Weekend Listen: A South Seattle family self-deported to Guatemala and a bid rigging scandal in Bellingham may involve ChatGPT episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 10, 2026 · 9 MIN

Weekend Listen: A South Seattle family self-deported to Guatemala and a bid rigging scandal in Bellingham may involve ChatGPT

from Seattle Now · host KUOW News and Information

Today, we’re bringing you the best from the KUOW Newsroom… We’ll start with a story about a local family who self-deported to Guatemala earlier this week. The family of 3 and their cat left on Wednesday after losing their asylum case. Casey Martin has the story. Our other story comes from Bellingham. The city of Bellingham is conducting an internal investigation after evidence was uncovered that a staffer may have rigged a bidding process for a city contract to favor one vendor over another. What is new, though, is that the city employee allegedly used ChatGPT to skew the outcome.  At least one expert says it may be the first time AI has been at the center of this kind of scandal.  KNKX reporter Nate Sanford talked about it with KUOW’s Kim Malcolm in a recent interview. We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. Tap here to make a gift and keep Seattle Now in your feed. Got questions about local news or story ideas to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected], leave us a voicemail at (206) 616-6746 or leave us feedback online.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 10, 2026

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Today, we’re bringing you the best from the KUOW Newsroom… We’ll start with a story about a local family who self-deported to Guatemala earlier this week. The family of 3 and their cat left on Wednesday after losing their asylum case. Casey Martin has the story. Our other story comes from Bellingham. The city of Bellingham is conducting an internal investigation after evidence was uncovered that a staffer may have rigged a bidding process for a city contract to favor one vendor over another. What is new, though, is that the city employee allegedly used ChatGPT to skew the outcome. At least one expert says it may be the first time AI has been at the center of this kind of scandal. KNKX reporter Nate Sanford talked about it with KUOW’s Kim Malcolm in a recent interview.

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Weekend Listen: A South Seattle family self-deported to Guatemala and a bid rigging scandal in Bellingham may involve ChatGPT

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