Consideration - SIFF Cinema Downtown Napoleon Dynamite Live - Spokane Bellingha...

According to recent government reporting, Native Americans have medical debt that is double the national average. That’s despite the fact that the federal government is under a legal and moral obligation to provide healthcare to registered members of federally recognized tribes. In many cases, the debt stems from medical care the Indian Health Service was unable to provide but was supposed t...

The new documentary, Resident Orca , brings viewers inside the very personal work of Tribal elder Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris and her allies as they fight for Sk'aliCh'ehl-tenaut's, also known as Tokitae, release.  In recent years, people of the Lummi Nation tried to secure the return of the orca to her home waters, the Salish Sea. They consider her a family member. Sk'aliCh'ehl-tenaut's st...

At this hour, TikTok is once again available to its millions of U.S. users – brought back to life, for at least 75 days, by the President who once tried to kill it .  It’s been a long and confusing road to get here. Congress passed a law last April to force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media app or face a ban in the U.S.. On Friday, the U.S. Su...

The state supreme court is right now weighing the future of high-capacity gun magazine sales in Washington. Last week, the court heard arguments in Washington v. Gator’s Custom Guns. At issue is whether a 2022 law banning magazines with more than 10 rounds is constitutional. Complicating the matter is a recent U.S. Supreme Court cases that sets out a new originalist rule for restri...

Twenty-four hours after returning to office, the Trump administration is already facing its first lawsuit from Washington state. State Attorney General Nick Brown says he has filed a challenge to President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of unauthorized immigrants.  It was one of dozens of orders President Trump signed during his first day bac...

The University of Washington's Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, or COASST, is a network of nearly a thousand volunteers who walk beaches in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. Those citizen scientists are counting dead birds and their work has been critical to understanding the effects of warming ocean waters on the marine ecosystem. Guests: Julia Parrish, Associate Dean at the...

This month marks 10 years since the Kalakala was removed from the shores of Tacoma and demolished. The ferry, which looked a little like if the Titanic was mixed with a spaceship, was once the symbol of Seattle - a shiny, chrome vision of the future. While the Kalakala is gone, it’s far from forgotten. There’s even a song that follows the journey of the Kalakala: from its creation to i...

As we prepare for the holiday weekend, some folks are heading out of town, while others are looking locally for ways to celebrate the life & legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr…  Producers Jason Megatron Burrows & Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers are here with an early look at what's happening this weekend! LINKS:  Monster Jam - Tacoma Dome - Tacoma, Fri-Sun Seattle Sister Cities...