Why our leaders are leaving Seattle, this week

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with KUOW reporter Casey Martin, New York Times technology correspondent Karen Weise and the editor at PubliCola, Erica C. Barnett.

This week, two Seattle leaders -- Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau -- announced they'll leave at the end of their term. This continues the high turnover we've seen in both the mayor and school superintendent jobs. Our police chief also left earlier this year. So it's natural to ask -- what's wrong with Seattle?

Plus, the Renton City Council has moved ahead on essentially evicting the homeless people who've been staying in the Red Lion Hotel, and limiting the number of clients any homeless service location can serve to 100 people. King County has rented all 255 rooms at the Red Lion because hotels are empty and homeless shelters need to spread people out during the pandemic. This was part of a push to create a regional response to homelessness, not just a Seattle response. So how is that going?

Also this week - the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce sued the city of Seattle over its upcoming payroll tax. The tax would raise an estimated 200 million per year for Covid relief, affordable housing, and more. The lawsuit cites a case from Bellingham, in which the state Supreme Court ruled that a city cannot tax the ability to earn a living. Mayor Durkan told me the city attorney will defend that tax in court. How much of a case does the Chamber of Commerce have?

Finally, tis the season for gifted gadgets. And Amazon wants you to buy its new fitness tracker - the Amazon Halo. Reviews, however, have not been good. What has this band sticking out in such a bad way compared to other fitness tracking devices?