As the state prepares to lift COVID restrictions at the end of this month, KNKX is talking with health-care leaders about what they're anticipating.

When she learned that the police officers charged with killing her son were arrested, Marcia Carter-Patterson’s heart jumped. “It feels good that they are in custody,” Carter-Patterson told KNKX Public Radio moments after she learned the news. “But we have a long way to go.”

Friday was the last day on the job for the head of Public Health – Seattle & King County. Patty Hayes retires after seven years in charge of the agency and after 30 years in public health.

Washington state is on track to fully reopen its economy by June 30. The state has been under some form of pandemic-related restriction since mid-March of 2020. The plan to return to business (mostly) as usual follows surprise guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month, saying fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks.

A new graphic novel is being released called “We Hereby Refuse: Japanese Resistance to Wartime Incarceration.” It’s part of a three-part series of graphic novels from the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle about the Japanese American wartime incarceration. It’s the story of three people who refused to submit to imprisonment in American concentration camps without a fight in the 1940s and presents a vision of America’s past with links to the American present.

The COVID-19 pandemic took students out of school for most of the last year – away from friends and activities, and away from resources that can connect them to help when they’re struggling with a behavioral health concern. A new law drafted by teens aims to change that.

If you spend any time in the Northwest, it isn’t long before you start hearing about “the big one.” That’s the giant 9.0 earthquake and tsunami predicted for our part of the world.

The use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine remains paused this week as U.S. regulators study a possible link to rare blood clots. They’re expected to review the pause on Friday. In the meantime, there are a lot of questions. To help us think through some of them, KNKX got in touch with bioethicist Thomas May of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University.

The King County Council is spending $2 million for gun violence prevention. The recently approved money creates a grant program and comes from a larger $94 million pool of funds for COVID-19 relief measures.

This story focuses heavily on suicide, and it might not be appropriate for everyone. Dr. Pamela Wible is a family physician in Oregon. After learning that physicians have a higher rate of suicide than most professions, she set up a free suicide hotline for physicians. She's spent years counseling doctors and those who have lost a colleague to suicide. COVID-19 has put her in even greater demand.