John O'Brien

1 week ago | m.kuow.org | Kim Malcolm |John O'Brien

Aerial View of Bellingham, Washington including the waterfront redevelopment, downtown, and Mount Baker in the distance. Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0/ Nick Kelly It's been four months since the start of cross border tensions between the US and Canada and the boycott of Canadian visitors is deepening. The latest traffic data shows half the number of vehicles with Canadian plates coming into Washington state in April compared to last year.

2 weeks ago | m.kuow.org | Paige Browning |John O'Brien

City Council Chambers, Seattle City Hall, Seattle, Washington. The Seattle City Council is scheduled to debate a change to the city's ethics policy Thursday. Current rules require council members to recuse themselves if they have a financial conflict of interest, which can mean some districts aren't fully represented in a vote. A proposed bill would make it easier for members to vote on legislation they have an interest in, but still require them to disclose any potential conflicts.

2 weeks ago | m.kuow.org | Kim Malcolm |John O'Brien

When generative artificial intelligence, or AI, dropped into our lives two and a half years ago, educators around the world went into a panic. Suddenly there was a chatbot easily accessible to students that could help them cheat on tests and assignments and likely get away with it. Fast forward, and now students are complaining that teachers are using AI in their jobs, and they don't like it. Katy Pearce is an associate professor in the University of Washington's Department of Communication.

3 weeks ago | m.kuow.org | Kim Malcolm |John O'Brien

Early Winters Spires in the North Cascades Wikimedia Commons/Ron Clausen, CC BY-SA 4.0 We’re learning more about the climbing accident that left three men dead in the North Cascades last weekend. The men were identified yesterday as 48-year-old Vishnu Irigireddy of Renton, 36-year-old Oleksander Martynenko of Bellevue, and 63-year-old Tim Nguyen of Renton. One man survived what the Okanagan County Sheriff's Office says was a 400-foot fall.

3 weeks ago | m.kuow.org | Kim Malcolm |John O'Brien

Bartell Drugs on Greenwood Avenue in Seattle, just north of 85th Street, circa 1950s. Wikimedia Commons We learned recently that all of the remaining Bartell Drugs stores will close this year. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm reached out to local historian Feliks Banel to mark the sad final chapter of a remarkable business story. They talked about what led to the moment in 1890 when 22-year-old pharmacist George H. Bartell Sr. bought a drug store in Seattle, and what happened next.