Soundside

A big controversy is gripping many Washington towns right now: automated license plate readers. Flock Safety, a technology and surveillance company, operates cameras in cities and counties across the nation.  Those license plate readers take pictures of vehicles and their license plates – pictures that can be used by police to solve crimes.  But questions about who has access to the cameras is leading several jurisdictions to turn off their automated licence plate readers. GUESTS: KUOW producer Hans Anderson Flock Safety chief legal officer, Dan Haley Phil Neff, a research coordinator at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe Beryl Lipton, a senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation RELATED LINKS: Washington Court Rules That Data Captured on Flock Safety Cameras Are Public Records - Electronic Frontier Foundation Redmond turns off Flock Safety cameras after ICE arrests - The Seattle Times Immigration agencies accessed WA law enforcement license plate data, report finds - 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 NetworkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yes, turkey is an iconic centerpiece. But it’s a challenge.  Turkeys take hours to cook (let alone, defrost!). The results can be dry, flavorless slabs of meat.  If you believe online discourse, a growing number of bold omnivores are calling it quits on Thanksgiving turkey.  And from an animal welfare perspective, there’s a lot of waste and carnage associated with "the national holiday of meat-eating." We asked Soundside's audience about whether they're moving on from turkey -- and what they might make instead.  GUESTS: Marina Bolotnikova, deputy editor, Vox's Future Perfect Thanks to KUOW’s Paige Browning for all her help and hard work on this segment.  RELATED LINKS: 8 million turkeys will be thrown in the trash this Thanksgiving 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 NetworkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez stood on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and fought her own party. The subject of the disagreement? Whether or not a fellow Democratic member of congress, Chuy Garcia of Illinois, had crossed ethical lines and rigged the 2026 election for his chief of staff. By, among other things, announcing his retirement after the filing deadline.  Gluesenkamp Perez introduced a nonbinding resolution to disapprove of the maneuver, to the apparent surprise of Democratic leadership.  After speaking out, she was skewered by many of her fellow party members. One called her opposition a “cheap political stunt” Gluesenkamp Perez is known for bucking the party. Just last week she was one of only 6 House Democrats who voted to end the federal shutdown. She also represents one of the few purple districts in the country: Washington’s 3rd, which includes Lewis, Cowlitz, Clark and Skamania County. GUEST: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez represents Washington’s 3rd congressional district, which includes Lewis, Cowlitz, Clark and Skamania County RELATED LINKS: Scoop: House Dem infighting poised to get even worse - Axios After fierce fight, WA lawmaker secures US House rebuke of fellow Democrat - WA state standard End of shutdown ignites new round of sparring among WA’s congressional lawmakers - WA state standard 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 NetworkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While it has been so nice being back behind the microphone this week after a little time off, we’ve got Thanksgiving ahead of us!  And since we won’t have a show NEXT Thursday, Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is doing double duty this week with an extra large Weekend Warmup… THIS WEEK: Seattle Christmas Market Julefest 21+ Night Market Renegade Craft Fair - Seattle Winter Warren Miller's Sno-ciety | McCaw Hall Heart - Climate Pledge Arena NEXT WEEK: SPORTS PWHL Home Opener! Seattle Torrent vs Minnesota Frost - Fri 11/28 UW Men’s Football vs Oregon Ducks - Sat 11/29 Kraken vs Edmonton - Sat 11/29 Seahawks vs Vikings - Sun 11/30 Seattle Marathon - Sun 11/30 GeekCraft Expo NOVEMBER ART MARKET — Duwamish Tribe 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 NetworkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the week since Katie Wilson officially became Seattle’s mayor-elect, there have suddenly been a lot of think pieces about her from the national press. Editorial boards at the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have taken a certain “doom mongering” stance on another socialist winning office. The President of the United States added his two cents, and called her a communist. Wilson’s election is making waves in a year when both democrats and democratic socialists scored high profile wins across the country. But let’s be honest: national reporting is usually scant here in the PNW, and pretty late to the game. KUOW listeners – many of them, have been clued into this race for weeks if not months. What we haven't heard is the inside story of the Wilson campaign – how the team took a newcomer to electoral politics – a policy wonk, whose style she herself has called “pretty dumpy” – and got her elected mayor.   And what does the future look like for progressives in a city with a historically fickle electorate? Two key figures from the Wilson campaign team joined Soundside to share their view on how it all went down. GUESTS:  Katie Wilson campaign manager Alex Gallo Brown WinPower strategies political consultant, and Katie Wilson’s consultant, Jake Simpson RELATED LINKS:  Trump threatens Seattle’s World Cup, calls Mayor-elect Wilson ‘communist’ - Seattle Times Seattle’s coming socialist experiment - Washington Post Seattle Elects Mamdani West - Wall Street Journal Katie Wilson is the new mayor but confronts the same challenges - 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.

