KUOW News Podcast

Tacoma officials are proposing slashing more than 200 city jobs over the next two years. That's to bridge a looming budget gap of $63 million.

As the presidential candidates prepare for Wednesday night's debate, polls show President Obama averages a 15–point advantage in Washington over Republican rival Mitt Romney. Washington's open race for governor is much closer.

According to a new study out of Washington State University, farmers of genetically engineered crops are dramatically increasing their use of herbicides. Researchers say farmers are spraying more in response the rise of so–called superweeds.

Seattle Repertory Theater opens its 50th season Wednesday, October 3, with a world premiere. The new play explores a livelihood that doesn't exist anymore and a chapter of American history that many people don't know about. KUOW's Marcie Sillman has more.

People who ride the bus around Seattle are adjusting to major service changes this week. One huge shift is the end of the ride–free zone downtown. In its place, the city's paying for a free shuttle to help low–income people get around. It runs in a loop downtown Seattle to seven stops near services for homeless and low–income people.

Forest and park rangers on Washington's Olympic Peninsula say they've reduced the risk from aggressive mountain goats. They did it by hazing the animals for much of the summer. Olympic National Forest reopened a popular hiking trail Monday.

The people who raise cattle destined to become steak or hamburger on your dinner plate are feeling the pinch. Wildfires this summer have scorched more than a million acres of Northwest rangeland. In addition, the Midwest drought is driving up feed costs across the board.

About a dozen wildfires are still burning in the Northwest keeping the air hazy and unhealthy. But experts predict few, if any, long–term health effects.

Reporter Ashley Ahearn describes her trip with scientists who are using suction tags to gain access to the secret underwater lives of Puget Sound's endangered orcas.

Monday [October 1] marks the one year anniversary of Occupy Seattle. The group sprang up soon after demonstrations started on Wall Street. Within weeks, a protest in downtown Seattle grabbed the national spotlight. It focused on an 84–year–old woman named Dorli Rainey. When police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, Rainey got a direct hit. A Seattle P–I photographer captured a striking image of her that quickly went viral. The photo shows two men propping Rainey up and pulling her from the crowd. She looks straight at the camera — her face dripping with pepper spray and milk poured over it to stop the burn. Rainey told her story to KUOW's Liz Jones about what happened that night.

Wildfires have already scorched more than one million acres across the Northwest this year. It may take years before the signs of the burns are no longer visible. But charred Northwest forests are already abuzz with new life.

Washington state is heading south in its quest to recover the largest ethics fine in state history. As KUOW reported this spring, a former Evergreen State College professor has evaded efforts to collect the $120,000 fine against him. But the state hasn't given up just because Jorge Gilbert has moved to South America. KUOW's John Ryan reports.

The Washington Supreme Court Thursday weighed in on a long–running case that has implications for labor shortages at Northwest farms and orchards. The high court unanimously upheld a costly damage award against a farm labor contractor that brought in guest workers from Thailand.

A new citizens group started a campaign Thursday for a change to the way Seattle elects City Council members.

Religion is one of the most defining characteristics of Latino culture. But pollsters say it plays virtually no role in how they vote. And for two Mexican–American siblings, faith shapes their lives but not their politics.