Seattle Now

This week… Seattle got Smoky, and with wildfires burning across the Pacific Northwest, we probably haven’t seen the last of the soot. Government employees on the San Juan Islands are moving to a 32-hour work week. And the paper mill behind the Aroma of Tacoma is shutting down. Your Last Meal Podcast Host Rachel Belle and Too Beautiful to Live Podcast Co-Host Andrew Walsh are here to break down the week.

It's back.

After a bit of relief, more smoke could be on the way.

We’re deep into wildfire season..

And the state is parched.

Crosscut’s Hannah Weinberger is here to talk to tell us what we need to know about our fifth season..

The world lost Tokitae on Friday.

She was the last living Southern Resident Orca in captivity.

Organizers were trying to return her to the Salish Sea from Florida where she spent more than 50 years in the Miami seaquarium.

Lummi Nation member Jay Julius is here along with Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes to talk about her life as part of the story of endangered Orcas.

Seattle’s been busy this summer. Taylor Swift came through, we had the MLB All-Star Game, and we’re back to our pre-Covid music festival schedule.

If you bought a ticket to any of these shows, you almost certainly ran into mark-ups on the resale market, or even scammers trying to make a quick buck.

Seattle Times Arts Economy Reporter Margo Vansynghel reported on the difficult process of buying a ticket to a concert in Seattle, and how some in Washington are trying to make it easier.

The twenty one available Washington State Ferries are old. Some are long overdue for retirement. But thousands of people still depend on them every day, and new ferries are not coming anytime soon.

Seattle Times Reporter David Kroman talks about the state of our ferries, and why it’s been so hard to build new ones.

This week… It was hot, but Seattle has been stocking up on A/C. Two major celebrities stopped by Washington, VP Kamala Harris and pop culture icon Dolly Parton. And the state wants to speed up with funds for a bullet train, but the city wants to slow down by putting in more traffic cameras. KUOW Reporter Casey Martin and Seattle Now Producer Vaughan Jones are here to break down the week.

Election officials certified the results of our local primary this week. That means we know which City Council candidates are vying for your votes.

As KUOW Politics editor Cat Smith puts it, things are getting spicy in some of the races. In others, we saw some surprising shifts after the initial round of results. She breaks the results down race-by-race.

Seattle’s social housing initiative just got some startup money.

It’s been over six months since voters approved the new approach to affordable housing.

Seattle Times reporter Anna Patrick will tell you about the early stages of the program and the prospects for paying for it in the long term.

It’s hot outside, in case you haven’t noticed. We’re right in the middle of a short heat wave in the Emerald City. While it’s not breaking records like back in 2021, it’s still important to stay safe, and check on your neighbors to see that they’re alright. KUOW’s Casey Martin went out in the streets yesterday to see how people are beating the heat.

A library in rural Southeast Washington could be the first in the nation to close over a fight about removing books. The debate revolves around a group of books in the library’s kids and young adult sections that some residents say aren’t age-appropriate.

Seattle Times reporter David Gutman is here to explain how things got to this point, with some help from life-long Dayton resident John Hutchens.