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Mossback’s Northwest | The “Bird Woman” and an ode to ornithology
When my late father’s eyesight was failing, he could no longer make out birds from his porch. He called them “little brown flitteroonies.” And that’s what birds are for many people: fast-moving bundles of feathers. A few, of course, are well-known, if not always loved: crows, seagulls, pigeons, Canada geese: birds known for cawing, honking or prolific pooping.
Podcast | How a Seattle teacher taught a generation to love birds
In the early 1900s, pioneering educator Adelaide Lowry Pollock was the first woman to be named principal of a Seattle grade school. A lifelong love of birds dominated her curriculum. Her students went on birding field trips, mapped birds’ nests, researched bird behaviors, learned bird songs and even built elaborate birdhouses.
Watch: Cipher Goings
On a recent episode of So You Think You Can Dance, Seattle tap dancer Cipher Goings appeared before the judging panel in a made-for-TV room with poise beyond his 23 years. Auditioning to a portion of Burna Boy’s Afrobeat track “On Form,” Goings gracefully spun, shook and leapt across the wood floor, his rapid-fire taps building upon the song’s rhythmic complexity, adding beats and pauses with the balls and heels of his feet. The judges ultimately (and unwisely) decided to pass on Goings, but his appearance on SYTYCD marked an important moment for the young tap dancer: representing his community on a national platform.
ArtSEA: “Fine and rare” finds at a new Pioneer Square bookshop
On a rainy morning last week, I pulled up in Pioneer Square and knocked on the glass door of a classic storefront at 400 Occidental Avenue South. A decal on the still-papered windows read Long Bros. Fine & Rare Books, which was on the precipice of opening to the public.
WA conservative groups are banding together to dump carbon pricing
Project 42, a 3-year-old nonprofit working to “change the course of Washington state to prioritize free markets, personal liberty and an individual’s right to prosper,” has its fingerprints all over current conservative efforts, including the drive to kill Washington’s new cap-and-invest program. Washington’s new initiative king...
Your Last Meal | Dan Pashman on his cookbook “Anything’s Pastable”
Home cooks tagged Dan on Instagram, eager to show off their cascatelli creations, which is when he realized: Everyone was pairing their pasta with the same three sauces!. Eager to move beyond marinara and mac & cheese, Dan just released his first cookbook, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People.
Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz out amid controversy
Adrian Diaz is out as Seattle’s Chief of Police. The departure comes amid increasing controversy about discrimination and retaliation on the force, a lawsuit and external investigation into sexism claims, and struggles to rebuild a diminished department. Mayor Bruce Harrell announced at a press conference Wednesday that Diaz would...
ICE deportee alleged ongoing threats over false sex-crime charge
Immigration officials acknowledged an erroneous sex-crime conviction listed in the U.S. charging records against a detainee at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, and recently deported the man to Micronesia, where he reportedly faced death threats over the mistake. Detainee Kungfu Karuo, 41, repeatedly appealed to officials and advocates...
Podcast | Why acronyms like AANHPI and AAPI don’t always cut it
AANHPI Heritage Month is coming to a close. May is widely recognized as a time to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, or AANHPI, communities. There have been different versions of this acronym over the years – from Asian Pacific American (APA) to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI).
WA college students build campus harm-reduction support networks
When Mary Meyer started at Skagit Valley College (SVC) in 2021, she had not set foot in a classroom since graduating from high school almost 30 years prior. Six months before starting classes, she had been released from prison after serving a three-year sentence for soliciting drugs. Upon her release...
WA spent $5B over past decade on homelessness, housing programs
For much of the past decade, the amount of money Washington lawmakers dedicated to housing and homelessness programs grew gradually, climbing from around $200 million to $400 million in each two-year budget between 2013 and 2021. But in the past four years this spending has surged, according to an analysis...
Podcast | The impact of economic anxiety on the 2024 election
Data suggests the U.S. economy is performing well, but many Americans don’t feel that way. How will those feelings influence the 2024 election?. As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, co-hosts of the podcast The Journal, took the stage with Wall Street Journal senior political correspondent Molly Ball to dig into this strange economic picture and its political implications.
Tech CEOs join chorus of criticism for Seattle housing plan
Leaders from 28 Seattle tech companies, start-ups and tech-adjacent investment groups have joined a growing coalition of Seattle organizations calling on Mayor Bruce Harrell to bolster his proposed housing plan and allow more density across the city. The CEOs’ letter, sent to Harrell and the Office of Planning and Community...
Poll: Almost half of WA voters are undecided on governor’s race
Six months out from the 2024 election, voters are still largely undecided on the first open Washington governor’s race in 12 years, according to a new Cascade PBS/Elway Poll. While 76% of voters polled statewide said they were paying attention to the election, a full 47% said they still...
Mossback’s Northwest: Lumberjacks, meet the Lumberjills
Twice in the 20th century, a Northwest wood came to the rescue in wartime. At the same time, the cutting of that wood triggered advances that changed not only how loggers worked, but also who worked in the logging business. One war brought the eight-hour workday, cut from 12 or more — and another saw a cadre of working women move into the woods. You’ve heard of Rosie the Riveter? How about Rosie the Logger?
WA mom reclaims son’s story after University of Idaho murders
It’s just one booth among many at the bustling 40th annual Tulip Festival Street Fair in Mount Vernon. Orange sunrise stickers on the booth read “Hug your people.” Copies of a children’s book called The Boy Who Wore Blue are stacked high. Bracelets that say “Live Life Like Ethan” are displayed. And fresh-cut tulip bouquets feature only one white and yellow variety. This booth is all about celebrating the life of Ethan Chapin.
Podcast | How war created demand for NW spruce – and “lumberjills”
In the early 20th century, Sitka spruce, a giant conifer native to the Pacific Northwest, became known as an excellent material for building airplanes. As a result, when the U.S. entered World War I, the demand for that wood exploded. The American military set up what was called the “Spruce...
ArtSEA: NW Folklife Festival kicks off summer concert season
Memorial Day is upon us, and according to local custom, this weekend marks the beginning of our outdoor music season — regardless of whether the weather cooperates. That’s thanks to the sprawling Northwest Folklife Festival, which since 1972 has presented an electric cross-section of cultures across multiple stages. The free four-day celebration (May 24 - 27) enables the joy of discovery by presenting diverse musical traditions (blues, taiko, bayou, polka and neo-soul, as a small sample) and movement (tango, contra, swing and break-dancing), all within the Seattle Center grounds.
Washington voters favor anti-tax initiatives — for now
The three tax initiatives destined for Washington’s November ballot are popular with voters, according to the results of a new Cascade PBS/Elway Poll. None of the proposals – to repeal the capital gains tax, to kill the cap-and-invest carbon pricing system, and to make the long-term care insurance program optional – gathered support from a majority of voters in the May 13-16 poll. But two of them got pretty close.
Your Last Meal | The Leftovers with Kathleen Hanna & Food Not Bombs
Today Kathleen tells us about her major, if accidental, contribution to a Nirvana record, what it means to be punk-rock while living a comfortable adult life and what it was like working at McDonald’s as a teenager. Then host Rachel Belle meets the co-founder of Food Not Bombs, a...
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