Podcast appearances and mentions of claudia rowe

In today's episode, John discusses Trump visiting the Capitol to try to bully House Republicans into embracing the SUCK of his Big Beautiful Budget Bill. Then, he welcomes back Professor Corey Brettschneider to talk about recent criminal charges against a sitting member of Congress and the weaponization of justice; the Supreme Court temporarily halting controversial mass deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, highlighting serious concerns about due process and executive overreach; and a troubling House bill which threatens nonprofits and universities critical of the administration - the bill strips nonprofit status and imposes punitive endowment taxes which are designed to stifle opposition. Next, John interviews award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe about her new book "Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care" which paves a road to reform by pulling back the curtain on a broken system and the searing realities faced by kids in the foster care system. Then lastly, he chats with Comedy Daddy - Keith Price on today's news and the hottest trending pop culture.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The United States spends 30 billion dollars on foster care each year. Yet, according to author Claudia Rowe, the results have too often been damaging for the children in that system. The award-winning journalist claims our child welfare system is dangerously dysfunctional: by disconnecting kids from their biological families and extended networks, she says, foster care severs attachments that are important for healthy brain development. Her new book, Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care, is a deep dive into what she says is a pipeline from foster care to crime, drug addiction, homelessness and prison. Guest: Claudia Rowe Related Links: ‘Wards of the State’ is a devastating look at the foster care system 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.

Into the news and headlines and other conversation topics and later a great talk with journalist and author CLAUDIA ROWE from Seattle. Her latest thought-provoking book WARDS OF THE STATE - The Long Shadow of American Foster Care

Claudia Rowe discusses her new book "Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care." Rowe has done extensive research into how the foster care system works in America- and how the way it is set up often creates terrible alienation rather than a sense of connection and belonging. The book includes a look at how the foster care has been approached over the generations.

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care (Abrams Press, 2025) is compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues. In Wards of the State, Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system. By the time Maryanne was 16 years old, she had been arrested for murder. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her. In court, the defense blamed neither traffickers, nor Maryanne, but Washington state itself--or rather, its foster care system, which parents thousands of children every year. The courts didn't listen to that argument, but award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe did. Washington state isn't alone. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its prisons, where a quarter of all inmates are former foster youth. Weaving Maryanne's story with those of five other foster kids across the country--including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House--Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Get Claudia's book here: https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/wards-of-the-state   Wards of the State starts with the story of Maryanne who had been arrested for murder by the time she was 16. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her.   The book goes on to acquaint us with five other foster kids, including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger-turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House. Author Claudia Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells. Balanced with accounts from psychologists, advocates, judges, and foster parents, Wards of the State paves a road to reform by pulling back the curtain on a broken system and the searing realities faced by kids who may be sitting in classrooms next to your own children.   Check out our new bi-weekly series, "The Crisis Papers" here: https://www.patreon.com/bitterlakepresents/shop   Thank you guys again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and everyone of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined,   BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH!   Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents? Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!)   THANKS Y'ALL   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9WtLyoP9QU8sxuIfxk3eg   Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland   Read Jason Myles in Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/writers/jason-myles   Read Jason Myles in Damage Magazine https://damagemag.com/2023/11/07/the-man-who-sold-the-world/   Read Jason in Unaligned Here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161586946...

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care (Abrams Press, 2025) is compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues. In Wards of the State, Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system. By the time Maryanne was 16 years old, she had been arrested for murder. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her. In court, the defense blamed neither traffickers, nor Maryanne, but Washington state itself--or rather, its foster care system, which parents thousands of children every year. The courts didn't listen to that argument, but award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe did. Washington state isn't alone. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its prisons, where a quarter of all inmates are former foster youth. Weaving Maryanne's story with those of five other foster kids across the country--including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House--Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care (Abrams Press, 2025) is compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues. In Wards of the State, Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system. By the time Maryanne was 16 years old, she had been arrested for murder. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her. In court, the defense blamed neither traffickers, nor Maryanne, but Washington state itself--or rather, its foster care system, which parents thousands of children every year. The courts didn't listen to that argument, but award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe did. Washington state isn't alone. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its prisons, where a quarter of all inmates are former foster youth. Weaving Maryanne's story with those of five other foster kids across the country--including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House--Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care (Abrams Press, 2025) is compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues. In Wards of the State, Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system. By the time Maryanne was 16 years old, she had been arrested for murder. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her. In court, the defense blamed neither traffickers, nor Maryanne, but Washington state itself--or rather, its foster care system, which parents thousands of children every year. The courts didn't listen to that argument, but award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe did. Washington state isn't alone. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its prisons, where a quarter of all inmates are former foster youth. Weaving Maryanne's story with those of five other foster kids across the country--including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House--Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care (Abrams Press, 2025) is compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform. Award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues. In Wards of the State, Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system. By the time Maryanne was 16 years old, she had been arrested for murder. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her. In court, the defense blamed neither traffickers, nor Maryanne, but Washington state itself--or rather, its foster care system, which parents thousands of children every year. The courts didn't listen to that argument, but award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe did. Washington state isn't alone. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its prisons, where a quarter of all inmates are former foster youth. Weaving Maryanne's story with those of five other foster kids across the country--including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House--Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/public-policy

Guest host Mike Lewis discusses the week's news with The Needling's Lex Vaughn, Republican strategist Randy Pepple, and Seattle Times columnist Claudia Rowe.

Bill Radke discusses the week's news with Sarah Anne Lloyd, Bill Finkbeiner, and Claudia Rowe. .

Guest host Mike Lewis discusses the week's news with political analyst Joni Balter, Insider's Katherine Long, and The Seattle Times' Claudia Rowe.

Claudia Rowe is a long-time journalist, currently writing opinion pieces for our friends at Crosscut. She recently published a piece detailing how Seattle Public Schools has shed 2000 students during the pandemic to private schools,...

