Soundside

There’s one seat up for grabs on Seattle’s city council this November.  Typically city council seats are filled during odd-year elections. But, when former councilmember Teresa Mosqueda was elected to the King County Council in 2023, she left a vacancy that needed filling. Tanya Woo was appointed by the council to fill the seat, until this year’s special election could determine a replacement to s...

In 2018, The North American Post, Seattle’s oldest Japanese-language newspaper, printed the final strip of Seattle Tomodachi , a comic created by Sam Goto. Goto was a second generation Japanese-American, born in the Seattle area in 1933. He raised two girls here, working for most of his life as a dental technician.  He passed away at the age of 84, just a few months before his final comic strip wa...

Perinatal Support Washington is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. The organization was started in 1989 as a way for parents to connect and find support during those really tough and bewildering years after a new baby arrives.  The organization may be best known for its “Warm Line,” where callers are connected with peers to talk about the challenges they face – including postpartum depres...

Let’s do a quick exercise. How are you feeling? Heart rate good? Optimistic about the rest of the day? Now, how do you feel after I say the words:  JURY DUTY? Ugh! What is it about that summons in the mail that makes us cringe so much? The disruption to our schedule? The waiting around? The other jurors?  One thing that certainly doesn’t help is the insultingly low pay. Most jurors in the state of...

For over a century, the deli meat company Boar’s Head has built its brand on a promise to customers - to only sell products based on the most exacting standards.  Boar's Head is ubiquitous in the Pacific Northwest, especially if you shop at Kroger stores. You know that logo. But in September, Boar's Head liverwurst was uncovered as the source of the deadliest listeria outbreak in over a decade.  T...

“Run, Hide, Fight."  That's the advice given to many students in the event of an active shooter at their school. Both the U-S Department of Homeland Security and the FBI support run/hide/fight as a safety protocol. It could save a lot of lives, theoretically. According to the Gun Violence Archive and Education Week this year in the U.S., there have already been 30 school shootings that resulted in...

Halfway through the season, college football has been a whirlwind for local sports fans this season.  Some may still be basking in the glory of the Washington Huskies beating the Michigan Wolverines earlier this month. And the Cougars deserve a tip of the hat for successfully keeping the Pac-2 alive…. or maybe it’s the PAC-6 now? The 6-PAC ?  While fans of Washington schools are still wrapping the...

There are some things that just scream Mondays. A fresh pot of coffee, fresh laundry, and a deep dive into the latest proposal for Seattle’s ongoing city growth plan. If you’re unfamiliar, Seattle’s 20-year growth plan is basically a zoning blueprint showing how the city will make room for new residents. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s first draft came out in March, and the proposal wasn’t exactly what hous...

The Urban Raptor Conservancy's Ed Deal and Patti Loesche are running a decades long study on the population health of Cooper's Hawks in Seattle. What does that involve? Spending a lot of time looking for and observing the city's hawks. Guests: Patti Loesche, co founder of the Urban Raptor Conservency Ed Deal, co founder of the Urban Raptor Conservancy Relevant Links: Urban Raptor Conservancy Websi...

This election season we’re bringing you conversations on all of the statewide initiatives on this November’s ballot.  This week, we’re taking a deep dive into I-2124, it’s the initiative that would give WA voters the option to OPT-OUT of the WA Cares long term services insurance program. Yesterday, we talked to Elizabeth New from the WA Policy Center, who urged listeners to vote YES on I-2124. TOD...

This election season we’re bringing you conversations on all of the statewide initiatives on the November ballot.  Most recently, we looked at both sides of the Capital Gains Tax Repeal.  This week, we’re taking a deep dive into I-2124: it’s the initiative that would give Washington voters the option to OPT-OUT of the WA Cares long term services insurance program. Gov. Inslee signed the bill that...

The world premiere of Jubilee debuted at Seattle Opera with its inaugural performance over the weekend. Jubilee is a new opera honoring the Fisk Jubilee singers, a group of groundbreaking Black American singers from Fisk University, in Tennessee. Soundside's Diana Opong sat down with creator and director Tazewell Thompson, who reflected on how the seeds of the opera Jubilee were sown in his early...

