Soundside

It’s been a busy year for the Seattle Police Department.  A new chief was sworn in, the longstanding federal consent decree ended and the city reached a new contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild that changes how it can approach unarmed crisis response. Plus, a new mayor will take office in January. Mayor-elect Katie Wilson announced this week that she planned to retain Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes, despite some rumors to the contrary.  Soundside's Libby Denkmann talked with Barnes on the morning of Thursday, December 11th, about the incoming administration, the recent policing shooting in Othello, and more.  Note: Starting at 7:45 in the interview, Barnes cites several statistics about a drop in crime. We asked SPD for more information about the decreased crime percentages, and they said Barnes is referencing the first 11 months of 2025 compared to 2024. But in reference to homicides, the information SPD gave us cites 2019 as the last comparable year, and the reduction is actually 36 percent, instead of 35 percent, as Barnes states.  GuestSeattle Police Chief Shon Barnes Related Links Seattle City Council approves new police contract, boosting pay and expanding crisis response -KUOWSeattle police video shows officers fatally shooting allegedly armed man - The Seattle Times Seattle City Council Approves Police Contract as South End Mourns Killing in Othello - South Seattle EmeraldThank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catastrophic flooding continues to threaten Washington.  Around 100,000 people in Western Washington have been advised to evacuate.  Hundreds of Washington National Guard members have been tapped to help with response efforts. And Gov. Ferguson declared a statewide emergency in response to the flooding.  We talked to three KUOW reporters about what they're seeing on the ground and what we need to know about this weather event.  CORRECTION: As of 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 11, approximately 100,000 people were advised to evacuate across Western Washington. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Skagit County issued immediate evacuation orders to 100,000 residents. GUESTS: KUOW Reporter Joshua McNichols KUOW Reporter John Ryan KUOW Reporter Casey Martin RELATED LINKS:  KUOW - Live updates: 100,000 evacuated in historic Skagit Valley flood in Washington state KUOW - Western Washington faces 'catastrophic' flooding as two atmospheric rivers dump heavy rain Live: Flooding in WA’s Skagit, Snohomish rivers prompt road closures, evacuations | The Seattle Times Skagit River creeps toward Mount Vernon flood wall | The Seattle Times Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey Soundside Listeners! Because our entire show was focused on flood coverage with the Governor's press conference, and live conversations with KUOW reporters Joshua McNichols, John Ryan, and Casey Martin, we decided to skip the Weekend Warmup on the air this week, and drop it here on the podcast feed instead. Stay safe, check KUOW.org for updates, and look in on your neighbors.  With that said, please enjoy this podcast exclusive Weekend Warmup! LINKS: SPORTS! Seahawks vs Indianapolis Colts - Sun 1:25pm Buffalo Sabres at Seattle Kraken - Sun 5pm Seattle Torrent vs Ottawa Charge - Wed 7pm WildLanterns: Night Owls (21+) - Fri 12/12 Mozart & Mutts: Annual Holiday Concert - Fri 12/12 Jurassic Quest | Washington State Fairgrounds  The Naughty Novel Social Club: Krampus Edition DEAF SANTA CLAUS - Sun 12/14 Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 38 years old, Girmay Zahilay is King County’s youngest-ever executive. He’s coming in after the long tenure of his predecessor Dow Constantine, who ran the county for nearly 16 years. Zahilay was sworn in early to replace the temporary acting executive who’s been in charge since Constantine stepped down in March. He says he’s ready to “completely change” the office. The King County Executive oversees all kinds of important services like the sheriff’s department, public health, transportation, public housing, and jails. So what will that change look like? And what could it mean for King County?   GUESTS: King County Executive, Girmay Zahilay   RELATED LINKS:  Sworn in early, Exec Zahilay is ready to shake up King County - KUOW Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Wednesday morning, we spoke with the mayor of Auburn and the city manager in Carnation about flooding in their cities and what they expect to happen next. GUESTS: Nancy Backus, mayor of Auburn, WA Rhonda Ender, city manager, Carnation, WA RELATED LINKS:  ‘Catastrophic’ flooding expected in King, Snohomish, Skagit counties -The Seattle Times Western Washington faces 'catastrophic' flooding as two atmospheric rivers dump heavy rain - KUOW Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Washington, like the entire country, has been hit hard by fentanyl.  So far this year, King County has recorded more than 650 overdose deaths involving the synthetic opioid, which can be 50 times stronger than heroin.  650 is a devastating number but it’s actually down from a peak in 2023, when more than 1,000 people died from fentanyl-related overdoses in the county. The drop mirrors a downward trend that we’ve seen across the entire country…  But the crisis is still overwhelming many communities.  