The James Beard Award has been a kingmaker in the food business since the 1980s. Even getting a nomination can be life-changing. Chef Jay Blackinton – a punk musician and self-described wannabee skateboarder – has been nominated seven times. He’s self-taught and runs a buzzy two-man kitchen on Orcas Island. And this year, he’s been named a James Beard Award finalist in the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific category. Seattle restaurants Archipelago and Atoma are also finalists in the Outstanding H...
Apr 16, 2025•24 min
Mindie Lind is a Seattle-based musician. In a new short animated film called "View from the Floor", Lind and co-director Megan Griffiths explore Mindie’s life as an artist grappling with imposter syndrome. Mindie was born without legs. And as she came of age, she couldn’t shake the idea that the praise and attention she received was more about her disability, and people looking to create “inspiration porn,” rather than her talent. View from the Floor debuted at Sundance this year and is availabl...
Apr 16, 2025•18 min
Today, a federal judge reprimanded the Trump Administration over its failure to comply with a court order to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. Abrego Garcia is a 29 year old Salvadoran citizen who is married to a U-S citizen and was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported despite being under court-ordered protection from being sent back to El Salvador. The Trump Administration blamed an “administrative error.” U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis ca...
Apr 15, 2025•21 min
In an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” President Trump criticizes Smithso nian exhibits that examine how race interacts with power and privilege. He claims they “portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” The executive order also threatens to take away funding from exhibitions within the Smithsonian Museum network that promote what the administration is calling “a divisive, race-centered ideology .” Under President Trump’s o...
Apr 15, 2025•16 min
A harried emergency room doctor rushes between patients; his waiting room is filled to the brim with sick and injured people, he’s dodging a RAT infestation, all while overseeing a new crop of residents getting up to speed on their ER rotation. AND oh yes… sparring with a hospital administrator who’s reminding him: He needs to get those patient satisfaction scores up. It’s all in the day in the life of Dr. Robby of “The Pitt,” the fictional Pittsbourgh Emergency Department at the heart of HBO’s ...
Apr 15, 2025•15 min
For years now, members of Seattle's political establishment have been trying to fix one particular street corner: 12th and Jackson, in Little Saigon. This corner is an example of what city leaders call "hot spots" — tiny sections of the city that are home to disproportionate amounts of crime and disorder. A report by the city last year found there were more than a hundred crimes targeting people and overdoses - mainly from fentanyl - at or around 12th and Jackson over a one-year period. And it's...
Apr 14, 2025•49 min
Pride is one of the events of the summer here in Seattle. Thousands of people gather in the city throughout the month of June for parties, themed events, and of course a huge parade celebrating and elevating the LGBTQIA+ community here in the Pacific Northwest. But this year, those events may look a little different. And that may be due to pressure from the other Washington. In his first few months in office, President Trump has called for an end to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs in b...
Apr 10, 2025•24 min
Certain names linger on the lips of ardent Seattle fans who still rock Supersonics Green & Gold: Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. Detlef Schrempf and Nate McMillan. Ray Allen and Kevin Durant… Players who evoke wistfulness and nostalgia. Other names bring notes of bitterness, and regret for Sonics faithful: Howard Schultz. The man who sold the team… And Clay Bennett – the man who bought them and soon moved them to Oklahoma City. The team pulled up stakes 16 years, five months, and 12 days ago … b...
Apr 10, 2025•22 min
Trapped in the never ending cycle of, “what do YOU want to do? I dunno, what do YOU want to do?” Well, the weekend is nigh, and Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here with everything YOU need to enjoy your time away from work… LINKS: Scott Shoemaker’s :Probed! – Intiman Theatre Rick Steves, Ann Powers, J. Kenji López-Alt, and Pedro the Lion — Live Wire Radio Roméo et Juliette | April 11 - 20, 2025 Record Store Day - Seattle Stores SIFF & Stitch - Labyrinth Free Oral Cancer Screeni...
Apr 10, 2025•4 min
More than 500 law firms across the United States have signed a legal brief supporting Perkins Coie in a fight against President Trump. The Seattle-based law firm was targeted last month by the Trump Administration with a sweeping Executive Order. The order directs the federal government, in almost all cases, to not hire Perkins Coie or use contractors associated with the firm. This is just one of the law firms that has recently been targeted by Trump, mostly due to past actions or associations t...
