Ross Files With Dave Ross

Uttam Mukherjee and Aakanksha Sinha are the husband and wife team behind Spice Waala, an Indian restaurant in Capitol Hill that doesn't serve your typical Americanized tikka masala. They opened a brick and mortar storefront in 2019 ... and then the pandemic hit. Aakanksha, a professor at the University of Washington who researches food justice, and Uttam, with his background in the corporate business world, talk to Dave Ross about how they've stepped up for their community with meal donations, navigated the delivery fees and uncertainty of apps like GrubHub and UberEats, and stayed positive while trying to save their business.

How do we create a stable middle class in America? Dave Ross calls entrepreneur and investor Nick Hanauer, who argues that taxing big business and the rich, like him, makes a lot of sense - especially in a pandemic.

Katrina Johnson is the cousin of Charleena Lyles, who was killed in 2017 during an encounter with police in her apartment.  She talks with Dave Ross about the ongoing protests in Seattle, including a vigil for Charleena and other victims of police brutality that Johnson organized in Magnuson Park, an event hundreds attended. With a background working with police officers in Seattle's Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program and fighting for justice for her cousin through the inquest process, Johnson demands accountability from the Seattle Police Department and city leadership. Johnson is organizing a March for Accountability at Magnuson Park this Sunday, June 28th: more information about how to participate here.

Several years ago, the city of Camden, New Jersey completely disbanded their entire police department and union - then rebuilt both from the ground up. So Dave Ross calls Camden Freeholder Director Lou Cappelli Jr., an architect of the program, to find out how they did it and what policing in Camden looks like now.

As people take to the streets to protest anti-Black racism despite the continued risk of coronavirus, many health experts have signed an open letter to support the movement, calling racism itself as a public health crisis. Add to this the data showing a disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on minority populations, and the conversation about racism and community health has been cast in an urgent new light. So Dave Ross calls Edwin Lindo, a scholar of Critical Race Theory and the Associate Director for the University of Washington's Center for Leadership and Innovation in Medical Education (CLIME). He also hosts The Praxis Podcast, which addresses racism as a health issue.

Should an unreviewed, self-published info booklet about coronavirus be available on Amazon Kindle? Alex Berenson, former New York Times journalist and current spy novel writer, made waves this week when his first installment of three booklets called "Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns" was abruptly removed from Amazon's self-publishing platform, without explanation. The ensuing debate about censorship eventually reached Elon Musk and then Jeff Bezos himself. Now it's coming directly to you. Listen to Dave Ross interview Alex Berenson and ask: are you a fringe Covid denier?

The use of force by police in America has come under sharp criticism in the wake of the death of George Floyd.  What is our way forward? Dave Ross asks that question of the person who trains police, Sue Rahr. She was the King County sheriff, and is now the executive director of the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission, which certifies police and corrections officers in our state.

Do you need to wear a mask while you hike? Should grocery stores be avoided at all costs? To help us adjust to this new normal and all of the uncertain (and sometimes conflicting) guidelines, Dave Ross calls epidemiologist Erin Bromage at the University of Massachusetts. Bromage specializes in translating science and research into plain English, and can tell us everything scientists know so far about how the coronavirus really spreads - and how to calculate your own risk.

Several months ago, KIRO Radio's Dave Ross interviewed activist and friend Jeff Siddiqui about his experience receiving a heart transplant. You can listen to Jeff's story here. During that interview, Jeff told Dave he wanted to meet and thank the family of the person who donated his heart. Corrie Schumacher heard Jeff's interview on the radio. Her son, 22 year old Sam Schumacher, had passed away in a tragic accident, and was a registered organ, eye and tissue donor. Corrie was inspired by Jeff's story to write letters to all four of the people her son's donations had saved - not yet knowing that Jeff himself was the recipient of her son's heart. Jeff and Corrie cannot meet in person because of the coronavirus, but they spoke to Dave about their experience meeting virtually, and the legacy Sam left behind with his choice to donate. April is National Donate Life Month. If you are interested in registering as an organ donor, you can do so through LifeCenter Northwest.

