Seattle Now

Lawmakers are gathering in Olympia today for the start of a special legislative session. There’s only one thing on the agenda: A new drug possession law.

Just in case you forgot, living in the Pacific Northwest means living near volcanoes. They are beautiful. They are also dangerous. And in Washington the month of May is actually volcano Awareness Month. Geologist Elizabeth Westby from the Cascades Volcano Observatory is here to talk about how to enjoy these uniquely Pacific Northwest wonders while also staying prepared for an eruption.

This week… We’re entering a heatwave. The Chinatown International District was deemed an ‘endangered historic place.’ And Microsoft says it’s time to learn how to use AI, or you might get left in the dust. KUOW’s Katie Campbell and Truth Be Told podcast Supervising Producer Ishea Brown are here to break down the week.

Peas and greens are starting to come up in p-patches all around Seattle.

And their growth marks a historic milestone - the 50th year of Seattle’s P Patch Community garden program.

They’re in high demand.

Hobby gardeners use the space for flowers, to experiment with what will grow in Seattle, and for some extra herbs for the salad…

But for hundreds of Seattleites, these are small farms sustaining much of their family’s food supply.

For the Iu Mien ethnic group, in particular, farming is a way of life.

We’ll meet some of them at their garden plots.

A sudden burst of heat is coming up this weekend. If you don’t have a pool or a heat pump, better start making a cool down plan.

Seattle Weather Blog’s Justin Shaw is here. He’ll fill us in on the heat dome approaching and what might be in store this summer.

Taking a right turn at a red light is a staple of American driving. They keep traffic moving, but for pedestrians, they're a real health hazard.

The Seattle Department of Transportation has a new policy to ban right turns on red at 41 intersections downtown, and to roll out more bans city-wide over the next year.

SDOT Director Greg Spotts

Last week, the Wild Fish Conservancy won a lawsuit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that will soon halt salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska.

Like with any issue, when there is a winner there are also losers and plenty of complications. We’ll get into it with the litigant, an Alaskan fisher, and a historian.

This week… Governor Jay Inslee says he’s ready to pass the torch. The national park service is considering timed reservations at Mount Rainier. And is the West Seattle Bridge cursed? Crosscut science reporter Hannah Weinberger and Seattle Times Food Writer Tan Vinh are here to break down the week.

The Seattle homelessness crisis won’t be solved overnight. But organizations under King County’s Regional Homelessness Authority aren’t confident the agency can do much in 5 years either.

Greg Kim is here today. He’s a homelessness reporter for the Seattle Times.

Fasten your seatbelts… People who live around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are suing the Port of Seattle, Alaska Air, and Delta Airlines for allegedly polluting the air with toxic chemicals. We'll hear from Steve Berman, the lawsuit's lead attorney, UW researcher Dr. Elena Austin and citizen scientist/former SeaTac resident Kent Palosaari about the airport's impact on the environment.