Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show every weekday at 9am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM. Listen to 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show every weekday at 9am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM. Listen to 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Keller, the 2011 Keeper of the Year, made a surprise appearance on “Seattle’s Morning News” on 成人X站 Newsradio ahead of his Seafair duties to shock an old high school classmate, 成人X站 host Manda Factor.

“Ahhhhh, Kasey, I haven’t seen you since we bagged groceries in West Seattle together,” Factor exclaimed. “You have a street named after you, and getting to be the grand marshal of the Seafair Torchlight Parade, that’s a big honor.”

Among his accomplishments is the renaming of a street in his hometown. Adjacent to Keller’s alma mater, North Thurston High School in Olympia, one street was renamed to “Kasey Keller Drive.”

“It was funny when they approached me, and I was kind of like, ‘Really? Yeah, of course. I’d love to,'” Keller said. “It’s one of those things, I mean, growing up down in Olympia, you always remember Seafair with the Hydros and the Blue Angels and the pirates and everything. Now to have that honor, to be able to be right in the middle of it, it’s going to be a lot of fun.

“It’s also a lot of responsibility, and clearly I’ve been in an intensive training program to get ready for my grand marshaling skills,” Keller added.

“It’s elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist,” Factor shared. “Got it?”

Seafair moves to Seattle waterfront

Keller will be the grand marshal for Seafair, amid one of the event’s most significant changes in its 76-year history 鈥� moving to the Seattle waterfront for the first time. His career as goalkeeper for the U.S. Men鈥檚 National Team includes four World Cup appearances alongside three U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year honors.

“Kasey, did you call Manda ‘Mandy’ in high school?” 成人X站 host Charlie Harger asked.

“Gosh, Charlie,” Manda said.

“There was no Manda in high school,” Casey said to a crowd of laughter.

Keller’s vehicle of choice for the festivities has yet to be revealed, but he considered using his own ’68 Buick convertible. However, he decided against it after becoming nervous that his own car might break down in the middle of the parade.

“I don’t want that responsibility,” Keller said. “I’m not sure yet what they’re going to throw me in.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

“You just shot your stand-up special over the weekend, how’d it go?” “Seattle’s Morning News” host Charlie Harger asked Piven.

“It was incredible. You’re the first people I’m talking to about it,” Piven replied. “I’m actually in St Louis. I just finished a show here, and I’ve been doing different cities every day. I went home to Chicago and filmed (the special) in front of my people, a couple of sold-out shows at the Vic theater. The whole thing was a miracle.”

Career-defining turn as Entourage’s Ari Gold

Piven became an overnight sensation after appearing as Ari Gold in the comedy series “Entourage,” for which he won a Golden Globe Award聽and three consecutive聽Emmy Awards across 96 episodes.

“With ‘Entourage,’ my job and, my God, was I lucky to have it, my honor was to take the written word, every single word, and make it feel improvisational,” Piven said. “Make it feel like, ‘Oh, man, this guy’s just making it up,’ because everyone thought I was just making it up, and what a great compliment that is.”

But his dedication to the character Ari Gold and the lexicon of profanity that came with it eventually caught up to him, as producers became convinced he wasn’t even acting.

“An agent actually said to me one time, ‘I’m having trouble getting you work on your hiatus because everyone’s saying there’s no way that’s acting,'” Piven said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, wait, what?'”

Piven’s love for Seattle

“I love Seattle,” Piven said. “My memory of Seattle is filming with Cameron Crowe in Seattle. I did ‘Singles’ and ‘Say Anything’ with Cameron, and then I did a music video with him in Seattle.”

One part of the Seattle leg of his tour that Piven is particularly excited about is performing at the Neptune Theatre, a historic 104-year-old venue with a 1,000-person capacity in the University District. In 2014, the theater was designated as a Seattle landmark.

“It’s a great venue,” Harger said. “I’ve been to a couple of shows there. In fact, I brought my daughter to a concert there once, and they brought us up on stage. I danced on stage there. It seemed like a lot of people were judging me and my dancing.”

“And, by the way, that feeling is very common. That’s what everyone feels the first time they really enter into a new arena like that,” Piven said. “If you wanted to be a professional dancer, and I don’t suggest it, my good man, I don’t know if you have it in you. I think if you were a stripper, your stripper name would be ‘Vanilla Drizzle’ or ‘Put some ice on it.'”

