Soundside

When Brian Niccol took the helm as CEO of Starbucks last fall, his mandate was to reverse a decline in customer traffic.  He’s been rolling out changes in recent weeks. Niccol announced last month that the coffee chain would be reversing its open-door policy as part of something called the “Coffee House Code of Conduct.” That means no more sitting on the coffee house WiFi or squatting at a table without purchasing something. And yes, this will include use of the company’s restrooms (just about the only ones you reliably find on nearly every corner.)  Niccol took the reins of the company last fall amid lagging foot traffic, and the code of conduct is just one of the changes aiming to right the company’s wobbling ship. To discuss the changes and their impact on Starbucks' business, Soundside was joined by Julie Creswell, business reporter for the New York Times, where she covers the food industry.  Guests: Julie Creswell, business reporter for the New York Times, where she covers the food industry.  Related Links:  Starbucks Reports Weak Earnings as It Tries to Woo Back Customers - The New York Times Starbucks announces several changes, including plans to cut some menu items Starbucks reverses its open-door policy | AP News 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 his storied career, Paul Tazewell has dressed American revolutionaries, a scarecrow and a tinman, and witches with a penchant for pink and green. It’s hard to list all the projects the award-winning costume designer has been responsible for on Broadway, but here’s a sample: Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk, The Color Purple musical, In The Heights, and Hamilton, for which he won a Tony.  On screen, he won an Emmy for his work on The Wiz! Live. Tazewell has two Oscar nominations: One for 2021’s West Side Story and most recently for Wicked, Part 1. His relationship with Seattle goes back to the early 2000s – the tutus he created for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Swan Lake are still in use today.     And Tazewell is back in town with a new PNB collaboration. He’s created the lavish costumes – from ballgowns and dinner jackets to tutus –  for the company’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty.  Guest:  Paul Tazewell, costume designer for PNB's The Sleeping Beauty   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.

Shon Barnes stepped into the role last week, officially taking the reins from interim Chief Sue Rahr. Barnes was previously the Chief of Police in Madison, Wisconsin. You may have seen him on the news late last year, when a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison thrust the community, and its police department, into the spotlight. In Madison, Barnes was known for his advocacy for community policing, and body cameras. Now, Barnes will be leading in a city with a population almost three times as large as Madison. What are his goals for the city of Seattle?  Guest: Shon Barnes, new Seattle Police Chief Relevant Links: "I feel like a foster parent." Outgoing chief Sue Rahr on hiring, leadership, and sexism at SPD - 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.

For decades, the Hanford Site in central Washington produced plutonium for the United States’ nuclear arsenal. But since its operations were shuttered, starting in the 1960s, the site has become an ongoing headache for regulators in charge of cleaning up its radioactive waste.  Today, there are 177 underground storage tanks housing 56 million gallons of the country’s most toxic radioactive waste at Hanford. It’s expected to cost billions of dollars over the next several decades to completely dispose of it.  However, Project 2025 – a political initiative authored by a think tank called the Heritage Foundation – could change the current plan for Hanford, and its waste.  Project 2025 is a political initiative considered to be a policy blueprint for the Trump administration, though President Trump ended up distancing himself from some of its policies during the height of its attention during his campaign last year. Since being elected, however, he’s also brought on some of the project’s architects for cabinet nominees. That includes Russell Vought, who authored a chapter of Project 2025 and is going through confirmation hearings to lead the Office of Management and Budget. While not yet confirmed, Vote’s been credited as the architect of the federal funding freeze that sent many federal agencies into chaos this week. Soundside was joined by reporters Anna King and Jeanie Lindsay to discuss the project's strategy for dealing with Hanford's waste, and if Project 2025 has any bearing on President Trump's second term in office.  Guests: Anna King, senior correspondent for Northwest Public Broadcasting based in Richland. Jeanie Lindsay, KUOW's state government reporter based in Olympia. Related Links:  KUOW - Project 2025 and Hanford: What Trump’s second term could mean for WA’s toxic sludge Washington state, federal agencies finalize agreement for tank waste cleanup at Hanford - Northwest Public Broadcasting 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.

The weekend is tantalizingly close to being a reality, only a FEW hours away... So, why not get started making plans RIGHT NOW!? Fortunately, Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows is here as usual to give you a sneak peek at what's happening around town! LINKS: 5th Annual Fremont Soupocalypse - Thursday through Sunday Fatlesque Fest NW - Thursday through Saturday at the Triple Door Strange Brewfest - Friday & Saturday in Port Townsend Puppy Prov - Saturday at Comedy Sportz The Gits Seattle Record Release Party - Saturday at Seattle Center 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.

