Washington joins a growing number of states in abandoning capital punishment
“We now know, and the Supreme Court decision affirmed, that zip code and race are likely determinants of whether the accused is given the death penalty. There is nothing equal, fair, or just if that has occurred. And unfortunately, it has.”
On today's show:
Washington ditches the death penalty
This morning, Washington became the 20th state to abandon the death penalty. A five justice majority said the law is invalid because it is “imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.” That’s an argument that can be made about many other aspects of the criminal justice system; we asked King County’s prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg and Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist why this penalty was different.
Women's football: Seattle Spartans v Tacoma Trauma
It’s football season, and trials are on this Sunday: men need not apply. The Seattle Spartans are holding tryouts; we spoke to owner Nicole Pelham, as well as head coach of their rivals the Tacoma Trauma. The Trauma follows in a tradition of women’s team names that might channel social trends more than Seahawks or Raiders, such as the Capital City Rage and the Miami Fury. We asked about the legacy of women in sport, and how it’s changing.
Kristina Olson, MacArthur Genius awardee
“Are you in a room where no one can hear you?” File under disturbing calls from an unknown number. University of Washington professor Kristina Olson had been dodging what seemed like a persistent telemarketer, and that opening conversational gambit wasn’t reassuring. But it turned out that she’d won the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant for her work as director of the TransYouth Project. She spoke to Bill about her research and what she hopes to do with the grant.
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Bill Radke
Host
Bill hosts Week In Review and Words in Review. After starting with KUOW as a University of Washington student in 1985, Bill was KUOW's morning host in the '90s and the creator of past show, Rewind, a news-satire show heard on KUOW and nationwide on NPR. Bill moved away to Southern California to host American Public Media's Weekend America and Marketplace Morning Report and returned to KUOW in 2012.
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