Piven’s show is happening . Show starts at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show every weekday at 9am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM. Listen to 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

“The deficit is one of the biggest concerns. I think it’s one of the most hypocritical,” Smith said on “Seattle’s Morning News.”聽“You can hear so many Republican members of Congress talk about how bad the debt and the deficit are and the impact they’re going to have. And then they actually argued that we have to vote for this bill because we have to get spending under control.”

Smith stated that approximately $3.4 trillion will be added to the federal debt because of the amount of taxes cut “primarily for the wealthy, but some for the upper middle class, at a time when the concentration of wealth is the single biggest economic problem that we face.”

“It is literally a reverse Robin Hood piece of legislation that’s going to weaken us fiscally and also make it harder for the people in this country who are already struggling economically,” Smith said. “It was an incredibly irresponsible piece of legislation.”

The “big, beautiful bill” reached 900 pages in length, according to . Despite unanimous disapproval of the legislation by Democratic representatives, the House passed it on a 218-214 vote after the Senate passed it on a tiebreaking vote by Vice President JD Vance.

“I think the most offensive part about it, again, is the dishonesty behind it,” Smith added. “That the Republicans are claiming that they’re going to be fiscally responsible in passing this bill.”

Included in the bill is approximately $350 billion for Trump鈥檚 border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds.

“Did you and your fellow Democrats just want to kill the whole deal, or did you feel there was room for compromise?” 成人X站 host Manda Factor asked Smith.

“Probably kill the whole deal because I don’t know what you would really compromise on if the entire goal was to drive up the debt, cut programs for poor people, and give more tax cuts to rich people,” Smith answered. “I’m in favor of a conversation about how we restructure the budget to get us on a more fiscally sustainable path that we could have had a conversation about, but that wasn’t the conversation that the Republican majority was interested in.”

‘Big, beautiful bill’ carries no tax on tips and overtime

As promised on Trump’s campaign trail, the legislation eliminated taxes on both tips and overtime.

The bill includes two provisions that create above-the-line deductions for both tips and overtime pay. Workers can now subtract money earned through tips and overtime from their taxable income, essentially exempting it from federal income tax.

“A fan of the show runs up to me, and he goes, ‘Tell me more about this payroll tax cut.’ Specifically, he was excited about no tax on overtime. This is a thing that I think a lot of people are excited about,” 成人X站 host Charlie Harger said. “Should people be excited about that?”

“Would you be excited if someone came up to you and said, ‘Here, I’m going to give you $5,000.’ Well, sure, but that’s the way we’ve been governing for several decades now,” Smith replied. “Overtime, tips, they should be taxed. Now, I’m in favor of a progressive tax system, so if you make less money, I want to give you a higher write-off. I want you to have to pay less taxes.

“But the idea that overtime and tips shouldn’t be taxed, as a number of business people have told me, all of a sudden, a lot of things are going to be considered overtime and tips,” Smith continued. “It’s not that hard to restructure that. You’re going to have a 30-hour work week, and we’re going to call it overtime. It is an invitation to undermine our tax system.”

Workers will still be subjected to state, local income, and payroll taxes.

“But look, tip of the hat to Trump,” Smith said. “He understands promising stuff is one of the best ways to get elected. We have to become more disciplined as a country if we’re going to have a more fiscally responsible budget. Governing is about more than giving free stuff to people. It’s about having an effective and efficient government.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

This decision comes as an exception to a decades-old ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.

“The rule is that if you’re a tax-exempt group, whether you’re a charity, a church, a synagogue, or a mosque, you can’t get involved in political campaigning,” , an investigative reporter for The New York Times, said on “Seattle’s Morning News.” You can’t endorse candidates. You can’t campaign on behalf of a candidate. What the IRS did last night was create a new exemption. If you’re a house of worship and you’re speaking from the pulpit and you’re speaking to your congregation, not to the public at large, but to the members of your congregation, you can endorse candidates.

“You can oppose a candidate. You can make a political speech from the pulpit to your congregation,” Fahrenthold continued. “That was something the IRS wasn’t really policing before, but now they’re saying, officially, it’s legal.”

This isn’t anything new, Fahrenthold shared, as religious leaders would often share their political viewpoints with their congregations previously. The IRS was “pretty sporadic” about enforcing that rule because it was concerned about overstepping First Amendment grounds related to freedom of religion. Now, it’s officially allowed.

President Donald Trump has long wanted to remove the rule, coined the Johnson Amendment.

“The entire rule says that nonprofits can’t get involved in politics, but in this case, it was in response to a lawsuit filed by some churches in Texas against the IRS, with the church arguing that they don’t think this rule is constitutional,” Fahrenthold said. “It oversteps freedom of religion.”

