RANGE: Recent Episodes
Range
News, analysis, and conversations for people who love the Inland Northwest and want to make it better. Thinking about how to imagine and build a significantly better world than the one we live in. Equal parts mad & funny. www.rangemedia.co
For this week’s episode, we’re bringing you a pre-recorded interview between RANGE editor Luke Baumgarten and Riley Connors, the host of CONNORSversations.
According to the show’s website, CONNORSversations “is a live show, with a live studio audience, filmed on location at The Chameleon, the only venue crazy enough to give this thing a chance.”
Listen on for a full conversation about CONNORSversations!
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, RANGE reporter Erin Sellers was joined by Haydon Ramirez, the Eastern Washington Organizer from The Washington Bus.
The Washington Bus is a youth-led organization that works to build civic engagement through leadership development, education, organizing, and voter mobilization.
Erin and Haydon talked about their experiences with politics, how The Washington Bus builds up the youth’s civic engagement through their programs, and their recent policy priorities.
They also talked about Spokane’s Spiciest Candidate Forum, which we’re partnering with The Washington Bus to put on!
The candidate forum will be on Thursday, July 30, 2026 from 5-8pm at the Overbluff Cellars in the Washington Cracker Building (304 W Pacific Ave).
(Psst: you can get your tickets here!)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
This week's episode features a pre-recorded conversation between reporters from the Seattle-based outlet, CHUM News, and some of the RANGE team!
RANGE reporters Daisy, Luke, and Erin gathered at a park in Wenatchee with worker-owners Adam Willems and Meron Menghistab from CHUM to swap stories from respective hometowns, talk about news items that had statewide significance, and dive into a couple of news stories that folks said they would be interested in hearing about.
Find the preview episode and information on the project here:
The POD: Best of CHUMs
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, RANGE reporters Erin Sellers and Daniel Walters were joined by Lauren Pangborn to talk about all things urbanism, bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects, and how different infrastructure projects have been approached over the years.
Lauren is RANGE’s Urbanism Columnist, serves as the Chairperson of Spokane’s Bicycle Advisory Board, and a member of the Transportation Commission. You can reach Lauren at bikeroutehelp@rangemedia.co.
The trio also analyzed the data of Daniel’s stolen bikes and bike parts, which you can find in Erin's story below:
In-the-box solution (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, RANGE reporter Aaron Hedge interviewed Daniel Walters about his most recent story, the process and reasoning behind it, and the work that went into it.
Daniel’s story consists of follow up interviews with three formerly unhoused men, continuing his previous conversations with them from 2023.
Stabbed. Frostbitten. Overdosed. Sheltered. Sober. Saved. (Daniel Walters, RANGE Media)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge pre-recorded an interview with Tracy Simmons, the editor and Executive Director of FāVS News.
FāVS is an acronym for “Faith and Values” news, which is an online publication that covers religion and ethics across Washington State and Idaho.
Along with her role at FāVS, Tracy is a scholarly associate professor of journalism at Washington State University and writes for the Spokesman Review and national publications.
The two of them talked about the history of FāVS and how it came to be, Tracy’s work and involvement with FāVS, the religious beat in journalism, and why religion reporting is important right now, in this current moment.
The Pacific Northwest isn’t godless. We just haven’t been paying attention. (Tracy Simmons, FāVS News)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
Some may say that Seattle is not a four-hour car-ride from Spokane, but rather a whole world away. What even happens there? Is their mayor actually a communist? Does all authentic grunge music still emerge fully formed from its music scene? Does a Kraken actually live in the sound, or is that just the hockey team? While Seattle is WAY out of our coverage area, we're stepping out of our comfort zone to meet a few of our favorite west siders in Wenatchee!
In just a few weeks, we're going to confer with CHUM News to swap stories from both sides of the state, fact check myths about our cities and talk about the news that impacts everyone across Washington. In anticipation of this Midstate Meet-up, we had CHUM on the pod to chat about what they're building. We talked arts and culture, data centers and got Seattle recs from the locals.