A biotech company called ARMR Sciences is hoping to solve at least one piece of this very complicated puzzle: Instead of reversing these overdoses, they want to stop them from happening in the first place... through a fentanyl vaccine.  GUESTS: Dr. Colin Haile, a research associate professor at the University of Houston and he’s also one of the co-founders of ARMR Sciences. RELATED LINKS:  A Fentanyl Vaccine Is About to Get Its First Major Test | WIRED Scientists Create a Vaccine Against Fentanyl Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For weeks, King County homelessness service providers have been staring down a majorly disruptive change to how they currently operate.  The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development said in November that it intended to redirect billions of dollars in grants that house homeless people. This was in line with President Trump’s rejection of “housing first,” the practice that aims to get people stabilized in long-term housing before addressing mental health issues or addiction. It's guided policy in this region and across the United States for decades.  The Trump Administration’s announcement put $65 million in federal grant money for King County in doubt. And it left local leaders scrambling. The county called providers together last week to discuss the change. Washington state and roughly 20 states sued, and later, so did King County and local homeless service providers. But yesterday, 90 minutes before a court hearing, HUD withdrew the new requirements around grants. Sounds like a rollercoaster, right? Providers in the area are breathing a sigh of relief. Though, the last-minute shift signifies the complicated task of planning homelessness response, one that relies on federal dollars, when massive changes are taking place in Washington, D.C.  GUEST: Kelly Kinnison, CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority RELATED LINKS KCRHA: Changes to Federal Funding will Increase Unsheltered Homelessness in King County Seattle Times: King County has 3 plans for Trump’s homelessness funding changes Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A disturbing image shared by Senator Patty Murray has been reverberating across the internet.  It shows a man’s torso, his right side covered in wounds - lacerations, scratch marks, bite marks - after he was mauled by an immigration agent’s canine. Blood splatters the sheets below him. The man, Wilmer Toledo-Martinez of Vancouver, Washington, was detained outside his home last month by federal agents.  Senator Murray and Wilmer’s family are calling for his release – and calling out the violent treatment he received at the hands of immigration officers. GUEST Olia Catala is Wilmer Toledo-Martinez’s attorney, and the owner of Catala Immigration PLLC RELATED LINKS Senator: ICE dog attack on WA man ‘should shock the conscience’ - Seattle Times Vancouver man speaks for first time since viral video of ICE arrest - OPB Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We could tell this next story with numbers. There is a lot of data.  But at its core: This is a story about Native American kids.  And how year after year, law enforcement and lawmakers in Olympia allow these children to be arrested and jailed at far higher rates than their white peers. Those experiences as children have lasting consequences well into adulthood.  State officials and lawmakers know there’s a problem. But advocates say they haven’t done enough to stop it.  GUEST Melanie Henshaw - Indigenous affairs reporter, InvestigateWest RELATED LINKS Native American children significantly more likely to be arrested, detained in Washington Native American kids less likely than others in WA to be offered second chance in juvenile court, data shows Most children charged as adults in Washington are youth of color Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s June 26th, 2020, and a group of protesters stands in the midst of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest. They’re talking to another group of people, including a city employee, about city sanitation workers getting access to the area. Towards the front of the group stands a 16 year old boy, wearing a grey baseball cap, a hoodie, and a surgical mask. He taps a protest organizer’s shoulder, so they’ll know he wants to speak. What you’re hearing is some of the last known footage of Antonio Mays Jr before he was shot and killed, just days later, in the CHOP zone.  That death contributed to the end of the Occupied Protest in 2020. The video - was livestreamed by Omari Salisbury of Converge Media, and remained on Youtube all these years. The fact that it shows Antonio was only recently rediscovered, shortly before a civil trial that could shed more light on Antonio’s death . That civil trial, stemming from a lawsuit the teen’s father filed against the City of Seattle, is set to begin this week. Guests: Omari Salisbury, founder of Converge Media Will James, KUOW reporter and producer Relevant Links: Converge Media: Reflections on the Rediscovered Dignity of Antonio Mays Jr. Converge Media: The Tape: Rediscovering Humanity in the Shadow of CHOP KUOW: Victim of unsolved Seattle CHOP killing featured in newly unearthed video   Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every Monday on Soundside we catch you up on the top stories that are fascinating right now – and what they say about the Pacific Northwest.It’s our chance to talk about the latest news with a rotation of plugged-in journalists and guests, taking a look at the headlines from the weekend and the stories that we'll be following as the week moves forward. GUEST: Seattle Times city hall reporter David Kroman TODAY'S TOPICS: ICE K-9 Attack Senator: ICE dog attack on WA man ‘should shock the conscience’ - Seattle Times Energy troubles loom large As WA’s coal ban looms, Montana wind fills only some of the energy gap - Seattle Times Frank Gehry Dies Frank Gehry, Titan of Architecture, Is Dead at 96 - NYT FIFA World Cup schedule announced 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule: Seattle matches’ times, matchups unveiled - Seattle Times Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

