This story originally aired on April 30, 2016. Naval base Kitsap-Bangor, located on the Kitsap Peninsula is one of only two military bases in the United States that houses strategic nuclear weapon facilities. It's home to several Trident submarines, which are armed with nuclear weapons. The nuclear capabilities of these submarines have long made the naval base a focus of controversy and protest. Ground Zero , a group of non-violent protestors, emerged in opposition to the base the late 1970s.

This show originally aired on April 30, 2016. This week on Sound Effect we present stories of war and peace. Ground Zero Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor has what may be the highest concentration of nuclear warheads at a single site in the world, according to the Federation of American Scientists. And in neighboring Poulsbo, activists under the banner of “Ground Zero” don’t want you to forget it. Tom Rodgers is committed to direct action against the base, and guesses he’s been arrested four times in the

This weekend, many parents will read “The Night Before Christmas” to their children. Well, KNKX has something special for you: a reading of an abridged version of the almost 200 year old poem by many of the voices you hear on the air here at KNKX, and some you don’t normally get to hear on the air. Enjoy.

Authorities have confirmed three deaths in Monday’s Amtrak derailment near DuPont. On Tuesday, the public learned the identities of two of those people. Zack Willhoite was 35. He worked in customer service at Pierce Transit. James Hamre was 61, and a retired civil engineer. They were on the inaugural run of Amtrak’s new route between Seattle and Portland because they were rail enthusiasts. Both were active with the group “All Aboard Washington,” which promotes passenger rail travel. KNKX All

Sound Effect producer Kevin Kniestedt shared this essay. My earliest memory of watching the Seahawks goes back to when I was probably three or four. I remember sitting in the basement with my dad, with the game on TV, and hearing the announcer saying “there is a penalty flag down.” Since I had no understanding of the game, I imagined that somewhere in that stadium, there was a person standing by a flag pole, lowering and raising a flag that said “penalty” on it every time a player did something

To say that Washington State University Cougars have school spirit is a wild understatement, and if you have any in your life, you know they don't hesitate to remind you. Now, Cameron McCoy and many other members of Coug nation have reached a significant milestone in letting their flags fly. Actual flags. Cameron and his accomplices in the Ol' Crimson Booster Club have made it their business to get a Coug to a different city each week during college football season, and wave the WSU flag in the

Any parent of more than one child will tell you that they have no favorites. They will tell you that the well from which love is drawn has no bottom. This is what Donald Vass would say about books. "I sense a type of universal voice coming from all of these books. And often when I open a book and my eyes will land upon a set of words or a sentence, a passage that will speak to me. And sometimes, that will speak to me at a moment when I very much need it," says Vass. Vass finds this to be true of

When Nicole Price was 25 years old, life was not going the way she had planned. She was addicted to meth, she had a hard time holding down a job and then a test revealed she was HIV positive. “I was afraid of dying. I was afraid of never being able to have kids, of never being able to get married. My family not loving me anymore. It was a really scary time,” remembers Price.

Christopher Poulos is the head of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council, dedicated to helping those who have been through the criminal justice system. It’s the kind of job that he is uniquely qualified for. As a teenager, Poulos struggled with severe substance abuse, leading him into homelessness and then incarceration. He saw the problems of the justice system firsthand, especially how it disenfranchised the poor and people of color. This inspired Poulos to do what seemed nearly impossible -

At first glance it may seem like the students at St. Francis of Assisi school in Burien are dressed pretty much alike: white collar shirts, red plaid skirts for the girls, navy blue pants or shorts for the boys. But look closer, and you’ll see that many of them have brought a little something special to their outfits. “I wear a gold watch,” says Gino Morella. “I have white Adidas superstars that I’ve worn all year,” says Gabriel Hamilton. “I tend to wear a leather jacket,” says Rachel Fry. Also