KIRO Radio Rundown

Cal Anderson Park transformed into an unsanctioned homeless encampment in recent months, and the city planned to clear it this week. 

The plan was derailed after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman living in the park, arguing it violated the requirement to provide shelter to anyone displaced by a sweep. 

Gee Scott is frustrated enough at this point to start advocating for forced removal. 

John Curley says there's a difference between protesters and the homeless, and sometimes that gets lost. 

The judge, after considering the arguments, decided to allow the sweep to move forward. Tom Tangney is worried about the clash that might be to come. 

Ultimately this story is another example of Seattle's active activist culture, a reason some officers cite when they leave the region. Dori spoke to former King County Sgt. Viktor White about why he left for Arkansas.

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The first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered today in Washington state. Dori Monson is bothered that one particularly group might get it first even though he doesn't think they've done enough to comply with the lockdown restrictions. Tom and John wish Elvis Presley was still around to convince people to actually get the shot. And Gee and Ursula explain why your boss should give you a sick day to get vaccinated. 

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This week there was a working paper put out by the National Bureau of Economic research suggesting that US media is considerably more negative in their reporting on COVID-19 than other English speaking media. 

A couple KIRO Radio shows grappled with why this might be. 

Tom Tangney pointed out that some people might actually find negative news comforting somehow.

"It's like you're trying to protect yourself," Tangney said. "You want to know everything bad that's out there so you can be safe." 

John Curley responded that the problem is this can result in people being less pessimistic than they should be. 

"We don't really see the big picture, we don't see the progress being made," Curley said. 

Ursula Reutin believes this was more true in years past, but that the media has actually been trying to avoid this reputation. 

"There's always been that line 'if it bleeds, it leads," Reutin said. "We've really tried to move away from that. We've really gone to the standard of 'does anyone care? Does this impact people?'" 

Gee Scott argued the focus on the negative is also true in sports journalism. 

"If they're going to report something on a player, it sounds like this," Gee said, "'This player: DUI, this player: domestic violence." 

"The negative news sells," Ursula responded. 

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We've only just learned this week that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan won't be seeking a second term. But it's never too early for some irresponsible speculation! 

Dori Monson worries this might open the door to a "true marxist." He did, though, make it clear that he won't be in running for multiple reasons. For one, he doesn't live in the city, and he doesn't want to get involved in politics, especially if he doesn't think he can win. Try checking in with him in 4 years when there's another gubernatorial race. 

Gee Scott brought up a couple names including fellow host Dave Ross or former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best. 

Ross was conspicuously silent after his name was brought up, but facetiously brought up someone else. 

"Loren Culp is free," Ross joked. "You want a fresh set of eyes?" 

John Curley couldn't imagine anyone in their right mind would want the job of Seattle mayor. Tom Tangney suggested Durkan could dealt an unbelievably unlucky hand, but that doesn't necessarily mean whoever takes her place will suffer the same. 

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Usually this podcast is a space where we collect the takes from all the shows on the biggest story of the week. I'm not sure I can accurately describe this story as the "biggest." I just thought after like 19 of these we could do a fun one.

George Clooney made headlines this week after telling CBS Sunday Morning that he's been cutting his hair with a Flowbee for years.  

If you don't remember what a Flowbee is, or, like me, you weren't alive when they were invented, here's the original infomercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK7_VSpTyVY 

The Clooney anecdote reminded Dori Monson that he had considered getting a Flowbee at the begining of the pandemic, but they proved harder to track down than he imagined. 

John Curley actually believes Clooney is lying about this for publicity. 

Listening to Clooney talk about this inspired Gee and Ursula producer Andrew Lanier to suggest Curley sounds like Clooney. Which is ironic because Curley was just talking this week about how his son makes fun of him for sounding similar to another public figure with a last name that begins with the letter "C." But only when he's angry. 

Tune in and decide for yourself. 

Apologies to Seattle's Morning News, they're way too cool to ever cover a story like this and unfortunately get left out this week. 