Today on the show Crystal is joined again by Senator Joe Nguyen, this time to talk about his decision to run for King County Executive. They discuss why he chose to take on one of the longest serving public officials in the area, combating climate change through a lense of equality and equity, why Senator Nguyen believes the people of King County are ready for change, and so much more. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's guest, Senator Joe Nguyen, at @meetjoenguyen. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “Understanding the King County Budget” from King County: https://kingcounty.gov/council/budget/archive/2019_2020_budget/budget_basics.aspx “What would it cost to house and provide treatment for Seattle's homeless?” by Scott Greenstone: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/what-is-the-cost-to-house-and-provide-treatment-for-seattles-homeless/ “Supporting homeless individuals: How much do we spend?” by Manola Secaira: https://crosscut.com/2018/08/supporting-homeless-individuals-how-much-do-we-spend#:~:text=Seattle%20set%20aside%20%2454%20million,was%20more%20than%20%241%20billion. “Seattle taxes ranked most unfair in Washington – a state among the harshest on the poor nationwide” by Gene Balk: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/seattle-taxes-ranked-most-unfair-in-washington-a-state-among-the-harshest-on-the-poor-nationwide/ “County Exec Candidates Spar Over PACs, City Finally Funds Street Sinks” from Publicola: https://publicola.com/2021/05/25/county-exec-candidates-spar-over-pacs-city-finally-funds-street-sinks/ “A guide to political money: campaigns, PACs, and super PACs” by Philip Elliot: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-guide-to-political-money-campaigns-pacs-super-pacs “Democracy vouchers: They worked, now here are five ways to make them better” by Joe Nguyen: https://southseattleemerald.com/2017/11/20/democracy-vouchers-they-worked-now-here-are-five-ways-to-make-them-better/ “Washington high court charts less punitive path on juvenile justice” by Claudia Rowe: https://crosscut.com/opinion/2021/04/washington-high-court-charts-less-punitive-path-juvenile-justice “In Seattle's polluted valley, pandemic and particulates are twin threats” by John Ryan: https://www.kuow.org/stories/duwamish-valley-faces-pollution-and-pandemic “The Case for Making Transit Free (and How to Pay for It)” by David Gordon: https://www.theurbanist.org/2018/12/27/the-case-for-making-transit-free-and-how-to-pay-for-it/   Transcript Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks and Wonks. I'm your host Crystal Fincher. On this show we talk to political hacks and policy wonks to gather insight in the local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work, and provide behind the scenes perspectives on politics in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we're happy to welcome back someone who's been on the show before, but not in his current capacity as a candidate for King County Executive. Thank you for joining us today, Joe Nguyen. Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:01:02] Thank you so much for having me. I'm very glad to be back. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:06] Yes. So, we've had conversations with you as a senator during the legislative session. We've talked about a lot that you were working on and that you had accomplished in that capacity. But now, you're running against Dow Constantine who has been a King County Executive establishment, basically. He's been there 12 years? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:01:24] Yeah. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:24] It's been a long time and a lot of people have looked at him as, "Oh, he's just there. He's not going to be challenged. He's a Democrat. King County elects Democrats. So, here we go." Then, you walked in, they're like, "Not so fast." What made you decide to challenge Dow Constantine, especially as another Democrat? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:01:43] Yeah, I think really in this moment, when you're trying to get past the pandemic, not just of COVID but also racial inequities, we are seeing how much success we can have when you have legislators who have lived experience, who are fighting with the fierce urgency to get things done. Really, the success in the legislature this past year was part of that inspiration. Seeing so much can be accomplished, say for instance, on progressive revenue, on police accountability, on climate, basic needs programs, childcare. All these things were possible before yet they weren't getting done. A lot of it is because the community now is being uplifted and amplified. So, for me, all of the legislation that we're passing at the State then has to be implemented at the local level as well. It's nothing against the current incumbent. I just feel that in this moment we need change and we need somebody who reflects the values of this community in the future, what King County looks like. Of all the things that we care about, in our campaign, whether it's police accountability, climate, transit, those all happen at the county level. I think that we are at a very, very unique moment to get a lot of stuff done. Crystal Fincher: [00:02:49] All right. So, you say nothing against the current incumbent, but as you said, in your opinion, a lot needs to change. You've certainly not hesitated to be spicy on Twitter in clapping back to some things that he said. So, I guess, what do you think does need to change and where do you think that Dow has not met the mark? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:03:09] Well, systems of power tend to reflect the people who create them. That's just how it works. It's so much that it's baked into our system. When you go look for a job, what do people tell you? It's not what you know, it's who you know, right? That is baked into our system. It is very hard to get systemic change when the people who are in power benefit from that system. There are just some key differences in which I would behave versus say, for instance, the incumbent. One of the examples is that in White Center, they were going to site a COVID facility, which I supported and said it was fine. I did say, "Hey, you should probably give folks a heads up because if you don't, there's going to be a lot of distrust and it's going to become a contentious issue." They didn't, and there's a history of this type of behavior where you're not having enough conversations at the local level. So, for me, I think what community has always done in the past is fight to make sure that their issue was being heard. But I want to be able to flip that. I want to be able to have community members have their voices be uplifted and amplified instead. I think that's truly transformative. So, I think it's just a mindset of how we would lead. Mine would be much more community focused and rooted in the folks who were impacted by policy and less top-down. Crystal Fincher: [00:04:24] All right. Well, Dow Constantine has certainly talked a lot about addressing homelessness, about leading a regional effort to address that and has a task force, or I forget the exact word of it. Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:04:39] The Regional Authority. Crystal Fincher: [00:04:39] Yes, to address that and recently made a hire for someone to lead that. How do you think that's going? Do you think that he's on the right track or would you do things differently? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:04:51] I will say that we've declared an emergency on homelessness over six years ago. In fact, it had been an emergency for even longer. I remember when I was in college back in 2006 and we had kicked off the ten-year plan to end homelessness. So, in King County we've talked about ending homelessness for decades, literally decades, and things don't seemed to be getting better. So, to be honest he's had 12 years as an incumbent to solve the issue. I'm not sure if four years he's going to be able to change it if he couldn't do it in 12. I think we just need leadership that looks at it a little bit different. What I will say is that the reason why in the legislature I tackled anti-poverty efforts as one of the key focus has been because you have to solve the systemic issues as they relate to homelessness, in addition to the short-term as well. If you don't turn off the spigot of folks who are becoming homeless, it becomes very difficult to alleviate it on the ground level. So, it's a multi-jurisdictional approach and it's completely true that it should be a regional approach. I'm very excited about that model. I was able to meet Marc Dones at a housing conference years ago before I was even in the legislature and was so impressed by them. So, I think that leadership is going to be a fantastic one, but it's not just King County as well. It has to be the state and it has to be the federal government. So, the King County Executive is in charge of a $12 billion budget. King County itself is the 12th largest county in the United States. It is bigger than 14 states. So, that position is more than just a county executive. It can be a bully pulpit to actually help influence policies at the state and the federal level as well. I think we need to be doing more in terms of alleviating homelessness, because it's cheaper to keep somebody housed than it is to take them out of homelessness. That's a lot of what the work we've been doing at the legislature, that in conjunction with the regional plan, I think, is the right move. But we can't look at it from a very myopic way. I'm glad that we're buying hotels. That's not going to be sufficient to alleviate homelessness. We need to be doing more in basic needs investments as well. So, the fact that we spend 73% of the County General Fund, 73% of the County General Fund goes towards law enforcement and the court system, not antipoverty, not human services. We have to fundamentally shift how we address problems. Crystal Fincher: [00:07:04] So, you say addressing basic needs, you say that we need to certainly house people and that's cheaper than allowing them to languish unhoused and all of the problems at cascade because of that, what specifically is involved with basic needs, and when you say we need to house people, specifically how? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:07:23] Yeah. So, let's think long-term. So, we'll start longterm and we'll go more short term as well. So, my family, when we were growing up, we benefited from being on what's called TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Locally, I think folks call it welfare in a derogatory term. So, when I grew up, we relied on that service. I think it was about a few hundred dollars a month. That was the key that kept us in our homes. We also grew up in public housing, so social housing as well. So, in my mind there's a few things that we can be doing. We can be doing more for housing as it relates to those on the margins. We've moved away from that social housing. We moved more towards what's called affordable housing. Oftentimes the calculations for affordable isn't truly affordable for those who make very little, like my family did back in the day. So, we have a lot of civic land, surplus lands that we can then use to build, I think, more social housing for those who need it the most. We also need to improve our stock of affordable housing as well. That's going to require public-private partnerships, which we're seeing happen now with the private sector, providing lower cost loans and whatnot. We can help certainly with permitting. We can help certainly with planning as well. By the way, we could also use what's called cross-laminated timber in order for us to be more mindful of climate, in addition to having it be done near transit centers. So, we need more housing. We need more social housing to keep those on the margins most impacted by the housing insecurity as well. So, those are investments we've been making at the State. We've then also tried to tackle a regressive tax structure. I think the root cause to a lot of these issues is the inequities in our tax structure, which has been done on purpose, in my mind, to keep certain people out of our economic system. Because of that, it's exacerbated over time. So, the fact that we funded the Working Families Tax Credit for the first time after it was passed 12 years ago, and by the way includes ITIN filers as well. So, those who don't have Social Security numbers. I think that's all part of it, is that if you look at those types of investments over the longterm, that's how you keep people stable. That's how you keep people housed. Then, even for cap gains, that money goes towards more affordable childcare. That money goes towards a more equitable tax structure, and that money goes towards investments in infrastructure as well. So, we can do all of these things at the state level, but we require implementation at the county and local level. For a long time, it's been the missing middle -- candidly. I think Seattle gets a lot of attention. The legislature gets a lot of attention. Folks aren't quite sure what the county does. I think Girmay [Zahilay] really put the county on the map in recent years as well. So, I think people are now paying attention to how that impacts their daily lives. That's why we need leadership at that level who reflects the future of what we can be doing, not just what we've been doing in the past. Crystal Fincher: [00:10:17] So, you talk about reflecting what we can be doing, not just what we've been doing in the past. That's going to take strong leadership, certainly to move in a more progressive direction to do things differently than you've done before. You come from a legislative body, in the legislature and it's one person in the midst of several coming together to make decision. But the ultimate blame, if something goes wrong, usually doesn't land on one person. The ultimate credit usually doesn't go to one person because you're acting in concert. King County Executive is very different, similar to the mayor at the end of the day, people are looking to you to get things done. So, how do you think you're uniquely qualified, especially coming from a different kind of background in the legislature to take on the task of running everything at the county? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:11:03] Yeah. Thank you for that question. What's interesting is both people know me because of my work in the legislature, because we've been very active over the past few years. If you look at my body of work even beforehand -- so, I actually have a finance and economics background out of college. I used to manage a portfolio of about $150 million. I was a senior strategist for the CFO of Expedia. I've been in leadership positions at startup companies. I've managed hundreds of millions of dollars. I've managed teams that were in the hundreds as well. Then, now, I'm at Microsoft doing strategy and analytics. So, my whole background is actually more robust than most people who've run for executive office in the first place. So, if you look at most folks, it's lawyer, public office, and then ran for executive office. They've never actually had executive experience before they ran for office. So, the fact that I already have significant executive experience, I also have a tremendous amount of success in the public sector. Most importantly, the lived experience of people who've been impacted by bad policy, I think that makes me uniquely qualified to serve as King County Executive, is because we have that ability to look at things different. What's funny is that there's been news articles written about how we've managed our office in the legislature, of how it was different. I don't think people realize it, but the bar, apparently, the bar is not super high. One of the news articles that people wrote was the fact that I use an app to schedule my meetings. I don't know if you saw this, but in the legislature, when I first came in, I just looked at it and said, "Hey, this doesn't make any sense." So, I documented every single step to pass legislation, there's about 153. I noticed that a third of the times a bill dies. But then, I also noticed there was a tremendous amount of effort spent in the wrong places. So, the most important thing that you have in the legislature is your team, your staff. I want to make sure that we are able to free them up to do good work as much as possible, and that a lot of our staff members were, in fact, just spending time in emails and then scheduling meetings. By having an app, we were able to save about six hours a day per day. So, by doing that, it freed them up. That's how we're able to be more effective in terms of communicating with constituents, getting more in-depth with policy. It just blew people's minds. I had people coming to my office just to take a look at how we were doing things. It was just how you would normally do it if you were just running a small business. You have to be more efficient just because you have limited capacity, limited resources to try and be effective. So, it's interesting seeing that translate into the public sector, how successful that can be. I think we could do it more at the county as well, but also just in general is being able to bring 21st century techniques and tools to a body that is not necessarily known for being as agile as it can be. Crystal Fincher: [00:13:42] All right. So, we could expect to see different, newer, updated, "today" type things from Joe Nguyen. You talked about doing things differently. Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:13:50] Yeah. Crystal Fincher: [00:13:51] There was a conversation in a recent forum where you talked about doing things differently, including not taking money from PACs. You said that you're committing to not taking money from corporate PACs, that you've never taken money from corporate PACs. Dow Constantine said, "Now hold up. It looks like you have taken money from several PACs, from the Washington Beer and Wine Distributors Association, from Federation of State Employees. A number of them, from labor union PACs, to housing PACs, to you name it, building trades. So, one, there have been PACs and there are others, just different associations. You've taken money from them. You've taken money from the State Dental PAC. How is that different than saying that you're taking money from a corporate PAC? Is that really a fair bar, if there is little differentiation between what type of PAC, who is the PAC? It seems like it might be splitting hairs a little bit. How do you answer that? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:14:57] Well, no. Actually, I do think it's very different. So, corporate PACs serve a special interest for a particular organization in a particular company. If you look at the money in politics, that's oftentimes the problem, is that people are trying to buy their way into access. I will point out that all those things came in after I had won. So, I won before any of those things came in. So, I'll just be very clear. What's funny is that even when I saw some of those associations, I wasn't sure how that should be classified. I asked some of our more progressive congressional leaders and progressive members as well. That was a differentiation, where it is okay to get money from people, but not necessarily the corporations themselves or the PACs associated with it. So, first off, if there is a distinction between the two, which I think that there is, I'd be happy to have the incumbent just do the same thing that I'm doing. So, give back all the corporate PAC money, give back all the money from corporations and that's totally fine. But because -- the reason why they're different is because they serve different interests. The reason why I support labor communities and the reason why I'm okay with taking funding from labor communities is because they serve the people. So, as long as it's focused on the people in the community, it's fine. If it's more to be in self-service to themselves, that's a very different type of story as well. But the incumbent has been around for a long time. I noticed that he did give back money from oil and gas companies and pharmaceutical companies as well. So, obviously there is some sort of difference in terms of where money comes from. We've just never taken it in the past. Even in this race, we don't take any corporate PACs. We don't even take any money from associations. It's been 100% individuals as well. So, I don't know. If it seems like splitting hairs then that's fine. They can do the exact same thing we're doing, give back all the money you've ever received from corporations and their PACs and only do associations and labor unions. But I do think that they're very different. Crystal Fincher: [00:16:47] So, do you consider something like the Washington Beer and Wine Distributors Association? By the way, lots of people enjoy, love beer and wine distributors. I certainly partake, so no shade to the organization, just in this conversation. An organization like that, which is a business lobby, really, and they're acting on behalf of their business members. Do you consider that to be something like a corporate PAC, where it's not a union, it's not something else, or do you just put that in a different category? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:17:21] I think it's an association of people. So, as long as you're not taking from a specific business or a specific corporation, but I concede -- that is a very fair point. I've actually had some conversations with even one of our current and state-wide elected officials about their bar, because he probably has the most streak in terms of what type of money he gets. What I will say is that I have had people and their corporations try to give me stacks of checks before they realize that I didn't take corporate PAC money. They do that on purpose because they want to buy your influence. So, it's not as if it's an accident. So, I'm okay with associations. If folks want to raise the bar and take no money from any associations or any PACs, let's have that conversation because I do believe that money corrupts politics, and that's fundamentally one of the problems. In that point, I would actually support democracy vouchers for King County as well. I think we should have that -- Crystal Fincher: [00:18:13] that's not a bad idea. It's a pretty good idea. Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:18:15] It's a good idea. You know what's funny? Is when Seattle Democracy Voucher first came out, I was skeptical at first. Then, my background is in analytics. So, after the first election where the mayoral race didn't have access to Democracy Vouchers but the council races did, it was a perfect case study to see the impacts of Democracy Vouchers. I published an article in the South Seattle Emerald that showed that by having Democracy Vouchers you level the playing field, you have a more diverse candidate pool. You have a more diverse donation pool. You have younger people, people of color involved in politics that they had not been before. Then, by the way, you also included a lot of -- oftentimes you'll have outside influences on politics within Seattle. So, the percentage of money from outside Seattle versus inside was a lot less for Democracy Vouchers too. So, I think it's a great investment towards making our free and fair elections better, but no, that's a great conversation to have. I think we should have it. So, I don't take corporate money. I don't take money from corporations and their PACs. There is certainly a nuance in terms of what associations might count. But if we want to have that conversation, let's just not take any money from corporations or the PACs and let's have the discussion about associations and we can go from there. Crystal Fincher: [00:19:25] That makes sense. Now, talking about keeping the public safe, which includes policing, in today's conversation. Especially at the county, the issue of the youth jail has certainly been big and visible with people saying, "Why, if we're saying that we want to move in a direction, are we building a jail for kids?" A lot of strong opposition to that. Now, there's also a new opportunity with appointing a new sheriff, where we're moving away from electing the sheriff. King County very strongly said, "Hey, we want to do things differently." Actually, lots of people talk about this conversation about public safety and, "Hey, this is just a Seattle thing." But voters countywide said, "You know what? We know that we need to move in a different direction. This is where we want to go." They voted for some substantial change within the county. So, in terms of what a Nguyen administration would look like, how would that be different than what the Constantine administration has looked like? What are your specific plans in terms of the King County Sheriff, the department, and incarceration across the county? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:20:43] Yeah. No, I agree. Like I mentioned before, 73% of the County General Fund goes towards our legal system. So, instead of trying to solve for the root causes of crime, which is oftentimes poverty, we just went ahead and criminalized it. That fundamentally is the problem. So, there's a few different aspects that I would tackle. So, first off, as it relates to the youth jail. So, the church where I grew up happened to be next to the youth jail, the area where we lined up in the morning on Sundays, you can see the cells from where were lined up. I remember a lot of the youth pastors at that point said, "Hey, if you're bad, you're going to end up there." Such a gross feeling for me just because whenever I look into those cells I saw kids that looked like me, and I just never liked that spot in the first place. That's why I'm so viscerally against it. In fact, one of my first bills, literally my first bill that passed on the Senate floor was a bill that would allow for law enforcement to refer youth to community facilities instead of having to go to the legal system as a whole. So, we've been working on this for the past few years. The difference is I would have listened to community members. Community members said, there were better ways than youth incarceration, there were better ways in building a bigger jail. Smaller therapeutic community-based organizations can help mitigate and lower the rates of youth detention. They were right. They built the jail anyway. Now, after it was built, they say, "Oh, it turns out you were right. We shouldn't have built it in the first place and then shut it down." That blows my mind. Imagine if you were able to spend $240 million on diversion and youth programs versus a jail. Imagine what better spot we would be in right now. So, the difference from a high level is that I would have listened to community members. I would have listened to the science and looked at the results and then make a decision based off of that. That's the first one. There are statutory requirements to have some sort of facility in order to maintain a process, but it didn't have to be a big jail. It could've been smaller therapeutic center as well. So, I'll put that one out there. There are a whole host of things that we can do. Everything from risk-based assessments, because the first thing that people are going to say is, "Well, there are going to be kids who are really, really bad and you don't know what to do with them." Well, first off, the number of kids who are in that category is very small. So, if all you have is a hammer, everything is going to look like a nail. So, we have to get away from that mindset and be able to actually address the root causes of some of these things. You can have what's called respite centers, where you have behavioral and mental health services onsite to help calm things down. So, certainly you can be able to have a facility to handle the most dire needs because we already spend so much money on that legal system. But for the majority of people, it should be more therapeutic, more humane, more community-based, that'd be the first one. In fact, they are doing it now. Choose 180, Credible Messengers, there are programs that are out there doing it right now because they were doing it before, we knew that they existed before. So, you would double down on some of those efforts. In terms of the Sheriff's office specifically, I thought that was a great move to make it an appointed process. Especially as a person who is currently running for office, I do know that running for office, the people that we elect aren't always the best people. It's just the people that were able to get elected. So, I think it's better to have a more thoughtful approach to something that is that important. The mindset that somebody in that position should have is a guardian. We need to change the culture of how we handle policing in King County. That person has to be a guardian and not necessarily a warrior in this space. So, we will look for somebody and it'll be based off of community input as well. So, oftentimes when we see leadership, a leader makes a decision, tells the community, and then thinks that counts as community engagement. I see it all the time. You've probably seen it all the time. That's not how it should be. They should be part of the process. Being able to have the discussions as we go along. One of the things that I would look for is how forward-thinking they are in terms of what the role of law enforcement should be because there's a lot of things that law enforcement is in charge of right now that I don't think you need somebody with a gun to be able to handle. One of the last bills or the last bill that I dropped before the session was over related to what's called pre-textual stops. Things like broken tail lights, expire tabs, something dangling from your rear view mirror. These are the things that do not pose a risk to somebody, but oftentimes half of the incidences where there's violence with law enforcement are because of what's called pre-textual stops. I think that should be removed from a uniformed officer that has a weapon. They could cite the person simply with the license plate. You can have a completely different department. Same thing with behavioral and mental health responses and stuff like that, where we should rethink the rule of policing in King County, because it would make it safer for the community. It also makes it safer for law enforcement as well. We have examples of how this has done well in other jurisdictions, whether it's one of the [Scandinavian] countries that are out there, but we're not reinventing the wheel. There are other examples of ways to do it better. Crystal Fincher: [00:25:45] So, in terms of what people can see with King County Sheriffs and their communities throughout the county, those cities that have arrangements and agreements and contracts with the King County Sheriffs -- Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:25:59] Contracts, yeah. Crystal Fincher: [00:25:59] -- they hopefully, in your administration, you're saying, can expect to see less of the stops you just described. Are there other differences that you think they will be able to see after you take office? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:26:14] Yeah. You know what's funny, is I used to be in the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight. After a young man named Tommy Le was shot in Burien, I really wanted to get more involved to understand the systemic issues that caused that dynamic to happen. Instead of having a knee jerk reaction, met with his family, helped organize a forum, actually met with the Sheriff's office as well. My background is actually in strategy and analytics. So, I downloaded 10 years of data for law enforcement in King County, specifically for every single contract city as well, just to understand the trends of what was happening. So, this is a particular point of interest for me in terms of how they should be handled. Each contract is different depending on the jurisdictions that they're in, and that's how they actually fund the King County Sheriff's Office, is through these contracts. I would offer a variety of services that are different. So, what I will point out is the City of Sammamish, I'm not sure if they still do it or not, but part of their contracts, they have apparently a lot of snowbirds where law enforcement will come and just check in on their homes to make sure it's fine. So, it is possible to have other functions for these officers when they're out on patrol, and making sure that people are safe in a different way, but it would look a lot different. I think it would look a lot different than what we're currently doing now. It's going to be based more on programs that we know already work. So, a lot of the incidences where it's behavioral and mental health, you can have more of a Medic One type response, where you would send a professional, a mental health or behavioral health professional people to get some help. What's interesting is that Washington State, we used to be 50 out of 50 when it came to funding for behavioral and mental health. Over the past few years, based on the investments that we made, we're now 26 out of 50. Again, a lot of those things have to be implemented at the county level. So, layering on more services, removing things that aren't necessarily required for somebody that has a weapon, being able to have a variety of services that are layered on top of the basic needs programs that we have right now, it would be a lot different in that we can rethink the paradigm of what policing looks like in King County. Like I said, it's bigger than 14 states. It's the 12th largest county in the entire nation. I think we can be a beacon in terms of what the future policing could look like in Washington State and across the country as well. Crystal Fincher: [00:28:23] Absolutely. Looking at how we take care of our people and their health, air pollution is certainly a big issue that literally affects life expectancy, child health, hospitalizations, and disabilities. Looking at water pollution, certainly, addressing those issues, in addition to greenhouse gas emissions and the increasingly dire and impending consequences of not taking more action sooner, what will you do as King County Executive to address those issues? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:29:00] Yeah. I think climate change should be the lens in which we look at the issues facing our county as well. What's interesting is, so I grew up in Burien as well. So, born in White Center, grew up in Burien, it's nearby the airport. Sorry, I have a lot of stories, but everything you say triggers a memory when I was a kid. I had asthma growing up because I was next to the highway and I had no idea that that was a thing. That if you were lower income you oftentimes live in areas that were more polluted. I just didn't know. So, we grew up next to the highway. I had asthma. I didn't realize a lot of other kids had asthma as well, but one of the most visceral memories that I had growing up before my father was in his car accident was that he would take us down to the Duwamish and he would go fishing or go crabbing. I remember one day, one of the strangers was walking by and said, "Hey, you don't want to eat that stuff because the water is polluted." He's a fishermen from Vietnam, so that's how you get sustenance. So, being told that the water is so poisoned you can't eat the food from it, was a very memorable moment for me in the sense of like, "Oh, wow, this stuff is impacting us right now." I was like six at that time. So, I think it impacts our daily lives. We have to look at it from a lens of how does our behavior as human beings impact climate change. So, before we were talking about the need for more affordable housing, I think there was a stat that said we needed 196,000 more affordable housing units to actually alleviate the issues that we're having right now. Again, you can do a few different things. So, we've passed legislation as it relates to car emissions and building standards. Again, those have to be implemented at the county level. Our planning should be mindful of climate change as well. So, the county is in charge of the Growth Management Act. For those who don't know, that's how you plan for development and growth in Washington State. It's a big, big deal. You should be more focused in terms of how climate change can impact that, which oftentimes means you need to build more densely in urban areas and then leave rural areas untouched. Because when you talk about mitigating the impacts of climate change, it's also carbon sequestration. So, being able to use that land to sequester carbon. Then, also when you talk about affordable housing, you can use what's called cross-laminated timber and you have to build as it relates to transit in those spaces as well. One of the things that I've always said is that we should have Transit For All. I say it because it's more equitable, but also because it lowers vehicles' miles traveled. So, it makes us lower our greenhouse gas emissions. I've done the math. People think that it's a wild idea. Fares make up 15% of the Metro revenue, 15%, you're talking about $180 million. So, the fact that we spend 73% of the General Fund on our legal system and nobody says anything, but if I wanted to just spend 10% of that budget on fares, people go wild. It's like, we can just reinvest our money more strategically. Also, we have to have a Transit Benefit District anyways to pay for a lot of the plans that we have in place for King County Metro Connect. So, there are ways to actually pay for this in a progressive way. It just requires a new level of thinking. So, when it comes to climate change, it has to be through the lens by which we operate. I'm glad that we bought a few buses. I'm glad that we're investing a little bit more in electrification. That's not going to be enough. We have to change behaviors. That includes being able to build transit in areas that have historically been left out. So, where I grew up, it took me an hour and a half to get downtown on a bus. I think they're now putting in the H Line, which is great because it helped pay for some of that as well, in partnership with the county. That is going to make it a little bit faster, 30 years after I left. So, it's an interesting dynamic where you're just now seeing communities having investments being made in it even though it's been a problem for generations. But that's really what it's going to take, is investing in communities impacted by it, having it be done strategically, so that way our transit and our housing is all being done at the same time. It also allows for economic mobility as well, so people can have access to their jobs. So, I'm rambling, but this is an area that I'm very, very passionate about. I serve on the Transportation Committee for this reason and I serve on the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee for this reason as well. Crystal Fincher: [00:33:02] And to be clear, when you say you support Transit For All, and especially talking about how it's very achievable to recover the amount of money that is received from the fare box, you're talking about free transit for all and not charging for riding whatever mode of Metro Transit it would be? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:33:20] Yeah, exactly. Also, to protect the drivers themselves, to be honest. I think a lot of interactions where drivers have altercations is because of that system. Also by the way, law enforcement, fare enforcement is potentially problematic as well, or it is problematic. You just have to pass legislation to allow for alternative means of collecting fares. So, it's one of those things where it's good, that should exist in our society. What's funny, I know what the person, the incumbent is going to say, is that, "Well, 60% of the fare revenue comes from corporations paying for it for their employees." Absolutely right. What's interesting is you can do what's called a Transit Benefit District. Right now, it's usually an MVET, or a sales tax, or a property tax, very regressive. I would lobby the legislature to have something a bit more progressive. What's interesting is that when Joe Biden put out his infrastructure plan and said that we would need to have progressive business taxes in order to pay for it, one of the first people to speak out in favor was actually Jeff Bezos. So, there is appetite because they understand that their workforce needs to have this infrastructure to be successful as well. So, I think that we could potentially get new authority from the legislature to have a Transit Benefit District paid for by larger corporations based off of whatever metric they want to use, office spaces they've leased or size, or whatever they want to use, to help mitigate the cost of the fares. But also we need to pay for a Transit Benefit District anyways for the infrastructure for part of the Metro Connect plan. That's another thing too, is that we need to do a better job connecting state infrastructure, city infrastructure, and county infrastructure. The fact that we have to have multiple ways of paying for things makes it a little bit difficult. So, implementing that by having Transit For All just makes it easier, I think, as a whole. Crystal Fincher: [00:35:05] I think so. I agree with that, actually. So, as we get ready to close, certainly looking at someone who's been an incumbent for a long time with Dow Constantine and who has almost always had a litany of endorsements from labor unions, progressive organizations, other elected officials. This year is no different, frankly. His endorsement page is lengthy. When you look at that and you're making the case to the people, why in the face of all that, and a lot of people supporting Dow Constantine, a lot of organizations supporting Dow Constantine, why should they choose you? Why do you have a path to win and the ability to really deliver on the change you're talking about? Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:35:53] Yeah, what's interesting is that most of those endorsements came before anybody knew that I was even running for office. In fact, I think all but a handful came before I even jumped in the race. For folks who are paying attention, the fact that we are in the driver's seat when it comes to most of these endorsements now, whether it's legislative districts, whether it's in the KC Dems and otherwise, we're getting about 60% to 40% of the majority of these meetings. We have the sole endorsements from the 11th, 39th [Legislative District Democrats]. We have duals in the 37th, 36th. Most other ones, we're just at that threshold to get a sole endorsement, which is 66%. We're getting 62%, 64%, so one or two people. So, the fact that the incumbent has been there for 12 years and the fact that he's already spent $750,000, and we're the ones that are driving the conversation in terms of the endorsement after only being in for about two to three weeks, I think in itself is telling in terms of where the tides are turning. We have the sole endorsements from the King County Young Democrats. We have the endorsements from the ATU [Amalgamated Transit Union]. There's a couple of other ones that are pending as well, that we'll make public pretty soon. Then, we have significant amount of support from legislators and other elected officials across the state. So, I'm not too worried about the endorsement game just because, look at what came in before I jumped in, look what came in afterwards. It's pretty telling by itself. But what people really want more so than that is to see that their lives are getting better. I've had conversations with thousands of people at this point, not just as a senator but also on the campaign trail. What really people want right now is change. They know that we need to act urgently when it comes to tackling homelessness. They know that we need to act urgently when it comes to tackling climate change. They know that we need to act urgently when it comes to tackling racial inequities in our society. Especially when it comes to say, for instance, gun violence and otherwise as well. So, I think the pitch that I'll make to people, and it seems to be resonating, is that, "Look, in this moment in time, as we're moving out of this pandemic, we're trying to now address systemic issues that have been in place for generations, for generations, that have not been able to be moved in terms of the current leadership that we have in place right now. It's simply time for change." I think we'll have that message resonate just based off of what we're already seeing with some of these, not just endorsements, but community conversations as well. I think we'll have a strong shot winning South King County. I think we'll have a strong shot winning Seattle. I think we'll have a strong shot in East King County as well. So, I think people are hungry for change and I think we represent what that change could look like. Crystal Fincher: [00:38:29] Well, certainly we'll be keeping an eye on this race. It's one of the biggest ones happening in the State this year. Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:38:35] Yeah. Crystal Fincher: [00:38:36] I look forward to talking to you again. Thanks so much for joining us today. Senator Joe Nguyen: [00:38:40] Thank you. I appreciate the time. Crystal Fincher: [00:38:45] Thank you for listening to Hacks and Wonks. Our chief audio engineer at KVRU is Maurice Jones, Jr. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler. You can find me on Twitter @Finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I, and now you can follow Hacks and Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type in Hacks and Wonks into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our mid-week show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full text transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced during the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

