Podcasts about mercer island

City in Washington, United States

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Best podcasts about mercer island

Latest podcast episodes about mercer island

Soundside
Serial killers: Why has the Pacific Northwest had so many?

Soundside

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2025 28:57


A new book examines the theory that lead and arsenic poisoning may have affected the brain development of serial killers like Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway. Childhood exposure to these poisons might provide a partial explanation for these horrific crimes. The book is “Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers.” It’s part memoir; part examination of anthropology, criminology, and also the ecological history of the Pacific Northwest. Guest Caroline Fraser, author of “Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers.” She grew up on Mercer Island and won the Pulitzer Prize for her biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder in 2018. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Soundside
Soundside's "Weekend Warmup" - June 18th-22nd

Soundside

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2025 5:43


We are officially in the summer busy season. Solstice, pride, Juneteenth — if you’re looking for something to do this week, have no fear, there’s something for you. Soundside is off tomorrow for Juneteenth, so we're bringing you an EARLY edition of the WEEKEND WARMUP. Here with stuff to do this weekend is Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows! LINKS: Juneteenth | Atlantic Street Center NAAM | Juneteenth Juneteenth — ACLT Summer of Soul Series Juneteenth 2025 | Mercer Island, Washington Juneteenth 2025 | Shoreline City Hall Juneteenth - Stewart Heights Park, Tacoma 2025 Juneteenth Commemoration - Washington State Historical Society Washington Brewers Fest MOPOP - 25th Anniversary Fremont Solstice Parade Fremont Fair Summer Bonsai Solstice | Pacific Bonsai Museum Marysville Strawberry Festival Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival 2025 Georgetown Pride 2025 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.

BOOKSTORM: Deep Dive Into Best-Selling Fiction
Caroline Fraser (MURDERLAND: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers) is on the Radar!

BOOKSTORM: Deep Dive Into Best-Selling Fiction

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2025 37:26


Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Caroline Fraser joins BOOKSTORM Podcast to discuss MURDERLAND: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers!  Provocative, compelling, and utterly enthralling ... this book will change things. Caroline shares her fascinating exploration of serial killers in the American northwest, including several around her hometown of Mercer Island, outside of Seattle (where Ted Bundy lived and killed) and a possible connection to lead and arsenic. Wait a minute .... is there really a connection between exposure and violent crime?  Why were smelters allowed to belch out poisons in the middle of populated cities? What about the generational impacts? Have we even scratched the surface of knowledge about chemical contamination? Join us for an absolutely enthralling conversation!You can find more of your favorite bestselling authors at BOOKSTORM Podcast! We're also on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube!

Ash Said It® Daily
Episode 2082 - Ignite Your Power: Girls With Goals

Ash Said It® Daily

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2025 12:00


Prepare to be swept away by the untold saga of women's soccer! Girls With Goals isn't just a book; it's a thrilling journey through time, tracing the electrifying rise of the beautiful game from its surprising 19th-century British roots to the global phenomenon it is today. Imagine a world where women dared to dream of kicking a ball, facing down bans, battling societal challenges, and overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Girls With Goals brings these gripping tales to life, chronicling the astonishing victories that have propelled women's football onto the world stage. You'll witness the sheer determination that transformed a grassroots passion into a sport celebrated by millions! Whether you're lacing up your first pair of cleats or you're a seasoned fan who bleeds soccer, this book will revolutionize your understanding of women's football. Through captivating stories and unforgettable anecdotes, you'll meet the trailblazing characters—both past and present—who shaped the sport, including the voices of marginalized athletes whose contributions have often been overlooked. More than just a history, Girls With Goals is a passionate tribute to the female athletes who ignited a spark in girls worldwide, inspiring them to chase their dreams on the pitch. It's a powerful homage to the women who fought tirelessly to play the sport they loved, forging a path not just for women's soccer, but for every female athlete in every sport today. About the Visionary Behind the Story: Clelia Castro-Malaspina, the brilliant mind behind Girls With Goals, is a celebrated author of books for young readers. Her previous work, Your Freedom, Your Power: A Kid's Guide to the First Amendment, was lauded by Kirkus as "current, insightful and savvy," and earned a starred review from Booklist, which declared it "empowers kids." With a background spanning law and literary agency, Clelia now leads her own children's book editorial business, Mossy Pines Creative. She lives with her husband and two daughters on Mercer Island, Washington, undoubtedly continuing to champion powerful stories that inspire. Get The Book: https://a.co/d/6pAkMlo Get to Know Ash: Imagine someone who just radiates good vibes and genuinely wants to see you shine – that's Ash Brown! This incredibly talented American wears many hats: she's a fantastic producer, a super engaging blogger, a captivating speaker, a natural media personality, and a fantastic host for events. Her energy is totally infectious, and you can tell she's truly passionate about helping everyone reach their full potential. What's Ash Up To? AshSaidit.com: Think of this as your VIP pass into Ash's world! Her blog is buzzing with exclusive invites to events, honest reviews of cool products, and all sorts of fun and informative stuff. It's the perfect place to stay in the loop and get a dose of Ash's personality. The Ash Said It Show: Get ready to feel inspired! Ash's podcast is a powerhouse of motivation, with over 2,000 episodes already out there and a whopping half a million listens worldwide! She has amazing conversations with inspiring people and dives into topics that really matter. Why We Love Ash: Ash isn't just talking the talk; she's walking the walk! What makes her truly special is how real she is. She connects with her audience on a genuine level, offering advice and encouragement that feels like a chat with a good friend. She doesn't shy away from the tough stuff but instead gives you the tools to tackle it head-on. Here's what makes Ash stand out: Sunshine Personified: Ash is a total optimist! Her positive energy is contagious, and you can't help but feel more empowered and ready for anything after connecting with her. Keeping It Real: Ash doesn't try to sugarcoat life. She gets that things can be tough and offers relatable advice that speaks to people from all walks of life. Turning Inspiration into Action: This isn't just about feeling good for a moment. Ash gives you practical tips and strategies to actually make things happen and turn your dreams into reality. So, if you're looking for a daily dose of inspiration, real-world advice, and someone who keeps it totally honest, Ash Brown is your go-to person! With her amazing positivity and genuine dedication to helping others, she's sure to become your favorite source for making the most out of life. ✨ ► Goli Gummy Discounts Link: https://go.goli.com/1loveash5 ► Luxury Women Handbag Discounts: https://www.theofficialathena.... ► Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/po... ► Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSa... ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1lov... ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashsa... ► Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog #atlanta #ashsaidit #theashsaiditshow #ashblogsit #ashsaidit®Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ash-said-it-show--1213325/support.

Soundside
This author used ChatGPT as a mirror for her life — and for big tech, too

Soundside

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2025 32:49


Vauhini Vara’s new essay collection opens with a heart to heart with ChatGPT. In her prompt, she asks the program to give her feedback on a few chapters of her upcoming book. “I’m nervous,” she tells it. “That’s completely understandable,” it responds with a cheery exclamation point. “Sharing your writing can feel really personal, but I’m here to provide a supportive and constructive perspective. Take your time, and whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here to discuss it with you.” So begins a high tech odyssey through old Google searches, Amazon product reviews, social media profiles and experiments with artificial intelligence. Along the way, Vara explores the technology that came of age alongside her, including her teenage years on Mercer Island and college experience at Stanford, and how her relationship with it has changed over time. The book is part-memoir, part critique of how tech companies have positioned their products as “collaborators,” or even companions, in our lives. Every couple chapters, Vara invites the large language model to respond to her writing. It’s just one of the ways she breaks form in the book. It’s called “SEARCHES: Selfhood in the Digital Age.” Guests: Vauhini Vara, author Related Links: Elliott Bay Book Company | Events 45368 Vauhini Vara Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Gee and Ursula Show
Hour 1: Mercer Island Officer's Drunken Bodycam

The Gee and Ursula Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2025 36:10


URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Females in Flight // Cruise season underway // The M's are smoking hot // Canadians boycotting WA State // Mercer Island cop's drunken excesses caught on body cam // WE NEED TO TALK. . . 

UBC News World
Senior Care Authority's Consulting Franchise Reaches Eastside King County

UBC News World

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2025 3:16


The Eastside of King County has a new Queen of senior living support. Senior Care Authority's eldercare consulting franchise network now covers Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah, Newcastle, and Mercer Island, Washington - all under the guidance of Veronica Griffiths. Go to https://www.seniorcareauthority.com/locations/eastside-king-co-and-surrounding-areas/ Senior Care Authority City: Petaluma Address: 755 Baywood Drive Website: https://www.seniorcareauthority.com

Jewish Education Experience Podcast
110: Acculturating the Next Generation with Biblical Values with Rabbi Daniel Lapin

Jewish Education Experience Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2025 46:30


Rabbi Daniel Lapin is known world-wide as a noted rabbinic scholar, best-selling author and host of the Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast where he shares his knowledge of how the world really works. He is one of America's most eloquent speakers and he has helped many people around the world grow in their five F's: Faith, Family, Finances, Friendship, and Fitness through ancient Jewish wisdom. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, later studied in yeshivas in Gateshead, London, and in Israel. He emigrated to the United States and founded The Pacific Jewish Center. His more recent projects, along with his wife Susan, include online courses, a community called The We Happy Warriors, and has written many best-selling books, including their most recent book, The Holistic You: Integrating your Family, Faith, Finances, Friendships, and Fitness. Rabbi Lapin is an avid boater and sailed his family from Los Angeles to Honolulu in the summer on their own 44 foot sailing cutter. As the family grew, the Lapins switched to calmer waters, boating in the San Juan and Gulf Islands in Washington State and British Columbia. He and his wife Susan homeschooled their seven children on Mercer Island, Washington and now live in Baltimore, MD.Gems:Our primary obligation is to teach ourselves, not just our children.We are responsible for our own growth and progress; nobody else is responsible.Parents must be on the same page.Create an authentic connection with G-d rather than a formalistic one.Teach children to build a relationship where they can talk to G-d.Judaism is more than just a ritualistic way of life.Try to get out of your comfort zone.We pass down principles that are relevant at all times.Think through what you're going to tell your children.Be open to freshness.How we teach needs to be linked to each child as an individual.Raise children that we would really like.We can't expect things to be easy.Homeschooling is more viable than people think.Our job is to acculturate the next generation. Dot-by-Dot Hebrew CurriculumA Kriah curriculum designed for the classroom, home, or Remedial with readers,workbooks, & games.Parenting On PurposeThis course will help you better understand your child and build a deeper connection.AmazonWe receive a small commission for any items purchased through my Amazon link.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Author Visits with Chrissie Wright
Ep 78 - Library Life - 4 ways authors can supercharge school visits

Author Visits with Chrissie Wright

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2025 14:57


In this Library Life episode, Chrissie is sharing 4 ways that authors Ben Clanton and Andy Chou Musser supercharge their school visits:Make a pre-game videoConsider the endpapers of the visitPlay interactive drawing gamesShare real-life artifacts from the creative lifeCheck out Chrissie's Substack post all about author visits, featuring her best tips and tricks for planning and hosting.Check out Ben Clanton's work on his website.Check out Andy Musser's work on his website.In the PNW and want to learn more about Chrissie's favorite indie bookstore? Learn more about Island Books on their website (located in Mercer Island, WA).Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, live video Q&As with Chrissie, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

Konaverse
Spencer Tyler on the Pacific Northwest, Movies, and Customer Experience

Konaverse

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2025 56:01


Spencer Tyler is Director of Customer Retention | Subscription Strategy at Investor's Business Daily.  In this episode, Spencer discusses growing up in the Northwest, Mercer Island, Seattle, the Grunge music era, family, movies, working in the commercials industry, producing music videos, bringing your passions into your professional life, user experience, storytelling, five years living in New York City, Los Angeles, Investor's Business Daily, customer success, comparing business leadership to movie production teams, and advice to his younger self. 

