Highlights - Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger & Manda Factor
Charlie Harger and Manda Factor give you the day’s most important news stories every weekday. Along with Chris Sullivan on traffic and KIRO 7 TV’s Nick Allard, it’s everything you need to get your day started right.
Most Recent Episode
Gee Scott on Seattle rent rates
Gee Scott, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show" on KIRO Newsradio, broke down a recent Zillow study that labeled Seattle as a city requiring roughly $90,000 to comfortably afford rent.
"Right now, renters in Seattle are looking at a staggering $90,000 per year that you need to make, just to afford the basics of housing," Gee told "Seattle's Morning News" on KIRO Newsradio. "All while rent has skyrocketed faster than incomes can keep up."
More Episodes
WA Rep. Walsh: Gov. Ferguson won’t sign $12B budget plan—but it could become law anyway
Despite less than a week remaining for the Washington State Legislature, Governor Bob Ferguson is still not embracing the $12 billion package presented to balance the state's $16 billion shortfall.
Democrats in the Washington State Senate pushed through a massive $12 billion tax package over the weekend, despite an explicit call from Ferguson to scale back the level of taxes.
"There's a lot of word-smithing going on right now. The governor and his supporters have said that they're not keen on the so-called wealth tax, which is an increase in the expansion of the state's capital gains tax," Rep. Jim Walsh, the Chair of the state’s Republican Party, said on "Seattle's Morning News" on KIRO Newsradio.
SMN talks Seattle's homelessness approach
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the number of tents in Seattle has been reduced by nearly 80% since 2022, The Seattle Times reported Monday. The media outlet stated in the past two years, the city has removed more than 8,000 tents—going from 1,558 to 215 since the mayor took office.
However, this led KIRO Newsradio contributor Angela Poe Russell to question what the best approach is regarding homelessness, mentioning that fewer tents do not necessarily mean fewer people on the streets.
Leland Vittert on CDC study on autism
According to a nationwide survey conducted in 2022 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one in 31 children studied had been diagnosed with autism—a significant increase from the one-in-every-36 reported in 2020, and an even larger increase from the one-in-every-150 in 2000.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is spearheading the efforts in identifying the root causes of the childhood chronic disease epidemic, which includes the increase in autism among kids.
Leland Vittert, anchor of NewsNation's prime-time "On Balance," weighed in on the recent study on "Seattle's Morning News."
Nick Brown on his first 3 months as AG
Washington has a new attorney general for the first time in 12 years in Nick Brown, and it's been a chaotic start to his tenure as the state continues to battle against many of the Trump administration's executive orders.
"Let's talk about your first three months on the job. How is it going?" Charlie Harger, host of Seattle's Morning News on KIRO Newsradio, asked Brown. "What's it been like for you?"
Democratic Senator June Robinson on WA budget proposal
The Washington Senate approved a $78.5 billion operating budget plan that targets the state's wealthiest residents and biggest employers in order to protect essential services. Critics remain concerned this budget plan could drive up costs for working families.
"A budget that relied only on cuts and reductions would just really set us backward as a state," Democratic Senator June Robinson, the lead senate budget writer, said on "Seattle's Morning News" on KIRO Newsradio. "It would be harmful to people, but it would also be very challenging for years to come to grow out of that. So we approached this problem by looking at a balance."