Ross Files with Dave Ross

Professor in Ethics & Public Life at Cornell David Shoemaker. He is the author of "The Architecture of Blame and Praise: An Interdisciplinary Investigation". He and Dave talk about how blame and praise has shaped the American media landscape, and how people have reacted to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Congressman Derek Kilmer, representing Washington's 6th Congressional District talks with Dave about his legacy in office, fixing Congress, and looking ahead to the future.

Senator Phil Fortunato talks about his proposed bill in the Washington state legislature to change sanctuary status of the state. He defends his stance on immigration, and how he is looking forward to President-elect Trump's mass deportation plans.

Longtime Washington State Senator Karen Keiser talks to Dave about her legacy after announcing she will be retiring from the state legislature after nearly 30 years. She discusses how she navigated being a woman in local government, and reaching across the aisle to get bills passed in Olympia. Her book is "Getting Elected is the Easy Part: Working and Winning in the State Legislature"

In a special edition of "Crime and Punishment", we hear from Presiding District Judge Rebecca Robertson and King County Public Defense Office Spokesperson Will Casey about the process behind prosecuting and sentencing defendants in King County.

It turns out another big influence on this year's election was cryptocurrency...crypo companies put roughly $130 million into candidates, many of whom were GOP candidates, Dave called up New York Times Writer David Yaffe-Bellany -- who looked into the data behind this trend -- and he highlighted some of the candidates who received the most from cryptocurrency donors...

Let's look at one of the most prominent issues that we face in Seattle, homelessness. One of the problems you face in trying to solve homelessness is figuring out just how many people are dealing with housing instability. A new report is out from the University of Washington looking at how to count the amount of people impacted by homelessness, so we called up one of the co-authors of the report, Zack Almquist, who teaches at the UW 

Alexis Mercedes Rinck is running for the at-large position in Seattle City Council against encumbant Tanya Woo. Alexis talks about her experience in public service, addressing homelessness and public safety if she is elected into Position 8.

Seattle City Council member Tanya Woo was appointed to Position 8 in the Council 8 months ago, and she is running to keep that spot against her opponent Alexis Mercedes Rinck -- what has Woo done in the months since being appointed and what does she hope to do if she gets elected?

John Woodrow Cox is a reporter for the Washington Post and along with members of his team looked into what exactly happened to a 14 year old boy in order to make him open fire at school. The story is called The making of an alleged school shooter: Missed warnings and years of neglect and we learn more in today's Ross File.  Warning: the topic of suicide is discussed in this interview 

Sound Transit expansion continues to be a hot button issue and the co founders of Smart Transit are calling for a pause on the expansion efforts, despite being big believers in public transit.     

Who decided what is and isn't recylable and just how powerful is that decision? ProPublica's Lisa Song covered this and she discusses her findings with Dave Ross

Jim Walsh joins us for a conversation about the recent primary election results in Washington as well as a conversation about the power and responsibilities of government.     

Democratic Political Strategist Cathy Allen chats with Dave Ross and Colleen O'Brien about Tim Walz joining Kamala Harris on the Democratic Presidential ticket, what makes him a good Vice Presidential candidate, and why she would like to see him debate JD Vance.

Washington GOP Political Analyst Randy Pepple speaks to Dave Ross and Colleen O'Brien about Tim Walz as a Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party and why he believes Donald Trump does not need to debate Kamala Harris.

 A topic that we think about a lot here locally -- fentanyl addiction...it is ugly, dangerous, and running rampant throughout the country, especially here in Seattle, in fact, last year in King County there were reportedly 1,060 fentanyl related deaths, a record high. Dr. Christian Lüscher from the University of Geneva is looking into the fentanyl crisis. He is visiting the Allen Institute to explain his work surrounding how the drug impacts the human brain. 

There is research now to show that social connections can help heal physical ailments -- and those findings are outlined in a book titled "The Connection Cure" by author Julia Hotz...a look at "social prescriptions" being given to people in countries around the world like Finland -- we spoke to Julia, who described some of the common social prescriptions...

Can we use AI and security cameras to prevent shootings before they happen? And if we can, what does that mean for our privacy? We talk to Sam Alaimo, one of the co-founders of ZeroEyes software

D.W. Gibson, author of "One Week to Change the World" on how the "Battle of Seattle" formed, what it said about the nature of mass protests and local law enforcement.

Dr. Neal Chatterjee from the UW Medicine Heart Institute on his research into using AI to predict potential cardiac arrest.

