He’s back. Well, he never really left. Conservative megadonor Brian Heywood wants to put two new policy proposals in front of the Washington state Legislature next year. 

Both deal with kids in schools, specifically, with parents’ access to school records, and trans kids playing sports. 

Heywood spent millions of dollars on a slate of initiatives last year. Some of them passed the legislature, like a ban on income taxes, a loosening of restrictions on police car chases, and a law codifying parental rights to information about their kids in school. 

Other measures that Heywood sponsored went to the ballot last November. Voters rejected three of them. Those measures would have killed the state’s long-term care program, the Climate Commitment Act, and capital gains tax. 

Voters passed a fourth initiative that Heywood backed, this one was about preserving access to natural gas. But that’s been tied up in the courts and hasn’t taken effect yet.

Now, Heywood and his advocacy organization Let’s Go Washington, are announcing two new initiatives involving K-12 school policy:

 He’ll be collecting signatures for a revamped parent’s bill of rights and a ban on trans athletes in girl’s sports. Let’s Go Washington has until January to get more than 300,000 signatures. If successful, the initiatives can appear before the Legislature during the session in 2026 and may end up on your ballot after that.

Guest:

Brian Heywood, hedge fund manager and funder behind Let's Go Washington

Relevant Links:

OPB: Washington state GOP megadonor planning new round of initiatives on taxes, parents’ rights

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Almost a year ago, an Israeli soldier shot and killed Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank. She was a Seattle resident and a University of Washington graduate. 

We spoke to her family about their memories of her and their push for an independent investigation into her killing. 

Guest

• Hamid Ali, Ayşenur's husband
• Ozden Bennett, Ayşenur's sister

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

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School starts up this week for some districts in our region, others started last week – before Labor Day!

For some students, gym classes may include a surprising throwback: The Presidential Fitness Test. 

President Trump reestablished the program over the summer. It had been quietly phased out in 2013 by President Obama, and people are split over the value and impact of this test.

Teachers and fitness experts alike have criticized the test, suggesting it’s not effective in helping students develop healthier lifestyles, and at worst – some argue it encourages bullying and anxiety over body image. 

We wanted to talk with an actual physical education teacher – NOT a gym teacher – about the return of the Presidential Fitness Test.

GUEST: Teri Garrett, a P.E. teacher at Lindbergh High School in Renton, with over 30 years of experience teaching Physical Education, around the Puget Sound. 

RELATED LINKS: 

• Fact Sheet: President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, and the Reestablishment of the Presidential Fitness Test
• Remember running the mile in school? The Presidential Fitness Test is coming back
• Can President Trump Run a Mile? | The New Yorker
• Trump revives the Presidential Fitness Test alongside professional athletes at White House

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

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All good things must come to an end, and while that includes things like MoPop's Nirvana exhibition, it also means the work week is coming to a close.

With that in mind, here's Soundside producer Jason Megatron Burrows with all the things you could be doing this weekend!

LINKS:

• Seahawks vs 49ers - 1:05 pm Sunday 9/7
• Seattle Storm vs NY Liberty - 7:00 pm Friday 9/5
• SEA-Nordic Film Festival
• Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival
• Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival
• BrickCon 2025
• Nirvana Exhibition Closing | Museum of Pop Culture
• Ai Weiwei | Seattle Art Museum

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, the parents of a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide sued OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT. They say the bot fed into their son’s suicidal ideation, giving him technical advice on how to commit the act and even encouraging him to hide his plans. 

The tragedy highlights the dark side of the emotional dependence some people have developed with AI. What potential power does AI hold over its users, and what safeguards will help us navigate this transitional period in tech history?

Guest: Oren Etzioni, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Washington

Links: 

A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.

ChatGPT to get parental controls after teen user’s death by suicide

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monsanto has settled with more than 200 people in Monroe, Washington, who were exposed to PCBs -- toxic chemicals once produced by the company. 

Students, parents and staff at the Sky Valley alternative school in Snohomish County, had filed lawsuits against Monsanto starting in 2018, after reporting significant illnesses. The amount of the settlement has not been revealed, but it looks to possibly be the largest settlement over PCB exposure at a single site.

Guest: Seattle Times reporter Lulu Ramadan

Related Links:

Monsanto settles with over 200 exposed to chemicals in Monroe school

Monsanto must pay $857M in PCB lawsuit at Monroe, WA, school, jury finds

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re a news junkie (or social media user) your feeds have likely been inundated lately with headlines and videos of immigration officers taking people into custody across our region.

Like the story about federal agents arresting two people working to tame the Bear Gulch fire near Lake Cushman. Or the arrest of a Washington National Guard veteran who has lived in the U.S. for decades… who was taken into custody during his citizenship interview.

And we might see activity ramp up: Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan recently told reporters that Seattle and other cities with “sanctuary” policies will soon see more immigration raids.

We want to get a better understanding of ICE’s activity in Washington– and if we can expect it to change in the near future. 

Guest:

• Elizabeth Benki, directing attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. 

Related stories: 

• More ICE raids coming to Seattle, elsewhere, Trump border adviser says | The Seattle Times
• ICE detains veteran during US citizenship interview | king5.com
• Border Patrol: Firefighters arrested at Bear Gulch fire illegally entered U.S. | The Seattle Times

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes.

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 22 states, people subject to certain domestic violence protection orders must surrender their guns. 

Washington State has had that requirement since 2014, when lawmakers unanimously voted to strip abusers of their guns. 

But not all judges here have been enforcing that law.

That’s because of a 2022 appeals court decision that led many judges and judicial officers to view it as unconstitutional. 

Now, a new ruling in a separate case may provide more clarity and keep more guns out of the hands of alleged abusers. Maybe.

Guest:

• Kelsey Turner is an investigative reporter at InvestigateWest

 Related stories:

• Some Washington judges aren’t ordering accused abusers to surrender guns. A new court ruling could change that. - Investigate West

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve driven from Seattle to Mount Rainier this summer, you might’ve had to find a different route from normal – one that misses the town of Wilkeson.

Since April, this Pierce County town of just under 500 people has been cut off from a major source of economic activity: Through traffic, due to the closure of the Fairfax Bridge a few months ago.  

And, to add insult to injury, another key bridge is also closed. The White River Bridge was blocked off following a crash involving a semitruck.

Wilkeson Councilmember Jayme Peloli says her town is suffering due to these closures. 

She’d been calling for Washington’s governor to issue an emergency proclamation in order to seek federal dollars to reimburse state efforts to fix these bridges.

Yesterday, he did just that, in an effort to address the White River Bridge closure. We talk with Peloli about what's been going on in Wilkeson. 

Guest

• Jayme Peloli, Wilkeson councilmember

Editor's note: We received a statement from WSDOT after this episode aired on the radio. It reads, in part:

"The Governor’s emergency proclamation is the first step in WSDOT seeking federal funds for repairs to the White River Bridge. While this does not guarantee that WSDOT will receive funding from the Federal Highway Administration, we believe the bridge strike qualifies as a catastrophic failure from an external cause under the statute, and we will actively pursue emergency reimbursement. Securing this funding will help ensure that state dollars can go further as we balance the many pressing needs across our transportation system."

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Thursday, and on Thursdays, we hear from Soundside Producer Jason Megatron Burrows with everything worth doing this weekend... but he's on vacation so here's Producer Shane Mehling instead.

• WA State Fair
• BUMBERSHOOT
• PAX West 2025
• Seattle Indies Expo
• Dave Matthews’ Annual takeover of The Gorge
• Cypress Hill at Marymoore Park
• Blackberry Festival
• Olympia Harbor Days

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes

Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.