As Spokane journalists, we want to ask CHUM all the most important questions when we meet them in person next week, so drop us a line: What do you want us to fact check about Seattle? What do you want to know about the west side?
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, RANGE reporter Aaron Hedge interviewed John Hancock, a clean water activist from the West Plains.
John has made efforts to educate and bring clean water to his neighbors whose water wells are contaminated by PFAS.
The two of them talked about the PFAS crisis in the West Plains and how it affects people, the advocacy and organizing around finding solutions, and John’s involvement in this activism work.
A group that organizes around this issue is the West Plains Water Coalition.
Read RANGE's coverage on the West Plains PFAS below:
'We admit it' (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
Health emergency declaration discussed for West Plains PFAS crisis (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
WA state: Spokane city and county now liable in PFAS crisis, too (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Erin Sellers and Aaron Hedge went on the air to dive deeper into the Spokane 3 trial, the jury verdict, and the implications of the trial on free speech and protesting.
The “Spokane 3” – Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II – were charged by the federal government with conspiracy to impede a federal officer by using threats, force or intimidation to stop ICE agents from discharging their duties.
The alleged conspiracy charges come from last year’s June 11th protest, where people in the community tried to stop ICE from taking two detained young men – who were in the US legally – to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma.
The trial began on Monday, May 18th and ended on Thursday, May 28th, where a predominantly white jury consisting mostly of people who don’t live in Spokane gave all three individuals guilty verdicts.
However, this legal process is expected to last longer, as all three individuals filed Rule 29 motions in hopes of acquittal.
They also talked about the jury trial for a Salvadoran man accused of assaulting an ICE officer during an arrest last summer in East Wenatchee.
Find the stories they talked about (in order) below:
The Trial of the Spokane 3: ‘The entire weight of the United States government’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
A shocked city reckons with guilty verdict of Spokane 3 (Aaron Hedge, Daisy Zavala Magaña, and Sandra Rivera, RANGE Media)
Tried for a second time (Daisy Zavala Magaña, RANGE Media)
Find RANGE's full coverage on the protests and federal trials here.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge and Pascal went on the air to talk more about the Spokane 3 trial – which began earlier this week on Monday, May 18th – and provide an overview of updates from the courtroom. The two of them gave updates from days 1, 2, and 3 of the trial (which were Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday).
The “Spokane 3” consists of Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II, who were charged by the federal government with conspiracy to impede a federal officer by using threats, force or intimidation to stop ICE agents from discharging their duties.
The alleged conspiracy charges come from last year’s June 11th protest, where people in the community tried to stop ICE from taking two detained young men – who were in the US legally – to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma.
They also talked about what’s been going on behind the scenes at RANGE since that protest.
Find the stories they talked about (in order) below:
‘This guy needs to be charged for incitement at the federal level’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
PHOTO ESSAY: Community rallies for Spokane 3 as federal trial starts (Aaron Hedge, Pascal Bostic, and Sandra Rivera)
Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 1: Deputy said ‘I want to hit someone with a stick’ during protest (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 1: ‘Please do not bring in politics. Please do not bring in politics.’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
The Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 2: The Jury, the Opening Statements, the First Witness (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
The Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 3: ‘Emotions went high today.’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Find RANGE's full coverage on the protests and federal trials here.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
We have two segments for this week's episode!
During the first segment, RANGE reporters Daniel Walters and Val Osier discussed the former Mayor Nadine Woodward's tort claim against the City of Spokane and the context around it. (Long story short: Woodward is threatening a $10 million lawsuit in response to a 2023 resolution from Spokane City Council, saying the resolution violated her free speech rights.)
Find the story here: Nadine and the supremes (Daniel Walters, RANGE Media)
During the second segment, Erin joined Daniel and Val to talk about RANGE's reporting on the June 11, 2025 protest and its aftermath, including developments in federal trials against Spokanites.
Find RANGE's full coverage on the protests and federal trials here.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge and Pascal spoke with two Gonzaga students – Sandra Rivera and Abby Zappone – about journalism in Spokane and the collaboration, research, and work that goes into it.
