KIRO Radio Rundown

Cal Anderson Park transformed into an unsanctioned homeless encampment in recent months, and the city planned to clear it this week.  The plan was derailed after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman living in the park, arguing it violated the requirement to provide shelter to anyone displaced by a sweep.  Gee Scott is frustrated enough at this point to start advocating for forced removal.  John Curley says there's a difference between protesters and the homeless, and sometimes that gets lost.  The judge, after considering the arguments, decided to allow the sweep to move forward. Tom Tangney is worried about the clash that might be to come.  Ultimately this story is another example of Seattle's active activist culture, a reason some officers cite when they leave the region. Dori spoke to former King County Sgt. Viktor White about why he left for Arkansas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered today in Washington state. Dori Monson is bothered that one particularly group might get it first even though he doesn't think they've done enough to comply with the lockdown restrictions. Tom and John wish Elvis Presley was still around to convince people to actually get the shot. And Gee and Ursula explain why your boss should give you a sick day to get vaccinated.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week there was a working paper put out by the National Bureau of Economic research suggesting that US media is considerably more negative in their reporting on COVID-19 than other English speaking media.  A couple KIRO Radio shows grappled with why this might be.  Tom Tangney pointed out that some people might actually find negative news comforting somehow. "It's like you're trying to protect yourself," Tangney said. "You want to know everything bad that's out there so you can be safe."  John Curley responded that the problem is this can result in people being less pessimistic than they should be.  "We don't really see the big picture, we don't see the progress being made," Curley said.  Ursula Reutin believes this was more true in years past, but that the media has actually been trying to avoid this reputation.  "There's always been that line 'if it bleeds, it leads," Reutin said. "We've really tried to move away from that. We've really gone to the standard of 'does anyone care? Does this impact people?'"  Gee Scott argued the focus on the negative is also true in sports journalism.  "If they're going to report something on a player, it sounds like this," Gee said, "'This player: DUI, this player: domestic violence."  "The negative news sells," Ursula responded.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've only just learned this week that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan won't be seeking a second term. But it's never too early for some irresponsible speculation!  Dori Monson worries this might open the door to a "true marxist." He did, though, make it clear that he won't be in running for multiple reasons. For one, he doesn't live in the city, and he doesn't want to get involved in politics, especially if he doesn't think he can win. Try checking in with him in 4 years when there's another gubernatorial race.  Gee Scott brought up a couple names including fellow host Dave Ross or former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best.  Ross was conspicuously silent after his name was brought up, but facetiously brought up someone else.  "Loren Culp is free," Ross joked. "You want a fresh set of eyes?"  John Curley couldn't imagine anyone in their right mind would want the job of Seattle mayor. Tom Tangney suggested Durkan could dealt an unbelievably unlucky hand, but that doesn't necessarily mean whoever takes her place will suffer the same.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Usually this podcast is a space where we collect the takes from all the shows on the biggest story of the week. I'm not sure I can accurately describe this story as the "biggest." I just thought after like 19 of these we could do a fun one. George Clooney made headlines this week after telling CBS Sunday Morning that he's been cutting his hair with a Flowbee for years.   If you don't remember what a Flowbee is, or, like me, you weren't alive when they were invented, here's the original infomercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK7_VSpTyVY  The Clooney anecdote reminded Dori Monson that he had considered getting a Flowbee at the begining of the pandemic, but they proved harder to track down than he imagined.  John Curley actually believes Clooney is lying about this for publicity.  Listening to Clooney talk about this inspired Gee and Ursula producer Andrew Lanier to suggest Curley sounds like Clooney. Which is ironic because Curley was just talking this week about how his son makes fun of him for sounding similar to another public figure with a last name that begins with the letter "C." But only when he's angry.  Tune in and decide for yourself.  Apologies to Seattle's Morning News, they're way too cool to ever cover a story like this and unfortunately get left out this week.