Libby Denkmann
Host, Soundside
About
Libby Denkmann has covered veterans' issues, homelessness, and local politics during her radio journalism career. She became the host of KUOW's Soundside in November 2021. Previously she was a producer, reporter, anchor, and host for stations KIRO, KFI, and KPCC in Seattle and Los Angeles. During a yearlong hiatus from journalism in 2011, she worked as a congressional staffer in Washington, D.C.. Libby was born in Seattle, grew up on the eastside, and graduated from the University of Washington. Her favorite things include soccer, video games, and her dog, Monty.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, limited Japanese and Portuguese
Pronouns: she/her
Podcasts
Stories
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Week in Review: encampments, SPD, and gender-affirming care
Guest hosts Mike Davis and Libby Denkmann discuss the week’s news with freelance health journalist Joanne Silberner, PubliCola’s Erica Barnett, and The Stranger’s Vivian McCall.
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Arts & Life
This center made Seattle a hub for the game Go, now it needs a new home
In Seattle's U-District, there’s a non-descript two story building tucked near the corner of I-5 and 45th street. On the side of that building is a large sign that looks like graph paper with black and white circles on it. If you’re a smartypants, you may recognize this as a game of GO. If you’re a super smartypants, you might head inside to play the game at the “Seattle GO Center.”
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Government
Yakima Valley residents may get a reset on their legislative district lines
Washington’s 15th Legislative District stretches through five counties in the south-central part of the state — including Yakima and the Tri Cities — and pretty much no one thinks its borders have been mapped correctly. After numerous legal challenges, those lines could very well change ahead of the 2024 election season.
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Environment
Hear it Again: Finding hope amidst the dread of climate change
Flip on the news and you'll see it: record flooding in New England, record heat waves around the world. It can be hard in 2023 to look at climate issues and not feel despair. But across the country, communities are persevering through our new climate reality.
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Education
From Civil Rights to campus change: Black student activism in Washington state
Seattle isn't widely recognized as an epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement. But through the mid 20th-century, individuals and organizations were making national waves in a fight for recognition and equality. Those actions percolated to university life in Seattle and Pullman. The foundation of Black Studies came from the efforts of Black Students and Black Student Unions to create a space for talking about history, organizing, and black power.
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Business
What we do and don't know about high gas prices in Washington state
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Rent control in Seattle? Legacy goal for Kshama Sawant faces hurdles
"Soundside" host Libby Denkmann talks with AXIOS reporter Melissa Santos about Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant's rent-control proposal.
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'We can't let them steamroll our democracy': How covering NW white supremacist groups shaped 2 reporters
Long before far-right and white supremacist groups like the Patriot Front and the Washington State Three Percenters became household names, the Pacific Northwest was home to other extremist groups. As a reporter in Portland in the late 1990s, KUOW Morning Edition host Angela King covered far-right extremist organizations like the Aryan Nation.
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Health
This psychiatric hospital shuttered in 1973. But patient descendants and community researchers keep its lore alive
There’s an overgrown cemetery nestled in the farmland of the Cascade foothills of Skagit County. It’s the burial grounds for Northern State Hospital, a long-shuttered state mental institution.
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Law & Courts
Idaho's 'abortion trafficking' law faces legal challenge
"Soundside" host Libby Denkmann talks with KFF Health News Senior Correspondent Sarah Varney about the lawsuit filed this week against Idaho's "abortion travel ban."