Northwest Reports

Getting in the Thanksgiving Spirit With Rachel Belle

Your Last Meal gets in the Turkey Day spirit with interviews from Greta Gerwig, Martina McBride and more.
This Thanksgiving, you’re invited to a celebrity potluck courtesy of Your Last Meal, a podcast that asks celebrities what they would choose to eat for their final meal. 
Rachel Belle, the podcast’s host and an editor-at-large at Crosscut, compiled interviews from her show into one episode, taking listeners through several courses to make one Thanksgiving dinner. 
You probably recognize some of the names Rachel features in this special edition of Your Last Meal, from Greta Gerwig to Martina McBride. 
In this episode of Crosscut Reports, host Maleeha Syed has a Thanksgiving chat with Rachel, who gives a little background on Your Last Meal and shares her favorite dish to eat on the holiday, along with a short preview of her Thanksgiving episode – which is out now.  
Listen to Rachel's full Thanksgiving episode for Your Last Meal here. 
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporter: Rachel Belle
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

How WA Voters Feel Ahead of Presidential Election

Joseph O’Sullivan breaks down what poll respondents had to say about the upcoming presidential election — and almost no one is excited.
More than 60% of Washington voters think Donald Trump is corrupt, while 70% think Joe Biden is too old to be president. Around three in five feel pessimistic about major issues, such as gun violence and immigration. 
And overall, Washington voters are generally unsatisfied with America’s political system.  
These are just a few findings from the latest Crosscut/Elway poll, which featured responses from around 400 registered voters in Washington. 
In this episode of Crosscut Reports, reporter Joseph O’Sullivan, who wrote about the poll, chats with host Maleeha Syed about how respondents feel about the 2024 election and the leading candidates; the factors likely to influence who gets their vote; and what all this says about politics in Washington state. 
Read more about how voters are feeling ahead of next year's election here. 
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporter: Joseph O'Sullivan
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Raising Babies in a WA Prison

Reporters Amanda Snyder and Joseph O'Sullivan share the stories of three moms who live with their babies through the state's prison parenting program.
The United States has seen a substantial increase in the incarceration rates of women over the past few decades. Some of them are entering the prison system pregnant. 
Many of these women are forced to serve their sentences away from their children, but some states, including Washington, have tried to change that. 
The Washington Corrections Center for Women has run the Residential Parenting Program for more than two decades, allowing women to raise their babies for up to 30 months while incarcerated. The program offers child care, parenting classes, educational opportunities and other support.  
Host Sara Bernard spoke with journalists Amanda Snyder and Joseph O’Sullivan about their reporting on three mothers in the program who shared what it’s like going to prison while pregnant, raising their babies in incarceration and preparing for life once they’re released. 
Read more about these mothers' experiences here. 
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Credits
Host/Producer: Sara Bernard
Reporter: Amanda Snyder and Joseph O'Sullivan
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

How This Election Could Shape Seattle

We spoke with reporter Josh Cohen about the district races and how they could impact the city after Nov. 7.
Election Day is just around the corner and Seattle’s in for a lot of change.
Only three incumbents are running to represent Seattle’s seven City Council districts. Additionally, at-large Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda may leave her post if she secures a spot on the King County Council.
All of this means Seattle will soon have several new leaders shaping the city’s approach to major issues, like public safety and homelessness. 
For this episode, Crosscut’s city reporter, Josh Cohen, chatted with host Maleeha Syed about how voters feel this year; how different candidates are approaching key issues; and how this election could give us insight into the state of Seattle.
Read more about Seattle's upcoming election here. 
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporter: Josh Cohen 
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.
 

Who Got WA’s COVID Small Business Money?

The Working Washington program aimed to get pandemic relief to small and “historically disadvantaged” business owners. Did it?
 