Public split on IRS’ ruling

The reaction to the exemption to the Johnson Amendment has been mixed.

“There are some people who say, ‘Well, look, this was basically already the rule anyway. The IRS didn’t say it, but this is how they were treating the rule in practice,'” Fahrenthold said. “But there are a lot of folks, including big associations of nonprofits, who really worry about the impact here. They say, ‘Well, this sounds like it’s getting the IRS out of the business of policing what churches say, but it may just make them more involved.'”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

“I’m not trying to be funny by this, but I’m just going to say it right now,” Gee said on “Seattle’s Morning News.” “If you, or anybody that you know, is still letting off fireworks after 12 a.m. on July 5, you’re a jerk!”

“We’re now days later, and I heard some at midnight last night,” 成人X站 host Manda Factor said Monday morning, three days after the Fourth of July. “I think that you have no regard for our elderly population, and there’s always somebody who says to me, ‘Well, all you got to do is pack up and take your animals with you.’ My neighbor next door is an elderly person. She can’t just pick up and leave. I’m tired of the fireworks, plus they’re dangerous.”

2024 stats on injuries related to fireworks

Last year, 14,700 people were sent to the ER for fireworks-related injuries, resulting in 11 deaths, according to the . This year, Harborview Medical Center treated dozens of patients for fireworks-related injuries, while a man in Snohomish County lost his entire hand as a result of the fireworks accident.

“Doesn’t it take the significance out of the Fourth of July if you just keep blasting these things off?” Gee added.

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

(R-Aberdeen) joined “Seattle’s Morning News” just before the House sent the bill to the president’s desk to explain why this “big, beautiful bill” is necessary.

“I want to know your pitch to our 成人X站 Newsradio listeners, because we do have a mix of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all hanging on your every word right now,” 成人X站 host Charlie Harger said.

“Look, this is a controversial bill, and let’s frame it the right way,” Walsh said.聽“What we ought to be doing in Congress … is doing normal budgets, like what we do in Olympia. You can like them. You can dislike them, but a regular budget allows for the right debate on these issues of what we spend our tax money on.

“We haven’t done a proper federal budget in like two decades, and this is what we get for doing all these Band-Aid fixes on our federal government spending,” Walsh continued.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Review said the bill would pile nearly $3.3 trillion onto the nation鈥檚 debt load from 2025 to 2034, a nearly $1 trillion increase over the House-passed version of the bill. The analysis also found that 11.8 million Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill were to be signed by President Trump.

“I’m old enough to remember when the Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility,” Harger said. “All about balanced budgets, but here we are adding $3.3 trillion to the deficit. How can we justify that?”

“Well, it’s tough. We need to pass this kind of bill to keep things going on this revolving, temporary basis, because this is where we are. We’ve agreed to do this years ago, and we’re stuck now in this place,” Walsh responded. “What we need is leadership at the top, and the president has indicated he wants to go this way. This gets us back to conventional budget negotiations in D.C., and that’s the long-term play. This is a short-term step on the way to getting proper budgets written.”

Cuts toward Medicaid frighten Democratic reps, voters

Tax breaks, spending cuts, and new funding for national defense and deportations are among the top concerns for Republicans, according to The Associated Press, while聽Democrats worry the bill鈥檚 reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care.

“What’s the truth about the Medicaid cuts that are in this proposal? Right now, in this country, we have a diluted Medicaid program,” Walsh said. “The program uses federal dollars that flow through the state governments. So every state has its own version of Medicaid. In our state, we call ours Apple Health. We’ve had a series of decisions made in how we run Apple Health that has diluted the benefit.”

Walsh said Medicaid’s initial purpose in Washington was to provide basic health insurance for people who are disabled, for people who are really down and out and not able to work and find their own health insurance, and a small sliver of older people.

“What the big beautiful bill is trying to do is refocus Medicaid dollars to get those reimbursement numbers back up closer to what the cost of providing the services is for a rural hospital,” Walsh said.

Listen to the full conversation here.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

Wilson was taken into custody Wednesday evening and held at the King County Jail downtown. Seattle Police Department (SPD) said the arrest stems from an ongoing case involving his former fianc茅e, Lee Keller, who previously obtained a restraining order against him.

“I’m here to tell you I’m very concerned about my safety,” Keller said in court. “I currently have an active restraining order in place, and John Wilson continues to violate it.”