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 2: Honoring Sean Yim, Slanted stories from Seattle Times, and the new Surgeon General's warning

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2025 47:15


What’s Trending: What the Transit Union is trying to do to make sure Sean Yim, the bus driver who was stabbed on the job, didn’t die in vain. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the media conglomerate will be making major changes as it pertains to their fact-checking and censorship policies and practices. US Fish and Wildlife is issuing a $20,000 reward for information about each of three recent wolf poachings in Washington State. // Big Local: KREM in Spokane published a story trying to help the NAACP of Spokane find individuals in alleged KKK attire, but there seems to be more to the story that we’re not being told. Meanwhile, Mercer Island leaders condemn racist vandalism at middle school. And a Seattle Times article vilifies the city of Everett over homeless cleanup. // The new Surgeon General warning on alcohol has Americans in a tizzy. Jason breaks down what the warning really means and the real health effects caused by consuming alcohol.

Beyond Trauma
70 | Raw and Real: Rage Prayers and the Power of Honest Healing | Rev. Elizabeth Ashman Riley

Beyond Trauma

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2024 54:14


In this powerful conversation with Rev. Elizabeth Riley, we discuss what it means to get raw and real in our prayers, something Elizabeth has become well known for on TicTok where she Rage Prays for all to see. We discuss why religion appealed to Elizabeth from a young age and how she sees her place advocating for marginalized communities through her work in the church. Working with Elizabeth's prayers has helped me to open up and reconnect to my spirituality. I hope you might find the same and gain some direction for where to find social justice in the spiritual community. In this episode, we cover: The importance of community in one's healing What kinds of communities to seek out and how to find them Why messy prayer is the best prayer How toxic positivity is weaponized against women How to fit prayer into your day Ways to pray authentically Tips for healing the impacts of trauma with prayer Rev. Elizabeth Ashman Riley is an Episcopal priest serving in the Diocese of Olympia, WA. The former rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Mercer Island, she was called as their first female rector at the age of thirty. An Alaska native, Riley was ordained through the Diocese of Alaska as a deacon in 2012 and as a priest in 2013. She received her bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College of California, and her Master of Divinity from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. Rage Prayers is her first book. It's based on her “rage praying” videos on TikTok, where she has more than 60,000 followers. Find @therevriley on TikTok, Instagram, and Threads, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your support is deeply appreciated! Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram You can support this podcast with any level of donation here. Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.

School Of Jazz
Mercer Island High School jazz all-stars join Jay Thomas in the KNKX studios

School Of Jazz

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2024 34:30


Nine students from the Mercer Island High School Jazz Band, directed by David Bentley, perform in the KNKX studios with their School of Jazz mentor Jay Thomas.

The Resident Historian Podcast
All Over The Map: Early 20th century artifact plucked from Lake Washington

The Resident Historian Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2024 4:41


On this week’s edition of All Over The Map for Seattle’s Morning News, we visited a pocket park on Mercer Island along the shores of Lake Washington. It was here where a "rich and creamy" reminder of the island’s history was recently discovered by a pair of divers. Franklin Landing is a tiny street-end park on the west side of Mercer Island, essentially opposite Seward Park over on the Seattle side of Lake Washington. A dock at this location was a key piece of the "Mosquito Fleet" transportation infrastructure from the late 19th century to 1940, when the first Lake Washington Floating Bridge (which crossed Mercer Island) opened to vehicle traffic. KIRO Newsradio was joined early Friday by Matt McCauley. He’s known to many as "Mr. Lake Washington History;" McCauley is an author, historian, underwater explorer and a good friend of Seattle’s Morning News.

Rip City Report
Three-Straight Wins, Big Nights For Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan And Another Trip On The Blazers Balcony, Episode 135

Rip City Report

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2024 56:34


On this edition of The Blazers Balcony, presented by Spirit Mountain Casino, Brooke Olzendam and Casey Holdahl discuss...• The Trail Blazers rattling off three-straight wins after looking left for dead a little over a week ago• Shaedon Sharpe scoring 30+ in consecutive games and his popularity amongst various fanbases• Donovan Clingan's historic performance in the victory versus the Timberwolves• The spectacular play of Robert Williams III, Deni Avdija, Dalano Banton, Kris Murray and Rayan Rupert off the bench• Lamar Hurd barking at Toumani Camara• Is this the real Dalano Banton• The upcoming road trip with stops in Oklahoma City, Houston (x2), Memphis and Indiana• Brooke cutting the line, the Brightside trading card kiosk, "DB Hooper" and fan-created merch, getting the kids back in the building, Mercer Island vs. Shadle Park, get us to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup

Brad and John - Mornings on KISM
DT Joe HS radio champs

Brad and John - Mornings on KISM

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2024 11:26


This past weekend KMIH radio from Mercer Island high school was crowned the Nation HS radio station of the year! The head teacher there is none other than Brad's friend and former coworker Downtown Joe Bryant from the Bob Rivers show in Seattle! He told Brad all about the station and the kids who won!

Eating Adventures
The Crawlspace Gastropub

Eating Adventures

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2024 23:01


Joined by chef Jason Farrish, Eating Adventures dives into the diverse menu of the new Mercer Island restaurant The Crawlspace Gastropub. Tune in to hear how the idea of the restaurant transformed into reality, the importance of cultural influences when curating a menu, and future vision of the restaurant! 

Eating Adventures
New Mercer Island Restaurants

Eating Adventures

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2024 9:35


Two new restaurants have opened up on Eating Adventures' very own home: Mercer Island. The 2 locally owned restaurants, The Crawlspace Gastropub and Allister, have wonderful menu options to explore! Tune in to hear Chloe's review of the Crawlspace, and Hayley's review of Allister!  

PuckSports
Daily Puck Drop: F-U John Stanton. Betting Lock of the Week

PuckSports

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2024 112:24


Jason “Puck” Puckett is joined by Jim Moore on today's Daily Puck Drop….Jim starts off with telling Puck he walked seven miles already!   They dive into the Mariners and how this year was the worst because they had so many high expectations for the team.  Should Mariner fans not go to the games this weekend, college football action this weekend with Washington at Rutgers, Cougars taking on Boise State and “sports hating” your rival and why that's ok.  Jim and Puck are joined by their handicapper, TroyWins.com and they go over this weekends games in college and NFL.  Troy is no fan of the Cougs and Puck and Jim let him have it.  they also discuss some of the most absurd lines from the weekend. After Troy leaves, Jim and Puck play Friday VOICEMAILS and we here from Cam Ward, Jedd Fisch, Geno from Dino's and Howard Cosell Chris Egan from KING 5 strops by for his weekly visit and they went right into their frustration with how the Mariners season went and wondered what fans could possibly do to change the outlook of their franchise.  The fans really have no power when it comes to their team.  Before he leaves, Chris promotes the KING 5 “Big Game” of the Week between Hazen and Mercer Island. Rundown 00:00 Jim already did a seven mile hike because he ate everything in his kitchen last night!! 08:48 Jim and Puck go right into the struggles of the Mariners and why it was the worst season they can remember….What can fans do, should they stay away and would that make any difference.  Seahawks take on the Lions and continue to have the worst OL in the league…why?39:11 TroyWins.com stops by to make his picks for the weekend, including his thoughts on the Huskies, Cougars and Seahawks.  Also, Troy gives his “Lock of the Week.” 01:01:10 Friday VOICEMAILS as Puck and Jim up their conversation. You hear from Cam Ward, Jedd Fisch, Geno Smith and Howard Cosell 01:12:41 Chris Egan, KING 5, jumps on for his weekly chat and they go right in on the Mariners and their disappointing season.  Dan Wilson needs to bring back the Little League players meeting after games.  Can fans make a change with ownership.   Why do the Mariners dislike their fanbase so much.   Chris promotes KING 5 “Big Game” of the Week. 01:34:55 “Hey, What the Puck?!”   Mariners fans deserve better and we are in an abusive relationship. What can we do to change it?

PuckSports
Chris Egan Show: Abusive relationship with the Mariners

PuckSports

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2024 31:14


Chris Egan from KING 5 strops by for his weekly visit and they went right into their frustration with how the Mariners season went and wondered what fans could possibly do to change the outlook of their franchise.  The fans really have no power when it comes to their team.  Before he leaves, Chris promotes the KING 5 “Big Game” of the Week between Hazen and Mercer Island. 

The Debbie Nigro Show
My childhood neighbor invented that $10M ‘Honey Deuce' cocktail that starred in the U.S. Open