Sandra and Abby are part of the six-person staff that created Spoke, a magazine that showcases Spokane’s journalistic world through essays from the student perspective.
Sandra is the Art Director and Abby is the Photo and Research Editor.
Spoke isn’t available online yet, but be sure to keep an eye out for when it is!
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Pascal and Val were joined by Frances and Fen from Asians for Collective Liberation in Spokane (ACL Spokane)!
May is Asian American Heritage Month, and ACL is doing a month-long celebration full of events, workshops, and art.
Frances and Fen talked about ACL’s Heritage Month events, the importance of organizing and creating intergenerational community spaces, and how people can get involved.
To learn more about ACL Spokane and to view their Asian American Heritage Month events, click here.
Learn more about ACL’s Asian Youth for Collective Liberation program here.
You can also find a list of book recommendations from ACL and the Spokane Public Library here!
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Erin Sellers and Aaron Hedge went on the air to talk about a couple stories, one ongoing and one new.
First, they talked about developments on the trials of Spokane protestors from June 11th, 2025 and the implications these trials have on free speech.
In the weeds of Spokane’s federal conspiracy case (Erin Sellers and Valerie Osier, RANGE Media)
Spokane protest coverage (RANGE Media)
Second, they talked about the new Pursuit church in Spokane’s Browne’s Addition neighborhood. Hedge talked about his presence at a Pursuit event, what the church’s pastor said about him during a live sermon, and what actually happened. They also talked about Pursuit’s effects on the Browne’s Addition neighborhood, which you can read about more in depth below:
Persecution, Inc. (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Val and Aaron Hedge were joined by Kate Peterson and Mackenize Draper from the Get Lit festival!
The four of them talked about what goes into the festival, its impact on our region, and the ways it’s building up our communities.
RANGE will be at the festival, so if you see us, say hi!
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge was joined by Debbie Novak, an activist with the Washington State Coalition for Police Accountability.
They talked about the Law Enforcement Leaders’ Bill (SB 5974), what it does, and the lawsuit by four Eastern Washington sheriffs – including Sheriff John Nowels of Spokane County – that opposes the bill.
They also discussed some resources and ways to get involved, which you can find below:
- Learn from and get involved with the Know Your Rights Camp.
- You can watch the meetings for the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission here.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
Erin, Luke, and Daisy went on the air for this week’s episode!
They talked about ethics in journalism, their reporting processes, the months-long, complicated nature of recent investigative reporting, and more.
Find relevant articles below:
The Work Isn't For Everyone (English) (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Why we investigated Latinos en Spokane (English) (Luke Baumgarten, RANGE Media)
Este trabajo no es para todos (Spanish) (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
¿Por qué investigamos a Latinos en Spokane? (Spanish) (Luke Baumgarten, RANGE Media)
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s episode, Val and Aaron went on the air to catch you up on local news!
They talked about some items from this week’s CIVICS agenda, including:
- A $120,000 contract for Mujeres in Action to provide SPD with cultural competency training and language access services (which passed);
- Info on the Spokane County sheriff’s proposal to charge fees for requesting body camera footage from law enforcement.
$120,000 for Mujeres in Action to train cops (March 23, 2026 CIVICS)
They also talked about PFAS clean-up updates, reopening the STA double decker bus crash investigation, and the March 20th memorial for Otto Zehm, who was killed by police 20 years ago.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
(*the fake, AI Gonzaga fan pages that spread false info)
On this week’s episode, Erin Sellers and Daniel Walters went on the air to talk about Daniel’s most recent article: John Stockton’s Not Dead.
Daniel’s article title is a play on the clickbait “news headlines” from fake AI fan pages that have recently appeared on Facebook. More specifically, it’s a reference to a fake headline that claims John Stockton – a former NBA player and Gonzaga alum – died. (He didn’t.)
Because some of these headlines use real info with slight changes, it’s important to use a critical eye when viewing news, social media posts, and other forms of media. One example of this is a headline claiming that Netflix announced a documentary on Gonzaga. The reality? There is a documentary on Gonzaga basketball, but it’s through Tubi.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
We had a two-hour special show this week for the KYRS Spring Fund Drive, led by Erin and Pascal!