Apr 10, 2025•14 min
“Patient A,” as she is identified in court documents, artificially conceived a child at the University of California San Francisco Center for Reproductive Health. She had carefully selected the sperm donor – it was the same one used for her other child. But she later found out through a genetic database and a private investigator that the doctor who oversaw the procedure, Christopher Herndon, had allegedly used his own sperm in the insemination. By the time "Patient A" learned what he had done, ...
Apr 09, 2025•15 min
Five years ago, Washington found itself at the leading edge of a once-in-a-century pandemic. The rapid spread of COVID, and the lockdowns that followed, shaped our communities, our health and our work for years to come. In this hour long special, we reflect on how the pandemic changed our region and how its effects still show up in our every day lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 08, 2025•52 min
The price of eggs is the talk of the town, and has been, for months. Earlier this year, a dozen eggs could cost you up to eight dollars a carton. Today, you can find them for cheaper. However, farmers continue to deal with the leading cause of that high price tag: the avian flu. To get a local perspective on the disease and the strain it’s putting on egg production, we reached out to a few Washington state poultry farmers. Guests: Jennie Watkins, owner of Ananda Hills Farm & Fibers John Bell...
Apr 07, 2025•19 min
Amazon is taking a crack at satellite internet. On Wednesday, the Seattle based tech company plans to launch the first 27 satellites of Project Kuiper. The company bills this as the start of a “constellation” of satellites providing internet all over the world. In all, it plans to launch more than 3,000 satellites by 2029. Amazon is trying to take market share from Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has dominated the satellite internet industry since it came online in 2019. Guest: Jonathan O’Callaghan ...
Apr 07, 2025•18 min
Troublemakers is one of the groups behind #TeslaTakedown, an escalating campaign of peaceful protests outside Tesla dealerships across the country. They’re targeting Musk as his Department of Government Efficiency continues to slash federal jobs and restructure agencies, purportedly in an effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse. The peaceful activism, along with scattered incidents of vandalism against Tesla dealerships and cars, appears to be making a dent in the finances of the wealthiest ma...
Apr 03, 2025•17 min
The Trump Administration is poised to slap worldwide tariffs on friend and foe alike…. Sending Wall Street reeling today. And the president’s crackdown on unauthorized immigration has arrived in Washington, with the first big ICE raid of a workplace in our state in Bellingham. There’s plenty of news out of D.C. hitting home for Western Washington, and joining Soundside host Libby Denkmann the view from congress is Pramila Jayapal. She represents WA’s 7th congressional District, including most of...
Apr 03, 2025•21 min
Seattle has tried, and is still actively trying, many different approaches to addiction treatment: law enforcement diversion programs , housing first, medication assisted treatment, drug court, outreach work, the list goes on. Now, the city has added another attempt to that list by piloting a new program that aims to get people into treatment faster by expanding access to private rehabs. Guest: David Kroman, Seattle Times city hall reporter Related stories: Seattle pilot program expands access t...
Apr 02, 2025•15 min
50 years ago, on Friday, April 4th 1975, two guys from Seattle launched a software company in a strip mall in Albuquerque NM.. That business would soon relocate to Redmond, Washington… and those Lakeside kids, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, did all right. The Windows operating system would go on to dominate the personal computer industry. Today, Microsoft is one of the most profitable companies in the world. And its presence laid the groundwork for the Puget Sound region as a hub for engineering and...
Apr 02, 2025•18 min
You’ve maybe heard that Washington state’s operating budget has a big hole… in the 12 to 15 billion dollar range? Well, that’s not the only fiscal crater lawmakers are trying to fill. The transportation budget is underfunded by around $1 billion dollars right now, with a bigger deficit projected down the road, if nothing changes. Lawmakers say that would put the brakes on a lot of big projects, including maintenance and highway construction on I-5 and I-90. A blueprint to fill the budget gap pas...
Apr 02, 2025•18 min
President Trump is readying new tariffs that will reportedly be his most aggressive trade policy move yet. The White House is ready to move PAST a scandal involving the Administration’s top national security officials discussing war plans on the encrypted messaging app Signal. And meanwhile, Democrats are facing anger from their own voters who are deeply displeased with how the party is responding to Trump and his policies. One Seattle-area Democrat has emerged as a high profile critic of the di...