The Debbie Nigro Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2024 13:55


It really made me smile to see Nick Mautone from the old Mt. Vernon, N.Y. neighborhood all over the news during the U.S. Open. Not for playing tennis. Nick invented that now infamous signature U.S. Open "Honey Deuce" cocktail that took the media by storm this year. At $23 a drink, it generated about 10M dollars at The U.S. Open this year alone!   Nick Mautone invented the drink back in 2007 when Grey Goose hired him as a consultant to create a signature cocktail for the event.  Talk about a never-ending drink! Even Nick couldn't believe the cocktail commotion he's caused. (Do people get royalties from inventing drinks?) I thought it would be fun to contact Nick and invite him on my show to take another bow, and give him some old-time love and find out!  Nick said, “Because I was a brand ambassador and a hospitality consultant to Great Goose Vodka, which I started with in 2005. As a consultant, it was the single best consistent gig I ever had in my life. I loved it and without going into details, they paid me well. I had a great expense account. They flew me all over the world to talk about Grey Goose, train teams, distributors, do great events like the US Open, and I played golf with celebrities!”  Nick's a warm and wonderful guy and he's written all kinds of books to teach people how to be great mixologists. Books that both professionals and those interested in being great mixologists at home will benefit from. Nicks a dad, a futurist, and the brother of one of my best childhood pals Carol Mautone. The Mautone house was chock full of kids (seven I think? LOL) and commotion and their house always smelled like great Italian food! Their Dad had a specialty food business, and their sweet mom Adele was constantly shopping and making food. Never knew how she kept up with them all, but she always had a smile and always welcomed me and others into her home with open arms. It's probably where her kids learned about the true meaning of ‘hospitality'.  Carol became a chef and moved to Italy but now teaches English to foreigners and I've been threatening for years to fly over and visit her. Soon! Meanwhile, I stay in touch with her lightly on Facebook and I've connected with lovely Nick too a few times over the years.  Nick and his family moved out to Washington State, to Mercer Island, near Seattle. I followed Nicks career in the restaurant industry. He started out bussing tables, backing bars, and then he and his brothers and sisters opened a place called American Pie on the Upper West Side of New York. Nick Mautone now has 40 years of hospitality industry experience. He believes in the power of mentorship, leadership, collaboration, and possibility. Nick is the architect of an inventive process called “Hospitality Sabermetrics” — think Moneyball for Hospitality he says, and has a sixth sense when it comes to foreseeing trends. He is known for nurturing sustained success, streamlining operations, and aligning core values in every sort of hospitality business. Since his start, Nick has worked with some of the most iconic and influential restaurants in the world including Gotham Bar & Grill, Hudson River Club, and most notably, Gramercy Tavern where he was managing partner alongside Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio for seven years, and helped define and nurture a fledgling idea Danny and the group coined called “Enlightened Hospitality.”  So, what is Enlightened Hospitality? Nick explained, “Enlightened Hospitality' is the core values of how you operate your business, and you hear that term a lot in business leadership programs where a company will say these are our core values and these are the way we want to operate our business, and these are the non-negotiables that we will not forsake any amount of money. And so, they are the guiding principles, if you will, that you want to live by, that we wanted our business to operate by, and we wanted, as people, to live by.” And I think it really made sense. I think that's why I enjoyed it, that's why I took the job. Danny had core values; Tom Colicchio had core values. At some point during the first few years that I was there, we actually took those core values and encapsulated them into our manuals and then we used them as part of our review process. And it really became a great way to manage people, and everyone knew their expectations. Everyone screws up, bear that in mind, but if you screw up and you forsake one of those core values, we'd sit you down and say, hey, you know, it just didn't work for us the way you handled this particular situation. Look at how we want to operate. Here's the way and the waterfall of progression of how you should handle these situations. And people get it. And then, you know, nine out of 10 times, they understand what they did wrong, they correct the problem, and they move forward. If not, they understand and they choose to move on because they can't live in those core values, and both are acceptable outcomes.” Nick's spent a lifetime trying to keep integrity in all he does.  I wanted to know his thoughts about the current state of the restaurant business. So many restaurants have struggled after COVID. Some reopened, some did not reopen. Getting and retaining good help is the #1 problem I hear from most in the restaurant business I've spoken to. Nick said, “So, the pandemic forced this change to happen five or 10 years earlier than it needed to.” One, people need to get paid appropriately, plain and simple. Tips notwithstanding, yes, tips count for your income, but you need to be paid appropriately. Most importantly, people need to be treated appropriately. And what I found, you know, in my career, and I don't speak for Danny Meyer, but I will say in our organization during that time, and I know it carries to today, our number one goal was to treat our employees well and take care of them to the best of our ability. And if we do that, then we can honestly live with honor and hold ourselves to a high standard as being good about the business. A lot of people didn't operate that way, so the pandemic forced that change. And now you see this, people leaving the industry, going on to do other endeavors. It will come back because everyone needs to eat and everyone needs human companionship and the connectivity that comes with sitting in a restaurant or a bar or a movie theater or whatever it is and seeing other people. So, I think it'll come back. It's just going to take a little time.” Nick is the founder of Mautone Enterprises. Whether you're a first time first-time restaurateur, or turning around a big ship on the wrong course, Nick's your guy to help guide you and your staff to profitable collaboration. Here's his website: nickmautone.com Enjoy this podcast my warm conversation with Nick Mautone on The Debbie Nigro Show. 

The Tom and Curley Show
Hour 1: John had his Car stolen at Sea-Tac.

The Tom and Curley Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2024 32:33


3pm-John had his Car stolen at SEA-Tac // Port of Seattle: Outage was ransomware attack; ransom has NOT been paid // Port of Seattle PIO Perry Cooper says garage cameras ARE operational… // Mercer Island high school has replaced detention with “reflection time” // Sao Paulo mayoral debate devolves into a WWE match 

The Tom and Curley Show
Hour 4: Sao Paulo mayoral debate devolves into a WWE match.

The Tom and Curley Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2024 31:33


6pm: JOHN HAD HIS CAR STOLEN AT SEA-TAC // Port of Seattle: Outage was ransomware attack; ransom has NOT been paid // Port of Seattle PIO Perry Cooper says garage cameras ARE operational… // Mercer Island high school has replaced detention with “reflection time” // Sao Paulo mayoral debate devolves into a WWE match 

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 3: Mercer Island HS bans detention, guest Eugene Johnson, Robert DeNiro is nuts

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2024 46:55


What’s Trending: Mercer Island High school has banned detention. A Puyallup City Council member is objecting to the City’s plans to institute paid parking. The Cook Political Report is projecting a GOP majority in the Senate. // LongForm: GUEST: Eugene Johnson was seriously injured in a car accident with a suspected drunk driver but due to the backlog on blood tests, he won’t see justice for at least a year as the driver was released. // The Quick Hit: Robert DeNiro is claiming that Trump will not leave office if he is elected and compared him to a gangster. Actor Dean Cain says you should not vote based on a celebrity’s endorsement.  

The Dr. Raj Podcast
Kevin Martin from Candlebox

The Dr. Raj Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2024 40:53


Today's Episode Dr. Raj is joined by Kevin Martin from the band Candlebox! Today's Guest Kevin Martin is an American singer who is best known as lead vocalist of the rock band Candlebox. He also provided lead vocals for the bands The Gracious Few and The Hiwatts. Martin was born in Elgin, Illinois. His father worked for a salt company and the family moved to San Antonio, Texas when he was 10. They subsequently moved to Mercer Island, Washington near Seattle when Martin was 15. He and drummer Scott Mercado set out to start a band in 1990. Candlebox was formed in 1991 after guitarist Peter Klett and bassist Bardi Martin joined them. They gained a Billboard 200 top 10 hit in 1993 with their self-titled debut album, released by Maverick Records. The album's success was largely due to the single "Far Behind", a song written about two of Martin's friends who suffered heroin overdoses, including Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. The single reached number 18 on the US Hot 100 and was a top 10 hit in both the US Modern Rock and US Mainstream Rock charts. About Dr. Raj Dr Raj is a quadruple board certified physician and associate professor at the University of Southern California. He was a co-host on the TNT series Chasing the Cure with Ann Curry, a regular on the TV Show The Doctors for the past 7 seasons and has a weekly medical segment on ABC news Los Angeles. More from Dr. Raj www.BeyondThePearls.net The Dr. Raj Podcast Dr. Raj on Twitter Dr. Raj on Instagram Want more board review content? USMLE Step 1 Ad-Free Bundle Crush Step 1 Step 2 Secrets Beyond the Pearls The Dr. Raj Podcast Beyond the Pearls Premium USMLE Step 3 Review MedPrepTGo Step 1 Questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 2: Heat wave, Biden poll numbers, Mercer Island threatens to restrict water

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2024 47:44


What’s Trending: The local media is still running out completely useless stories about to stay cool during heat waves. A new poll shows Biden running way behind a Democrat incumbent Senator. // Big Local: Mercer Island is threatening to restrict water if usage doesn’t decrease. A home seller in Kirkland was robbed during an open house. // Residents in Barcelona, Spain are shooting tourists with water guns to try and deter them from coming.

Your Money, Your Wealth
Spousal Social Security, Retirement Expenses and Roth Conversions | YMYW Extra - 4

Your Money, Your Wealth

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2024 14:50 Transcription Available


How much do retirees really spend in retirement? Does the Social Security Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) continue to rise with inflation? Is all the talk about higher future tax brackets just fear-mongering? Can "Johnny Mercer" afford to leave money for his heirs, and what should his strategy be for converting his retirement savings to Roth IRA for tax-free growth on his money? While Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA each take some much-needed vacation time, Your Money, Your Wealth® producer Andi Last enlists the help of senior financial advisor Rachel Fuss, CFP®, MPH from Joe and Big Al's team of experienced professionals at Pure Financial Advisors in Mercer Island, WA, to see if they can "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" for Johnny in YMYW Extra number 4. Free financial resources and transcript: https://bit.ly/ymywe-4 Watch the video of this spitball! https://youtu.be/wKi-VDALJAo Withdrawal Strategy Guide - free download Request your own Retirement Spitball Analysis YMYW Extra on YouTube | Guides | Blogs | Educational Videos | YMYW Newsletter Schedule a free financial assessment Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:17 - Johnny Mercer's Cars, Drinks and Pets 02:19 - Will Social Security Primary Insurance Amount Continue to Rise With Inflation? 05:20 - Retirement Spending: What's Reality? 06:40 - Are Future Higher Tax Brackets Just Fear-Mongering? 08:21 - How Much Can We Afford to Spend and Still Leave Money for Heirs? 11:07 - Final Considerations & Roth Conversion Strategy

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 1: WA GOP accusations against Rantz, thieves in Mercer Island, annoying commercials

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2024 47:19


What’s Trending: Washington State Republican Party accused Rantz of possibly stealing the Semi Bird documents – He has a confession. He’s Ethan Hunt.  // Jason goes over some of the problems with the Washington State GOP’s statement regarding the Semi Bird documents. // Two thieves are on the loose on Mercer Island (or, we’re supposed to believe they stayed on Mercer Island?) There’s a new commercial that is driving Jason nuts.

Levelheads
Jason Koehler - RKK Construction

Levelheads

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2024 65:29


Welcome in to the Levelheads podcast! This week we haveJason Koehler from RKK Construction joining the podcast. Jason is a 2nd generation custom builder on Mercer Island which is in the Seattle metro area. Jason & the Levelheads tak abou tghe chalanges of building and permitting especially on an island! Listen in to find out how Jason is pivoting his business to adapt to a changing market.  You can find Jason on Instagram at @rkkconstruction Find us on Instagram!  @levelheads_pod @verduraconstruction @greenside_design_build @collectivebuildco

Rice & Shine
Toxic Productivity

Rice & Shine

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2024 25:09


As second semester seniors, the school year is winding down, but our brains aren't. In this episode we talk about toxic productivity and the culture of workaholism Mercer Island has created for us and how it will impact our futures. 