This week Crystal is joined by Seattle Times education reporter, Dahlia Bazzaz. The 2020-2021 school year has been defined by how schools respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Crystal and Dahlia discuss how schools are managing reopening, racial disparities in opting for in-person schooling, a significant increase recently passed in the legislature to support early learning, and what we may see coming in the 2021-2022 school year. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's guest, Dahlia Bazzaz, at @dahliabazzaz. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “Around Seattle, the oldest students return to school buildings for the first time in more than a year” by Dahlia Bazzaz: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/around-seattle-the-oldest-students-return-to-school-buildings-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-a-year/  “With many WA students lacking internet, remote learning falls short” by Claudia Rowe: https://crosscut.com/opinion/2021/02/many-wa-students-lacking-internet-remote-learning-falls-short  “Politics, race were key factors when Washington schools reopened for in-person learning during the pandemic” by Hannah Furfaro, Manuel Villa, and Dahlia Bazzaz: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/politics-race-determined-which-students-made-it-back-to-school-buildings-during-the-pandemic/  “Here's what Seattle Schools' first reopening phase could look like” by Anne Dornfeld: https://www.kuow.org/stories/here-s-what-seattle-schools-first-big-reopening-stage-could-look-like  “Washington students won't take standardized tests this school year” by Dahlia Bazzaz: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/standardized-tests-for-washington-state-students-delayed-until-fall-2021/  “Child care and early learning advocates in Washington state celebrate legislative wins” by Dahlia Bazzaz and Elise Takahama: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/child-care-and-early-learning-advocates-in-washington-state-celebrate-legislative-wins/   Transcript: Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show, we talk to political hacks and policy wonks to gather insight into local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work and provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on politics in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes.  Today, we are thrilled to have with us Dahlia Bazzaz, a reporter with the Seattle Times on education and everything related to it. Has done excellent reporting over the past few years, certainly over the pandemic, just on education, teaching, reopening, you name it. She has covered it in the arena of education. So thank you so much for joining us. Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:01:17] Thank you so much for having me. Glad to be back. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:20] Yeah, absolutely. And so I just wanted to start off and just, I guess, start off by asking how is reopening going? So my understanding is now there is an in-person schooling option for every school kid in the state. How is that going so far? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:01:39] Well, I think for especially school districts in the Puget Sound region, this is all pretty new. So a lot of in-person learning in Western Washington - and in the Seattle area, started earlier this month. April 5th, for elementary school students to be back in-person, that was the governor's deadline, and then April 19th for high school and middle school students.  And so everyone is getting adjusted to what has been, for a lot of school districts, the hybrid learning schedule. And so that means a few days on in-school, few days off. Or in Seattle Public Schools case, for elementary schoolers, having half the day in-person and half the day at home. But we're really just seeing a lot of different variations. So some students are still a 100% remote, so not much has changed for them. And teachers are having to plan for so many different scenarios right now, for where students are at, and what time they're coming in, and which group of students they're going to be in. So a lot of schools have divided kids into one of two groups to make sure that there's distancing and not as many kids in the classroom. And so there's just a general feeling of adjustment right now, and also some excitement at being back in classrooms and meeting each other face to face. Crystal Fincher: [00:03:12] Well, and there definitely is that excitement. I mean, certainly, there are a lot of parents and people concerned about wanting to reopen only when safe and as safe as possible. At the same time, it has been rough having kids at home, having to guide their schooling to a degree that families haven't really had to do before. So what are you hearing in terms of just relief, and from parents and kids on what being back in school is feeling like for them? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:03:50] I think for a lot of people initially, it just felt very strange to see people back in school buildings. I think a lot of kids that I've spoken to have been just - it brings a new concreteness to school that they didn't have before. And there are teachers that they've never met before, in some cases. Schools that they haven't actually been inside because they're freshmen in high school or they've just transferred into the school district. So there's that back-to-school feeling, but in the spring. And then for teachers, I think it's been really valuable to connect with students again. We've had, with online learning, a lot of students leaving their cameras off and not a ton of face-to-face contact. So there's some sort of assurance in seeing students in-person.  And there's also the flip side of that. There's also students who are immunocompromised, families that are immunocompromised, teachers that are immunocompromised - who for this time, it feels odd because some are still staying at home. And so there's this whole event going on that they're not participating in. Crystal Fincher: [00:05:21] Now, we certainly heard a lot from teachers, as they were discussing plans to reopen schools and to reintegrate students back into the classroom, about wanting to make sure that opening was happening in an orderly, and safe, and healthy way. What were their requests and are those being met? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:05:48] Well, I think it's hard to say generally whether their requests are being met, because it's really dependent on the school district and sometimes even at the school level. But in general, what we saw in these contracts that were being negotiated or MOUs, Memorandums Of Understanding, between school districts and teachers' union is just reinforcing some of the safety guidelines from the Department of Health, from the Department of Labor and Industries in Washington State. In some cases, teachers' unions were requesting that copies of HVAC reports were provided for classrooms upon request - that was a stipulation in Seattle's contract. For some places, it was placing tighter restrictions on how many students could be inside a room at one time. And some are really dealing more specifically with a supply of PPE and making sure that districts have enough to last for the next few months. And so it's really just across the board. And then also, teachers were fighting for flexible leave and accommodations for members of unions that had some sort of health issue, who are not able to get vaccinations because of some allergy to what was in the vaccine, or just various other accommodations for their schedules. That was also another big theme. And I've heard of, in some cases - I think we all have - when teachers have raised issues with the amount of PPE provided in classrooms, they've also raised issues with applying and being successful in getting a work accommodation to work from home if they have some sort of health issue. And so we hear events like that happening pretty often, and sometimes there are contract issues and they come up in bargaining, and other times we hear about it online or through tips. Crystal Fincher: [00:08:16] You have reported a lot about challenges that families have faced throughout the pandemic and in schooling during that time. And certainly, the inequities of the availability of high quality broadband and just the ability to connect reliably to the school in a remote setting has been a challenge. Students with larger families, or who may not have parents who can stay home and guide their education, is certainly a reality for a lot of kids. And there have been kids who have fallen behind, in some cases far behind, because this model of teaching and schooling just is not compatible with what they have going on at home. How are they faring? And are they seeing more students return than they saw engaged in online learning? How is this divide manifesting and appearing right now? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:09:25] It's manifesting in a couple of different ways. I mean, I think we should start out first by acknowledging that many of the students who are back in classrooms right now are students of a higher income bracket. Many families that are opting in, just disproportionately, opting in for in-person learning are white. And so that's been another concern raised in recent weeks, as the governor's order has taken effect, is who exactly is opting in for in-person learning.  And so I mean, for some families of color, it's been a difficult choice to decide whether or not to send their kids back in-person for a couple of reasons. For one, there are concerns about, just in general, health concerns - families of color, Black and Brown families, have been hit disproportionately harder by the virus. So there's a lot more caution in that respect. And then there's also just the logistical issues with hybrid schedules. So I've heard from quite a few people that, for example, in Seattle Public Schools and at the high school level, students are making the transition into their in-person learning in the middle of the day. And a lot of kids have taken up jobs during the pandemic, and so it's not compatible in the middle of the day with their schedules to come in. Or there's the transportation issue, so and Seattle Public Schools isn't providing yellow school bus transportation for a lot of kids that used to be eligible for it. So then getting to school really depends on whether or not you have a ride. And if your parent can't take you or stop in the middle of the workday to take you, or you don't have access to a car or a ride share, then your choice is to stay at home. So there are some families that want to participate or would have been interested in in-person learning who cannot access it right now. Crystal Fincher: [00:11:42] Well, and that just seems like such a failure to not even have an accommodation that allows you to get to school, to both face the realities of your home and family life and to participate in school. What does that say about the schooling system that we have set up if it doesn't work within the lives of so many? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:12:06] I think that this pandemic has shown how things can compound on each other. There are a lot of existing issues with access, and we're just seeing a lot of it come to bear out right now. I think Seattle Public Schools had had an issue with transportation prior to this, where they contract with this school bus carrier called First Students and they have struggled, as with the entire school bus industry, with recruiting drivers. And there hadn't been planning ahead of time to accommodate this influx of students at this rate, prior to the governor's proclamation. So the school bus company had laid off some of its drivers because of the lack of demand. So it all collapsed in this moment where the transportation was needed and it just wasn't available. So it's a lot of different factors. Crystal Fincher: [00:13:21] So does the district still provide Metro bus passes? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:13:27] Yes, and I think ORCA cards are going to be offered. For the first week, with middle and high schoolers in Seattle Public Schools, Metro drivers were instructed not to collect fares because I don't think everyone had gotten their cards yet. But for even pre-pandemic, middle and high schoolers were given ORCA cards and they weren't given yellow school bus transportation. But there was some warning coming from Metro a couple of weeks ago that there could be some delays expected on these routes because of the influx of new student riders getting to class. Crystal Fincher: [00:14:12] Frustrating situation. What is the situation like with testing? We've heard that some tests have been suspended, others have been pushing to continue within districts in some places. Are we seeing a wholesale suspension of, I guess, what we would consider now high-stakes testing, standardized testing? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:14:38] Well, a lot of what happens with standardized testing really depends on what the Feds say. So we had standardized testing delayed in Washington State until fall. And so the Department of Education last year, the federal Department of Education last year, waived the need for standardized tests. And so nobody, or very few states, actually administered them, including Washington. And this year, the state had applied for this waiver, with the Department of Education, to maybe test a representative sample of students rather than doing the whole thing in the spring. And so it would have been about 50,000 students testing instead of 750,000. So that request did not seem like it was going to be successful, so they instead decided to delay and do the test in the fall, so they wouldn't interrupt some of the reopening plans. But I mean, to answer your question about phasing out high-stakes standardized testing, I think this current State superintendent has worked to de-emphasize standardized testing and really de-link them from different things, such as graduation rates. That's been something that, or graduation standards. And that's been something that he's worked on in the legislative sessions. But, ultimately, federal law does require states to send and administer a form of standardized tests to students every single year, so that type of change would have to come at the federal level. On the other hand, in Washington State, there is a pretty prevalent opt-out movement and parents can opt their kids out of tests. Crystal Fincher: [00:16:40] Thanks for that. I'm also wondering - we just wrapped up the Washington State legislative session here this past weekend. Was there any significant legislation passed that impacts education and kids in school? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:17:00] Yes actually, we just published something on this. So we did a little roundup, but there were a few big things that happened this legislative session. I think the relief aid from the federal coronavirus relief package, stimulus package, the third one, had a pretty big role to play this legislative session. So there was a lot of money being pushed out to school districts now to help them address any academic loss among students that have been learning remotely or that took place during closures last spring. And there's also some money for - the school districts can use that money for - PPE and other emergency measures.  And I would say also though, this is not directly related to K-12, but one of the biggest changes that we saw with the capital gains tax is this long-term commitment to fund the expansion of childcare, and childcare sector and early learning. So there was this Fair Start Act that passed this legislative session, and that really puts a lot of teeth into expanding access to early childhood learning and childcare, which became a huge issue during the pandemic. We saw a lot of childcare facilities close because of health guidelines, because they couldn't necessarily keep their facilities open. And that was putting an enormous strain on the workforce. And so this new piece of legislation basically commits the state to expanding income eligibility for some of the tuition programs that help families pay for early preschool programs and for childcare. And it also essentially requires the state to double the number of slots that it funds for preschool. There's a state funded preschool program, it's like the state equivalent to the Head Start program from the federal government, it's a preschool program. And so it'll be about 14,000 new seats by 2026. And that's a pretty big increase and it's doubling the number of slots. So we saw probably the biggest changes around how much investment is going into childcare and early learning. Crystal Fincher: [00:19:43] Which is absolutely huge. I mean, I'm sure you've covered it. And actually, I just saw a piece where you did cover it, where early childhood education makes a huge difference in how successful kids are in elementary school and beyond. So investments there are huge and really do even more to set kids on the right path and have that be a sustainable path and a path that they're more likely to stay on. And just the burden of childcare for families overall has been oppressive, really - just the cost of childcare, how unavailable it has been. So relief in that area is very welcome. And just overall, we talk a lot about what happens within the walls of the school, but a lot of the support systems surrounding that are just as important. And so certainly on my end, those were welcome investments to see coming out of the legislative session. I guess, moving forward, what do you see as the biggest changes or in this new normal that we're all going to be establishing, what are kids and families looking ahead to throughout this year and into next year? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:21:16] That's a big question. I mean, I think, for me as an education reporter, I'm looking to see what ends up happening in the fall. There's been some new standards around how much social distancing should be in place. CDC released these new distancing guidelines at the elementary school level that say that three foot of space is, or three feet of distance between people, is safe in a school setting. But then we also have new variants of the virus appearing pretty often. And so a lot of it is just anticipating how schools will react to that, whether or not that's going to change the modes of instruction and have an effect on how things are going.  So I think what's happening in Eastern and Central parts of Washington, I'm looking at what's some of the debates there and seeing how that might affect the West side of the state later on. So in the Eastern, Central parts of Washington, like in Yakima and some of the surrounding districts, some of the things that have come up is whether to go back to school full-time in-person. So cycling out of hybrid setting, and some places have decided to do that pretty quickly, and others have held back and are still doing hybrid schooling. So I'll be looking at that.  And also, I think that remote learning is going to be something that is offered, or something that is asked for, for quite some time. So how are schools going to adapt to those two different types of educational models going forward? And I'm very interested to see whether some of the demographic patterns we've seen, where it's mostly white and middle to upper income families opting in to in-person learning. I'm really interested to see if that holds up into the fall. And there're, of course, going to be a whole bunch of questions as there already are around equity and how educational access is offered. Crystal Fincher: [00:23:39] And you brought up a really interesting thought, just as we continue to move forward and we make good progress against, I guess, the original virus, the OG, and now we've got all these variants popping up and flourishing because people can't act right, basically, they are flourishing. What seems to be a point of contention still is how much schools do or do not contribute to the spread of the virus. And certainly it was thought that with the original virus that kids spread it at a much lower rate than adults. And there seem to be some indication that that might not necessarily be the case with some of the variants. How is, I guess, the tracking and reporting of the spread of the virus happening within school districts within Washington? Are we seeing this crop up and spread within classes or schools? How is that going? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:24:52] Yeah, so every week or so, the State Department of Health collects information from school districts on outbreaks, which is - there's a whole bunch of ways to define this, but the main one is basically that it's two or more cases in the same class or same school. There's a bunch of asterisks with that definition. But so school districts are mandated to do contact tracing - and to have all these different checks of temperature and health clearance and forms - when students come in and the same goes for adults that enter the building. So there is an effort to track that in Washington State, and a bunch of school districts have also had dashboards up on their website with the number of cases that they've had. In some places, you can look by school. Seattle Public Schools has a dashboard where you can look by region - you can't see it by individual school, but you can see it by region. And so those are some of the ways that it's being tracked here. One of the things that we've really wanted to see, or that we've asked for from State Department of Health, is really just a breakdown of cases and then having - the way that the Department of Health currently displays its data for cases is just kind of an overall, but we would love to see some more delineation around schools and districts. And the same way that you can see the total number of cases in a county, it'd be interesting to see that by school district, just in a very accessible way on the state website. And we've seen other states take those steps as well. So there is some data being collected, it's not necessarily detailed by variant of the virus, but there is some information about that. Crystal Fincher: [00:27:06] So does it seem as if reopening is happening safely, does it look like clusters continue to pop up in schools? What does the current situation look like? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:27:16] I mean, we see, I think I would venture to say a lot of school districts that have opened have seen cases. We haven't really received news of a major outbreak in a school district - one that has infected hundreds of people. There were some clusters that we saw happening in places that opened early, such as Spokane, in Spokane County. So we did see some instances like that, but from what we've learned from the Department of Health, there haven't been any major outbreak situations that have been linked to schools. That's not to say that it doesn't happen. And there's also, when these cases are investigated inside schools, there's always a question of whether or not the case originated inside of the school or whether or not it was maybe somebody who had it from a different place and came inside the school. And they try to investigate to see if it is truly sourced in the school. But there's always a question of where it comes from. And so I'm not a health expert by any means. So I think the Department of Health expert would be probably better poised to answer this question, but we haven't personally seen any major outbreak because of schools. But we have read some research, there's some research that says that schools are pretty good at mitigating the risk of the virus, if they have the proper safety precautions in place. But then there are also - we had seen some recent research that, from the University of Washington, that schools do contribute to some of the community spread. So it's a little bit of a mix, but I think I can say that there haven't been any major outbreaks. Crystal Fincher: [00:29:15] Yeah. And certainly not a simple issue. There are pros and cons to opening. There are pros and cons to staying home. Neither situation is completely ideal, it seems like, so people are trying to move forward in the best way that they can. And certainly the best shot is when all of the recommended precautions are being taken and we hope to continue to see that. I guess the one question I have as we come to the closing minutes here today is, for the kids who have been left behind, or who have fallen behind, who haven't been able to fully participate in online learning, lots of times for factors beyond their control. What are the biggest differences that can be made, or the biggest accommodations that you think would be helpful, to making sure everyone can have an equitable and quality education, whether it's in person or remotely? Dahlia Bazzaz: [00:30:27] That's also a pretty big question. I think one of the things that school districts have really struggled with, in light of the pandemic, is making sure that they're actually reaching people and that they were reaching people during the closures, during the time when it was remote only. And so we've seen some national reports about how there are some students that have just dropped off from that - we don't know where they went, we don't know where the families are. And so I think what I have heard is going to be pretty critical at this time is making sure that school districts have their communication methods shored up, to make sure that they are actually knowledgeable about what people need and what they want, from this time in particular.  There's still persistent language barriers that maybe some alerts that go out from a school district are not in somebody's home language. And so they're not able to access that, or maybe materials that go out are not translated. And so I think there's just persistent concerns around communicating with families. And I think there has been some investment in improving those methods of communication, but I still hear every day about somebody being left out of the loop, or someone not knowing what's really going on, or not knowing how to advocate. So I think the communication is going to be pretty key there. Crystal Fincher: [00:32:06] Well, it certainly seems like it. And I thank you for spending the time with us today and just helping us understand where schools are at today, where our kids are at today, and just what is happening. So sincerely appreciate it. Encourage everyone to read Dahlia's reporting at the Seattle Times - it has consistently been excellent and she stays on top of it. So we will do that. And just thank you so much for listening today. Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks. Our chief audio engineer at KVRU is Maurice Jones Jr. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I, and now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type in "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full text transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced during the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