When you think of the wild west, you might imagine a sheriff, keeping watch over a small, dusty town he calls home. And a posse of locals: ready to be called up to fight off cattle rustlers or moonshine smugglers who threaten to cause trouble. It’s hard to imagine something like that now, in 2024 Washington State. But, in Klickitat County, down south on the Columbia River, a sheriff's posse has be...

Since the 1963 Gideon decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the right to a lawyer has been guaranteed to defendants facing criminal charges – even if they can’t afford to pay.  Advocates say that guarantee is in  jeopardy in our state because of a lack of personnel. Washington State public defenders are in short supply and that’s having cascading effects on the criminal legal system.  The Washington...

Tensions are rising as negotiations between Boeing and the IAM District 751 hit a stalemate. This comes amid a month-long strike, impacting 33,000 workers.  After contract discussions collapsed last week, both sides have traded accusations, leaving the future uncertain. Adding to the conflict, Boeing announced layoffs affecting around 17,000 employees – nearly 10% of its workforce – in a bid to cu...

Among the many races Seattle voters will weigh in on during the upcoming election, there’s a city council seat up for grabs. Current Position 8 Councilmember Tanya Woo is looking to defend against challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck. While Woo and Rinck try to differentiate themselves down the home stretch, they have at least one thing in common. Both are the latest candidates to take part in an elec...

This year, few Washington races have grabbed as much attention as the one for Commissioner of Public Lands.  The commissioner heads the state Department of Natural Resources, which oversees more than $450 million in revenue and more than 5.5 million acres of public land. The agency is in charge of wildfire preparedness, forest management, and the protection of critical habitat throughout the state...

For decades, the Seattle Children’s Theatre has introduced young people from all over King County to the joy and wonder of live theater.  You can take your little ones to their first play or musical like “Cat Kid Comic Club,” or maybe an interactive dance performance.  There’s a lot going on there each year. It’s part of what makes the Children’s Theatre such a beloved institution. The theater is...

Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island is the site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history. The nuclear plant near Harrisburg officially closed in 2019, but now, Microsoft is making a deal to restart the facility and buy all of its electricity for the next 20 years. How likely is this to actually happen? And what does this say about the future of energy and tech?  Guests: Evan Halper, b...

The Seattle School District is now planning to close just 5 schools next year. That’s down from the 21 possible closures the district had proposed earlier. The district has been teasing school closures for months as a part of its “Well Resourced Schools” plan. Seattle Schools faces a $94 million dollar budget deficit and Superintendent Brent Jones proposed closing schools to help cover that gap. A...

Since Hamas militants attacked Southern Israel on October 7, taking roughly 1200 lives, and capturing hundreds of hostages, the Israeli military has responded with overwhelming force in Gaza. Bombs and other military actions have killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Most of the homes , businesses, schools and mosques in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed – and...

How can personal tragedy inspire the most unlikely of people to become activists? This question is at the heart of Norita , a new documentary screening Oct. 8 at the Seattle Latino Film Festival. Norita takes a moving look at the life and journey of an Argentinian woman, Nora Cortiñas. She was a mother who became caught in the crosshairs of Argentina’s military dictatorship, which stretched from 1...

The Seattle area gets a bad rap for its “frosty” social climate.  But how can that be true when we live with so many “best friends” ? Furry ones, at least. There are more dogs than children in the city.  With all those canines sharing space, things can get a bit tense. Complaints run rampant about dog behavior in public, businesses that do or don’t allow animals, and, of course, politeness when pi...

One year ago, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took hundreds more hostage.  Israel’s military response has killed more than 41-thousand Palestinians in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than half were women and children.  A second front has opened in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has been bombarding Iran-backed Hezbollah… which began firing roc...

In June, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis. "Gun violence has become the leading cause of death among kids and teens," Murthy said. "That was not true a decade or two decades ago, but it is true today." And like many other communities across the country – Seattle is feeling the ripple effects of this crisis.  First Response  — a new series from Cas...