In the week since Katie Wilson officially became Seattle’s mayor-elect, there have suddenly been a lot of think pieces about her from the national press.

Editorial boards at the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have taken a certain “doom mongering” stance on another socialist winning office. The President of the United States added his two cents, and called her a communist.

Wilson’s election is making waves in a year when both democrats and democratic socialists scored high profile wins across the country.

But let’s be honest: national reporting is usually scant here in the PNW, and pretty late to the game. KUOW listeners – many of them, have been clued into this race for weeks if not months.

What we haven't heard is the inside story of the Wilson campaign – how the team took a newcomer to electoral politics – a policy wonk, whose style she herself has called “pretty dumpy” – and got her elected mayor.  

And what does the future look like for progressives in a city with a historically fickle electorate?

Two key figures from the Wilson campaign team joined Soundside to share their view on how it all went down.

GUESTS: 

• Katie Wilson campaign manager Alex Gallo Brown
• WinPower strategies political consultant, and Katie Wilson’s consultant, Jake Simpson

RELATED LINKS: 

• Trump threatens Seattle’s World Cup, calls Mayor-elect Wilson ‘communist’ - Seattle Times
• Seattle’s coming socialist experiment - Washington Post
• Seattle Elects Mamdani West - Wall Street Journal
• Katie Wilson is the new mayor but confronts the same challenges - 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.

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Washington published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the spotted ratfish, sometimes called a ghost shark. 

It’s one of the most common fish you’ll find in the Puget Sound and it has teeth in an unexpected place. The study’s authors say that, not only is this unusual, but it also tells us something very interesting about evolution. 

GUEST: 

Karly Cohen, post-doctoral researcher at Friday Harbor Labs

RELATED LINKS:

PNAS: Teeth outside the jaw: Evolution and development of the toothed head clasper in chimaeras

Smithsonian: This Deep-Sea Fish Has Teeth on Its Forehead—and It Uses Them for Sex 

University of Washington: This common fish has an uncommon feature: Forehead teeth, used for mating

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.

Air traffic controllers are getting paid again, now that the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is over.

Air traffic controllers dominated headlines during the shutdown as they continued to work their stressful jobs without pay. Some of them took on side gigs to make up for lost income. And as the shutdown dragged on, controller shortages led to flight delays and cancellations around the country. 

Now things are slowly getting back to normal, as the FAA lifts restrictions on air traffic ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Steph Winder of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association tells us how controllers are doing now that they're out of shutdown mode.

GUEST: 

• Steph Winder, Northwest Mountain Regional Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association

RELATED LINKS:

• Trump Wants $10K Bonus for Air Traffic Controllers Who Didn't Call Out - Business Insider
• Air traffic controllers warn of ‘tipping point’ during shutdown : NPR
• FAA to Lift Government Shutdown-Related Flight Restrictions - WSJ

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 purchased or rode an e-bike in the last 10 years, there’s a good chance it was a Rad Power Bike. 

The company, based in Seattle, was one of the first to popularize e-bikes with the general public, and grew to be the largest electric bike company in North America.

But now, the company is on the brink of collapse. A spokesperson told Geekwire last week that Rad faces potential closure as early as January due to “significant financial challenges.”

After virtually building the e-bike industry, and seeing demand quadruple during the pandemic, what went wrong for Rad Power Bikes?

And can they recover? 

GUEST: 

• Geekwire editor Taylor Soper

RELATED LINKS:

• The rise and fall of Rad Power Bikes: From breakout success to the brink of shutdown - Geekwire
• Rad Power Bikes faces possible shutdown as it tries to survive ‘significant financial challenges’ - Geekwire

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 2023, Bellevue organizer Mubarak Elamin made the decision to bring his mother to the United States.

At the time, she was living in Sudan, where a brutal war had broken out between the country’s army, the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The situation deteriorated into what the U.N. has called one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

Thousands have been killed and millions displaced. Some regions are suffering from famine. In January, the United States declared Sudan was experiencing a genocide.