GLP-1 drugs that are commonly used to treat diabetes and obesity, like Ozempic and Wegovy – are in big demand. And they’re going to be more affordable.  The Trump administration recently negotiated deals to lower the prices of these drugs. It seems like some details still need to be ironed out….  but from the looks of it, many Americans who use Medicare will be able to access GLP-1s at a fraction of their original cost. According to one of the deals, some Medicare patients will be able to get GLP-1s for a $50 copay. So it’s safe to assume as costs come down, these drugs are only going to get even more popular…. And we want to know more about them. In this latest “ask a doctor” segment, we’re asking two physicians to answer all of our burning questions.  GUESTS: Dr. Scott Hagan, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who studies obesity. Dr. Mara Gordon, a family physician based in Philadelphia. She also writes about the culture of medicine and authors the “Real Talk With a Doc” column for NPR. RELATED LINKS:  Medicare negotiated lower prices for 15 drugs, including 71% off Ozempic and Wegovy : Shots - Health News : NPR Ozempic is making me rethink how to be a body-positive doctor : Shots - Health News : NPR  Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s already the first weekend of December, and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some holiday cheer to lighten up these cold, rainy days. Thankfully, like Santa soaring past with his reindeer, here with all the stuff that’s worth doing this weekend is Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows!! LINKS:  Year in Review 2025 | Town Hall Seattle WTO/99 - Northwest Film Forum 21st Annual Urban Craft Uprising Winter Show Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition | PMSC-FB KRAMPUS BREMERTON Seattle SantaCon Scintillating sci-fi striptease Kraken vs Detroit - Sat 12/6 Kraken vs Minnesota - Mon 12/8 Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shortly after the shooting of two national guard troops in Washington, D.C., the Trump Administration said it was pausing asylum decisions and halting visas for Afghan immigrants.  The alleged shooter is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a Bellingham resident who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 2021. The motive for the attack is unknown. One victim – 20 year old Sarah Beckstrom – was killed in Wednesday’s shooting. The attack has prompted the Trump administration to supercharge restrictions on migrants from 19 countries, primarily ones in Africa and the Middle East. And it has left many others in this country fearful about their future as the federal government turns new scrutiny on green cards and asylee statuses that have already been granted.  We’re trying to get a sense of how policy actions may impact immigrant communities, so we’re speaking with Luis Cortes Romero. He is an immigration lawyer and managing partner at Novo Legal Group. A note:  After our taping, on Tuesday evening, the Department of Homeland Security announced a pause for all immigration applications for people from 19 countries deemed "high risk."  Those are the same 19 countries Luis and I discussed that were under some previous restrictions: mainly African and Middle Eastern nations, including Sudan, Somalia and Iran -- also Venezuela, Haiti, and more. DHS says this requires "all aliens meeting the criteria undergo a thorough re-review process." GUESTS: Luis Cortes Romero is an immigration lawyer and managing partner at Novo Legal Group.  RELATED LINKS:  Shooting of National Guard members prompts flurry of U.S. immigration restrictions - PBS Trump pauses immigration applications for 19 nations on travel ban list - Washington Post Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever wanted a pet raccoon?  Well, here’s a possible sign that dream is slowly approaching:  a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology suggests raccoons are getting closer to domestication.  The study is not definitive yet, and more research is required. But it all has to do with researchers observing a shorter snout on the animals we affectionately refer to as trash pandas.  