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're back for the first time after a bit of a break for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The news hasn't changed a whole lot in our absence, though. We had another Inslee press conference to start this week off where he announced a new app you can download to assist in contact tracing.  Hanna Scott of Seattle's Morning News walked us through the premise of the app.  Dori Monson argues this isn't about public safety but engendering fear.  John Curley and Tom Tangney tried to parse the data and determine whether Washington has been at all successful at contact tracing.  Gee and Ursula consulted virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen about why restaurants are considered vectors of spread even though the data can be so difficult to collect.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Sunday Governor Jay Inslee announced new restrictions in response to increasing Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. These included bans on indoor dining at restaurants and bars and new caps on occupancy limits for retail.  John Curley argues not enough people are acknowledging the deadliness of the lockdowns themselves.  Meanwhile, Reporter Hanna Scott presented clips from her interview with the head of the Washington State Medical Association on Seattle's Morning News...  Dori Monson spoke to a gym owner who is intentionally ignoring Inslee's updated order. Since the lockdown was re-announced, a lot of industries are coming out to argue their case for why they don't think they need to be shut down. Ursula Reutin asked virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen if restaurants are common vectors of spread...  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're two weeks from Thanksgiving, but plans are already being made and difficult conversations are being had.  Jay Inslee, accompanied by his wife Trudi, implored Washingtonians to reconsider holding a conventional Thanksgiving dinner with extended family this year.  "Please do not have Thanksgiving gatherings unless you're positive that everyone there has quarantined successfully for 14 days," Inslee said during a press briefing Thursday evening, "which would start today."  KIRO Radio hosts have been grappling with this question all week.  Ursula Reutin is almost hoping Inslee makes the decision for her, announcing a lockdown that precludes her from having to tell her sister not to come over.  Gee Scott says a good rule of thumb is to not hold a gathering you're uncomfortable posting photos of on social media.  John Curley won't be meeting with family this year, but that has nothing to do with his interest in complying with Inslee's recommendations. He just doesn't like the cooking of the family members that will have him.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last episode I said that I was hoping we'd have an actual winner to declare. It seems we have one, but it still doesn't feel like closure.  Donald Trump hasn't conceded the 2020 election, even after the major media outlets declared Joe Biden the winner. What do the KIRO Radio hosts think?  Dori Monson laid out the pathway Trump still has, but he acknowledged it's a long shot.  Dave Ross got Pullitzer Prize winning journalist David Farenthold to weigh in on the same question.  Gee Scott compared the whole situation to another infamous moment of litigation (don't want to give it away).  John Curley and Tom Tangney contrasted Trump's situation with Al Gore's in 2000.  Finally, we venture over to KTTH to see if those hosts think Trump's situation is any less dire than the KIRO hosts made it out to be.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Still no final results in the presidential election, but while we're waiting here's the latest reactions from the KIRO Radio hosts to everything that's been going on.  Mike Lewis of KIRO Nights talked to University of Washington Professor Mark Alan Smith who offered a theory as to how the polls were as wrong as they were.  "With voter registration this is typically a face to face enterprise," Smith said.  Because Republicans were more willing to interact with people during a pandemic than Democrats, it's possible they were able to register more voters.  "It's tricky for the polls to pick that up because the thing about an election is you're trying to project who the voters going to be when in fact you don't know who the voters are going to be," Alan said. "With election data it varies from one election to the next. So, you never really know how many Republicans are going to show up to vote, how many Democrats are going to show up to vote."  Smith was emphatic this is an unverified hypothesis and he's still waiting for data to back it up, but it could explain why polls for a state like Florida ended up being 5 points or so off.  Dave Ross of Seattle's Morning News had Rob McKenna explain what's going on with Trump's attempt to challenge results in Pennsylvania.  Dori Monson warned he believes the election is being stolen.  Gee and Ursula had a University of Washington Law Professor tell us when the absolute latest we could see a final winner in all this.  Don't forget about Loren Culp! All the shows weighed in on his lack of concession and his recently announced job loss.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We pay people all the time to do things they wouldn't otherwise. Why not apply the same strategy to convince people to stop using substances they're addicted to?  