KIRO Newsradio Commentaries

Charlie Harger has a bold idea for how to handle the traffic in Seattle 

Over the weekend, after some fact-checking, the news shows did a deep analysis into why J.D. Vance and Donald Trump would spread a rumor about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating pets and hunting geese.

It’s a little concerning because they’re running for a job where the decisions involve trillions of dollars and the world’s most powerful military – and they went public with a story that turned out to be a neighborhood rumor.

I understand why they’d run with it. It’s because some stories are just too good to fact-check. And sure enough, once fact-checking was done here, the story fell apart and became boring: It was based on fourth-hand information; pictures of a cat and geese from unrelated incidents.

It’s so simple. Treat people well and they will treat you well in return.

We all want to save the Earth, but none of us wants to pay for it. And in November, we’ll get a chance to say so — by repealing the Climate Commitment Act, better known as the law that broke my gas budget.

How did it come to this?

We all have our own stories to tell, here's one from Patti Payne. 

It’s getting harder to deny what’s happening in Auburn.

Less than a week ago, I reported on the growing wave of shootings and stabbings in the city, the kind of violence that keeps you up at night — if not from worry, then from the sounds of actual gunfire.

Brittany Reid, who helps run the Auburn Washington Community Facebook page, didn’t sugarcoat it to me.

Feliks Banel discusses the important role radio still plays in his life 

Sometimes you just need to look outside, take a deep breathe and head to the beach

I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership lately.

I know leadership is not just spewing empty political talk and platitudes on both sides of the aisle. I wish for people in positions of power to stop rattling on in jibber-jabber and put some integrity — oh my gosh — even honesty in their words.

And that takes listening to the people who voted for them, and listening to those who didn’t. What? I can wish, can’t I?

Before the Supreme Court ruling in June, many West Coast cities faced legal landmines if they forced homeless people off the streets without offering an alternative.

But with the nation’s highest court weighing in, cities have options again.