And despite this upheaval, Mubarak says it seems like a lot of people don’t know what's going on in Sudan. 

GUEST:

• Mubarak Elamin, a Sudanese community organizer in Bellevue
• Nisrin Elamin, assistant professor of Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Toronto

RELATED LINKS:

• Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening
• WA’s Sudanese community suffering amid war that’s displaced millions | The Seattle Times
• The State Of The Civil War In Sudan : 1A : NPR 

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.

Unionized Starbucks workers have started their fourth day on strike. 

Workers walked off the job in over 40 cities last week. 

And this year’s strike has gotten attention from high-profile politicians. Both Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson and New York's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani called on customers to boycott the coffee chain. 

Last week, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) urged Starbucks to cut a deal with the union. 

So what’s holding up negotiations? 

GUEST: Casey Martin, KUOW reporter covering the strike

RELATED LINKS: 

• Unionized Starbucks' workers strike in Seattle, across the country

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.

You’re probably heard the term “microplastics.” And you’ve probably also heard that they’re bad for you. 

A write up from Stanford Medicine says, quote, “they’re in the water we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the air we breathe.”

But what exactly are they? 

A local doctor is helping us understand what exactly these particals are, and how or if we should avoid them.

GUEST:

• Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a professor of pediatrics and adjunct professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington and the Seattle Children's Research Institute

RELATED LINKS:

• Microplastics and our health: What the science says - Stanford Medicine

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 early October, film buffs around the region received some bittersweet news…

The historic Egyptian Theater in Capitol Hill – which had been closed for repairs – would not reopen as a public theater. The Seattle International Film Festival decided to end its lease, saying it was a difficult decision but that it just wasn’t financially feasible. 

This comes on the back of the closing of the Grand Illusion and AMC 10 theaters in the U-District. 

In an era of streaming services and movie studio consolidations… What DOES it take to keep the independent theater scene thriving?

GUESTS: 

• Beth Barrett - Artistic Director SIFF
• Kenny Alhadeff - Owner, Majestic Bay Theater
• Chase Hutchinson - Freelance Writer and Movie Critic

RELATED LINKS: 

• For SIFF, Seattle’s Cinerama was a marquee purchase. Has it paid off?
• SIFF lays off staff amid financial challenges
• Seattle movie theater update: SIFF will end lease at historic Egyptian

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.

Here at Soundside, we've got lots of plans this weekend. Paige Browning is playing in a Kickball tournament, while Jason is planning on cheering for her... Supervising Producer Sarah Leibovitz is doing LAUNDRY... What joy!

As for YOU, here are all your options from this week's Weekend Warmup... 

LINKS: 

• SIFF Cinema Italian Style 2025
• Sew, Quilt, Needlework, Craft, Expo & Festival in Puyallup
• Gobble Up Northwest! - Urban Craft Uprising
• Seattle International Auto Show
• The 2025 DB Cooper Conference
• Seattle Kraken vs San Jose Sharks
• Gilman Village 2025 Winter Fest
• Grit City Comic Show
• UW Huskies Men’s Football vs Purdue
• Death and Music | Town Hall Seattle

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.

Seattle has been a target of anti-car activism since at least the early 1960s, when the construction of I-5 carved up the Chinatown International District.

Washington architect Paul Thiry said the creation of the freeway signaled when Seattle started to lose its identity as a city.

But what would a less car-centric Seattle actually look like? Whom would it benefit? And is it even feasible? 

The hosts of "The War on Cars" podcast join "Soundside" for more. They’ve co-written a new book: “Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile.”

They’re both based in Brooklyn, New York, but joined KUOW's Paige Browning in our Seattle studio. 

GUESTS: 

• Sarah Goodyear, host, The War on Cars podcast
• Doug Gordon, host, The War on Cars podcast

RELATED LINKS: 

• What Comes After the ‘War on Cars’? - Bloomberg
• ‘Life After Cars’ with Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon - Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

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.