It's the basic thinking behind contingency management, an experimental treatment where you offer rewards, often monetary, to addicts for abstaining. The longer the length of abstention, the greater the reward.  Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weighed the pros and cons of this idea, after reading about it in the New York Times.  "Love it, absolutely love it," Scott said. "Everybody likes rewards. Everybody likes to be acknowledged for doing something right."  So far, there's not a lot of support for this kind of treatment, especially compared to how successful it's been in the clinical trials where it's been tried.  "One of the things is that it's a hard sell for any government to budget that kind of money to use for this kind of a program," Reutin said.  Another suggestion that might be considered radical depending on who you talk to: safe injection sites. They're back in the headlines after the Seattle City County started reconsidering their placement. John Curley argues the city shouldn't stop there.  "Why don't they just legalize it all?" Curley said. "The reason people are OD-ing is because they're getting something that's got too much Fentanyl. You could get rid of the safe injection sites if you just simply legalized it."  Curley believes a completely legalized system would be safer because the government or private companies could ensure safety. Also, Dori Monson and Mike Lewis weigh in on whether people experiencing addiction or poverty should get more leniency when they commit certain crimes.  Relevant Links:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/health/meth-addiction-treatment.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage  https://mynorthwest.com/2269449/safe-injection-sites-reworked-seattle-council/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a several month stretch of what felt like non-stop protests, local law enforcement agencies are drawing up plans for how to respond to whatever happens on election day.  We're already seeing previews of what protesters clashing looks like. In Woodinville over the weekend, a Trump supporter pulled a gun on a counter-protester after they threw a liquid at him.  "You need to remember that something can very easily trigger some body," Ursula Reutin said. "Everyone just needs to chill out."  Jack Stine filling in for Dori Monson tried to figure out how we've managed to maintain this level of intensity for this long.  "If you put people in a situation where they believe their livelihood is going to be taken away from them or their health care is going to be taken away from them," Stine said, "they will react, they become reactive."  John and Tom debated which segment of protesters are more prone to violence: the left or the right. We end the show by hearing from someone we haven't heard from in awhile.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's topic: the coronavirus vaccine. When it comes out, who should get it first?  The state Department of Health released an early draft of their plan. Reporter Hanna Scott went through some of the details with KIRO Radio hosts.  "It's expected it'll be limited when it is available," Scott said. "No more than 500,000 doses, I believe, for our state is the expectation in the initial round."  For Dave Ross of Seattle's Morning News, the whole thing seems more complicated than it needs to be.  "Why would it be any different than the flu vaccine?" Ross asked. "A month ago I walked in, got my flu vaccine, it took 10 minutes and it was over with."   The simple answer, Scott explained, is the limited availability at the beginning.  "Tom you'll be in line, you'll be first in line," John Curley suggested.  "Actually I'd rather my mother be first in line," Tom replied.  Jack Stine suggested we're already ready to reopen schools, with our without a vaccine.  "Critics of Jack Stine say to me 'think of the teachers,'" Stine said. "To which I say, wait a minute. Lets say a group of teachers is at risk. Why can't they Zoom in? Why does it have to be one way or the other?"  Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin made plans to start making sacrifices moving into the winter.  "I don't want us to get back to the very beginning," Reutin said. "That's not good for our mental health. That's not good for business. I'm not going to tell other people what they can do, I'm just going to look at myself."      See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To start this story we have to go back to a column soccer star Megan Rapinoe published in the Players Tribune on October 5th.  "When it comes to U.S. women’s soccer, the general perception is that — let’s face it — we’re the white girls next door. The straight, “cute,” “unthreatening,” “suburban” white girls next door. It’s not actually who we are... But by and large, that’s the perception. And it’s certainly how we’re marketed to a lot of people... I guess I just have to wonder, when I see the millions of viewers we’re getting, and the shine on SportsCenter, and the talk show appearances and the endorsement deals and all of that….. Where’s that same energy for the best women’s basketball players on the planet?? Where’s that energy for the women’s sports that — instead of scanning cute and white and straight — scan tall and black and queer??" The day after that column was published, Rapinoe's girlfriend Sue Bird won the WNBA championships with the Seattle Storm.  