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Alec Cowan

Producer, Soundside

About

Alec Cowan is a producer for Soundside. His interests have brought many eclectic stories to the program, and his segments gravitate toward history, technology, arts and culture, and the environment. After reporting a handful of stories aboard Puget Sound, he's proud to be KUOW's unofficial "boat guy."

Prior to joining Soundside, Alec wore many hats at KUOW. He was a producer for The Record with Bill Radke, and was the producer of Primed season two and three. He also reported and produced an episode of SoundQs detailing how prohibition forever changed Seattle policing and assisted with reporting a breakthrough cold case solved with the use of genetic genealogy.

Before joining KUOW Alec worked in NPR's Story Lab, where he helped pilot the Louder Than A Riot podcast on hip-hop and mass incarceration and assisted in producing a story on volunteerism in Iraq for Rough Translation. Originally from Grand Junction, Colorado, his roots in the Northwest begin in Eugene, where he studied English and philosophy at the University of Oregon and worked as a news reporter for NPR member station KLCC. He is likely neglecting his saxophone, growing book collection, and expanding personal project list in favor of boosting his online Xbox ranking instead.

Location: Seattle

Languages Spoken: English

Pronouns: he/him/his

Stories

  • caption: The sign at Seattle City Hall.
    Government

    Facing a $230 million deficit, Seattle mulls options to close the gap

    Five new members of Seattle’s City Council said during their campaigns that they would like to audit the city budget for waste and redundancies --before raising or adding new taxes. But now, as a $230 million city budget deficit looms, the realities of a time-consuming and expensive audit process are leading those new councilmembers to back off the idea. That means they likely have to take a hard look at something they did not want to do: add new revenue through taxes.

  • caption: A "Newton" model manikin is pictured at Thermetrics' Interbay assembly office. Newton is the "tried and true" manikin for the company, and can heat and sweat.
    Technology

    How sweating manikins can help us prepare for a warming world

    Put simply, humans are complicated – and our feedback is subjective. Put a jacket on someone and ask them if it's warm, cold, breezy or stuffy, and you'll get a range of largely unscientific answers. To get quality data – the kind that is valuable for companies – you need a sophisticated tool. A tool that can sweat.

  • caption: Emergency rooms in Washington often act as stop gap for those needing mental health care.
    Health

    Should mental health treatment be forced if someone needs care, but refuses it?

    A new podcast from KUOW and The Seattle Times sets out to explore why so many people with severe mental illnesses — who make up 7% of the state's population — go untreated in Washington. Episode 2 of Lost Patients focuses on "involuntary commitment," a legal mechanism that allows someone to be forced into medical treatment if they are deemed a danger to themselves, a danger to others, or are gravely disabled.

  • tiktok tik tok generic
    Technology

    As Congress pushes potential TikTok ban forward, users wonder what happens next

    Last week, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the video sharing platform within 180 days. If that doesn’t happen, TikTok could be banned from U.S. app stores and web hosting platforms. Now the legislation heads to the Senate, and its future is far from clear.

  • school bus generic
    Education

    School budget shortfalls mean hard choices for Seattle area districts

    Schools around the region are dealing with serious budget shortfalls. The Northshore School District says it’s $26 million in the red, and Seattle Public Schools is reporting a more than $100 million gap in funding. Making up that money is no easy task – and in many cases, the scarcity means cuts to programs students and parents hold dear, like AP and music classes.

  • caption: These crypto servers run constantly, attempting to validate transactions on the blockchain. Salcido runs 8,000 servers at this Pangborn site.
    Technology

    As Bitcoin surges to new heights, so do concerns over its energy use

    Earlier this year, the Department of Energy sought to do a survey on the total power usage of crypto operations throughout the country. But that plan was scrapped following legal pushback from those in the industry, leaving a big question mark about the impacts of crypto mining on electrical grids and greenhouse gas production.

  • caption:  The Washington Legislative Building, Feb. 16, 2024.
    Government

    Washington's legislative maps were challenged by someone who helped draw them

    In Washington State, every ten years, a bipartisan commission takes the latest census data and negotiates over district lines that determine who you vote for. But in a very real sense, redistricting is about power and which voices will be heard, and catered to. The latest round of maps was finished in 2021 – but from the jump, the 15th District faced legal challenges. And in an unusual twist, it turns out one of those challenges was orchestrated by someone responsible for drawing the map in the first place.

  • caption: Wind turbines in Washington state.
    Environment

    Objections hamper plans for Tri-Cities wind farm, other renewable energy projects in Washington state

    When it was proposed in 2021, the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm was set to be the largest wind farm in Washington. Hundreds of turbines -- potentially taller than the Space Needle -- were planned for a range of rolling hills outside the Tri-Cities. But renewable projects in this area of the state have faced opposition from locals and environmentalists, meaning a potential blow to the state’s long-term renewable energy goals.

  • caption: Adriana Figueira, center, leads a group of primarily Venezuelan asylum seekers, once housed at the Sleep Inn in SeaTac, to Seattle City Hall along with activists, mutual aid organizations and allies to ask for further assistance with housing from Seattle city councilmembers on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Seattle.
    Government

    After a protest at City Hall, asylum-seekers in Seattle wonder what's next

    A dramatic scene unfolded at Seattle City Hall earlier this week as several protesters were arrested for disrupting a city council meeting on Tuesday. The protesters came to demand more support for hundreds of asylum-seekers from countries including Venezuela, Angola and Congo who have been sheltering at a Tukwila church and elsewhere in King County.