During the first hour, Aaron Hedge and Daniel Walters joined to talk about their reporting processes. Daniel told a story about an interesting letter he found and how that led to him doing some journalistic work, while Aaron talked about his reporting processes for some of his early RANGE stories.
During the second hour, Luke joined to talk about his career in journalism, how he’s seen the journalism field shift over time, and more.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
On this week’s show, Aaron and Daniel interviewed investigative journalist Michael Edison Hayden.
The three talked about far-right extremism in Idaho, how the new strain of Kootenai County white nationalism differs from the Aryan Nations of the past, and the big fracture points within the North Idaho fringe.
Michael is a former senior investigative reporter for the Southern Poverty Law Center. His first book – Strange People on the Hill – focuses on how extremist ideology changed a small, West Virginia town and comes out in April 2026. His recently published story with Mother Jones – called “Who the F Are These Men?” – is an in-depth investigation on far-right extremism in Idaho.
Founded in 1976, Mother Jones is a newsroom that “investigates the big stories that may be ignored or overlooked by other news outlets, including about democracy and voting rights, racial justice, reproductive rights, and food and agriculture.”
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
Pascal joined Hedge and Val on the radio this week!
The three of them talked about some recent news:
The first was about an item on the East Valley School District’s Board of Directors agenda, which was included in our February 23rd CIVICS. They held a first reading of a revised board policy that would eliminate the district’s Affirmative Action Program.
The second was all about the West Plains PFAS crisis. They talked about Hedge’s recent article, where after almost a decade the airport found PFAS in the groundwater, the state is requiring both Spokane County and City to provide affected well owners with safe water.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
Reporter Daisy Zavala Magaña and freelance reporter Daniel Walters were welcomed by Aaron for this week’s episode!
They talk about their hopes, goals, and values in journalism, plus previous stories they’ve covered.
Meet Daisy Zavala Magaña:
Daisy previously covered immigrant labor for RANGE as a freelancer, and now she’s our newest full-time reporter! You can read her introduction in both English and Spanish.
Meet Daniel Walters:
As a longtime reporter, Daniel isn’t new to the journalism field… or RANGE. He’s currently working for us in a freelance capacity, but you may have read his InvestigateWest stories that we’ve republished or heard him on an early podcast episode.
Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!
This week’s episode is all about the Housing and Homeless Advocacy Day, or “HHAD” for short.
HHAD is organized by the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance (WLIHA) and the Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund. They bring people across Washington state to Olympia to advocate for housing justice by meeting with their district’s representatives.
This episode has 3 parts, and you’re going to hear from organizers, participants, lawmakers, and more.
Further, relevant reading:
‘This city is turning into an eviction mill.’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
More info on the WLIHA and HHAD
This week, Val interviewed Erin and Aaron about their recent stories.
Erin talks about their story on a new eviction prevention program that was passed by Spokane City Council. The ordinance passed by a vote of 5-2 and will create this new program by June 1, 2026. Find the story here.
Aaron talks about a story he and Luke co-wrote about two masked SPD officers who stood in on a healthcare workers’ vigil for Alex Pretti, who was killed by ICE agents. The vigil attendees thought they were ICE agents at first, up until it was confirmed that they were SPD officers. Find the story here.
Erin and Luke were joined by two guests this week!
Dawn Kinder is the Director of Housing and Human Services for the City of Spokane.
Carl Segerstrom is the Communications and Storytelling Manager of Waters Meet.
The four of them talked about housing insecurity, the impacts of homelessness, and how Spokane is fighting against it.
Aaron, Erin, Val, and Luke went on the air this week! The four of them talked about two stories they’re working on:
The first story stemmed from a conversation Hedge had with a local police accountability advocate who put in a public records request for photos generated from Automated License Plate Readers — AKA FLOCK cameras — using the license plate number of a van used by ICE. The van is owned by Geo Group, who not only is contracted to take immigrants to the Tacoma Detention Center, but also runs the center.
