On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and Shauna Sowersby discuss:

🌊 Historic flooding across WA

🛡️ Protecting workers from immigration raids

⚔️ Legislature's public records fight continues

📉 County plans for Trump homelessness changes

💸 New SPOG contract = bad deal for Seattle

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Shauna Sowersby at @ssowersby.

Seattle's creative economy drives 18% of city GDP but artists can't afford to live here. Randy Engstrom, co-leading Mayor-Elect Wilson's arts transition team, argues culture must be central to solving housing, education, and economic challenges - not treated as expendable when budgets get tight.

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find Randy Engstrom on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/randyengstrom/.

On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and David Kroman discuss:

✂️ Ferguson budget relies on cuts

🧑‍⚖️ Trump sues WA

🏢 Affordable housing bailout

🔮 Significance of Wilson hires

✋ Eddie Lin sworn into Council

🚈 Light rail arrives in South King Co!

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, David Kroman at @kromandavid.

Senator Rebecca Saldaña is preparing for her 10th year representing South Seattle's 37th Legislative District with plans to address healthcare access, immigration protections, and Washington's budget shortfall.

In a recent interview on the Hacks & Wonks podcast, Saldaña outlined her priorities for the January legislative session. She said her work remains grounded in the experiences of immigrant and refugee families, working people, LGBTQ residents, and those fighting displacement in her district.

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find Senator Rebecca Saldaña at @rebeccasaldana1.

On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and Erica Barnett discuss:

▶️ Mayor-elect Katie Wilson's transition

▶️ KC Exec Zahilay's staff review

▶️ Council hands a budget of Harrell's priorities to Wilson

▶️ Pipeline spill raises safety concerns

▶️ Is ICE using local surveillance in WA?

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Erica Barnett, on Bluesky at @ericacbarnett and on PubliCola.com.

Washington state's 2025 elections saw progressives win across multiple cities and legislative districts, with people-powered campaigns and bold ideas beating out establishment moderates. Listen in to the Hacks & Wonks 2025 Post-Election Roundtable from Tuesday, November 11, 2025, as the strategists who saw it coming explain what pundits missed!

Panelists:

• Stephen Paolini, Principal at Bottled Lightning Collective

• Lexi Koren, Communications Consultant with PowerHouse Strategic

• Crystal Fincher, Executive Director of KVRU and Hacks & Wonks Host

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's special guests, Stephen Paolini at ‪@stephenpaolini, and Lexi Koren at @lexikoren.

On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and Robert Cruickshank discuss:

🤩 Katie Wilson elected mayor!

🌊 Progressive wave across region and state

👀 What to watch out for next

🏫 Role of Stranger school board endorsements

⚔️ Looking forward to legislative session

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Robert Cruickshank, on Bluesky at @robertcruickshank.com.

On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and Robert Cruickshank discuss:

⚾ Mariners!

💸 Seattle wastes homelessness money

⛔ SPOG undermining popular CARE team

🚫 Seattle School Board rejects cop at Garfield

🗳️ Use dropboxes to vote!

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Robert Cruickshank, on Bluesky at @robertcruickshank.com.

On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and Melissa Santos discuss:

WA/CA/OR vaccine alliance

Cell phones in schools

Firefighter immigration raid = inside job

Harrell pushes light rail extensions despite shortfall

Autonomous vehicles pilot starts

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Melissa Santos at @melissajsantos.

Amy Sundberg, public safety reporter for The Urbanist and publisher of Notes from the Emerald City, joins Hacks & Wonks to discuss how Seattle's City Council is poised to expand the city's surveillance pilot program before collecting any evaluation data on its effectiveness, raising concerns among privacy advocates about potential federal access to the data amid heightened immigration enforcement.

The expansion, scheduled for a final council vote on September 9 at 2:30 p.m., would install new cameras in three areas and tap into Seattle Department of Transportation's existing network of traffic management cameras, adding more than 365 cameras total to the Seattle Police Department's Real-Time Crime Center.

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find Amy Sundberg at @amysundberg.