Stories From Women Who Walk
60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey: Use Intention & Voice to Speak Your Mind & Make the Change You Want

Stories From Women Who Walk

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2024 2:27


Hello to you listening o Mercer Island, Washington!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine that voicing your ideas is an act of creation. When we have the courage to use our voice to speak our mind to say what we mean and mean what we say we have taken a bold and beautiful step toward making happen what we desire.Our best chance of being seen, heard, understood and listened to is by speaking with intention. Together we can find the words you didn't know you had to speak your ideas with confidence and conviction to make the change you seek.CTA: Whether you are ready to work with me as your trusted story guide or getting ready to be ready, I'm here to support you at Quarter Moon Story Arts! You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly Engaged Storyism© Network NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane and on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

The Gee and Ursula Show
Hour 1: Gee Thinks Yard Work Is a Waste of Time

The Gee and Ursula Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2024 39:25


URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Another panel falls off a Boeing jet mid flight // WSP pays $1.4M  over trooper's bogus DUI stops // GUEST: Sam Campbell on a crazy Mercer Island murder // 

Seattle's Morning News with Dave Ross
A Landmark Settlement Between Realtors and Homebuyers

Seattle's Morning News with Dave Ross

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2024 28:55


Casey McNerthney on the case of a Mercer Island man who was murdered // Dr. Cohen on "resistance-training" as a means of a healthier heart // Jill Schlesinger on a landmark settlement between realtors and homebuyers // Daily Dose of Kindness: A smartly dressed young boy changes his school // Gee Scott on the real estate market changing drastically

The Sunday Shakeout
Ep. 70 - Sisterly Success with Sophia & Victoria Rodriguez

The Sunday Shakeout

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2024 30:39


In this episode of The Sunday Shakeout podcast, I interview Sophia and Victoria Rodriguez, two phenoms in the high school running scene. The Rodriguez sisters share their excitement about the upcoming events, emphasizing the team aspect and the thrill of competition. They discuss their training strategies, balancing solid work with strategic planning for peak performance. Sophia and Victoria also reflect on their transition from soccer to running, their move from Pennsylvania to Mercer Island, and the supportive community they found at MIHS. They offer insights into dealing with injuries, the importance of staying present, and their aspirations for the future in the sport. Despite not having social media, they share their passions outside of running and provide advice for athletes facing significant life transitions. Finally, there is a LISTENER Q&A at the end of the conversation, where we discuss various topics in running. This episode offers a glimpse into the lives and mindset of two dedicated athletes navigating the highs and lows of competitive running. I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout! Contact me: ⁠thesundayshakeout@gmail.com⁠ Instagram: ⁠@thesundayshakeout⁠

Question Everything
Episode 13: Robin & Steve Boehler, Founders @ Mercer Island Group

Question Everything

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2024 52:08


Consider this your all-access pass to advertising's top agency/client matchmakers. We're chatting with power couple Robin and Steve Boehler of Mercer Island Group, the West Coast's top consultancy firm helping both brands and agencies solve critical business and organizational challenges. In this episode, Robin and Steve reveal all the insider info behind the agency review process — from how to catch a marketer's attention to what clients want to see in a pitch. They share tips on mastering the all-important "tissue session," the magic small agencies bring to a pitch, why chemistry and listening skills are make-or-break for agencies and so much more. Here's a quick recap of the convo:  What the agency landscape looks like in 2024 What an agency can do to get a CMO's attention Robin and Steve's perspective on DEI in the industry and what role it plays in agency matchmaking  The magic smaller shops bring to the pitch that larger agencies should take note of Three things a CMO should consider when hiring a new agency Whether or not the awards an agency wins matters to CMOs How to master the tissue session   When it is acceptable for agencies to pull out of a pitch Why agency pitch teams are not favorable for many clients  Plus, some rapid-fire questions that'll have you on the edge of your seat Connect with Robin and Steve on LinkedIn. Catch our favorite takeaways from this can't-miss episode here: https://www.curiosity.fun/thoughts/5-insider-strategies-from-agency-matchmakers-robin-and-steve-boehler Feast your eyes on Robin and Steve's tissue session strategies here.

