John O'Brien
Senior Producer, All Things Considered
About
John O’Brien is KUOW's All Things Considered Senior Producer. He spends his days setting up interviews with newsmakers on subjects from politics and public health to arts and culture. John learned to make radio starting in 2006 as an intern on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English
Pronouns: he/him
Podcasts
Stories
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‘Strange but not illegal.’ Questions raised about lines between politics and governance at Seattle City Hall
Questions about who gets to work at Seattle City Hall came into focus recently when Seattle Times reporters Jim Brunner and David Kroman looked at why Mayor Bruce Harrell's campaign strategist ended up on the City Hall payroll. David Kroman told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about what they found.
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Is the Google antitrust ruling a ‘big whiff,’ or an advantage for rivals like Microsoft?
In a closely watched antitrust case, a federal judge ruled this week that Google has to share search results and some data with rival companies. But the judge ruled Google does not have to sell off Chrome, its ubiquitous web browser. What could this ruling mean for our homegrown tech behemoth Microsoft, and other search engine rivals of Google? GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop looked into that and other questions in a new piece. He told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm what he found.
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Investigation into Mercer Island teacher’s resignation finds history of alleged abuse
A well-regarded Mercer Island High School teacher, Gary “Chris” Twombley, resigned his position earlier this year amid allegations of abusive relationships with some of his students.
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Seattle man says dropped murder, arson charges against him were result of ‘racist misidentification’
In early June, Susan Lisette Klee, 72, died after a fire engulfed her home in the Wallingford neighborhood. About a month later, with the help of security camera footage, Seattle police arrested a suspect, a 25-year-old Amazon software engineer named Letian Shi. Shi and his lawyers maintained he was not the arsonist. On Friday, King County prosecutors dropped their charges and released Shi, after nearly a month in jail. Seattle Times reporter Sara Jean Green has been covering this story. She gave KUOW’s Paige Browning this update.
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Environment reporter Lynda Mapes dove into Seattle’s Elliott Bay, and found some big changes
It's peak tourism season in downtown Seattle. Residents and visitors have been celebrating the $800 million dollar makeover of the waterfront. Is the same true for residents and visitors under the surface of Elliott Bay? To consider that question, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm reached out this week to environment reporter Lynda Mapes. The two took a shallow dive into Mapes’ most recent piece for the Seattle Times, "The vibrant world under Seattle’s new waterfront."
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Seahawks v. Former Seahawks. Preseason football kicks off
You know fall is around the corner when the NFL preseason begins. Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks will take on the Las Vegas Raiders in their first pre-season matchup. Coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Geno Smith will be there, maybe a bit awkwardly for Hawks fans, on the Raiders side of the field. Carroll is the only coach who was able to lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title, and Smith helped them rack up winning records the past three years. To talk football, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm reached out to longtime Seattle sportswriter Art Thiel.
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Hit back or leave it alone? Canadians respond to new Trump tariffs
No deal is better than a bad deal. That appears to be the consensus among political and business leaders in Canada, after President Donald Trump applied new tariffs on Canadian imports that aren't covered by a 2018 free trade deal. While other countries rushed to make trade deals, Canadian leaders determined they could not agree to one — yet. To catch up with how all of this is being processed in British Columbia, and some other topics, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to Vancouver-based journalist Michelle Eliot, who hosts the CBC weekday call in program BC Today.
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A Spokane man sought female hiking companions. Instead, he found social media snark — and support
Jeff Heatwole lives in Spokane. He's 35, a divorced dad with a 5-year-old son, a music teacher by profession, and a member of a Facebook hiking group. And Jeff got more attention than he was bargaining for recently when he posted a seemingly simple message.
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Bellingham family moves forward after hate crime sentencing
Washington state reports more hate crimes than most other states. We've ranked in the top five states since 2018, according to FBI statistics. In one case last summer, a 43-year-old man named Paul Bittner attacked an 11-year-old Bellingham boy who was walking back to school from a field trip. DeVante Blow is the boy's father. He talked to KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about the case.
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Rep. Jayapal talks rescissions, protecting U.S. citizens from ICE, and the Epstein files
Congressional Republicans gave President Trump a big win last week. The Senate and House passed his $9 billion rescission request along a mostly party-line vote. Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal represents Washington's 7th District, in the Seattle area. She talked to KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about the rescission package, a new bill she sponsored last week, and other matters.