John Wilson’s attorney, John Palito, countered, saying, “Ms. Keller has stated John Wilson has never assaulted her. There has never been any threats of physical assault. There are allegations that he violated an order of protection. That’s it. There have been cries for him to quit. He’s not going to.”

The arrest came just hours after Wilson dining at an upscale restaurant.

“Been a busy but great day,” the post read. “Came to one of my favorite places to have a great celebration. Yay!”

King County Assessor John Wilson denies allegations against him

Wilson has publicly and repeatedly denied Keller鈥檚 claims, describing the legal battle as politically motivated. Earlier this month, he told 成人X站 Newsradio鈥檚 John Curley that he expected the restraining order to be dismissed soon.

鈥淭his is the third time that she has taken some action like this, and each and every time she has withdrawn it before it ever went to court,鈥� Wilson said.

But Keller, in a statement issued through her attorney, said the order remains in effect and that she has no intention of dismissing it.

鈥淚 will not be changing my mind, despite his repeated efforts to coerce me to dismiss it,鈥� Keller wrote. 鈥淎 hearing on the restraining order will be held on June 30. I welcome the opportunity to address John鈥檚 reference to a signed agreement at that time and inform the court of John鈥檚 continuing violations of the very active restraining order.鈥�

Wilson, who is running for King County Executive, has faced mounting political pressure in recent weeks. In June, the King County Council unanimously passed a vote of no confidence against him.

King County Council member Claudia Balducci issued a statement Thursday in response to Wilson’s arrest.

Wilson’s bail is set at $50,000. He will be back in court on July 8 at 2 p.m.

Contributing: James Lynch, 成人X站 Newsradio

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

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The bill would provide more permanent tax breaks and add new ones for various individuals and businesses. It would also provide $350 billion for defense and immigration, with less spending on Medicaid and food assistance.

“This is a big, extremely ugly bill,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-D) said on “Seattle’s Morning News” on 成人X站 Newsradio. “It would be incredibly damaging to people across the country, and definitely people in our region, taking away health care from millions of people, taking away food assistance, meaning folks aren’t getting basic healthy meals. Kids aren’t getting basic healthy meals. Energy costs are going up.”

The Congressional Budget Office predicted the bill would add approximately $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade if passed, according to The AP.

“There are just many terrible, ugly things in this bill,” DelBene added. “I’m going to absolutely be voting against it and working hard to do everything I can to prevent it from moving forward.”

New version of Trump’s tax bill

Now that Trump’s tax bill has passed through the Senate, it will return to the House for another vote before landing on the president’s desk. The significant differences between the new version of the bill and the one the House previously pushed through include even greater cuts to Medicaid 鈥� instead of 14 million people losing health care, it would be 17 million people 鈥� and more federal debt, DelBene explained.

成人X站 host Charlie Harger mentioned Republicans are using no tax on tips and no tax on overtime as key incentives for the bill.

“I think the Republicans are doing everything they can to distract folks from what this bill does,” DelBene responded. “This bill gives tax breaks to the wealthiest and the well-connected. It cuts health care, devastating millions of people in terms of their access to health care across the country. It would close rural hospitals, raise energy costs.”

She added that a front-running issue was affordable living, particularly in terms of the cost of housing, food, childcare, healthcare, and energy.

“There is nothing in this bill that helps working families,” DelBene said. “It will be devastating to our communities, and again, just increase the debt tremendously, putting that on our kids. So there’s nothing good about this.”

WA Rep. says no positives with Trump’s tax bill

When asked if there was anything good coming from Trump’s tax bill, DelBene responded, “This bill will be damaging to our country and damaging to our communities. There’s nothing about this bill that will help our communities.

“We have to be strong and stand up against it and actually fight for policies that do lower costs, fight for policies that help address housing costs and build more affordable housing, help us address the cost of food,” she added.

成人X站 host Manda Factor asked if DelBene saw everything being resolved by the Fourth of July.

“I think for him, he wants a marketing opportunity,” she replied. “This isn’t about doing something to stand up for the American people.”

DelBene said that even though countless polls have shown disfavor for the bill, Republicans aren’t taking the time to actually read the legislation.

“If they were listening, they’d be less worried about getting this bill done because the president wants it done, and more about standing up for their communities, reading the bill, and voting against it,” she said.

Listen to the full conversation below.

Follow Julia Dallas on聽 Read her stories here. Submit news tips here.

Listen to聽鈥淪eattle鈥檚 Morning News鈥�聽with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast聽here.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show every weekday at 9am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM. Listen to 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show every weekday at 9am on 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM. Listen to 成人X站 Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!