Hacks & Wonks
Week in Review: February 16, 2024 - with Robert Cruickshank

Hacks & Wonks

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2024 47:07


On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, long time communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank! Crystal and Robert chat about Raise the Wage Renton's special election win, how a rent stabilization bill passed out of the State House but faces an uphill battle in the State Senate, and the authorization of a strike by Alaska Airlines flight attendants. They then shift to how gender discrimination problems in the Seattle Police Department create a toxic work culture that impedes recruitment, the inexplicable pressing forward by Seattle on ShotSpotter while other cities reject it, and the failure of a philanthropic effort by business titans to solve the regional homelessness crisis. 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 co-host, Robert Cruickshank, at @cruickshank.   Resources “Renton $19 minimum wage hike ballot measure leading in early results” by Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks from The Seattle Times   “Washington State House Passes Rent Stabilization Bill” by Rich Smith from The Stranger   “Rent Stabilization Backers Aim to Beat Deadline to Keep Bill Alive” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist   2024 Town Halls | Washington State House Democrats   “Alaska Airlines flight attendants authorize strike for first time in 3 decades” by Alex DeMarban from Anchorage Daily News   “The Seattle Police Department Has a Gender Discrimination Problem” by Andrew Engelson from PubliCola   “Harrell Plans Hasty Rollout of Massive Surveillance Expansion” by Amy Sundberg from The Urbanist   “Chicago will not renew controversial ShotSpotter contract, drawing support, criticism from aldermen” by Craig Wall and Eric Horng from ABC7 Chicago   “Despite Public Opinion, Seattle Cops and Prosecutors Still Prioritize Cracking Down on Sex Work” by Erica C. Barnett from PubliCola   “Council's Public Safety Focus Will Be “Permissive Environment” Toward Crime” by Erica C. Barnett from PubliCola   “The private sector's biggest bet in homelessness fell apart. What now?” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times   “Amazon donation is ‘another step' after homelessness group's collapse” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times   Find stories that Crystal is reading here   Listen on your favorite podcast app to all our episodes here   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Tuesday topical shows and our Friday week-in-review shows delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we're continuing our Friday week-in-review shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, longtime communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank. [00:01:08] Robert Cruickshank: Thank you for having me back here again, Crystal. [00:01:11] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much. Well, we've got a number of items to cover this week, starting with news that I'm certainly excited about - I think you are, too - that this week, in our February special election, Renton had a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage which passed. What are your takeaways from this? [00:01:31] Robert Cruickshank: It's a huge win, both in terms of the margin of victory so far - nearly 60% of Renton voters saying Yes to this in a February election with low turnout. It will raise the wage to around $20 an hour in Renton. And I think it's a clear sign that just as we saw voters in Tukwila last year, and just as in fact voters in SeaTac 11 years ago - kicking all this off - moving to $15 an hour with a city ballot initiative that year, voters in King County, Western Washington want higher minimum wages. And I don't even think we need to qualify it by saying King County in Western Washington. You can look around the country and see - in states like Arkansas, when people put initiatives on the ballot to raise the wage, they pass. So I think there's, yet again, widespread support for this. And I think it also shows that the politicians in Renton - there were several city councilmembers like Carmen Rivera who supported this. There are others, though - the majority of the Renton City Council didn't. They spouted a lot of the usual right-wing Chamber of Commerce arguments against raising the minimum wage, saying it would hurt small businesses and make it hard for workers - none of which actually happens in practice. And voters get that. Voters very clearly understand that you need to pay workers more - they deserve more, especially in a time of inflation. This has been understood for well over 10 years now - that the minimum wage wasn't rising quickly enough and it needs to keep going up. So I think it's a huge wake-up call to elected officials - not just in local city councils, but at the state legislature - they've got to keep doing work to make sure that workers are getting paid well and that the minimum wage keeps rising. [00:03:04] Crystal Fincher: I completely agree. I also think, just for the campaign's purposes, this was really exciting to see. Again, not coming from some of the traditional places where we see ballot measures, campaigns being funded - great that they're funding progressive campaigns in other areas, but that these efforts are largely community-led, community-driven. The Raise the Wage Renton campaign, the Seattle DSA - the Democratic Socialists of America, Seattle chapter - were very involved, did a lot of the heavy lifting here. So really kudos to that entire effort - really important - and really showing that when people get together within communities to respond to problems that they're seeing and challenges that they face, they can create change. It doesn't take that many people acting together and in unison, speaking to their neighbors, to have this happen in city after city. And like you said, it started in SeaTac, and we see how far it's carried. I also think, as you alluded to, this puts other councils on notice. I know the City of Burien is talking about this right now, other cities are looking at this locally. And we have been hearing similar things from Burien city councilmembers that we heard from some of those Renton city councilmembers who declined to pass this on their own. They were parroting Chamber of Commerce talking points. They were parroting some old, disproven data. People recognize and so much data has shown that when you empower people, when you pay people, that is what fuels and builds economy. The economy is the people. So if the people aren't in good shape, the economy is not going to be in good shape. People recognize that. And we really do have to ask and reflect on - I think these elected officials need to reflect on - who are they serving? And where are they getting their information from? Because in city after city, we see overwhelmingly residents respond and say - This is absolutely something we want and we need. And there's this disconnect between them and their elected officials who are parroting these talking points - Well, we're worried about business. Well, we're worried about these. And I think they need to really pause and reflect and say - Okay, who are we really representing here? Where are we getting our information from and why are we seeing time after time that these talking points that have been used for decades, from the same old people and the same old sources, are completely falling flat with the public? I think they should be concerned about their own rhetoric falling flat with the public. They're certainly considering where these elected officials are as their reelections come due, as they're evaluating the job that they're doing. So I think they really need to think hard, evaluate where they are, and get aligned with the people who need the most help, who are trying to build lives in their communities. And stop making this go to the ballot. Stop making the people work harder for what they need - just pass this in your cities and make it so. [00:06:17] Robert Cruickshank: Absolutely. It would be certainly better for working people - for the elected officials to do this themselves. I am noticing a growing trend, though, of progressive and left-wing activists - socialists in this case, DSA - going directly to the ballot when needed. We saw it in Tacoma with the renters' rights legislation last year. We've seen it last year with social housing. And now again this week, House Our Neighbors came out with the initiative to fund social housing, which they had to split in two - due to legal reasons, you had to create the developer first, and then now you have to fund it. And again, the city council had an opportunity to do both here in Seattle. They had the opportunity to create the authority. They passed on that. Then they had the opportunity to fund it. They passed on that. And I am bullish on House Our Neighbors' chances to get their funding initiative, which would be through a payroll tax on large employers, passed by voters this fall. Because again, social housing was super popular at the ballot last year in a February election. Now they're going to go for November 2024 election when there's going to be massive turnout. It's unfortunate that people are having to put a lot of time, money, effort into mounting independent efforts to get things on the ballot - that's hard. It takes a ton of work, not just the gathering signatures and raising money, but just keeping a coalition going and all the meetings and stuff. But hats off to the people who are able to do that. It's not a sustainable way to get progressive policy done, but in a moment where there are more members of city councils who are aligned with the big corporations and wealthy donors, it's what you're going to have to do and it's building power. Ultimately - hopefully - it starts leading into successful victories in city council elections around the region, just as it's led to successes at the ballot box for initiatives. [00:07:59] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. We saw in this effort, as we've seen in others, significant opposition from some elements in the business community. There were some businesses, especially small businesses, who were supportive of this, who were either already paying their employees higher wages because that's how you attract people in business - is not doing the absolute bare minimum. But we saw significant resources spent. This campaign was outspent. And still, the people made it clear what they wanted with another really, really impressive and strong margin. So we'll continue to follow where that goes. We will certainly continue to follow other ballot measures on the ballot as they develop this year, especially with House Our Neighbors and the Social Housing Initiative in Seattle - just going to be really interesting to see. Moving to the legislature, significant news this week that rent stabilization has passed the State House and now it moves on to the Senate. What will rent stabilization accomplish? [00:09:03] Robert Cruickshank: So the bill, HB 2114, which passed out of the State House - it was the last bill they took up before the deadline to pass bills out of their original house - limits the amount of increase in rent each year to 7%. So a landlord can only raise your rent 7% a year. This is modeled on similar legislation that was adopted in Oregon and California right before the pandemic - in Oregon and California, it's a 5% annual increase. This being Washington state, we can't do things exactly the way that are done elsewhere - we've got to water it down a little bit, so it's 7%. But it's not rent control in which a property or a apartment is permanently capped at a certain level, no matter who's renting it. Like the Oregon and California laws, this one in Washington would exempt new construction. And the reason you want to exempt new construction is to encourage people to keep building housing. And there's plenty of research that shows now that one of the most effective ways to bring rent down, not just cap its growth, is to build more housing. So building more housing and then capping the annual rent increase on housing that's been around for a while generally works. And you're seeing this in California and in Oregon - especially in cities that have been building more housing, rents have come down while those living in older apartments, older homes, are seeing their rents capped, so they're having an easier time affording rent. This is all good, and it made it out of the State House on mostly a party line vote - Democrats almost all in favor with a few exceptions, Republicans almost all against. Now it goes to the State Senate where there's a number of conservative Democrats, like Annette Cleveland from Vancouver who blocked the Senate's version of the bill, who's against it. Surely Mark Mullet, a conservative Democrat from Issaquah running for governor - surely against it. And Rich Smith in The Stranger had a piece yesterday in which he related his conversation with Jamie Pedersen from Capitol Hill, one of the most rent-burdened districts in the city, one of the districts in the state of Washington - legislative districts - with the most renters in it. And Pedersen was hemming and hawing on it. And so it's clear that for this bill to pass - it surely is popular with the public. Democrats, you would think, would want to do the right thing on housing costs going into an election. But it's gonna take some pressure on Democrats in the State Senate to pass the bill, especially without watering it down further. The bill that Annette Cleveland, the senator from Vancouver, had blocked in the Senate would cap rent increases at 15% a year. It's like. - Why would you even bother passing a bill at that point? 7% is itself, like I said, watering down what California and Oregon have done, but 7% is still a pretty valuable cap. Hopefully the Senate passes it as is. Hopefully the State Senate doesn't demand even more watering down. There's no need for that. Just pass the bill. Protect people who are renting. [00:11:44] Crystal Fincher: Agree. We absolutely need to pass the bill. I do appreciate the House making this such a priority - building on the work that they did to enable the building of more housing, which is absolutely necessary, last session. And this session moving forward with protecting people in their homes - trying to prevent our homelessness crisis from getting even worse with people being unable to afford rent, being displaced, being unable to stay where they're living, to maintain their current job. So that's really important. But it does face an uncertain future in the Senate. I do appreciate the reporting that Rich Smith did. He also covered some other State senators on the fence, including Jesse Salomon from Shoreline, John Lovick from Mill Creek, Marko Liias from Everett, Steve Conway from Tacoma, Drew Hansen from Bainbridge Island, Sam Hunt from Olympia, Lisa Wellman from Mercer Island, and Majority Leader Andy Billig being on the fence. And so it's going to be really important for people who do care about this to let their opinions be known to these senators. This is really going to be another example of where - they've obviously had concerns for a while, they're hearing talking points that we're used to hearing - that we know have been refuted, that maybe that information hasn't gotten to them yet. And maybe they don't realize how much of a concern this is for residents. They may be - they're in Olympia a lot of time, they're hearing from a lot of lobbyists - and they aren't as close sometimes to the opinions of the people in their districts. But one thing that many people need to understand is that many of these districts are having legislative town halls coming up as soon as this weekend, but certainly in short order. We'll put a link to where you can find that information in the show notes. Make it a point to attend one of those. If you can't, call, email, make your voice heard - it's really going to take you letting them know that this is a priority for you in order for this to happen. It's possible. So we really need to do all we can to ensure that they know how we feel. [00:13:58] Robert Cruickshank: Exactly. And those State senators you named, they are all from safe blue seats. Not a single one of them, except for maybe John Lovick in Mill Creek, is from a purplish district where they have to worry about any electoral impact. Although, to be honest, this stuff is popular. There are plenty of renters in purple districts who are rent-burdened and who would love to see the Democratic majority in Olympia help them out, help keep their rent more affordable. So it's a huge political win for them. Some of this may be ideological opposition. Some of them may be getting a lot of money from apartment owners and landlords. Who knows? You got to look at the case by case. But gosh, you would hope that the State Senate has political sense - understands that this is not only the right thing to do, but a winner with the electorate, and passes the bill. But it is Olympia. And unfortunately, the State Senate in particular is often where good ideas go to die in Olympia. So we'll see what happens. [00:14:48] Crystal Fincher: We will see. We'll continue to follow that. Also want to talk about Alaska Airlines flight attendants this week authorizing a strike. Why did they authorize this, and what does this mean? [00:15:01] Robert Cruickshank: Well, I think it goes back to what we were talking about with workers in Renton. Flight attendants work long hours - they're not always paid for it. They're often only paid for when the flight is in the air. And their costs are going up, too. The expense of working in this country continues to rise and flight attendants continue to need to get paid well for that. Flight attendants' union is very well organized. There's the good Sara Nelson - Sara Nelson, head of the flight attendants' union, not Sara Nelson, head of Seattle City Council - is an amazing labor leader and has done a really good job advocating for the flight attendants across the industry. And you see that in the strike authorization vote - it was almost unanimous with almost complete 100% turnout from members of the Alaska Flight Attendants Union. Alaska Airlines has been facing its own issues lately, especially with some of their Boeing jets having problems. They've also, for the last 20 years, at least tried to cut costs everywhere they could. They outsourced what used to be unionized baggage handlers at SeaTac many years ago - that caused a big uproar. It was, in fact, concerns about Alaska Airlines and how they're paying ground crews that was a major factor in driving the SeaTac minimum wage ballot initiative way back in 2013. So here we are now - the Alaska Airlines flight attendants looking to get better treatment, better wages and working conditions. And huge support from the union. And as we've seen in this decade in particular, huge support from the public. And I think it's really worth noting - you and I can both remember the 90s, 2000s, when workers went out on strike weren't always getting widespread public support. And corporations had an ability to work the media to try to turn public against striking workers - now, teachers always had public support, firefighters had public support, but other workers didn't always. But that's really shifted. Here, there's a widespread public agreement that workers need to be treated well and paid well. You see that in Raise the Wage Renton succeeding. You see that in the huge public support for Starbucks workers out on strike who want a union contract. And if Alaska Airlines forces its flight attendants out on strike, you will see widespread public support for them as well, especially here in western Washington, where Alaska maintains a strong customer base. People in the Seattle area are loyal to Alaska, and they're going to support Alaska's flight attendants if they have to go out on strike. [00:17:20] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and there's still a number of steps that would need to happen in order for it to lead to an actual strike. The flight attendants' union and Alaska Airlines are currently in negotiations, which according to an Alaska statement, is still ongoing. They signal positivity there. Hopefully that is the case and that continues. But first-year flight attendants right now are averaging less than $24,000 in salary annually. And especially here, but basically anywhere, that's not a wage you can live on. Those are literally poverty wages. And this is happening while Alaska Airlines has touted significant profits, very high profits. They're in the process of attempting to acquire another airline for $1.9 billion right now. And so part of this, which is the first strike authorization in 30 years for this union - it's not like this happens all the time. This is really long-standing grievances and really long dealing with these poverty wages - and they just can't anymore. This is unsustainable. And so hopefully they are earnestly making a go at a real fair wage. And I do think they have the public support. It is something that we've recognized across the country, unionization efforts in many different sectors for many different people. This week, we even saw - The Stranger writers announced that they're seeking a union, and wish them best of luck with that. But looking at this being necessary across the board - and even in tech sectors, which before felt immune to unionization pushes and they used to tout all of their benefits and how they received everything they could ever want - we've seen how quickly that tide can change. We've seen how quickly mass layoffs can take over an industry, even while companies are reporting record profits. And so this is really just another link in this chain here, saying - You know what, you're going to have to give a fair deal. It's not only about shareholders. It's about the people actually working, actually delivering the products and services that these companies are known for. The folks doing the work deserve a share of those profits, certainly more than they're getting right now. [00:19:44] Robert Cruickshank: I think that's right. And again, the public sees that and they know that being a flight attendant isn't easy work. But whoever it is, whatever sector they're in, whatever work they're doing, the public has really shifted and is in a really good place. They recognize that corporations and governments need to do right by workers and pay them well. Hopefully the flight attendants can settle this without a strike. And hopefully Alaska Airlines understands that the last thing they need right now is a strike. They've had enough problems already. So hopefully the corporate leadership gets that. [00:20:13] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. I also want to talk about a new study that certainly a lot of people haven't found surprising, especially after two very high-profile gender discrimination lawsuits against SPD. But a study was actually done that included focus groups with Seattle officers, both male and female. And what was uncovered was a pervasive apparent gender discrimination problem within SPD. What was uncovered here? [00:20:45] Robert Cruickshank: All sorts of instances of gender discrimination - from blocked promotions, to negative comments, to inequities and inconsistencies in who gets leave - all sorts of things that made it an extremely hostile work environment for women. And some of the celebrated women of the department - Detective Cookie, who's well known for leading chess clubs in Rainier Beach, sued the department for gender and racial discrimination. And what the study shows that it's pervasive, but the only times it seemed to get any better were when women led the department - Kathleen O'Toole in the mid 2010s and then Carmen Best up until 2020 seemed to have a little bit of positive impact on addressing these problems. But under current leadership and other recent leadership, it's just not a priority. And it speaks, I think, to the real problems - the actual problems - facing police. You hear from people like Sara Nelson and others on the right that the reason it's hard to recruit officers is because - Oh, those mean old progressives