On the latest episode of sound politics, the vast majority of Americans say that money in politics is a threat to democracy.

Seattle came up with a novel solution.

Give everyone money to donate to candidates.

Now, is that working?

We'll talk about it ahead of the August 5th primary when voters will decide if the democracy voucher program should

stick around. That's on the latest sound politics, wherever you get your podcasts.

Hello, from the KUOWW Newsroom. This is Seattle Now. I'm Patricia Murphy, with a roundup of today's top stories.

It's Wednesday, July 2nd.

Starting today with more bad news for tech workers, Microsoft is once again cutting thousands of employees.

The company said this week it will reduce its global headcount by up to 4%.

Monica Nicholsberg reports.

Since 2022, Microsoft and other local tech companies have been thinning their ranks.

Layoffs are the new norm in an industry that once had an insatiable appetite for talent.

That's creating a jaded workforce, says Samuel So, a University of Washington PhD student who's published research on the tech layoffs.

Specifically, a lot of tech workers were like resigned to staying in the tech industry despite this like overwhelming discontent.

And I think that that is still very much the case, especially in the current job market, where these mass layoffs have made it really competitive and difficult for workers to find equivalent

positions to the ones they were laid off from.

State filings show Microsoft's latest layoff will affect about 830 employees in Washington.

That's on top of 2,000 workers Microsoft cut in its home state earlier this year.

Monica Nicholsberg, KUOW News.

Tensions around immigration enforcement continue to build between the Trump administration

in so-called sanctuary cities. This week, the U.S. Justice Department sued Los Angeles,

...