Hi, I'm Monica Nicholsberg, co-host of KUOW's economy podcast, Booming.

Microsoft President Brad Smith's favorite catchphrase of the moment is,

AI is the electricity of our age.

The next great general purpose technology.

So what does that mean for all of us?

On the latest episode, I spoke with a tech historian to find out what lessons we can learn from the last time a truly revolutionary technology took over the world.

Listen to booming on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Good afternoon. From the KUOW Newsroom, This is Seattle now. I'm Paige Browning.

Coming up, a story about a former beloved firehouse and community center for Redmond Teens.

But first, here are today's top stories. It's Tuesday, July 22nd.

Starting with the wildfire situation across our state and nation, federal wildlife officials have raised the national preparedness level to four.

Not a lot of people know what that means, but I'll tell you, you want to be closer to a one.

If things get more intense, that could mean calling on the military and other countries for help.

From the Mountain West News Bureau, Murphy Woodhouse reports.

The National Preparedness Level or PL system is a 1 to 5 scale that indicates how busy a season is.

When determining the PL, officials consider fuel and weather conditions, current fire activity,

and the availability of resources to

respond. When we reach preparedness level three, we usually have several geographic areas that are

competing for resources, and we're usually able to meet most of those resource needs nationally.

That's Sean Peterson, the manager of the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise.

We're at PL4 right now because our national resources are heavily committed.

At PL5, which was reached July 18th last year, things get a bit more intense.

...