The Overcast

What were the biggest stories of 2017 in Seattle and Washington politics? What will emerge as the biggest stories in 2018? Make a list and then see whether you agree with The Overcast, as reporters Jim Brunner and Daniel Beekman remember the year that was and look ahead at the year to come.

Only 0.7 percent of Seattle’s African-American students are enrolled in the district’s most exclusive gifted classes. The rate for whites is nearly 18 times higher. That outrageous disparity is tied to how the district goes about identifying highly-capable kids. Seattle Times education reporter Claudia Rowe explains the issue and a different approach in Miami that's yielding results.

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole will step down at the end of the year, Mayor Jenny Durkan has announced. Seattle Times reporter Steve Miletich tells The Overcast where O'Toole came from, what she did, why she's leaving and what comes next.

Temporary appointee Kirsten Harris-Talley served only 51 days as a Seattle City Council member this fall. But she had plenty to do, diving into contentious negotiations over the city's next budget and a proposed tax on big businesses. In Episode 60, Harris-Talley tells The Overcast what it was like for an activist to take part in Seattle politics on the inside.

What's working and what's not as the Seattle region grapples with homelessness? Seattle Times reporter Vernal Coleman joins politics reporters Jim Brunner and Daniel Beekman to discuss Project Homeless, a new Seattle Times initiative that explores and explains a complex and troubling set of problems.

With the City Council working on Seattle's 2018 budget, Councilmember Mike O'Brien sits down with The Overcast to discuss two proposals. One would tax large businesses to help fight homelessness. The other would pay a consultant to study the possibility of tolling motorists who drive into downtown.

KNKX's Simone Alicea, usually behind the scenes on The Overcast, jumps in front of the microphone to talk mayoral politics with Seattle Times political reporters Jim Brunner and Daniel Beekman.

Seattle Times environment reporter Lynda Mapes explains why martens may be missing in the Olympic Mountains, what scientists are worried about after a survey of waters off Washington and how 105,000 Atlantic Ocean salmon wound up in the Salish Sea.

Former Washington state GOP chairman Chris Vance and Nick Troiano, executive director of the Centrist Project argue a new centrist political movement can attract voters fed up with Democrats and Republicans. Hosting this week, political reporter Jim Brunner presses them on whether a centrist movement can really take hold in Washington state or nationally.

Seattle Times reporter Nina Shaprio discusses her recent story about five-year-old Gary Blanton, who died in the care of an aunt struggling with six kids in a “chaotic” home. Why did the state keep him there? And what are officials doing to longstanding problems in Washington's welfare system?