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Lauren “Big Lo” Sandretzky has rarely missed a professional sports game in Seattle in 30 years, and has been called Seattle’s biggest sports fan. He even has his own super fan action figure. But his passion for sports and the players goes beyond just wins and loses. It’s gotten him through some pretty difficult times in his life. He lost his grandfather and mother, two very special people to him, when he was very young. “Mom dying was the hardest. She fought cancer for six of my seven years, and

If you've ever stayed home sick from school or played hooky from work, you've probably found yourself watching "The Price is Right." It takes one look at the TV game show's screaming, jumping live studio audience to realize: This show has some pretty intense fans. One Northwest family may rule them all. No fewer than three members of the Goss family have been told to "Come on down!" and compete on the show over the past 22 years. All three walked away with prizes, with two members of the family

Often times when a friend, family member or co-worker tells you that they are a fan of a particular musician, it makes sense. The musician or their music seems to line up with that person's personality. But when Sound Effect producer Kevin Kniestedt shared his feelings for a particular folk singer who has captured his heart for almost a couple of decades now it was a bit of a surprise. He shares this audio fan letter.

This week on Sound Effect, stories about animals. We learn how one vet treats dogs who eat marijuana , and meet a pet bird who enjoys an unusual amount of freedom . Then we travel with a park ranger who is on a mission to make Tacoma's raccoons wild again , and hear dispatches from a 20th century war that pitted monkey against monkey . Finally, we hear why a Seattle scientist has spent three decades studying a colony of arctic birds , and we meet a very stubborn dead cat .

Have you seen Peaches? This free-flying Goffin's Cockatoo can be spotted in parks all over Seattle, usually within flying distance of his human companion, Taryn Smethers. Sound Effect Host Gabriel Spitzer speaks with Smethers about why she chose to let her pet bird fly free - and about how his social life has changed hers for the better. If you'd like to be certain of a Peaches sighting, just head to Peaches McFly's Instagram page .

Prior to the summer of 1940, Woodland Park Zoo’s monkeys lived isolated in cages in the Monkey House. Then the zoo decided to do something progressive: relocate the monkeys to a more “natural” setting, on a human-made island in the middle of a shallow moat. What followed was a war for dominance that captivated Seattle for weeks. T he daily newspapers, keen for some comic relief amid the grim news out of war-torn Europe, offered breathless coverage of the Monkey War. “The greatest sea battle of

George Divoky is a scientist in Seattle, at least most of the year. But don’t expect to find him around here during the summertime. He’ll be on a small, flat little island in the Arctic Ocean, off the Alaska coast, called Cooper Island. Back in 1975, Divoky was doing survey work there, when he came across a colony of arctic birds called Mandt’s Black Guillemots. They’re little pigeon-sized birds with bright red legs, and they’re one of the few seabird species that depend year-round on sea ice.

If you own a dog, it is terrifying to find your beloved pet unresponsive to the point where they won’t even open their eyes when their name is spoken. About four of these cases come into the Blue Pearl Veterinary Clinic in South Tacoma each week. “A patient that is lethargic and having a hard time walking.They might just come in and want to lay down. We’ll take their temperature and their temperature will be below normal by a degree or two. And while they’re laying there they may just start

Ollie was a gray and white tomcat, a bit of a tough guy, but with a soft side. He’d often curl up on Tom Paulson’s chest at night. Tom is more of a dog person, but he and Ollie bonded -- maybe because Ollie was “not weird and scary like a lot of cats. [He] had more of a dog personality.” But pets are mortal, and one day Tom got a call at work from his wife with the news: Ollie was dead. Please come home and deal with him. So Tom headed home, and collected the cat. What are you going to do with

This week on Sound Effect, we share stories of the opioid crisis in the Northwest – the people who are affected, and those who are confronting it. We start by learning some of the brain science behind addiction , and why it can be so hard to kick the habit. We meet a woman who battled heroin addiction, got clean for 17 years, and then relapsed again. We head to Everett where librarians are learning to become first responders. Also in Everett, we learn about a scholarship program created to help