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Washington published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the spotted ratfish, sometimes called a ghost shark. It’s one of the most common fish you’ll find in the Puget Sound and it has teeth in an unexpected place. The study’s authors say that, not only is this unusual, but it also tells us something very interesting about evolution.  GUEST:  Karly Cohen, post-doctoral researcher at Friday Harbor Labs RELATED LINKS: PNAS: Teeth outside the jaw: Evolution and development of the toothed head clasper in chimaeras Smithsonian: This Deep-Sea Fish Has Teeth on Its Forehead—and It Uses Them for Sex  University of Washington: This common fish has an uncommon feature: Forehead teeth, used for mating   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.

Air traffic controllers are getting paid again, now that the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is over. Air traffic controllers dominated headlines during the shutdown as they continued to work their stressful jobs without pay. Some of them took on side gigs to make up for lost income. And as the shutdown dragged on, controller shortages led to flight delays and cancellations around the country.  Now things are slowly getting back to normal, as the FAA lifts restrictions on air traffic ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Steph Winder of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association tells us how controllers are doing now that they're out of shutdown mode. GUEST:  Steph Winder, Northwest Mountain Regional Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association RELATED LINKS: Trump Wants $10K Bonus for Air Traffic Controllers Who Didn't Call Out - Business Insider Air traffic controllers warn of ‘tipping point’ during shutdown : NPR FAA to Lift Government Shutdown-Related Flight Restrictions - WSJ 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.

If you purchased or rode an e-bike in the last 10 years, there’s a good chance it was a Rad Power Bike.  The company, based in Seattle, was one of the first to popularize e-bikes with the general public, and grew to be the largest electric bike company in North America. But now, the company is on the brink of collapse. A spokesperson told Geekwire last week that Rad faces potential closure as early as January due to “significant financial challenges.” After virtually building the e-bike industry, and seeing demand quadruple during the pandemic, what went wrong for Rad Power Bikes? And can they recover?  GUEST:  Geekwire editor Taylor Soper RELATED LINKS: The rise and fall of Rad Power Bikes: From breakout success to the brink of shutdown - Geekwire Rad Power Bikes faces possible shutdown as it tries to survive ‘significant financial challenges’ - Geekwire 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.

In 2023, Bellevue organizer Mubarak Elamin made the decision to bring his mother to the United States. At the time, she was living in Sudan, where a brutal war had broken out between the country’s army, the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The situation deteriorated into what the U.N. has called one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced. Some regions are suffering from famine. In January, the United States declared Sudan was experiencing a genocide. And despite this upheaval, Mubarak says it seems like a lot of people don’t know what's going on in Sudan.  GUEST: Mubarak Elamin, a Sudanese community organizer in Bellevue Nisrin Elamin, assistant professor of Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Toronto RELATED LINKS: Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening WA’s Sudanese community suffering amid war that’s displaced millions | The Seattle Times The State Of The Civil War In Sudan : 1A : 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.

Unionized Starbucks workers have started their fourth day on strike.  Workers walked off the job in over 40 cities last week.  And this year’s strike has gotten attention from high-profile politicians. Both Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson and New York's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani called on customers to boycott the coffee chain.  Last week, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) urged Starbucks to cut a deal with the union.  So what’s holding up negotiations?  GUEST: Casey Martin, KUOW reporter covering the strike RELATED LINKS:  Unionized Starbucks' workers strike in Seattle, across the country 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.