The border between the United States and Canada remains closed to all but essential travel. The closure went into effect in mid-March and it has been repeatedly extended as the pandemic grows, particularly in the U.S. It’s caused a lot of difficulty for the people who live and work along the 5,525-mile border. But perhaps no community in the United States is in the situation of Point Roberts, Washington.

This show originally aired on October 26, 2019. This week on Sound Effect, our theme is “You Can’t Choose Your Family...Can You?” We’re bringing you stories of family ties that go beyond blood, but still help define who we are and where we come from. First, a middle-aged woman learns she was conceived using an unexpected sperm donor . A bookseller searches for someone to take over his business and learns something surprising about himself. A resilient young woman balances college and

This story originally aired on October 26, 2019. Suzan Mazor was fully in mid-life when her mother made a surprising revelation. "You were conceived by sperm donation," she remembers her mother saying, "and I believe that the OB who delivered you was also the sperm donor." While some people who learn this news are devastated, Suzan's response was, she says, characteristic for her. "I'm just a very open minded person, and I thought it was cool." After learning as much as she could from her mother

This story originally aired on October 26, 2019. A good way to picture Autumn Adams is in her crimson cap and gown. This was last spring, as she graduated from Central Washington University in Ellensburg. By her side were two people: her 14-year-old brother John and her 10-year-old sister Kaya. Nothing unusual about family showing up for a big milestone like this. But, Adams’ family is a little different from the other young grads there that day with their moms and uncles and grandmas. Autumn’s

This story originally aired on October 26, 2019. The internet didn’t ruin Louis Collins's job, but it sure sucked the fun out of it. People no longer needed his help when it came to finding books — they could just look it up on their own computer. For a used book dealer like Collins, this was bad news, and he didn’t take it lightly. “My value added disappeared immediately,” Collins said in a 2011 interview with the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America. “I had nothing, so I had to

This story originally aired on October 26, 2019. When Sam Blackman first met his adopted baby daughter in 2007, the pediatrician and first-time father says he did the one thing he knew instinctively how to do: examine her from head to toe. “I put my ear up to her chest and listened to her heartbeat, listening for murmurs,” he says. “But in the end all I could find was a beautiful healthy child. Our child.” Sam and his wife had adopted their daughter from Kazakhstan. They brought her back to the

Tammy Edwards survived COVID-19. It was miserable, but she made it. She had hoped that once the virus ran its course, she could then get back to her life and her work as a nurse in Tacoma. Federal guidelines suggest a typical person sick with COVID should get better after a week or two . Tammy Edwards is three months past that point, and she is still recovering. “It’s not a two-week, blanket, flu like thing,” she says. “Every day you feel it. You feel the shortness of breath, you feel the

Two people were fired and 13 others disciplined after a 10-month investigation into sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture at the Navy’s huge shipyard in Bremerton. The Kitsap Sun reported on the investigation, first in the fall when a Facebook post from a former employee brought the situation to light, and again this week when the investigation’s conclusion was made public. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard commanding officer Capt. Dianna Wolfson said in a letter that inappropriate behavior,

One of the nation’s first human clinical trials testing a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is producing encouraging results , according to the Seattle-based scientists leading the study. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Washington started the phase-one trial on March 16. In this early phase of developing a vaccine, researchers want to ensure mainly that it does not pose serious health risks, and that it does boost immunity. Dr. John Dunn, medical director for preventive care at Kaiser and a

As a country, the United States has had previous moments where race has come to the forefront of our national dialogue, and where protests have called for change. Politico Magazine recently published takes from a handful of experts about whether this current moment of racial reckoning is any different than those previous. They included an essay from Christopher Sebastian Parker, professor of political science at the University of Washington. He wrote that it's possible this moment is different,