Apr 01, 2025•27 min
As a resident of a state, you are guaranteed certain rights by your state constitution. In Washington, for example, we have a right to religious freedom and free elections. Oregon is looking at guaranteeing the right for all citizens to live in a healthy environment – including a stable climate. The state legislature is debating whether to have voters weigh in on the change. If that guarantee does pass, it would allow state residents to sue Oregon if they are denied this right. And it would beco...
Apr 01, 2025•12 min
The Washington State Legislature is in the process of hammering out the transportation budget, which is estimated to have a BILLION dollar shortfall over the next two years. according to Transportation Committee Chairman Senator Marko Liias . Down in Olympia, both the House and Senate have each been working on their own respective bills aimed at addressing the funding gap to get things like highway infrastructure built and maintained… One provision in the Senate’s bill – which passed on Saturday...
Apr 01, 2025•13 min
Bellevue-based startup OneCourt says its devices enable the “first tactile sports broadcasts." The goal is to give a deeper game experience for sports fans who are visually impaired, and to deliver it in real time. A social media influencer recently went viral when he took the tablet for a spin at a Trailblazers game. Portland was the first NBA team to provide OneCourt devices at every home game, but more have followed. And OneCourt's goal is to see its devices at every major sporting event in t...
Mar 31, 2025•11 min
The fight over fluoride in drinking water is not new – it’s been around ever since public programs began in the 1940s. But now, there is a push to end fluoridation programs. United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr has criticized fluoridation, claiming it contributes to a host of afflictions, including bone cancer and thyroid disease. Around the country, some areas are taking actions to end fluoridation. Last week, Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in pu...
Mar 31, 2025•18 min
In the United States, immigrants do not have the right to legal representation in the same way American citizens do. But it’s a different story for children who come to this country alone, thanks to the federally funded Unaccompanied Children Program. It provides legal representation to more than 26,000 children by contracting with non-profit legal aid organizations throughout the country. On March 21, the Trump Administration sent out a stop-work notice that some organizations are calling a nea...
Mar 31, 2025•20 min
Seattle is taking on one of the more contentious issues to regularly pass through city hall: the Comprehensive Plan. That plan dictates where and how the city will add more people. And previous plans concentrated new apartments and condos along busy streets with access to transit. But why do cities like Seattle have to engage in this planning exercise at all? It goes back to a law called the Growth Management Act. Guests: Joe Tovar , Associate Professor in the planning department at the Universi...
Mar 27, 2025•14 min
It has been a long week, we’ve seen SUNSHINE, we’ve had the threat of TORNADOES, and now it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy our weekend… Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here with everything YOU need to know about what to do to beat the rainy blues… LINKS: Seattle Mariners OPENING NIGHT! - First pitch is at 7:10 Book Event - TILT w/ Emma Pattee - Third Place Books Ravenna The Spokane Rock Rollers 64th Annual Gem & Mineral Show Bellingham Children’s Film Festival Helles Belle...
Mar 27, 2025•6 min
23andMe, the San Francisco tech company known for its direct-to-consumer genetic testing, announced Sunday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That’s raised a lot of privacy concerns over the genetic records it holds of roughly 15 million customers. The company said that while in bankruptcy court, that data will be handled with the same level of privacy. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a statement that suggested Californians should consider “directing 23andMe to delete their d...
Mar 26, 2025•13 min
Yesterday was one of those days that makes you feel like maybe, just maybe, winter is finally over. Here in Seattle, the sun was shining, the cherry trees blossoming, it was in the 60s… And yes, now there are severe thunderstorms and potential tornado level winds heading our way this afternoon. But – once those storms are over, it’ll be the perfect time to get back out into the garden and clean up the mess those winds will have left behind. And maybe even start planning your planting for the sea...
Mar 26, 2025•31 min
"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." You may not totally understand what that means, but some say these are the 26 words that made the internet what it is today. And congress may be ready to repeal them. Written and passed in 1996, the law Section 230 shields websites from being held responsible for the content users post. In other words, platforms like Facebook, ...
Mar 25, 2025•13 min