Along with the single – and only – photo he got back, he also got a call from an attorney representing Geo Group: Joan Mell. She wanted to make sure he didn’t want to hurt – and she actually used this phrase – “her peeps.”
The second story is a rundown of rumors swirling around the United States Post Office thanks to a vague “Essential Services” letter given to postal workers all over the country, including in Spokane. Val explains how she’s been trying to track down the reasoning behind issuing the letter and how it’s been contributing to online fears of martial law.
On Tuesday, Jan. 13, reporter Erin Sellers and producer Pascal Bostic went to Lewis and Clark High School to cover one of the six student-led walkouts planned in the area.
These students were rallying to protest ICE’s harm and call for humane treatment of immigrants in our communities.
Erin spoke with organizers from Spokane Students for Human Decency – who brought over 1,200 students together across the six schools – about their planning process and why they’re organizing.
This week, reporter Aaron Hedge and producer Pascal Bostic are joined by guest Joan Braune (Gonzaga University) to talk about a new book she co-edited with David M. Gides, On Christian Nationalism: Critical and Theological Perspectives.
Joan Braune discusses Christian nationalism, fascism, and some ways people can recognize and intervene against it.
Charlie Kirk’s Pacific Northwest ground game (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
SpoVal pastor helps push initiatives to erode student privacy (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Cassy Benefield, Fāvs News)
The battle for a North Idaho city’s identity (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Jenny Davis, Gonzaga University)
Conservative think tank: Immigration ‘undermined Christianity’ (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Cassy Benefield, Fāvs News)
Uncivil Disobedience: Theological Perspectives (David M. Gides, Nick Braune, Joan Braune, Joshua W. Carpenter)
Understanding and Countering Fascist Movements: From Void to Hope (Joan Braune)
It's 2026!
Last year, we released an episode about our NEWS Year Resolutions.
This year, we decided to set another set of resolutions!
We also reviewed our top coverage from 2025 and got a bit nerdy about the data. Read on!
Dear Gonzaga: A Letter from Assistant Professor Andrea Brower (Andrea Brower, RANGE Media)
The State of Surveillance in Spokane (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Queer BIPOC organizer arrested on their way to Spokane Pride (Erin Sellers and Luke Baumgarten, RANGE Media)
Immigration officials are arresting people in Washington and warehousing them in Idaho (Aaron Hedge and Luke Baumgarten, RANGE Media)
CIVICS: Spokane could become the first city to ‘Ban the Address’ (Erin Sellers and Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
Congressman Michael Baumgartner’s Spokane Town Hall: The wildest meeting we’ve ever attended (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Everything we know about the Spokane ICE protests (RANGE Media team)
9 Spokanites arrested by federal agents in connection to ICE protests (Luke Baumgarten, Erin Sellers, and Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
ICE agents with no warrant violently arrest migrants (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
It’s the last Free RANGE episode of 2025!
On this week’s episode, the team talked about our favorite stories and projects from this year. Take a look at them below!
Immigration officials are arresting people in Washington and warehousing them in Idaho (Aaron Hedge and Luke Baumgarten, RANGE Media)
Deputies killed Donald Hegel a year ago. His sister is still looking for answers. (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
The people want safer streets — and the electeds are listening (Lauren Pangborn, RANGE Media)
I laid myself off this week (Luke Baumgarten, RANGE Media)
How to take action against injustice today (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Q&A with SPD Chief Kevin Hall on ICE and the protests (Luke Baumgarten and Val Osier, RANGE Media)
Jordin v. Brayman: Spokane’s first right-to-counsel eviction trial by jury (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
The POD: Community Organizing in Spokane (Free RANGE episode)
Food Resource Map
RANGE’s Flock Reporting
Once again, reporter Aaron Hedge was joined by Cassy Benefield – a reporter and associate editor with Fāvs News – to discuss their recent story on the Family Policy Institute of Washington. Read it below:
Conservative think tank: Immigration ‘undermined Christianity’ (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Cassy Benefield, Fāvs News)
On this week’s episode, Erin and Aaron are joined by a guest, Phil Neff!
As the Research Coordinator at the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights, Phil is well-versed in all things Flock camera-related.