Mike is joined by Claudia Rowe from Cross Cut to discuss how Students are falling behind in school because of connectivity issues. // Rachel Belle is in with a story that might make you speak up or be quite. // Actor Jonah Hill speaks up for those who struggle with their body image. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join our conversation with Claudia about her experience with juggling kids, maternity leave, work, church, charity and how she evaluates her heart and priorities in her decision making process. She helpfully reflects on God's perspective of work, how it's complicated to navigate priorities and offers encouragement to mothers in a variety of working situations. Join us on Instagram @unsungstoriespodcastLeave an Apple Podcast Review, send through your details and we'll post you a gift in the mail :) "Sometimes we're so much better at putting this together to explain to our children, and it makes so much more sense to me!""Our relationship with work, church and home life will always be complex, and it will always be tainted by sin. But we can bring these things to God, we can be prayerful women, assessing our heart, and dwelling in God's Word. True satisfaction is in God's Word and not in our work or church or family. "I think this is God working in my sinful heart as well. And I think people will experience this in different ways. But it's taken me a long time of failing myself, and disappointing myself, and God, and my bosses, and my husband, and my family, my friends. And through all of that, I've learnt I really can't be great at everything. There's no way.""So it's right for us to work, but also realising that we were given that work before the fall, before our sin.And I think that's really helpful because that shows that our complex relationship that we have to have with work because of that. Sin touches everything that we do. And so we shouldn't be surprised that we feel a discomfort or a tension when it comes to work. And whether that's a desire to be working more or not working at all. I think that that's a reality of this side of creation.""How are you using the skills, the gifts, the things that God has given you? Whether that's because of your work or because of your family situation. How are you using all of those things to God's glory?"