This weekend, Sue Bird reiterated Rapinoe's comments in a CNN interview saying "The problem is how society and how the outside world is willing to accept the cute girl next door, but not willing to accept or embrace... these basketball players who are tall, black, and gay."   What do KIRO Radio hosts think?  Tom Tangney argued it's not fair to compare the audience size of a regional team like the Storm to the Women's National Team saying "I don't know that women's soccer leagues like the [Tacoma] Reign draw better than the Seattle Storm... I don't know that that comparison is comparable."  Dave Boze argued "to me, people go to sports for an escape... I always associate Women's Basktetball with politics and cause, rather than it just being a sport."  Gee and Ursula spoke to 710 ESPN's Stacy Rost. She identified the main problem as the fact that women sports are still judged through a male lens, "I think that you change it by changing the way we view and accept women." John Curley talked about his personal history with the Storm saying "you get in with the culture of the Seattle Storm, you're a part of it, you're swept up in it. The color and the gender... none of that matters one iota."    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Initiative 976, maybe better known as the $30 car tabs measure, was struck down today by the Washington Supreme Court. Every host on the station weighed in. Here are some of the highlights: To the question Dave Ross’s posed “is there anything the legislature can do?”  Reporter Hanna Scott: “They could change the valuation system to what was originally asked… closer to Kelly Blue Book, basically.”  Traffic Reporter Chris Sullivan: “It’ll also take some intestinal fortitude and actual leadership out of the Governor’s office to basically do what Governor Locke did, back in the day, call the legislature back and say listen, we know it’s terrible, the [State] Supreme Court did this, but this is what the voters wanted and let’s make it happen.” Ursula Reutin admitted to voting against I-976, but "because it has been approved by voters, I think this outrageous."  Gee Scott: "I apologize for my emotions, but sometimes you've got to put your foot down and say enough is enough and I'm sick and tired of the people not being listened to."  John Curley: "So, Mr. [Bob] Ferguson, who would like to be Governor... did he not see that this thing wasn't going to pass muster?"  Tom Tangney: "I don't understand why they can't just make it a single issue instead of always trying to add more for political purpose. It backfires on them."  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

George Washington owned slaves. Is that enough of a reason to change the name of our state? That's the question posed by a Pacific Northwest Magazine writer, and answered by our hosts. I don’t want to spoil too much, but they all came up with similar answers with disparate reasons. Also, Jake rolls out the KIRO Radio Time Machine for the first time, a special device that allows us to suck radio segments out of the past that may have some relevance today. Hear what Dave Ross, Tom Tangney and John Curley sounded like in 2014, when Seattle first decided to celebrate Indigenous People's Day instead of Columbus Day.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a jam packed episode since we had to cover all the host's takes on the Vice Presidential debate AND the Gubernatorial debate (try to notice the pause before Jacob says "gubernatorial," it's there because he had to try to say it several times before he got it right).  Gee and Ursula offered letter grades for each candidate in both debates, so be sure to check out their report card; John is suddenly a much bigger fan of one of the candidates featured in this week's debates; Dori loses it at one of Inslee's answers... And it all culminates in probably our goofiest montage to date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Topic: Trump test's positive for Covid-19.  Trump tested positve for the Coronavirus right after we uploaded last Thursday's episode. That means we've got a backlog of like 4 days worth of takes from KIRO hosts to go over in this one.  John Curley feels like Trump is becoming more and more like a boring TV show character, Dori Monson says the media is intentionally misunderstanding Trump's rhetoric, and Ursula Reutin is worried we're not tracing enough of Trump's contacts.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Topic: The first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Topic: the Seattle protests that seemingly won't end. Also, if you get to the end, there's a mini bonus episode on Trump's taxes.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Topic: the death of Breonna Taylor.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Topic: the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's topic: Wildfires and Climate Change.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first ever episode of the KIRO Radio Rundown podcast. Today's topic: the Woodward tapes.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.