tried to "Defund the Police' and they said mean things about the cops. That's not it at all. This report actually shows why there's a recruiting problem for police. Normal people don't want to go work for the police department. They see a department that is racist, sexist - nothing is being done to address it. Who would want to enter that hostile work environment? I remember when Mike McGinn was mayor - we were working for McGinn in the early 2010s - trying to address some of these same problems, trying to help recruit a department that not only reflected Seattle's diversity, but lived in Seattle - was rooted in the community - and how hard that was. And you're seeing why. It's because there's a major cultural problem with police departments all across the country - Seattle's not uniquely bad at being sexist towards women officers, it's a problem everywhere. But it's the city that you would think would try to do something about it. But what we're hearing from the city council right now - and they had their first Public Safety Committee meeting recently of the newly elected council - is the same usual nonsense that just thinks, Oh, if we give them a bunch more money and say nice things about cops and ease up a little bit on, maybe more than a little bit, on reform efforts trying to hold the department accountable - that officers will want to join the ranks. And that's just not going to happen. It is a cultural problem with the department. It is a structural problem. The red flags are everywhere. And it's going to take new leadership at the police department - maybe at City Hall - that takes this seriously, is willing to do the hard work of rooting out these attitudes. And you've got to keep in mind, when you look at this rank-and-file department - they elected Mike Solan to lead their union, SPOG - in January of 2020. Solan was a known Trumper, hard right-wing guy - and this is well before George Floyd protests began. Yet another sign that the problem is the department itself, the officers themselves, who are often engaging in this behavior or refusing to hold each other accountable. Because again, this toxic culture of - Well, we got to protect each other at all costs. - it's going to take major changes, and I don't see this City leadership at City Hall being willing to undertake the work necessary to fix it. [00:23:54] Crystal Fincher: I think you've hit the nail on the head there. And just demonstrating that once again, we get a clear illustration of why SPD has a problem recruiting. It is absolutely a cultural issue. It is what they have been getting away with despite dissatisfaction from women. And women in the department saying either we're targeted or discriminated against, but a lot of us - even though we're experiencing it - just try and keep our heads down and stay silent. And a lot of those people end up moving out eventually because who wants to work in an environment like this? We recognize this in every other industry. There's a reason why organizations and corporations tout their corporate culture, tout their benefits for women, their respect for women, their inclusion of women in leadership and executive-level positions. And we don't see that here. So if the leadership in charge of this - from Bruce Harrell, who is the ultimate head of the department, the buck stops with him to the police chief to the City Council - if they're actually serious about addressing this and not just using this as a campaign wedge issue with the rhetoric, they will have to address the culture of this department. Now, the Chair of the Seattle City Council's Public Safety Committee, Bob Kettle, who was recently elected in November, said that the hiring numbers were disappointed. He said - "The number of women that were hired in 2023 was not acceptable. We need to have a representative force where women are well represented. We need to be creating that culture and an environment of inclusion. And also the idea that you can advance, you can be promoted, you can move forward in the organization." So if he is serious about that, he has to address the culture - and that's going to involve addressing a number of things. That's going to involve, perhaps, addressing a number of the people currently in leadership who have created and who continue this culture and who are going to have to be dealt with if this is going to change. But this isn't something that's just going to change because there're new people elected in office. This isn't something that's just going to change because they're getting compliments more as a department and more funding has been thrown at them. This is going to take active engagement and a difference in leadership, a difference in training, a completely different approach. So we'll follow this. Mayor Bruce Harrell also said that he is planning to meet with women throughout the department to hear directly from them and listen to their concerns - we will see what results from those conversations and what happens. But now there is a lot of touted alignment between the mayor and city council here, so there really should be no roadblocks to them really addressing this substantively - if they're serious about addressing this. [00:26:58] Robert Cruickshank: I agree. And one of the ways you'll see whether they're serious or not is how they handle the SPOG contract. And one of the things that helps change a department's culture, where this sort of behavior is clearly known to not be tolerated, is for there to be real consequences. How are officers disciplined? How are officers fired? How are they held accountable? Right now, it's very difficult to remove an officer - the current contract rules make it very easy for an officer to contest a firing or disciplinary action and be reinstated or have the disciplinary action overturned. You're not going to eradicate a culture of racism and sexism without changing that as well. And that is at the core of the fight over the SPOG contract, and we will see whether the mayor and the city council are serious about cultural changes at SPD. And you'll see it in how they handle the SPOG contract - hopefully they'll put a strong one out and hold their ground when SPOG pushes back. But that's not going to happen, honestly, without the public really pushing City Hall hard. Because I think you see - from both the mayor and the city council - a desire to cut deals with SPOG, a desire to not go too hard at them. And I don't see - absent public mobilization - a strong SPOG contract coming. [00:28:07] Crystal Fincher: I think you're right about that. In other SPD public safety news, Seattle is planning a significant rollout of the ShotSpotter system. We've talked about that before here on the show - it's basically a surveillance system that's supposed to hear, to be able to determine gunshots from noises, to try and pinpoint where it came from. Unfortunately, it has been an absolute failure in several other cities - we've had lots of information and data about this. And this week, we received news that the City of Chicago is actually canceling their contract after this failed in their city. And so once again, people are asking the question - Why, with such a horrible track record, are we spending so much money and getting ready to roll this failed technology out in Seattle? Why is this happening? [00:29:04] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. I see people on social media speculating it's because of campaign donations and things like that. I'm not sure that's it. I honestly think this goes back to something Ron Davis said in the campaign when he was running for city council, criticizing his opponent, Maritza Rivera, who ultimately won, and other candidates in-line with Sara Nelson for wanting to, in his words, "spread magic fairy dust" around public safety issues and assume that would work. And that really, I think, is what ShotSpotter is. It's magic fairy dust. This idea that there's some magical technological tool that can quickly identify where a gunshot is happening and deploy the officers there immediately. It sounds cool when you first hear about it like that, but as you pointed out and as Amy Sundberg has written about extensively, it doesn't work - just literally doesn't work. The number of false positives are so high that officers are essentially sent on wild goose chases - you can't trust it, it's not worth the money. And Chicago, which is a city with a very serious gun violence problem, explored this. And for them to reject it means it clearly does not work, and Chicago needs solutions that work. I think honestly, the reason why the city is adopting is they want to do something that looks like they're acting, that looks like they're taking it seriously, even though this isn't going to actually succeed. It is very much that magic fairy dust of trying to appear serious about gun violence, without really tackling the core issues that are happening here, without tackling the problems with policing, without tackling the underlying problems in communities and neighborhoods that can cause gun violence. There is a growing issue at schools in Seattle with gun violence. And students have been trying to raise this issue for a while, ever since a shooting at Ingraham High School in late 2022, another shooting that led to another student's death in near Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle recently, to a group of students robbing another student at Ingraham High School at gunpoint in recent weeks. There's a serious problem. And what you're not seeing is the City or the school district, to be honest, taking that very seriously or really responding in the ways that the students are demanding responses. And I think the really sad story with something like ShotSpotter is all this money and effort is being spent on a clearly failed piece of technology when other answers that students and community members are crying out for aren't being delivered. That's a real problem. [00:31:21] Crystal Fincher: It is absolutely a real problem. And I think there's near unanimous concern and desire for there to be real earnest effort to fix this. We know things that help reduce gun violence - there's lots of data out about that. The city and county have done some of them. They've implemented some of them on very limited basis. But it is challenging to see so much money diverted elsewhere to failed technologies and solutions like this, while actual evidence-based solutions are starved, defunded, and are not getting the kind of support they deserve - and that the residents of the city, that the students in our schools deserve. This is a major problem that we have to deal with seriously. And this just isn't serious at all. I feel like - it was the early 2010s - this technology came out and it was in that era of "the tech will save us" - everyone was disrupting in one way or another. There were lots of promises being made about new technology. And unfortunately, we saw with a lot of it in a lot of different areas that it just didn't deliver on the promises. So I don't fault people for initially saying - Hey, this may be another tool in the toolkit that we can use. But over the past 10 years, through several implementations in Atlanta, Pasadena, San Antonio, Dayton, Ohio, Chicago - it has failed to deliver anything close to what has happened. In fact, it's been harmful in many areas. And so you have people who are interested in solving this problem who are not just saying - Hey, we just need to throw our hands up and do nothing here. We're not trying to minimize the problem. They're in active roles and positions really saying - Hey, this is a priority. And unfortunately, this is not a serious solution to the problem. The Cook County state's attorney's office found that ShotSpotter had a "minimal effect on prosecuting gun violence cases," with their report saying "ShotSpotter is not making a significant impact on shooting incidents," with only 1% of shooting incidents ending in a ShotSpotter arrest. And it estimates the cost per ShotSpotter incident arrestee is over $200,000. That is not a wise use of government expenditures. A large study found that ShotSpotter has no impact - literally no impact - on the number of murder arrests or weapons arrests. And the Chicago's Office of Inspector General concluded that "CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts rarely produced documented evidence of any gun-related crime, investigatory stop, or recovery of a firearm." Also, one of the big reasons why Seattle is saying they're implementing this is - Well, we're so short-staffed that we really need this technology and it's going to save manpower, it's going to save our officers' time, it's going to really take a lot of the work off their plate. Unfortunately, the exact opposite was shown to happen with ShotSpotter - "ShotSpotter does not make police more efficient or relieve staffing shortages." In fact, they found it's the opposite. ShotSpotter vastly increases the number of police deployments in response to supposed gunfire, but with no corresponding increase in gun violence arrests or other interventions. In fact, ShotSpotter imposes such a massive drain on police resources that it slows down police response to actual 911 emergencies reported by the public. This is a problem. It's not just something that doesn't work. It's actually actively harmful. It makes the problems worse that these elected officials are saying that they're seeking to address. With the challenges that we're experiencing with gun violence, with the absolute need to make our cities safer - to reduce these incidences - we quite literally cannot afford this. And so I hope they take a hard look at this, but it is really defying logic - in the midst of a budget crisis, in the midst of a gun violence crisis - to be embarking on this. I really hope they seriously evaluate what they're doing here. [00:35:54] Robert Cruickshank: I agree. And what you're raising is this question of where should we be putting the resources? And shout out to Erica C. Barnett at PubliCola, who's been writing in the last week or so some really good articles on this very topic - where is SPD putting its resources? A few days ago, she had a very well-reported article at PubliCola about enforcement of prostitution on Aurora Avenue, which is a very controversial thing to be doing for many reasons - is this is actually how you should protect sex workers? But also, is this how we should be prioritizing police resources? Whatever you think of sex work, pro or con, whatever your opinion is - is that where police resources should be going right now when we don't have as many officers as the City would like to have, when there's gun violence, and when there's property crime? And then she also reported recently about, speaking of Bob Kettle, he put out this proposal that he wants to focus on what he calls a "permissive environment towards crime" and closing unsecured vacant buildings, graffiti remediation as priorities. Again, whatever you think about vacant buildings and graffiti - how does that rank on a list of priorities when there are problems with gun violence in the City of Seattle? There are problems with real violent crime in the City of Seattle. And how are police department resources being allocated? I think these are questions that the public needs to be asking pretty tough questions about to City Hall, to Bob Kettle, to Sara Nelson, to Bruce Harrell, and SPD. Because, again, they haven't solved the cultural problem with SPD. They're not going to get many new officers until they do. So how do you use the resources you have right now? And it doesn't look like they're being allocated very effectively, whether it's cracking down, in their terms, on sex work on Aurora or buying things like ShotSpotter. It just seems like they're chasing what they think are easy wins that are not going to do anything to actually address the problem. And we will be here a year or two later still talking about problems with gun violence because City Hall didn't make it a real priority. [00:37:52] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Also want to talk this week about news that was covered - actually in The Seattle Times and elsewhere - about the private sector kind of corresponding organization to the King County Regional Homeless Authority - We Are In, a philanthropic endeavor from some of the richest residents in the states and corporations in the state - actually folded. It was a failure. What happened? Why did this fall apart? [00:38:24] Robert Cruickshank: A lot of this stems from the debate in 2018 over the Head Tax - taxing Amazon to fund services related to homelessness. Mayor Ed Murray declared way back in, I think 2014, a state of emergency around homelessness. We're 10 years into that and nothing's been done. But what the City was looking to do in 2018 - Mike O'Brien and others were talking about bringing back the Head Tax, taxing the corporations in the city to fund services to address the homelessness issue. And the pushback from Amazon and others was - You don't need to tax us. We'll spend money better than government can and do it ourselves. And so that's what things like We Are In was intended to do. It was really intended to try to forestall new taxes by, in theory, showing that the private sector - through philanthropic efforts - can solve this more effectively. And guess what? They can't. In part because homelessness is a major challenge to solve without government resources, without major changes in how we build housing and how we provide services and where they're provided. And what you're seeing is that a philanthropic effort is not going to solve that. They keep chasing it because I think they have a political imperative to do so. But what happened was that We Are In wasn't producing the result they wanted to, leadership problems. And now Steve Ballmer is talking about - Well, maybe we'll just fund the King County Regional Homelessness Authority directly. It's like - okay, in that case, what's so different between that and taxation? There is a report that consultants came up with - I think got publicized in 2019 or 2020 - that the region would need to spend something like $450 million a year to really solve homelessness. You could easily raise that money through taxes and taxing corporations and wealthy individuals. And they are just so adamantly opposed to doing that. They would rather try to make philanthropic donations here and there, even when it's clearly insufficient to meet the need. It's not well thought out. It's not well programmed and just falls apart quickly. [00:40:27] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. I agree. Over so many years, we've heard so many times - Just run it like a business. We need to run government like a business. And over and over and over again, we see that fail - that doesn't work. When you can't target what you're doing to a certain market, when you're only serving a limited subset - when you have to serve the entire public, when you have to actually invest in people, and this isn't a quick product or service that you can use that automatically fixes a situation, there have to be systemic issues that are addressed. And sometimes there's this attitude that - Oh, it's so simple to fix. If you just put a business person in charge of it, they'll get it done. Look at how they built their company. They can certainly tackle this. And over and over again - this is the latest example - that just simply doesn't work. They aren't the same. They aren't the same set of skills. They operate on different levels. There's different training. Lots of stuff is just absolutely different. And part of me, fundamentally, wishes we would stop denigrating and insulting the people who have been doing this work, who have been really consistently voicing their concerns about what's needed, about what their experience shows solves this problem, about what is actually working. There are things that are working. There are things going right in our region that we seem to not pay attention to or that we seem to, especially from the perspective of a number of these organizations who spend so much money to fight taxes, spend so much money to pick councilmembers, saying - Well, we think we have a better solution here. And so we wasted time trying and failing with this when, again, the answer is systemic. We have to sustainably fund the types of housing and resources that get people housed once more, that prevent people from becoming unhoused, and that make this region affordable for everyone so that one unforeseen expense can't launch someone into homelessness. We have been doing a poor job on all of those accounts as a region for so long that it's going to take significant investment and effort to turn things around. Some of that is happening, and I'm encouraged by some things that we're seeing. But at the same time, we're also hearing, especially in the midst of these budget problems that cities are dealing with, that they're looking at unfunding and rolling back these things. Interesting on the heels of this ShotSpotter conversation, where we're investing money into that - they're talking about de-investing, about defunding homelessness responses, public health responses to these crises. And I think we have just seen that this group involved with this effort just does not understand the problem, had the opportunity to meaningfully participate in a fix, and it just didn't work out. That's great - they're doing a great job running their businesses. They can continue to do that. But it's time to really follow what the evidence says fixes this and not what business titans are wishing would fix it. [00:43:55] Robert Cruickshank: That's exactly right. And yet for the business titans, it's a question of power. They want to be the ones to ultimately decide how their money gets spent, not we the people or our elected representatives. I think of one of the things we started out talking about today is - rent stabilization bill in Olympia. Capping rent increases is a way to reduce homelessness. There are plenty of people who are pushed into homelessness by a rent increase they can't afford. Steve Ballmer calling up those State senators who are going to be tackling this bill saying - Hey, this would really help reduce homelessness if you pass this bill. I'm going to doubt that Steve Ballmer is making those calls. If I'm wrong, I'm happy to be wrong. I don't think I am. For them, they want the power to decide how their money is spent. And even when they spend it poorly, they still want that power. And I think they're willing to hoard that power even at the expense of people who really are in need, who are living without a home, and who need all of our help urgently. [00:44:49] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely agree. The last point I would want to make is that it's not like philanthropic funding is all evil, it's never helpful - it is. But this is about who is leading the solutions here and what we're doing. And I think that there are so many experts - so many people in organizations who are doing this work well - who need that additional funding. Let's put that philanthropic money into systems that are working instead of trying to recreate the wheel once again. So much time and money was lost here that so many people can't afford and that have had really horrible consequences. And I think a number of people who went into this were probably well-intentioned. But it just goes to show once again that - we know what works. And no matter how much we wish that it could be some simple fix over here, that it wouldn't require any public expenditure, it absolutely does. So it'll be interesting to follow and see what happens from there. And with that, I thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, February 16th, 2024. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is the incredible Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today was Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, longtime communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank. You can find Robert on Twitter at @cruickshank. You can find Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. You can find me on all platforms at @finchfrii, with two I's at the end. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

