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  People who are anxious about the possibility of their property taxes going up have a new resource to turn to. King County just launched a web site to allow homeowners to appeal their property valuations electronically. They can use the site to look up comparable sales and submit that information along with the appeal.

Editor of The Lancet, Richard Horton, wants human rights activists and global health geeks to come together in common cause. More than 500 public health experts, policy makers and academics from 50 different countries have gathered in Seattle this week to dig deeper into what one of the leaders in the field characterized as having … Continue reading →

I'll never forget the time my big brother sunk his fork in the back of my hand after I snitched food off his plate.

But all siblings fight, right?

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• Jazz vocalist Patricia Barber at Alix Goolden Hall, sponsored by KPLU
• June 27, 7:30 p.m.
• Part of the TD Victoria International JazzFest

Chicago’s Patricia Barber is a uniquely talented singer/songwriter/pianist who brilliantly straddles the junction of jazz and blues (with a few pop songs like “Ode To Billie Joe” thrown in for good measure).

The Washington Transportation Department says a temporary span on the Interstate 5 Skagit River bridge should open this week, less than a month since a section of the bridge collapsed.

Paul Guennette from the NGO ACDI/VOCA, is sick of the food aid reform debate. He says the real problem is ensuring that food emergencies do not happen in the first place. I’m impatient with the tedious debate on emergency food aid reform. We’ll always have another food crisis, and responding effectively will save lives. But … Continue reading →

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• EXHIBITION: Great Art on Screen
• Featured event is Munch 150 from the Munch Museum & National Museum, Oslo
• Passes are for June 27, 7:30 p.m. at select theaters

EXHIBITION: Great Art on Screen is a new theatrical series of events, bringing the world’s greatest art exhibitions to cinema screens worldwide. EXHIBITION will feature the world’s foremost upcoming art exhibitions, creatively captured especially for the big screen.

We hear you. Enough with the World Bank and the environment. I can’t resist sharing this story. The Washington Post’s WonkBlog picked up World Bank study that finds it is more environmentally friendly to travel coach as opposed to first class. In short, first class seats take up a lot of room and the passengers … Continue reading →

A neat tool from the Council for Foreign Relations tracks vaccine preventable outbreaks around the world. Users can search for specific diseases and see changes dating back to 2008. It is fascinating to see cases of polio pop up in West African countries that are considered to have rid themselves of polio as Nigeria inches closer … Continue reading →

Source: Economist A numerical evaluation of recent conflictHOW does the civil war in Syria, which pits rebels armed with light weapons against the tanks and jets of the government,… Read more at: www.economist.com Continue reading →

Aid Leap makes the case that the IF Campaign turned away from hunger and malnutrition once it was clear it would not make the G8 agenda. The 3Ts of transparency, tax and trade will take center stage at  the upcoming meetings. That explains why we have been hearing more and more about tax havens and … Continue reading →

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIRrmNN_CQ

It costs a lot for President Obama to travel. He requires plenty of support and security for good reason. The President will make his way back to sub-Saharan Africa to visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania later this month. Given the logistical and security challenges in the countries, it is going to cost even more, … Continue reading →

KPLU's Summer Jazz Brunch Cruise is Sunday, August 25.   Join us for a relaxing, two-and-a-half hour cruise on Elliott Bay aboard the Royal Argosy. 

Enjoy a scrumptious all-you-can-eat brunch, spectacular views, and great music from this year's special guest artist--one of the finest up-and-coming international jazz talents and freshest voices to come along in years--Halie Loren--performing with her quartet.

KPLU's Jazz Brunch Cruises are a summertime favorite for Northwest residents and out-of-town guests. 

This year's cruise will be emceed by KPLU jazz host Kevin Kniestedt.  The boat leaves Seattle's Pier 56 at 10:30 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m.  Tickets are $65.

Get detailed information and purchase your tickets HERE.

Thanks to the LaConner Chamber of Commerce for their support.

Confederations Cup: 39 injured & 30 arrests in Brazil protests (BBC) - Up to 1,000 Brazilians demonstrated outside the country’s national stadium to vent their anger at the amount of money the country is spending on staging next year’s World Cup. Ending Hunger Is Possible (IPS) - Thirty-eight countries were recognized for the first time on Sunday by the … Continue reading →

One way young kids learn to organize the world is by dividing it into living and non-living things. But now that robots vacuum our floors and smart phones talk back to us, do children think of technology as alive? A team of Washington researchers is exploring how kids interact with robots, and what that might reveal about both their brains and ours.

Hanging drywall is a dirty, hard job. And 250 workers at Summit Drywall, Inc., based in Issaquah, say it was even worse for them because they didn’t get paid the wages they were due.

The U.S. Department of Labor is suing Summit Drywall on behalf of the workers, claiming the company failed to pay minimum wage and time and a half for overtime.

This week is the start of summer vacation for a lot of students in the Puget Sound area. It's a time to relax, go to camps and have fun. 

But for children who come from families that don't have a lot of money these next few months are when they often fall behind in their reading skills.

Bert Wilson was an inspiration, mentor, and brilliant saxophonist who passed on June 6 in Olympia at age 73.  Some of his large output of music was featured on Jazz Northwest on Sunday June 16 at 2 PM Pacific on 88.5 KPLU and kplu.org. Although not widely known to the jazz public, he was sought out by saxophonists who regarded him as a guru of improvisation, extended techniques and the history of the instrument.

Bill Foege is the man. You wouldn’t know it though, because he’s one of the most self-effacing guys you could meet. Try to compliment him on his singular achievements in global health, and he expertly deflects it. But behind the facade of a humble, ho-hum doctor, he’s really a social justice radical (he calls poverty … Continue reading →