The three of them discuss how these cameras work, what they do, and the effects they’re having on the people in our communities.
Plus, at the end of the episode, Aaron also gives a brief update on what’s happening in the trials of 9 protestors from Spokane.
Find our recent coverage (and last week's episode) below:
“Alien.” “Ice pick-up.” “immigration violation.” (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
COLUMN: Flock-enheit 451 (Lauren Pangborn, RANGE Media)
Four of the Spokane 9 accept plea deals (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
The POD: A FLOCK Deep Dive (Last week's Free RANGE episode)
There’s been a lot of protests this year, both nationally and in Spokane.
Automated License Plate Readers – or FLOCK cameras – have been used to search for people who might’ve been at these protests.
On this week’s episode, Erin, Aaron, and Val talk about these cameras, Erin’s months-long investigative reporting on them, and the recent stories we’ve published.
Find the recent coverage (and a previous FLOCK-related episode) below:
Did you go to a protest this year? Local cops might’ve been searching for you on Flock cameras. (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
‘Had an abortion, search for female.’ Texas deputy searched Spokane County Flock cameras (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
The POD: All the FLOCK things (August 22, 2025 Free RANGE episode)
The Aaron and Erin Dream Team took over Free RANGE this week!
They discussed Aaron's trip to Moscow, Idaho, where him and co-author Jenny Davis (Gonzaga University) visited the town as they did some reporting for their recent story. Compared to its larger, national media coverage of dominionist pastor Doug Wilson and Christian nationalism, the co-authors' day in Moscow told a different story: one about the Idaho town's politics, culture, and the folks who live there. Read the story here:
The battle for a North Idaho city’s identity (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Jenny Davis, Gonzaga University)
This week, Aaron and Val talked about two ballot initiatives from Let’s Go Washington, a political organization who backs ballot initiatives.
The first ballot initiative is IL26-001, otherwise known as “Strength and Communication Between Parents and Schools.” This would allow parents to access their child’s school records, including any disciplinary, medical, and mental health related records.
The second initiative is IL26-368, also called “Protecting Fairness in Girls’ Sports.” This would require female students who want to participate in their school’s sports to go through a medical examination and obtain documentation that “verifies” they’re a girl. Not only is this incredibly transphobic and tries to ban trans girls from girls’ sports, but it’s also hugely invasive to all students.
SpoVal pastor helps push initiatives to erode student privacy (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Cassy Benefield, FāVS News)
Another week, another episode!
This week, the team debriefed on the elections. They discussed the District 1 Spokane city council race, Spokane Prop 1 (“Together Spokane”), and other local coverage. They also zoomed out and talked about national elections, including the results of the New York City mayoral race (which candidate Zohran Mamdani won).
(Our podcast episodes are aired live with KYRS on Thursdays from 3-4pm. Because of this, please note that when the team talks about elections, the results and data were current as of Thursday, Nov. 6th.)
To view the most current election results, you can follow this link to Spokane County’s election results page.
Plus, in the wake of the federal government shutdown and the Trump administration refusing to fully disburse SNAP benefits, RANGE has partnered with Waters Meet and SCAR to create a food resource map. Covering seven counties, three Sovereign Tribal Nations and beyond, this map shows where you can get or give help. Find the map here.
The RANGE team all went on the show again! There's always news to catch up on, which is why Val, Erin, and Aaron did just that: they caught Luke up on (even more) local news. Read the articles below:
WA state Republicans are trying to turn school districts red (Sophia Mattice-Aldous, RANGE Media)
A peek in the pocketbooks of Spokane City Council candidates (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Last minute pocketbook-peeking of city council candidates (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Resolution 8201: Should the WA Cares Fund play the stock market? (Sophia Mattice-Aldous, RANGE Media)
It’s been awhile since the RANGE team has all been on the show! Val, Erin, and Aaron chat as they catch Luke up on local news. Read the articles below:
Spokane’s Prop 1(s): What they’ll do for parks and schools and how much they’ll cost (Erin Sellers and Clarinne Kirk, RANGE Media)
Spokane City Council candidate Alejandro Barrientos may be ineligible to represent District 2 (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)
Ad attacking Bingle falsely attributes wrong committee in apparent violation of state law (Emry Dinman, the Spokesman-Review)
PAC responds to complaint over mislabeled mailer (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)
Reporter Aaron Hedge was joined by Cassy Benefield – a reporter and associate editor with Fāvs News – as they talked about Charlie Kirk and his impact in the PNW.