Capitol Ideas:  The Washington State House Democratic Caucus Podcast
This is a good one. Today's ideator on Capitol Ideas is Rep. Tana Senn from the 41st legislative district, which stretches from Mercer Island east to Samammish and from Newcastle up to Bellevue. She chairs the House Committee on Human Services, Youth and

Capitol Ideas: The Washington State House Democratic Caucus Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2024 22:40


It's Day 39 of the 60-day 2024 legislative session in Olympia, and schedules are tight. We were lucky to grab 20 minutes with Rep. Tana Senn, and the luck is yours, as well. Her bills on emission-free school buses, adult family homes, firearm safety, and getting special-needs kids off on the right foot are moving toward the governor's desk, and we'll talk about all these and more in today's Capitol Ideas.

Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books
Miriam Landis, LAUREN IN THE LIMELIGHT

Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2024 27:42


Zibby welcomes professional ballerina and faculty member at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miriam Landis, to discuss LAUREN IN THE LIMELIGHT, a heart-warming middle-grade novel that revolves around three young dancers in a small-town ballet school in Mercer Island as they navigate the challenges of ballet, including the significant milestone of going on pointe. Miriam shares insights into her writing process during the pandemic, her decision to start her own publishing house, Rhododendron Press, and the importance of authentic representation in literature, especially for the dance community. Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/476xLFjShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens! Now there's more! Subscribe to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books on Acast+ and get ad-free episodes. https://plus.acast.com/s/moms-dont-have-time-to-read-books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stories From Women Who Walk
Copy of 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey: All it Takes Is Intention to Use Our Voice, Speak Our Mind, Make the Change We Seek

Stories From Women Who Walk

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2023 2:27


Hello to you listening o Mercer Island, Washington!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine that voicing your ideas is an act of creation. When we have the courage to use our voice to speak our mind to say what we mean and mean what we say we have taken a bold and beautiful step toward making happen what we desire.Our best chance of being seen, heard, understood and listened to is by speaking with intention. Together we can find the words you didn't know you had to speak your ideas with confidence and conviction to make the change you seek.CTA: Whether you are ready to work with me as your trusted story guide or getting ready to be ready, I'm here to support you at Quarter Moon Story Arts! You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly Engaged Storyism© Network NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane and on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 2 - Will you listen to CDC's turkey cooking advice?

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2023 42:51


Josh Hammer in for Jason Rantz What’s Trending: Niagara incident likely not linked to terrorism—it is still a concern that is the first thing we think.  Big Local: Antisemitic hatred strikes Mercer Island, a brazen burglary outside of a grocery store in Sumner and a fire at Renton senior apartments displaces many ahead of holidays. You Pick: CDC says you should not wash your turkey before cooking it and Target is at again with holiday pride merchandise.  

The Tom and Curley Show
Hour 1: Mercer Island high school to play in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Tom and Curley Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2023 32:46


3pm - Mercer Island high school band touches down in NYC to play in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade // John’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade story // How much of a raise will REALLY make you happy? // Snoop fooled us all

The Tom and Curley Show
Hour 4: How much of a raise will REALLY make you happy?

The Tom and Curley Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2023 32:46


6pm - Mercer Island high school band touches down in NYC to play in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade // John’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade story // How much of a raise will REALLY make you happy? // Snoop fooled us all

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 1 - Don't let TikTok teach your kids

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2023 43:18


What’s Trending: Concerning trend of non-charged sexual assault cases in King County and kid should not be getting news from TikTok. // Josh Hammer and other speakers for YAF get shouted down on campus. // Rantz is somewhat happy for Mercer Island band kids and then he gets mad about Black Friday shopping tips.

The Bryan Suits Show
Hour 3: George Washington and systems of measurement

The Bryan Suits Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2023 45:47


Bryan talks about some of the games he watched over the weekend. About a year ago, Matthew Perry talked about how he wanted to be remembered in life. Comedian Nate Bargatze took part in a hilarious SNL sketch about George Washington and U.S. systems of measurement. Kamala Harris downplayed the border crisis in an interview with 60 Minutes. There was a deadly crash involving a wrong-way driver on Mercer Island this morning. // People in Lakewood posed Halloween skeletons in lewd positions. A checking of the texting. // Bryan wants to go check out the suggestive skeletons in Lakewood. Wild card in the Middle East is the remote possibility Iran is making a dirty bomb to make Israel unliveable. Woman fled to China after fatal crash in Bellevue.

The Jason Rantz Show
Hour 2 - More calls for a King County director to step down

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2023 45:42


What’s Trending: Second King County councilmember wants director to step down for anti-Semitism and University Place school board candidate Linda Wojciechowski highlights her campaign to bring values back to schools.  Big Local: Encouraging number of people attended Israel support rally in Bellevue, and a Mercer Island family frets over daughter living in Israel. You Pick: Is it problematic to jail someone over hateful speech? Rantz highlights an incident involving a French-Swiss writer.