Two-time show guest Claudia Rowe is the author of Time Out, an e-book about Willard Jimerson. Jimerson was a young black man for South Seattle who was charged as an adult, convicted of murder, and...

This week, we talk about the variety of ways that children are affected by the opioid crisis. Also, Stephanie has a breakdown because it’s hard to accept the things you cannot change. In this episode, she sits down with Peter who describes the process of adopting three kids born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome; The Seattle Times’ Claudia Rowe who gives an overview of how this epidemic is impacting kids in the foster care system; and Kendra Cram and Ryan McGraw from Minford Elementary in Ohio, who have created a program that addresses social and emotional learning for kids who have been impacted by trauma.  Continue the conversation on your phone at https://flick.group/lastday. Last Day contains strong language, mature themes, and may not be appropriate for all listeners.  Transcriptions available shortly after air date at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/last-day/. Last Day is presented by www.newchapter.com. Claudia Rowe for the Seattle Times New York Times story on Minford Elementary Casper.com/lastday (promo code LASTDAY) hellofresh.com/LASTDAY80 Talkspace (promo code LASTDAY) Good Kids: How Not to Raise An A**hole An Arm and A Leg Dopey

This week, we talk about the variety of ways that children are affected by the opioid crisis. Also, Stephanie has a breakdown because it’s hard to accept the things you cannot change. In this episode, she sits down with Peter who describes the process of adopting three kids born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome; The Seattle Times’ Claudia Rowe who gives an overview of how this epidemic is impacting kids in the foster care system; and Kendra Cram and Ryan McGraw from Minford Elementary in Ohio, who have created a program that addresses social and emotional learning for kids who have been impacted by trauma.  Continue the conversation on your phone at https://flick.group/lastday. Last Day contains strong language, mature themes, and may not be appropriate for all listeners.    Transcriptions available shortly after air date at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/last-day/. Last Day is presented by www.newchapter.com. Claudia Rowe for the Seattle Times New York Times story on Minford Elementary Casper.com/lastday (promo code LASTDAY) hellofresh.com/LASTDAY80 Talkspace (promo code LASTDAY) Good Kids: How Not to Raise An A**hole An Arm and A Leg Dopey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Matt Crawford speaks to Author Claudia Rowe about her book The Spider and the Fly. This is an amazing book about a reporters relationship with a serial killer that sparks her own introspection. Rowe is painfully open and honest in this book and while I came for the story of a serial killer I stayed for her honesty about her own journey in life. A very moving read that I highly recommend. 

