This week we sit down with local reporters to talk about stories that they say deserve more attention.
KPLU's Sound Effect hears from Rachel Lerman and Nina Shapiro, reporters with The Seattle Times, and Josh Feit, co-founder of Publicola and news and politics editor at Seattle Met magazine.
The choices for under-reported stories include a discussion about the contrast between GOP efforts to do outreach among Latinos on the state level following the last presidential election and today's Republican presidential candidates who are making anti-immigration comments on a regular basis. Are local Republicans frustrated?
The panel also looks at where state lawmakers are with the McCleary decision, in which the state was ordered to fully fund K-12 education. It has been four months since the state Supreme Court held the legislature in contempt for failing to come up with billions in new funds, and the fines continue to pile up. A recent task force established by Governor Jay Inslee has not appeared to make any progress. They meet again January 4, so it is likely they will be heading into the next legislative session without a way to fix the problems the court says need to be solved.
The discussion concludes with a look at "unfounded rapes." ProPublica and The Marshall Projectrecently published an investigative story about how police investigate sex crimes. It focuses in part on a case in Lynnwood, where police pressured a victim to recant her story, and then charged her with making false statements. A subsequent probe found the department had not used best practices, and officers apologized and paid a settlement to the victims.
Finally, a program note: Host Gabriel Spitzer announced that, for now, this would be the last news round table heard within Sound Effect. The team has decided to change up its format slightly, filling out the full hour with stories on its weekly theme. The round table could make a comeback at some point elsewhere on KPLU, so stay tuned.