In April 2020, Washington distributed $10 million to businesses navigating the pandemic, the first of many rounds of grant funding delivered by the state.   
The Working Washington grant program was established to get money to small businesses overlooked by federal COVID relief efforts, with officials calling on the Department of Commerce to emphasize “historically disadvantaged” and BIPOC businesses.    
Crosscut filed records requests for the individual grants, finding large corporate chains among the recipients. 
In this episode, host Maleeha Syed speaks with reporter Brandon Block, who recently published a story on these findings, about where the relief dollars went – and if the state made good on its plan to reach small and historically disadvantaged businesses. 
Read more about Crosscut's analysis of Working Washington here. 
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporter: Brandon Block
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Israel-Hamas War Hits Close to Home in WA

Members of local Jewish and Palestinian communities discuss the war's impacts across the Atlantic.
On Oct. 7, Hamas, a militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack on Israel. 
Israel quickly declared war – pounding Gaza with airstrikes and restricting the region’s access to water, food and electricity. 
Around 1,400 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians have been killed. 
For this episode, host Maleeha Syed spoke with Maxima Patashnik, a member of the local Jewish community, and Sabrene Odeh, a member of the local Palestinian-American community, about how the war has affected them. Read more about the local impact of the war between Israel and Hamas here.  
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporter: Mai Hoang
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

WA Armenians on War and Hope

Azerbaijan’s push for territory has forced thousands to flee. Reporter Taija PerryCook spoke with local communities about erasure and resilience.
Azerbaijan launched an offensive in September to claim land that Armenians have long considered home.
The move has driven about 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the disputed territory, known as both Nagorno-Karabakh and Artsakh, and raised fears of ethnic cleansing.
Over the past year, reporter Taija PerryCook spoke with Armenians in Washington, who watched from afar as tensions heightened.
In this episode of Crosscut Reports, PerryCook and host Maleeha Syed discuss the history of the region and how decades of war and erasure are affecting local Armenian community members. Many describe a need for more awareness of what’s happening — and a confidence that their culture will prevail.
Read our full report on what Armenian communities in Washington have to say here.  
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard 
Reporter: Taija PerryCook
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Meet Our New Co-Host + Mossback Preview

You probably noticed a new voice in the past few episodes of Crosscut Reports.
That’s Maleeha Syed, the show’s new co-host. She’ll be working alongside Sara Bernard to bring you weekly updates on the stories coming out of Crosscut’s newsroom. 
This episode of Crosscut Reports starts with a casual conversation between the two co-hosts. Syed, previously Crosscut’s communities reporter, talks about what it’s like to switch from written to audio storytelling and shares a few podcasts she has had in rotation lately.
Bernard then gives listeners a sneak peek into the fourth season of Mossback, the companion podcast to our award-winning video series about Pacific Northwest history, with a snippet from one of the newest episodes.
Read Knute Berger's essay about Season 8 of Mossback's Northwest here.
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Credits
Host/Producer: Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed 
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

WA Teachers Face Public Backlash

Politics reporter Joseph O’Sullivan talked to teachers about the increasing criticism they face at school over race and LGBTQ+ topics.
Teachers have found themselves embroiled in a national culture war as parents and politicians question what children are learning in school, from critical race theory to gender identity. 
These days, educators in Washington say they’re feeling reverberations from this conflict. 
Crosscut’s state politics reporter, Joseph O’Sullivan, wrote about how these confrontations are contributing to burnout among educators and union leaders at a time when their field is experiencing a labor shortage. 
In this episode of Crosscut Reports, host Maleeha Syed spoke with O’Sullivan about the pushback these educators are getting from their communities – and how these encounters are impacting them.
Read our full report on the pushback that educators in Washington are experiencing here.  
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Scot Michael 
Reporter: Joseph O’Sullivan 
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Nurses Leave Jobs for New Careers

Reporter Megan Burbank spoke with former nurses who, amid grievances like staffing shortages and low pay, changed their careers.
Nurses took on immense responsibilities as COVID-19 raged across the country, overloading hospitals and overextending health care workers. 
Today, some of these nurses have left the field completely due to mounting pressures that were exacerbated by the pandemic – but had existed long before.
Freelance reporter Megan Burbank talked to several former nurses in Washington about the stressors that led them to leave their field for new career paths like massage therapy and web development.   
In this episode of Crosscut Reports, host Maleeha Syed talks with Burbank about what drew these nurses to the field; what pushed them out; and how their lives have changed for the better since leaving. 
Read our full report on how people are adjusting to life after nursing here.
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Credits
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Scot Michael 
Reporter: Megan Burbank
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.