Feliks Banel on Vincent Hallinan, who ran for president as a McNeil Island prison inmate // Beth Farmer from Refugees NW on charging asylum filing fees // Claudia Rowe on the intersection of the opioid and foster care crises // Dose of Kindness -- rescuing baby animals // Sports Insider Danny O'Neil on the latest Sonics rumors/ Ichiro's new gig // Hanna Scott recaps what our state lawmakers accomplished on homelessness // Emily Oster, author of Cribsheet

Claudia Rowe is a journalist and author, here to discuss her recent piece in a series for The Seattle Times about the effects of the nation's opioid crisis on children. She talks with both Dave Ross and Colleen O'Brien about a solution out of Spokane, Washington that's so simple it's revolutionary: a residential drug treatment program that keeps parents and their children together, monitored and supported by a team of counselors and medical professionals, rather than putting children in foster care.

The riveting true story of the crime, punishment, and transformation of a Seattle boy who came of age inside the adult prison system and who, once on the outside, rebuilt a new life as a man.

Hanna Scott with the heartbreaking story of Oso survivor Tim Ward // Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- two big weekend closures // Molly McKew on our changing relationship with NATO // Sports Insider Danny O'Neil previews the Seahawks-Colts games // Mike Lewis on the latest efforts to save the Showbox // Claudia Rowe on her new book about a notorious Seattle murder case

Claudia Rowe from the Seattle Times on schools dealing with the children of addicts // Margaret Brennan on the national immigration debate // Michael Medved's review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom // Sports Insider Danny O'Neil on the Mariners bad stint in the Bronx/ Ichiro's fake mustache // Mike Lewis on the search for a new Seattle Police Chief // Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- Highway-2 full weekend closure

Claudia Rowe from the Seattle Times on KingCo's "restorative justice" model for juvenile offenders // Feliks Banel with Everett's streetcar history // Major Garrett on the President's tough talk on Syria // Dr. Garen Wintemute on using red flag laws to prevent suicides and mass shootings // Colleen O'Brien's dose of kindness -- collecting baby dolls to help Alzheimer's patients with highly-specialized sensory experiences // Sports Insider Danny O'Neil on UW's new 119-Million-dollar deal with Adidas // Mike Lewis on the next step in Seattle's quest for an NHL team  

Only 0.7 percent of Seattle's African-American students are enrolled in the district's most exclusive gifted classes. The rate for whites is nearly 18 times higher. That outrageous disparity is tied to how the district goes about identifying highly-capable kids. Seattle Times education reporter Claudia Rowe explains the issue and a different approach in Miami that's yielding results.

When Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and The Fly, decided to write to a serial killer, she wasn't prepared for how it would change her life. In her quest to understand the nature of cruelty, she ended up discovering much more about herself. Kendall Francois murdered at least eight women and hid the rotting corpses in the home that he shared with his mother, father, and younger sister. A large foreboding figure who emanated a pungent odor, he demands that Rowe offers personal details of her life in exchange for the answers she is seeking. She does not comply with his wishes, which leads the reader to wonder "Who really is the spider and who really is the fly?"

In this superb work of literary true crime—a spellbinding combination of memoir and psychological suspense—a female journalist chronicles her unusual connection with a convicted serial killer and her search to understand the darkness inside us."Well, well, Claudia. Can I call you Claudia? I’ll have to give it to you, when confronted at least you’re honest, as honest as any reporter. . . . You want to go into the depths of my mind and into my past. I want a peek into yours. It is only fair, isn’t it?"—Kendall FrancoisIn September 1998, young reporter Claudia Rowe was working as a stringer for the New York Times in Poughkeepsie, New York, when local police discovered the bodies of eight women stashed in the attic and basement of the small colonial home that Kendall Francois, a painfully polite twenty-seven-year-old community college student, shared with his parents and sister.Growing up amid the safe, bourgeois affluence of New York City, Rowe had always been secretly fascinated by the darkness, and soon became obsessed with the story and with Francois. She was consumed with the desire to understand just how a man could abduct and strangle eight women—and how a family could live for two years, seemingly unaware, in a house with the victims’ rotting corpses. She also hoped to uncover what humanity, if any, a murderer could maintain in the wake of such monstrous evil.Reaching out after Francois was arrested, Rowe and the serial killer began a dizzying four-year conversation about cruelty, compassion, and control; an unusual and provocative relationship that would eventually lead her to the abyss, forcing her to clearly see herself and her own past—and why she was drawn to danger. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY: A Reporter, a Serial Killer, and the Meaning of Murder-Cluadia Rowe

Jan 26th - Live from NYC, Claudia Rowe, Brandon Lang

Jan 26th - Live from NYC, Claudia Rowe, Brandon Lang

Seattle Times education reporter Claudia Rowe uncovers stealth inequities in Washington's public schools. Education Lab engagement editor Dahlia Bazzaz addresses the achievement gaps that plague even the state's best schools. And politics reporter Jim Brunner previews the Seattle area's plans for Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.