The COVID-19 pandemic's peak number of cases seems to be hitting Seattle over Easter weekend and Passover Seder. Boyd Matheson, Opinion Editor of Deseret News, does a (remote!) interview with Dave Ross to discuss the intersection of faith and science during turbulent times.  

Dr. Keith Jerome is on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak in Washington state.  He's not only the Head of Virology at the University of Washington's Department of Laboratory Medicine. He's also a member of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. His lab just received federal approval to start running tests for COVID-19 locally. He'll tell you everything you need to know about how the virus spreads, how to protect yourself against it, and how close we are to a vaccine.

Dave Ross is joined in the studio by reporter Hanna Scott and car whisperer Chris Sullivan to ask Matthew Metz why he wants to ban gas-powered cars.

It doesn't just take peak athletic form to become a star athlete in the NFL and a household name. It takes mental conditioning, too. Dave Ross interviews Trevor Moawad, the guy who has been Russell Wilson's mental conditioning coach for years. Moawad grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and his dad, Bob Moawad, was an original contributor to 'Chicken Soup for the Soul.'  Moawad will talk about how staying in the present and keeping a neutral mindset can help anyone excel both personally and professionally. And he'll talk about why he refuses to listen to country music, too. Moawad's book is called It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life.

Senator Bernie Sanders has become a serious contender to win the Democratic nomination. So Dave Ross talked to Derek Thompson from The Atlantic about why Sanders' campaign is so appealing to young people. And, they discuss why Democrats over 65 might be hypocrites for preferring Joe Biden to the new wave of democratic socialism sweeping the progressive left.

A recent New York Times article put nearly identical textbooks from California and Texas side by side. It revealed some startling differences, with each state choosing to interpret certain parts of US history (slavery, the Second Amendment) pretty differently. Seattle's Morning News had some questions about how textbooks are selected for the public schools here in Washington state. So Dave Ross sat down with Kathleen Vasquez, the Literacy and Social Studies program manager at Seattle Public Schools.  Turns out, choosing a textbook is a pretty involved process, heavily dependent on community input. What goes into raising an all-American, patriotic young citizen? Especially when you might be tempted cherry-pick history, to make America sound 'great' again?

Dave Ross talks with Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig about her new book, co-authored with Philip Rucker, 'A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America.' Talking to over 200 sources inside the Trump Administration, the president's closest confidantes and allies have now turned against a White House they call reckless, chaotic and presenting a clear and present danger to America's stability at home and abroad. On Wednesday, Jan 29 at 7pm, Dave Ross will discuss the book with Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker at the Broadway Performance Hall in Seattle. Tickets can be purchased here.

Dave Ross talks to District 3 Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, a democratic socialist who defeated Amazon's outsized campaign spending in her last election. Sawant wants to reignite enthusiasm across the city for a tax on the very largest of Seattle's corporations - and the revenue would fund solutions to Seattle's now infamous homelessness and housing crisis.

When a deeply held belief of ours is challenged, our brainwaves show the same stress and panic as if we're being chased by a bear. We see it as a life or death threat, and it triggers a fight or flight response. But when we're having an easy conversation with someone at a party, our brainwaves actually sync up. Dave Ross talks with Kate Murphy, author of "You're Not Listening," about how to sync our brainwaves more than chase each other with bears. She has some great advice about how to be a good listener - and how to make sure other people want to listen to you, too.

Jeff Siddiqui has been on the program before, speaking to you as an activist on behalf of the Muslim community. But today, he joins us to tell the harrowing story of receiving a heart transplant this summer.  He'll talk to Dave Ross about what it was like to go from feeling absolutely fine to having a heart attack, his experience waiting on the national donor list, and the feeling of receiving another person's heart that saved his life.

Nathan Vass drives an overnight Metro bus route through Seattle's downtown core. He's also a filmmaker, an artist, and now, an author. On his well-known blog, Nathan tells stories about the people he encounters along his route, and that blog is now a book, called "The Lines That Make Us." Nathan joins Dave Ross in the studio to tell us some of those stories, and explain why he's stuck around on one of the least popular routes as long as he has.