Conversation

We’ll get updates from the Washington Department of Transportation, Governor Jay Inslee and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

How Does This Affect Bellingham And Regional Tourism?
This is the start of the summer tourism season and Bellingham has one of its major events, the Ski to Sea, scheduled for this weekend. Will the bridge collapse affect tourism in the north Puget Sound area?

Snohomish Community Transit has just rejected a bus advertisement from a gun control group, Washington Ceasefire.  That decision is based on a new policy that bans all advertising that creates  substantial controversy, including political speech. Ross Reynolds took up the conversation of advertising and free speech with an ACLU lawyer along with a representative for Snohomish Community Transit. 

Even though you might not have heard much about it these past few weeks, the sequester is still chopping away at federal funds. This week Washington state emergency unemployment benefits are being cut by almost 25 percent. Ross Reynolds spoke with Johnny Dwyer, one of the 40,ooo people being affected by these drastic reductions to unemployment benefits, about how he is coping and what he hopes for. 

 Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill into law on Tuesday that gives people who were adopted access to non-certified copies of their birth certificates. Before now they had to get a special court order. More than 50 percent of families in Washington state have been impacted by adoption — meaning someone in their extended family is either an adoptive parent, an adoptee or the birth parent of an adoptive child.

 You can’t drive your electric car if you can’t plug in and recharge, and the build-out on electric car chargers is behind schedule. Ross Reynolds talks with WSDOT's Jeff Doyle about the gaps in the grid for electric car charging. 

President Obama will discuss his administration’s foreign policy practices tomorrow at the National Defense University. One purpose of the speech is to announce his plans for the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which he has promised to close several times. New York Times Washington Correspondent Charlie Savage talks with Ross Reynolds about what we can expect from the president tomorrow.

Julia Sweeney is a comedian, actress and author. She performed four seasons on Saturday Night Live and now has a new book of memoirs titled, "If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother."

 In the past decade, blue collar jobs have diminished. But in the coming decade, that tide is expected to change. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an additional 2.7 million new blue collar jobs such as home health care aides and rebar and iron maintenance workers by 2020. Ross Reynolds talks with Tim Sweeney and Dan Jacoby about the future of blue collar work and education. 

 Microsoft's new Xbox is being unveiled today at a live event in Redmond. With features like video streaming, this Xbox’s got more than games. But what does it mean for the future of the company? Ross Reynolds talks to Ian Sherr, reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

  Alex Stonehill is the director of "Barzan," a documentary that follows one man’s journey from Iraqi refugee to building a home in Bothell to fighting allegations of terrorism. Ross Reynolds talks with Alex Stonehill about making the movie which is playing at the Seattle International Film Festival.