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Seattle Council approves police union contract with 23% pay bump
The Seattle City Council voted 8 to 1 on Tuesday to approve a new contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG). Councilmember Tammy Morales was the lone no vote. The new bargaining agreement provides a 23% pay bump for Seattle officers, making entry-level salaries $103,000, the highest in the state. But, to the dismay of police reformers, the new contract provides little in the way of new accountability measures.
WA agency fails to reinspect a third of ‘severe violator’ employers
More than 600 days later, records showed safety officers from the state’s Department of Labor & Industries had yet to reinspect a worksite of the Kent-based general contractor. For Seasoft Scuba, it’s been four years without a return visit from L&I after the company made the severe violator list...
Robert L. Scott
For Seattle rap legend Nasty Nes, meeting DJ Robert L. Scott felt monumental. As a young teenager in the early 1970s, Nes first discovered Scott when he stumbled onto his KJR-AM show while Scott was spinning the R&B classic “Oh Girl” by the Chi-Lites. (The song’s lyrics spoke to Nes, who was crushing hard on a girl.) From then on, Nes tuned in to Scott’s Seattle-based show all the time. “I just loved his gift of gab,” Nes remembers. “His voice, the way he spoke was so smooth and ladies loved that.”
Political heavy hitters criticize Mayor Harrell’s housing plan
More than 50 organizations and businesses representing a broad and influential swath of Seattle politics have called on Mayor Bruce Harrell to significantly increase housing density citywide or risk exacerbating Seattle’s affordable-housing crisis. The letter concerning the city’s Comprehensive Plan Update was spearheaded by the Complete Communities Coalition, which...
Who’s running for office in Washington state this year?
About a thousand people filed to run for office in Washington this year, as election season officially kicks off. Voters will decide on eight statewide races: governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, commissioner of public lands, superintendent of public instruction and insurance commissioner; all seats in the Washington House of Representatives; and about half of the seats in the state Senate, plus some judges, ballot items and local races.
Dueling Israel-Palestine protests on UW campus remain peaceful
Around 500 people gathered in Red Square on the University of Washington campus Sunday afternoon for a “United for Israel” march, the largest counter demonstration at UW since students established their “Popular University for Gaza” in early May. While the student encampment is demanding the UW...
Volunteers power wildfire mitigation efforts in the Tri-Cities
Wildfire season is likely months away in the Pacific Northwest, but the work of mitigating those fires has begun. Earlier this month, dozens of volunteers were cutting down trees and removing dead branches and brush in a 68-acre park in Kennewick, one of the Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington. Karl Kaiyala,...
Three progressives take on Tanya Woo in Seattle City Council race
If it feels to you like there’s an overabundance of Seattle City Council elections, it’s not your imagination. This fall, Seattleites will vote in a special election to decide who will fill the citywide Position 8 seat through the end of former Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s term on Dec. 31, 2025.
Podcast | CNN journalists on covering the Israel-Hamas war
Since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, CNN’s Tug of War podcast has brought listeners into the heart of the conflict. As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, host David Rind and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir got on stage for a live taping of Tug of War. They discussed Bashir’s reporting in the region – and the unique challenges of covering an unfolding war with decades of context.
The Journal: Economy Anxiety and the Election
There’s a striking disconnect between how Americans feel about the economy and the direction the economy is going. How will those feelings shape the 2024 election?. As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, co-hosts of podcast The Journal, sit down with The Wall Street Journal’s senior political correspondent Molly Ball for a robust discussion of the key issue that many voters rank at the top of their list when making decisions at the ballot box.
Text Me Back!: A U.S. Supreme Court roast
Text Me Back! is a celebration of the 25-year best friendship between New York Times bestselling author Lindy West and “recovering lawyer” and democracy expert Meagan Hatcher-Mays. The pair dissects pop culture, politics, snakes, the paranormal and anything else that crosses their minds. As part of the Cascade...
Tug of War: Covering the Crisis in the Middle East
CNN’s Tug of War podcast brings listeners into the heart of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Providing perspective on the attacks of October 7 and the subsequent outbreak of war, CNN reporters take us on the ground to document the escalating conflict and what it means for the rest of the world.
Advocates say Seattle’s $1.45B transportation tax isn’t enough
Within Seattle’s 84 square miles, repaving roads, building bike lanes, repairing sidewalks, maintaining bridges, planting street trees and generally keeping the transportation system functional is a multibillion-dollar proposition. For the past nine years, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has relied on a $930 million property-tax levy to pay...
AI is already impacting the 2024 elections. Experts are nervous.
Do you know President Joe Biden’s voice well enough to tell it apart from an AI imposter?. That was the challenge audience members were tasked with during a live taping of the Radio Atlantic podcast at this year’s Cascade PBS Ideas Festival for an episode about artificial intelligence’s potential impact on elections.
Mossback’s Northwest: Early WA eco-advocacy captured in color
On the Court, Douglas was a great advocate for wilderness preservation – helping to “save wild areas all across America from the Potomac to the Pacific,” Berger points out, but always retaining a special fondness for his Northwest roots. “In the 1950s,” Berger continues, “[Douglas] led a group of activists and enthusiastic hikers down the wild Pacific coast of Washington from Cape Alava to La Push … to protest a proposed highway down that coast.”
Podcast | The protest hike that stopped an Olympic coast highway
Today, more than 73 miles of Washington’s rugged Olympic Coast is still rugged. It’s accessible only to hikers, not cars. Part of the reason for that is a famous 1958 beach hike led by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice – and Washington resident – William O. Douglas.
ArtSEA: Seattle arts venues are putting a good face on it
If you’ve spent any time checking out the red carpet looks from the Met Gala this past weekend, you know the high-fashion museum fundraiser was aglow with sparkles and aflutter with curious headpieces. (I especially enjoyed the large bouquet hat plopped on Zendaya’s head, and hope to see people following her lead at Pike Place Market flower stalls this summer.)
Ta-Nehisi Coates on “apartheid” Israel and support for Gaza
Ta-Nehisi Coates said it took only one day into his 10-day trip across Palestine and Israel to call it what it is. “I first thought about it and said – well, these people have actually advanced past Jim Crow by segregating water itself,” said the prominent author and activist before the keynote crowd at Cascade PBS’ Ideas Festival. Coates, drawing on his experiences in the West Bank, was referring to an Israeli policy on water cisterns that he witnessed firsthand, effectively restricting Palestinian access to water resources and water-related infrastructure.
Your Last Meal | The Leftovers with Jesse Tyler Ferguson
If waiting two whole weeks for a new episode of Your Last Meal is way too long, we’ve got something to tide you over. On the weeks we’re not releasing a full-length episode of Your Last Meal, we’re airing The Leftovers, featuring never-before-heard audio leftovers from last week’s interview. Which means you will now be getting a little taste of Your Last Meal every single Thursday!
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