Patricia Murphy

Stories

• KUOW’s 2025 Year in Review Live

  It’s the last week of 2025 and so much happened! Our summer was defined by a rogue rat mosaic in Cal Anderson Park. Starbucks closed its fanciest store in Seattle: the Capitol Hill Roastery. Seattle’s nude beach Denny Blaine now has a fence between the clothed and unclothed. And Seattle elected its youngest mayor ever while pushing out its more moderate incumbents. There’s a lot to reflect on, and thankfully our friends over at Week in Review took time to look back on the year for their Year in Review event. Bill Radke hosted the panel of Libby Denkmann, Phyllis Fletcher, and Sandeep Kaushik. Mayor elect Katie Wilson and Attorney General Nick Brown were there too. We're bringing you an excerpt from the evening.

  Dec 29, 2025 at 5:00 am

• Weekend Listen: City Council President Sara Nelson says goodbye

  Today, we’re bringing you the best from another KUOW show, Soundside. A lot has changed during Sara Nelson’s time in Seattle government. She was a centrist outlier on a progressive city council when she was first elected in 2021.  But the dynamics changed: Nelson ended up running the show as council president, after a moderate slate of candidates swept the 2023 election.  Now - her time in office is coming to an end. Next month, there will be a new, more progressive representative in the citywide Position 9 seat that Nelson’s held the past four years. Nonprofit leader Dionne Foster will take Nelson’s place after winning by a wide margin of votes in November.  Last week, Nelson spent an hour with Soundside to reflect on her tenure and the direction Seattle politics is moving.

  Dec 27, 2025 at 5:00 am

• A very Die Hard movie debate with Dyer Oxley and Bill Radke

  Here's a special Christmas episode brought to your feed from KUOW's arts and culture podcast Meet Me Here: The holiday season means trees, cookies, family, spirituality, or presents to many. For Meet Me Here's Dyer Oxley, it means it's time to watch his favorite Christmas movie — "Die Hard." This 1988 action flick staring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman has become a Christmas tradition for many. But not everyone agrees that "Die Hard" can be a Christmas tradition. Week in Review host Bill Radke is in that camp. He challenges Dyer's "Die Hard" opinion in a special holiday throw down. Bill and Dyer debate a modern holiday question: Is "Die Hard" a Christmas movie?

  Dec 25, 2025 at 5:00 am

• The holidays are a great time for cheap Costco wine

  Today, we’re bringing you the best from another KUOW show, Seattle Eats… The holidays are here— The season for cookies, roasts, seafood… and wine. And if you want the best deals on good wine… Seattle Times food critic, Tan Vinh says… head to Costco. On the latest episode of Seattle Eats, Tan sat down with Seattle Times politics reporter David Gutman to taste-test Costco’s best wines that are 20 dollars or less.

  Dec 24, 2025 at 5:00 am

• Weekend Listen: SPD Chief Shon Barnes on working with Katie Wilson and police accountability

  Today, we’re bringing you the best from another KUOW show, Soundside…  It’s been a busy year for the Seattle Police Department.  A new chief was sworn in, the longstanding federal consent decree ended and the city reached a new contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild that changes how it can approach unarmed crisis response. Plus, a new mayor will take office in January. Mayor-elect Katie Wilson announced this week that she planned to retain Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes, despite some rumors to the contrary.  Soundside's Libby Denkmann talked with Barnes last week.

  Dec 20, 2025 at 5:00 am

• Washington will be recovering from floods into 2026

  The fallout from the floods in Washington state continues. Thankfully we got a bit of a sunbreak yesterday. But there’s more rain on the way and many people have just begun recovering from the damage the deluge has caused. KUOW reporters have been all over Western Washington this week. Casey Martin will tell us what he’s been hearing from first responders and people affected by the floods.

  Dec 18, 2025 at 5:00 am

• Wednesday Evening Headlines

  King County crews working to shore up damaged levees, Highway 2 closure has Leavenworth businesses worried about tourism, and Rep. Dan Newhouse to retire.

  Dec 17, 2025 at 5:02 pm

• Landmark or nuisance? Gas Works Park grapples with its industrial history

  Gas Works Park is a national landmark.  But it comes with danger– several people have been injured or killed climbing its towers.  Like 15-year-old Mattheis Johnson, who fell to his death while climbing this summer. A new lawsuit filed by the teen’s family is the latest effort to challenge the resistance to any changes to the structures.  We’ll hear more from New York Times Pacific Northwest Bureau Chief Anna Griffin.

  Dec 17, 2025 at 5:00 am

• How does Seattle's cost of living stack up to other cities?

  Today, we’re bringing you the best from another KUOW show, Booming. The cost of living is really high in Seattle. Whether it's housing or groceries, this town is a tough place to make ends meet. Joshua McNichols and Monica Nicholsberg of KUOW’s Booming podcast talked to a researcher who sends armies of shoppers to find out why… And he gives some tips for making your dollar stretch as far as possible in this very expensive city.

  Dec 17, 2025 at 12:05 am

• Pressing pause on the next generation of astronomers at UW

  At the UW, hundreds apply each year for the astronomy department’s graduate program, and a maximum of seven are accepted. But for the next year, they won’t be accepting any graduate students, due to state and federal funding cuts. To learn about the impact, we talk with UW astronomy professor Emily Levesque, who's author of the book "The Last Stargazers."

  Dec 16, 2025 at 5:00 am