New York Times Investigative Reporter David Fahrenthold weighs in on the June 27th debate and whether President Biden should remain in the running. He also comments on the lengths that can be taken with Presidential immunity. 

Amy Smith, Acting Chief of CARE Seattle joins Dave to talk about the new Community Assisted Response and Engagement program in the city.

Dave and Bob Kettle talk about what the city is doing to try to crack down on dangerous street racing. Bob Kettle is the Chair of the Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee.

Onur Bakiner, PhD, has been working on a research project examining the impact of emerging technologies on fundament rights. His research addresses AI risks and harms, proposed solutions to address them, and evidence for how well those solutions work.

It's a weekend full of music at Pike Place Market and we learn about Buskaram with Davin Steadman, Jim Page and Hannah Rames

Of all of the new and scary dangers associated with AI, one that is immediately pressing is how it can be used to create confusion in a political election... There is currently a bill being argued in Congress, authored by our own state's Congressman Derek Kilmer looking to combat the use of deceptive AI in politics, we spoke with Kilmer about the bill and the power of AI

New variants, new names, what is the latest when it comes to COVID-19? UW virologist, Dr. Keith Jerome brings us the latest update and what we need to know this summer. 

As GOP conventions take place across the country ahead of the 21st century, the most recent one in Texas caught the eye of Dave Ross, host of Seattle's Morning News. In an effort to learn more about Christian Nationalism and the role it plays in the Texas GOP, Dave speaks with Robert Downen of the Texas Tribune. 

In her latest piece for ProPublica, "Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe" Sharon Lerner highlights the messy story of major manufacturing company 3M attempting to cover up their dangerous chemicals being found in people's blood.

Tacoma Community College has become the latest partner with GreenFlower... offering a certification to break into the $2 billion dollar industry.  Green Flower CEO Max Simon says the jobs are plentiful. 

Dave Ross sits down with State Senator Mark Mullet, candidate for Governor of Washington.

Dave Ross sits down with Dave Reichert, candidate for Governor of Washington 

Dave Ross sits down with Semi Bird, candidate for Governor who was endorsed by the Washington GOP. 

How important is "walkability" for you in a city? We spoke to Nat Henry , a former UW researcher turned entrepreneur who created a interactive walkability map of neighborhoods in Seattle The website: close.city

Hotter days, higher pollution, more dangerous weather events: all of this and more is physically changing us from the inside out, and we don’t even realize it. THE WEIGHT OF NATURE: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains by Clayton Page Aldern isn’t a book about climate anxiety—it’s a book about brain health and brain chemistry, and the physicality of our response in this organ to the climate crisis. We sit down with the author to discuss. 

Medical oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Comen tells us about the hisotry of medical care for women in the United States. She explains how misguided information and practices have drastically altered the health of generations of women. She explores this further in her book "All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why it Matters Today"    

We saw a report that Senator Joe Nguyễn was using AI to "crush reports", so we wanted to know what that means. How can artificial intelligence be used to help our lawmakers? On the other hand, what are the rules that should be in place? That's what the senator is working on as well. 

"Nick Miroff is the Department of Homeland Security reporter for the Washington Post. He is the co-author of a recent article titled, 'Trump vs. Biden on immigration: 12 charts comparing U.S. border security'. Nick sat down with Dave to talk about the growing migrant concern at the border, and what can be done by US lawmakers to address the significant uptick in the flow of illegal migrants."

Seattle City Prosecutor and Author of Sleeping in the Daytime Christopher Stockwell joins us for a conversation about recovery. How did Christopher's experience growing up lead him to becoming a prosecutor, and how does that experience influence him today? Plus, what about the idea of professional jurors?     

Judy Lash Balint, Correspondent for the Jewish News Syndicate and author of "Jerusalem Diaries" talks to Dave about her perspective in Jerusalem on the conflict happening there, how Israeli citizens are being displaced by the war, and misconceptions on the relationship between the Israeli government and the people of Palestine

Franke Abe, author of We Hereby Refuse, a graphic novel about the incarceration of Japanese Americans, joins Dave to discuss his book and the stories behind it. This is a look into the experience of Japanese Americans during World War 2. 

Last week 8 bridges were blocked across the United States, including here in Seattle. The protestors were, and continue, to call for a cease fire in the War in Gaza. To learn more about why the group Jewish Voice for Peace took that action, we spoke with the leader of the Seattle chapter, Eliana Horn.