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We're back for the first time after a bit of a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

The news hasn't changed a whole lot in our absence, though. We had another Inslee press conference to start this week off where he announced a new app you can download to assist in contact tracing. 

Hanna Scott of Seattle's Morning News walked us through the premise of the app. 

Dori Monson argues this isn't about public safety but engendering fear. 

John Curley and Tom Tangney tried to parse the data and determine whether Washington has been at all successful at contact tracing. 

Gee and Ursula consulted virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen about why restaurants are considered vectors of spread even though the data can be so difficult to collect. 

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On Sunday Governor Jay Inslee announced new restrictions in response to increasing Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. These included bans on indoor dining at restaurants and bars and new caps on occupancy limits for retail. 

John Curley argues not enough people are acknowledging the deadliness of the lockdowns themselves. 

Meanwhile, Reporter Hanna Scott presented clips from her interview with the head of the Washington State Medical Association on Seattle's Morning News... 

Dori Monson spoke to a gym owner who is intentionally ignoring Inslee's updated order.

Since the lockdown was re-announced, a lot of industries are coming out to argue their case for why they don't think they need to be shut down. Ursula Reutin asked virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen if restaurants are common vectors of spread... 

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We're two weeks from Thanksgiving, but plans are already being made and difficult conversations are being had. 

Jay Inslee, accompanied by his wife Trudi, implored Washingtonians to reconsider holding a conventional Thanksgiving dinner with extended family this year. 

"Please do not have Thanksgiving gatherings unless you're positive that everyone there has quarantined successfully for 14 days," Inslee said during a press briefing Thursday evening, "which would start today." 

KIRO Radio hosts have been grappling with this question all week. 

Ursula Reutin is almost hoping Inslee makes the decision for her, announcing a lockdown that precludes her from having to tell her sister not to come over. 

Gee Scott says a good rule of thumb is to not hold a gathering you're uncomfortable posting photos of on social media. 

John Curley won't be meeting with family this year, but that has nothing to do with his interest in complying with Inslee's recommendations. He just doesn't like the cooking of the family members that will have him. 

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Last episode I said that I was hoping we'd have an actual winner to declare. It seems we have one, but it still doesn't feel like closure. 

Donald Trump hasn't conceded the 2020 election, even after the major media outlets declared Joe Biden the winner. What do the KIRO Radio hosts think? 

Dori Monson laid out the pathway Trump still has, but he acknowledged it's a long shot. 

Dave Ross got Pullitzer Prize winning journalist David Farenthold to weigh in on the same question. 

Gee Scott compared the whole situation to another infamous moment of litigation (don't want to give it away). 

John Curley and Tom Tangney contrasted Trump's situation with Al Gore's in 2000. 

Finally, we venture over to KTTH to see if those hosts think Trump's situation is any less dire than the KIRO hosts made it out to be. 

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Still no final results in the presidential election, but while we're waiting here's the latest reactions from the KIRO Radio hosts to everything that's been going on. 

Mike Lewis of KIRO Nights talked to University of Washington Professor Mark Alan Smith who offered a theory as to how the polls were as wrong as they were. 

"With voter registration this is typically a face to face enterprise," Smith said. 

Because Republicans were more willing to interact with people during a pandemic than Democrats, it's possible they were able to register more voters. 

"It's tricky for the polls to pick that up because the thing about an election is you're trying to project who the voters going to be when in fact you don't know who the voters are going to be," Alan said. "With election data it varies from one election to the next. So, you never really know how many Republicans are going to show up to vote, how many Democrats are going to show up to vote." 

Smith was emphatic this is an unverified hypothesis and he's still waiting for data to back it up, but it could explain why polls for a state like Florida ended up being 5 points or so off. 

Dave Ross of Seattle's Morning News had Rob McKenna explain what's going on with Trump's attempt to challenge results in Pennsylvania. 

Dori Monson warned he believes the election is being stolen. 

Gee and Ursula had a University of Washington Law Professor tell us when the absolute latest we could see a final winner in all this. 

Don't forget about Loren Culp! All the shows weighed in on his lack of concession and his recently announced job loss. 

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