In some families, the stories of why and how our ancestors immigrated to the United States are passed from generation to generation like lore. But in others...those stories are packed away and locked shut. Those unspoken conversations around migration inspired poet Ricardo Ruiz to travel back home to eastern Washington, and interview family and friends about their experiences emigrating from Mexico to Washington farming communities.

The pandemic has changed how and where we work. Maybe permanently.

Washington state has more than 700 miles of hiking trails in it state parks alone, alongside hundreds more in its national parks and national forests.

With so much room to roam, keeping up with trail maintenance is a daunting task, and organizations like the forest service are constantly fighting a backlog of trail maintenance.

What goes into trail design and upkeep? And what happens when trails are left unattended?

If you’re a fan of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, then you know that the fantasy tabletop-role playing game Dungeons & Dragons has come roaring back into the mainstream in the past few years… But for most of its existence, D&D has had a problem.

Soundside is on summer break, but while we're away, we're bringing you some of our best stories since we launched our show in January.

Today: the best of tech.

Washington state is no stranger to majestic and awe-inspiring wildlife. Think of the orca, the bald eagle, the mighty salmon. But hiding in the cracks of our mountains and our cities lie creatures big and small, loving and annoying.

Today, Soundside looks back on our favorite animal stories and how Washington balances

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Roughly a third of those experiencing homelessness in the region live in their vehicles. Two new pilot programs will test the viability of supervised safe parking lots for those living in their vehicles, with aims to build a long term solution for homelessness around RVs and other vehicles.

The Metropolitan King County Council voted this week to change how we vote in King County. Here’s a hint: they want election years to be divisible by two.

Voters will decide whether or not this change will be made this November, and Soundside invited Crosscut.com state politics reporter Joseph O’Sullivan and Political Science Professor Todd Donovan to discuss what this means for the county.

Ballard is a neighborhood in transition.

There’s always a new townhouse going up, a restaurant calling it quits, a new, hyper-local apothecary moving in next door.

But, among all that change, one establishment has remained for the last century.