Sue Rahr’s tenure as Seattle’s Chief of Police is coming to an end. The interim chief took over the office during a rocky moment for SPD: she inherited a police officer staffing crisis and a workplace where senior staff had filed legal complaints over their treatment, alleging discrimination and sexism on the job .  Rahr’s appointment to the position happened the same week, last June, as a deadly school shooting at Garfield High, setting off a series of discussions about public safety at schools, and in the Central District. And she was also in the awkward position of taking over the department from a chief who was initially demoted, and then fired for not being truthful about his alleged affair with a subordinate. It’s been an eventful almost 8 months.  Chief Rahr sat down with Soundside host Libby Denkmann to discuss what’s changed during her time in leadership, and what still needs to happen at SPD. Guest: Outgoing Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr 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.

Happy Lunar New Year! Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake. And it’s an extra special Lunar New Year in Washington, because this year, for the first time, it’s a state holiday. Festivities have already been happening in many places, but the festival officially goes for the next 15 days, with celebrations all over the state. For Chinese and other Asian cultures, a critical part of these celebrations is lion dancing.  Soundside went to 51-year-old lion dancing school Mak Fai Dragon and Lion Dancing Association in Seattle to visit dancers preparing for their busy season. Guests: Han Eckleberg, Mak Fai member (lion dancing and kung fu) Martin Leu, Mak Fai member (lion tail player) Related Links: Seattle Lion Dance | Mak Fai 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.

Journalists are struggling to keep up with the breakneck pace of major policy decisions coming out of the White House.   At Soundside, we have to prioritize how our team approaches the firehose of news. And for the past week we’ve been asking you, the audience, to give us feedback about how you want the show to handle covering the Trump Administration 2.0. And boy, did you deliver. We’ve been flooded with calls and emails.  Requests ranged from completely skipping coverage, to reporting in moderation, to a mandate to keep our heads down and do the coverage, no matter how tough it is. Soundside has been taking all of your feedback into consideration. It’s safe to say, most newsrooms are working to figure out how to cover the President. To get the local view we spoke to KUOW News Director Jason Pagano, and to get a look at the national scene, we sat down with Washington Post reporter Jeremy Barr. GUESTS: KUOW News Director Jason Pagano Washington Post media reporter Jeremy Barr RELATED LINKS: How our local newsroom plans to cover the second Trump administration - KUOW How should the news industry cover Trump? Ten top journalists weigh in. - The 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.

Most of President Trump’s closest allies appear to be cheering on his major changes to immigration policy – which have been numerous.These include executive orders suspending America’s refugee resettlement program, ramping up and expediting deportations, halting asylum claims and canceling existing appointments, and more.  But one program has exposed a major rift in MAGA world over the role of foreign workers, especially in tech: H-1B visas.   Trump’s inner circle is feuding over the future of the visas, which let companies hire foreign workers with hard-to-find skills, granting them temporary permission to live and work in the U.S.  There were more than 470,000 applications entered for 85,000 spots in the latest H-1B visa lottery. The battle has been heated and sometimes downright nasty. Elon Musk and similar tech moguls say the visas are vital to fostering innovation. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon and other right-wing influencers argue H-1Bs lets companies replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor.  All of this has led to a lot of questions about the future of the program during the second term of a president who once took steps to restrict H-1B visas -- but now says he has “always liked” them. That’s got big resonance here in the Puget Sound region, where some of the companies with the most approved H-1B petitions are located.   To discuss the climate around H-1B visas, Soundside was joined by Jerry Lopez, CTO of Noise Figure Research, a Renton-based tech company; Andrew Kreighbaum, immigration reporter at Bloomberg Law; and Tahmina Watson, an immigration lawyer with Watson Immigration Law. Guests: Jerry Lopez, CTO of Noise Figure Research, a Renton-based tech company  Andrew Kreighbaum, immigration reporter at Bloomberg Law Tahmina Watson, immigration lawyer with Watson Immigration Law Related Links:  Why Trump’s Inner Circle Is So Divided on H-1B Visas: QuickTake H-1B Workers' Kids Would Lose Citizenship Under Birthright Order H-1B visas power the tech industry. But experts say that's not necessarily because of a talent gap. - CBS News H1-B visas hurt one type of worker and exploit another. This mess must be fixed » Senator Bernie Sanders 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, Seattle City Council waded into controversy by passing a long overdue tree protection ordinance. The law regulates whether homeowners can remove trees on their property and designates certain trees as “protected.”  This is all amidst a city goal to increase tree canopy. But that “protected” label is often misleading, according to a new story out in InvestigateWest about how the city is counting its trees.  Guest:  Robert McClure, co-founder of InvestigateWest Relevant Links: InvestigateWest: Seattle claims to ‘protect’ hundreds of trees that were never threatened InvestigateWest: How developers helped shape Seattle’s controversial tree protection ordinance   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.