Soundside

It’s a story we can all relate to… Three generations in a car, headed to a family event. The parents are excited; their kid is not. And Grandma? She’s asleep in her wheelchair.

In the short animated film “POW!”, this particular family is Native American, and they’re headed to a powwow, where Jake desperately searches for an outlet to charge his gaming device… as his parents try to get him...

Over the last 10 years Washington has passed a bevy of climate laws aimed at reducing the state’s carbon emissions. 

That includes a carbon auction, a ban on coal in the state’s energy mix, and a requirement that the state reach net zero emissions by 2045.

But during that same period, energy production from renewable sources has actually declined slightly.

Oregon has set its sights on net zero emissions by 2050. It...

New research has brought us a little closer to answering a key question about consciousness: How does the brain create the experience of self-awareness? 

The problem was first posed by Aristotle, over 2000 years ago. 

KUOW editor and longtime science journalist Gabriel Spitzer tells us more about that research and the Seattle scientist at the center of it. 

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this ...

Founded in 1890 in the Central District, Bartell Drugs may be entering its final days.  

Its parent company, the national pharmacy chain Rite Aid, exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year, but continues to struggle financially. Now, the fewer than 30 Bartell Drugs and around 100 Rite Aids will be sold or closed forever.

This continued hemorrhaging of retail pharmacy stores will likely be felt most acutely in lower-inco...

Washington’s youth prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding.

The state’s two medium and maximum security youth prisons – Green Hill School in Chehalis, and Echo Glenn Children’s Center in Snoqualmie – have both consistently met or surpassed their maximum capacity for residents in recent years.

When the 2025 Washington legislative session began, lawmakers had lots of potential solutions.

From custody...

On May 2nd, Governor Bob Ferguson signed into law a new requirement that clergy of all faiths become mandatory reporters of child abuse. It’s a move that’s especially controversial for the Catholic Church because of the sacrament of confession.

Up until now, admitting to crimes during confession, in a private conversation with a priest, retained similar legal protections as attorney-client privilege. In a s...

Are men okay? 

It’s a question sometimes asked in jest, but recent data has caused some experts to worry about American men and boys.

Men are going to and graduating from four year colleges at lower rates than women. Men age 25-54 are participating in the workforce at a lower rate than ever before. And, data from 2023 suggests young men are spending significantly more time alone than they did in 2019.

And this concern co...

Kevin Diers was an announcer and engineer here at KUOW. You could hear his work all over the station, behind shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

He had a big footprint in the radio and music scene here in Seattle, for many years: Kevin was a long time host of Metal Shop and Loud and Local at KISW.

On KISW’s Instagram page, the band The Home Team wrote: "Kevin was the biggest supporter of local bands and musi...

Should Seattle city council members have to recuse themselves if a policy proposal would directly help or harm their self interests?

That’s been the guidance here in Seattle for the last 40 years.

But a new proposal from City Council member Cathy Moore could change that.

The idea to change ethics rules for the council comes ahead of contentious debates related to tenant protections and eviction laws in the city. 

Thanks for checking out the Weekend Warmup - We have a LOT going on this weekend.

First of all, Sunday is Mother's Day. Second of all, the Mariners are starting a home stand against the Blue Jays on Friday. Let's go!

LINKS:

• Seattle Mariners Schedule
• USAF Band of the Golden West - Bellingham
• USAF Band of the Golden West - Mercer Island
• Seattle Beer Week
• 43rd Annual Beat the Bridge
• World Migratory Bird Day | Seward Park Audubo...

More than three decades ago, tiny blobs of gelatinous goo of unknown origin rained down on the small Grays Harbor community and captured national headlines.

The cause of the strange phenomenon, and even what the blobs were made of -- remains an enigma. It was even the subject of an episode of the TV show Unsolved Mysteries. (Watch the episode here.)

No one knows what they were. But last month they returned. 

Guests:

• Alli ...

Yesterday, Seattle-based author Tessa Hulls won a Pulitzer Prize for her graphic novel "Feeding Ghosts."

Hulls' first published book starts with her Chinese grandmother, Sun Yi, a journalist and author who fled Shanghai after the Communist Revolution.

Then, the narrative shifts -- to her mother Rose, the daughter of a Swiss diplomat, essentially raised in a Hong Kong boarding school after her mother was institutionalized.

And final...

King County has its first new Executive in 15 years. 

Dow Constantine, who held the position since 2009, was chosen as the CEO of Sound Transit earlier this year. He stepped away from the Executive job at the end of March.

In his place, Shannon Braddock is leading the county until a new executive is elected this November. Before this she worked mostly behind the scenes in various roles for the county over the last 15 ye...

In the face of staff cuts, funding freezes, and threats to zero out its budget – Head Start has survived… for now. 

This program serves almost 800,000 kids throughout the country –15,000 in Washington State alone. Many of these children are low-income, disabled or in foster care.

A Trump Administration budget proposal leaked in April put all Head Start funding on the chopping block. Providers in multiple sta...

In the new Netflix documentary “Bad Influence”, 11 teenagers recount their experiences working with Piper Rockelle, who was herself a child influencer.

All of the teens were former “squad members” of the Youtuber. They described performing scripted scenes in front of the camera - like fake “dating” scenarios, or pranks. 

They also described feeling violated by some of the videos, and behind ...

In the 2010s, the video game industry saw an ENORMOUS boom, with annual revenues jumping from 80 billion dollars to TWO HUNDRED billion over that decade, according to a report by investment research group Epyllion.

But in recent years, that exponential growth hit a plateau. 

“Games were so successful both prior to & during 2020 & 2021, that they set kind of impossible standards for 2023 & 2024… And whe...

Seattle city leaders were met with some less than ideal news this month: the city is facing a $241 million dollar budget shortfall over the next two years.

And maybe you’re thinking, hey didn’t city council use the Jump Start tax to fill the $250 million budget gap this year? Surprise: that was a whole other budget deficit. 

But Seattle is far from the only municipality facing a shortfall. King County is facing a $...

Since May 8, 1792, European colonists have called the large volcano just off the coast of Puget Sound "Mount Rainier."

It was given that name by a British explorer, Captain George Vancouver – a gift to his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. 

But prior to Vancouver’s arrival in what eventually became Washington state, the Indigenous peoples in and around the Salish Sea called it by many names.

A recent linguistic p...

After a week of gloom & drizzle, we’ve finally got a 70 degree day or three in the forecast! We won’t talk about what’s happening with Saturday’s weather, it knows what it did… 

THAT SAID - if you need a few more excuses to go out & do things, we’ve got you covered! 

Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here with a VERY SPECIAL Weekend Warmup.

LINKS: 

• May Day ...