KUOW Seattle News and Information

At this hour, we’re waiting to hear how the city council will break on the controversial head tax. Crosscut’s David Kroman was at City Hall for a meeting this morning in which the amount of money intended to be raised was cut by a third. He joined Bill Radke to discuss how likely it was to pass.

Bill Radke talks to our panel about a New York Times opinion piece that argues liberals aren't as smart as they think. We also look at the state's sports gambling laws and why Mother's Day should be expanded beyond just mothers. Our guests are Wilfred Padua , a Seattle comedian, and food writer Angela Garbes , whose new book is, "Like A Mother: A Feminist Journey through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy."

It started with street trees. Tukwila wanted to plant some along state Route 99 to slow down traffic and beautify the area. But the state said no. Trees, it turned out, were not safe, at least not as safe as lamp posts.

News stories can be disturbing sometimes, but KUOW has a way to help process these stories. We call it #NewsPoet — and it involves a Pacific Northwest poet writing an original piece inspired by one of our stories. Today we revisit the story about the last man to be put to death by Washington state.

Is Seattle the sort of place where, if you can’t afford it, there’s no room for you?

Seattle's head tax debate gets down to the nitty gritty. Can the mayor bring business and the City Council on board? And with all the yelling about a head tax and homelessness, has Seattle become an angry city? And if we have, is it about time? Plus, Starbucks says no purchase required to use their bathroom and Google unveils an artificial intelligence robot that can schedule its own haircut appointment.

Tukwila, a small city of about 20,000 people, punches above its weight. That's partly because it's willing to throw elbows around, seizing property by any legal means necessary in order to turn an aging remnant of highway 99 into the dense, walkable neighborhood many officials want. The technique is effective, but it can leave bruises.

Kim Malcolm talks with news analyst Joni Balter about why the head tax proposed by the Seattle City Council puts Mayor Jenny Durkan in a politically tricky position. Balter is a contributor to Bloomberg Opinion and host of Civic Cocktail on the Seattle Channel.

The complex and ever-changing time signatures of Sama Dams' new song “Pockets” almost feels more appropriate for a jazz trio. “But it’s still pop [music] and they never forget that,” says Jerad Walker, music director of OPB Music.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has proposed a compromise tax on large businesses that would pay to ease the city’s affordable housing shortage and homelessness crisis.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is not ready to support the proposed employee head tax. This is the proposal for a per-employee tax on the city's highest grossing businesses. The money would pay for low-income housing and services for homeless people. Amazon would be the number one payer of this tax and they are so opposed to it that they've halted construction on a new tower in Downtown Seattle. Also opposed to this head tax are local companies like Starbucks, Alaska Airlines and Dick's Drive-In.

The Record went live from City Hall to talk through listener questions on the head tax. How do companies feel? How do politicians feel? Most importantly: how do you feel?

Seattle residents are fighting over homelessness and what to do about it. When we asked Ballard resident Sara Bates why she believes the issue has divided the community so much, she responded with this story and a question of her own for her neighbors.

The family of an unarmed Native American man killed by Lakewood Police in 2015 is suing the city in federal court. The complaint accuses the department of racial bias and negligence in its training.

It’s time to throw away the objective journalist hat for a moment and put on my completely-biased, music-loving shoes, because the submissions are in for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest . The judges at NPR are pouring through all the entries right now to pick their national winner, and that announcement is expected April 24. In the meantime, I watched all 132 videos submitted to the contest from Washington state.