GUEST Marina Wang, freelance journalist RELATED LINKS Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication - Scientific American Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seattle’s brand new Professional Women’s Hockey team, the newly christened Seattle Torrent, faces off against the New York Sirens tonight at Climate Pledge Arena…  Tonight’s game is the third ever for the team, and their growing fan base has both high hopes and big expectations as the season gets started. Soundside Producer Jason Burrows sat down with Libby Denkmann ahead of tonight's game to talk about how things are going! RELATED LINKS:  Seattle Torrent lose PWHL debut to Vancouver Goldeneyes in overtime  Seattle Torrent drop PWHL home opener to Minnesota before record crowd  Seattle Torrent vs Minnesota Frost Inaugural Home Opener Post Game Press 365 HOCKEY GIRL | PWHL (@365_hockeygirl) • Instagram Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Twenty-six years ago, this week over 40,000 people came to Seattle to protest at the World Trade Organization's ministerial conference. Labor organizers, farmers, and environmental groups planned and executed peaceful action against what many saw as anti-democratic elements of the WTO, and the profound risks from the unfettered expansion of global trade.  At events from Memorial Stadium to the waterfront and marches in downtown Seattle, advocates for the global south joined arms with American steelworkers, decrying the outsourcing of jobs.  Ultimately, the “Battle of Seattle” pushed trade policy to the front page.  But for many, the enduring memories from that week in Seattle are the clouds of tear gas deployed by police and broken windows at downtown businesses.  A new documentary called WTO/99 tries to capture the events on the ground as they happened. It’s composed entirely of archival footage. And it highlights the way narratives around power and protest are shaped by media images.   GUEST: Ian Bell, director, WTO/99 RELATED LINKS: Soundside's conversation with DW Gibson, author of "One Week to Change the World," about the WTO protests Where to watch WTO/99 Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some rare bipartisanship is emerging in congress: it focuses on questions about the legality of a September 2nd U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean. 11 people were killed, including two men who initially survived the first strike, but were killed by a follow-up attack. This operation was the start of a campaign of strikes the Trump Administration says it is waging to protect Americans from drugs smuggled by narco-terrorists.  GUEST: Representative Adam Smith (WA-09), ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee  RELATED LINKS: NPR: Congress steps in as questions mount over who authorized a second strike at sea NPR: As strikes on alleged drug boats grow, so do questions about their legality and goal Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We have a new thing we’re trying out on Mondays on Soundside. We're calling it Front Page.It’s our chance to talk about the latest news with a rotation of plugged-in journalists and guests, taking a look at the headlines from the weekend and the stories that we'll be following as the week moves forward. GUEST: KUOW politics reporter Scott Greenstone. TODAY'S TOPICS: National Guard Shooting in Washington D.C. Noem says National Guard shooting suspect was 'radicalized' in the U.S. Seattle Traffic Why Seattle traffic got worse in 2024 Light rail’s push to Federal Way gives students, workers front-door access Pigeons Why Sound Transit is waging a ceaseless battle against birds Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Robert Jones is the new president of our region’s largest educational and research hub. He took the helm at the University of Washington in August, and when we sat down recently, he shared a bit about his background and path to Seattle. Jones says his parents were sharecroppers farming peanuts and cotton in southwest Georgia. “Where most people would tell you the last thing you should have anything to do with if you grew up as a son of sharecroppers. I was innately curious about science, and particularly became very curious about plants” It’s ultimately what set him on his academic path: Crop physiology. “And in my case, it was corn, and the whole goal was to understand the impact of environment on physiological processes that would be disrupted and cause a reduction in the yield of a major agricultural crops under a global climate change scenario.  This was before the term global climate change was coined, and so that's what I spent 34 and a half years trying to understand, how do we make corn more tolerant to heat and drought stress?  And that basic physiological research has led to what is now most of the major agricultural crops being able to withstand temperatures and drought longer than they ever had before in the modern history of production agriculture.” Jones spent more than three decades teaching and doing research at the University of Minnesota. He later led the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where the enrollment grew by 25% and they launched a new medical school during his tenure.  The University of Washington has a similar enrollment size to Illinois – more than 60-thousand students and 30-thousand faculty and staff. So Soundside wanted to hear from the new university president… Roughly 100 days into his tenure, what’s his read on the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the school?  We should note we are a self-sustaining service of the University of Washington, with editorial independence. GUEST: University of Washington President, Dr. Robert Jones Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.