The Ari Hoffman Show
October 9, 2023: Jewish blood is on Biden's hands

The Ari Hoffman Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2023 118:33


Israel at war with Hamas after surprise attacks, over 900 Israelis and at least 11 Americans are dead -- Ari explains why the atrocities committed by terrorists against a country the size of New Jersey on the other side of the world matter to you here in the United States and Washington, and why the Biden administration has blood on their hands Protestors clash in Kirkland over Hamas attack // AOC, squad members SLAMMED after calling for

Stories From Women Who Walk
60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey: All it Takes Is Intention to Use Our Voice, Speak Our Mind, Make the Change We Seek

Stories From Women Who Walk

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2023 2:27


Hello to you listening o Mercer Island, Washington!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine that voicing your ideas is an act of creation. When we have the courage to use our voice to speak our mind to say what we mean and mean what we say we have taken a bold and beautiful step toward making happen what we desire.Our best chance of being seen, heard, understood and listened to is by speaking with intention. Together we can find the words you didn't know you had to speak your ideas with confidence and conviction to make the change you seek.CTA: Whether you are ready to work with me as your trusted story guide or getting ready to be ready, I'm here to support you at Quarter Moon Story Arts! You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly Engaged Storyism© Network NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane and on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

SynGAP10 weekly 10 minute updates on SYNGAP1 (video)
So much news, double catch up episode. #S10e111

SynGAP10 weekly 10 minute updates on SYNGAP1 (video)

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2023 23:49


*Note, we aware part of the video froze; that's life!    RESEARCH! - Dr. Helbig gave a killer presentation today… at Stanford.  It was so cool to see SYNGAP1 mentioned. “Deciphering the Epilepsy Phenome – Understanding Longitudinal disease trajectories and outcomes” it showed how much data you can get form EHRs, ciitizen and NHS.  We need them all.  Sign up for Ciitizen!  https://www.ciitizen.com/SYNGAP1/ - SRF Supported work out of Huganir's Lab is on BioRx! https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.06.552111v1.full.pdf - Grants due on 9/1, already seeing good stuff. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/grants/how-to-apply   VOLUNTEER SITE IS UP - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/volunteer-with-syngap-research-fund   WEBINARS ARE A VALUABLE RESOURCE - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/families/resources/all-webinars/webinars - Yesterday, Dr. Underbakk, Previously with Dr. Courtney   NPR ARTICLE INCLUDING JACKIE KANCIR - https://wpln.org/post/episodes/the-cost-of-care-for-disabilities-and-chronic-illness   SYNGAP STORIES Ashley Frye is killing it.  Suzanne Jones just did an episode.  The CHOP team listens, so do clinicians.  Call Ashley and share your story.   COMPANY UPDATES - Stoke had great news - https://investor.stoketherapeutics.com/news-releases/news-release-details/stoke-therapeutics-reports-second-quarter-financial-results-2 - Praxis also having good results - https://investors.praxismedicines.com/news-releases/news-release-details/praxis-precision-medicines-provides-corporate-update-and-9 - Have not heard from RegEl or Ionis.   EVENTS - Getting ready for the Soiree - August 26th. - Cannonball set for October 4-6 - SRF SYNGAP1 CONFERENCE      - Register, book etc. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/syngap1-roundtable-2023-syngap-research-fund     - Watch #s10e109 https://youtu.be/to8SAwdzCmg   BIOMARKERS NEED BIOSAMPLES AND EEGS - Combined Brain collections are great Dr. TJB met our very own Pavel this weekend!  Plasma, plasma, plasma. - UCLA Study is moving forward for EEG collection.  Contact Declan via study page.   Upcoming times and places to do biosamples, thanks you Corey we are at 18 Syngapians and 21 Siblings.  KEEP GOING - GLUT1 Deficiency, August 26th, 9am-5pm (Embassy Suites, 13700 Conference Center Drive South, Noblesville, IN 46060) - IRF2BPL Foundation, Sept 22nd-23rd 2023 (Home 2 Suites by Hilton, 7145 Liberty Centre Drive, Liberty Township, OH 45069, 513-644-2207) - KCNQ2 Cure Alliance Conference, Sept 29th-30th 2023 (Hilton Hotel Chicago 300 E Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60611) - NARS1 Conference, October 1st, 9am-5pm (13550 Commerce Blvd Rogers, MN 55374) - Prader-Willi Syndrome/USP7 Foundation, October 5-7 (1672 Lawrence St, Denver, CO 80202) - TBRS Community, Oct 12th-14th 2023 (Morgan's Wonderland, 5223 David Edwards Dr, San Antonio, TX 78233) - COMBINEDBrain Meeting, Oct 15th-16th 2023 (Washington DC) - FAM177A1, Oct 29th 2023, 9am-5pm (2737 77th Ave Se Suite 101 Mercer Island, WA 98040) - ADNP Syndrome, Oct 30th-Nov 1st 2023 (Los Angeles, CA) - SYNGAP1 Research Fund, Dec 1st-3rd 2023 (8978 International Drive Orlando, FL, 32819) —--- CONFERENCE  Registration link: https://Syngap.Fund/Orlando   Hotels ASAP: https://Syngap.Fund/2023hotel  Shirts https://www.bonfire.com/srf-syngap1-conference-2023/    Volunteer with SRF! Info@SyngapResearchFund.org    This is a podcast: subscribe to and rate this 10 minute #podcast #SYNGAP10 here  - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/syngap10-podcast Apple podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/syngap10-weekly-10-minute-updates-on-syngap1-video/id1560389818 Episode 111 of #Syngap10 - August 12, 2023 #epilepsy #autism #intellectualdisability #id #anxiety #raredisease #epilepsyawareness #autismawareness #rarediseaseresearch #SynGAPResearchFund #CareAboutRare #PatientAdvocacy #GCchat #Neurology #GeneChat

SynGAP10 weekly 10 minute updates on SYNGAP1 (video)
So much news, double catch up episode. #S10e111

SynGAP10 weekly 10 minute updates on SYNGAP1 (video)

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2023 23:49


*Note, we are aware part of the video froze; that's life!  RESEARCH! - Dr. Helbig gave a killer presentation today… at Stanford.  It was so cool to see SYNGAP1 mentioned. “Deciphering the Epilepsy Phenome – Understanding Longitudinal disease trajectories and outcomes” it showed how much data you can get form EHRs, ciitizen and NHS.  We need them all.  Sign up for Ciitizen!  https://www.ciitizen.com/SYNGAP1/ - SRF Supported work out of Huganir's Lab is on BioRx! https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.06.552111v1.full.pdf - Grants due on 9/1, already seeing good stuff. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/grants/how-to-apply VOLUNTEER SITE IS UP - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/volunteer-with-syngap-research-fund WEBINARS ARE A VALUABLE RESOURCE - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/families/resources/all-webinars/webinars - Yesterday, Dr. Underbakk, Previously with Dr. Courtney NPR ARTICLE INCLUDING JACKIE KANCIR - https://wpln.org/post/episodes/the-cost-of-care-for-disabilities-and-chronic-illness SYNGAP STORIESAshley Frye is killing it.  Suzanne Jones just did an episode.  The CHOP team listens, so do clinicians.  Call Ashley and share your story. COMPANY UPDATES - Stoke had great news - https://investor.stoketherapeutics.com/news-releases/news-release-details/stoke-therapeutics-reports-second-quarter-financial-results-2 - Praxis also having good results - https://investors.praxismedicines.com/news-releases/news-release-details/praxis-precision-medicines-provides-corporate-update-and-9 - Have not heard from RegEl or Ionis. EVENTS - Getting ready for the Soiree - August 26th. - Cannonball set for October 4-6 - SRF SYNGAP1 CONFERENCE      - Register, book etc. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/syngap1-roundtable-2023-syngap-research-fund     - Watch #s10e109 https://youtu.be/to8SAwdzCmg BIOMARKERS NEED BIOSAMPLES AND EEGS - Combined Brain collections are great Dr. TJB met our very own Pavel this weekend!  Plasma, plasma, plasma. - UCLA Study is moving forward for EEG collection.  Contact Declan via study page. Upcoming times and places to do biosamples, thanks you Corey we are at 18 Syngapians and 21 Siblings.  KEEP GOING - GLUT1 Deficiency, August 26th, 9am-5pm (Embassy Suites, 13700 Conference Center Drive South, Noblesville, IN 46060) - IRF2BPL Foundation, Sept 22nd-23rd 2023 (Home 2 Suites by Hilton, 7145 Liberty Centre Drive, Liberty Township, OH 45069, 513-644-2207) - KCNQ2 Cure Alliance Conference, Sept 29th-30th 2023 (Hilton Hotel Chicago 300 E Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60611) - NARS1 Conference, October 1st, 9am-5pm (13550 Commerce Blvd Rogers, MN 55374) - Prader-Willi Syndrome/USP7 Foundation, October 5-7 (1672 Lawrence St, Denver, CO 80202) - TBRS Community, Oct 12th-14th 2023 (Morgan's Wonderland, 5223 David Edwards Dr, San Antonio, TX 78233) - COMBINEDBrain Meeting, Oct 15th-16th 2023 (Washington DC) - FAM177A1, Oct 29th 2023, 9am-5pm (2737 77th Ave Se Suite 101 Mercer Island, WA 98040) - ADNP Syndrome, Oct 30th-Nov 1st 2023 (Los Angeles, CA) - SYNGAP1 Research Fund, Dec 1st-3rd 2023 (8978 International Drive Orlando, FL, 32819) —--- CONFERENCE  Registration link: https://Syngap.Fund/Orlando   Hotels ASAP: https://Syngap.Fund/2023hotel  Shirts https://www.bonfire.com/srf-syngap1-conference-2023/  Volunteer with SRF! Info@SyngapResearchFund.org  This is a podcast: subscribe to and rate this 10 minute #podcast #SYNGAP10 here  - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/syngap10-podcast Apple podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/syngap10-weekly-10-minute-updates-on-syngap1-video/id1560389818 Episode 111 of #Syngap10 - August 12, 2023 #epilepsy #autism #intellectualdisability #id #anxiety #raredisease #epilepsyawareness #autismawareness #rarediseaseresearch #SynGAPResearchFund #CareAboutRare #PatientAdvocacy #GCchat #Neurology #GeneChat --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/syngap10/message

Education Suspended
The Empathic Connection

Education Suspended

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2023 42:46


In today's episode we sit down and connect with Dr. Jon Conte. Jon shares his expertise on the impacts of trauma as it pertains to “trauma-informed” and what a truly trauma-informed environment means for those in education. He shares with us that the power of the empathic connection is so strong for students in schools, yet can also create the vulnerability of the empathic strain on the teachers. Jon highlights that providing a space where teachers can openly process their experiences, is vital in combating burnout.  Dr. Jon Conte is a world renowned expert on mental health issues related to child abuse and trauma. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington and maintains a private practice on Mercer Island, specializing in forensic mental health issues surrounding child abuse and the effect of trauma work on health care professionals. Jon is the editor of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and Trauma, Violence and Abuse: A Review Journal, and is the consulting editor for the Journal of Forensic Social Work. Intro Song: Poet's Row, Young Bones