We have two segments this week.
The first segment is a short audio story RANGE Producer Pascal worked on. They spoke with participants from a Spokane organizing summit last month about hope, movement building, and action.
For the second segment, reporter Erin Sellers read their recent investigative story out loud, titled “Jordin v. Brayman: Spokane’s first right-to-counsel eviction trial by jury.” You can find the story linked below:
Jordin v. Brayman: Spokane’s first right-to-counsel eviction trial by jury (Content warning: This story contains description of and reference to sexual assault.)
This week, we’re bringing you a conversation on the state of local journalism.
This conversation was part of last month’s Grassroots Radio Conference, which was a collaboration between Sprouts Radio, Pacifica Network, and KYRS.
The panel – which was hosted at the Spokane Public Library – included Luke Baumgarten (RANGE Media) and Stephanie Schubert (Pacifica Network).
From prison, convicted rapist Arlin Jordin has easily evicted tenants for decades. With Washington’s right-to-counsel laws, that’s all changing.
We have two segments this week!
The first segment is from Spokane’s Spiciest candidate forum, featuring District 3 incumbent Zack Zappone and challenger Christopher Savage. Reporter Erin Sellers asked them the spiciest of questions as they powered through even spicier wings!
For the second segment, we had reporter Aaron Hedge read his recent essay – titled “Charlie Kirk’s Pacific Northwest ground game” – out loud, in his own words. You can find the essay linked below:
Charlie Kirk’s Pacific Northwest ground game
20 Questions with District 3 Spokane City Council Candidates
Meet the District 3 Spokane City Council candidates
Spokane's Spiciest Event Livestream (courtesy of KXLY)
This week, we’re back with two segments!
The first segment is from Spokane's Spiciest candidate forum, featuring District 2 candidates Kate Tellis and Alejandro Barrientos. Reporter Erin Sellers asked them questions as they all powered through some spicy wings! (Keep an eye out for the District 3 segment!)
The second segment includes a conversation between RANGE Producer Pascal and Elina – a local student who participated in the College Success Foundation – about how its programming impacted her. This came after $12 million dollars of state funding – which was around 80% of their budget – was cut in May, Spokane’s College Success Foundation (CSF) office was forced to close in July.
20 Questions with District 2 Spokane City Council candidates
Spokane's Spiciest Event Livestream (courtesy of KXLY)
This week, we’re playing audio from our city council candidate forum, Spokane’s Spiciest!
This episode features candidate Sarah Dixit as reporter Erin Sellers asks her questions!
Current council member Jonathan Bingle – who is running for re-election – had a prior commitment, so he wasn’t able to participate. You can hear from him in our July 25th episode (linked below).
Keep an eye out for the District 2 and 3 segments!
The POD: A (Conservative) City Council Candidate Forum
Spokane's Spiciest Event Livestream (courtesy of KXLY)
This week, Aaron Hedge flew solo and revisited two of his articles on the “forever chemicals” contamination on the West Plains.
You can read the articles – which were originally published in 2024 – at the links below:
Airport CEO: Lawmakers should ‘wait and see’ before banning toxic PFAS
Community demands solutions as Fairchild reckons with new PFAS contamination rule
As Erin works on an upcoming story about FLOCK cameras — aka Automated License Plate Readers — they and Val talked about all things FLOCK-related. These aren’t the red-light or speeding cameras that issue tickets, these are recording and logging vehicles throughout Spokane County at all times. From the costs to the concerns, these cameras are causing worry in local advocates about surveillance by both ICE and local law enforcement.
Further reading:
- FLOCK camera map – https://deflock.me/
- 404 Media’s FLOCK coverage – https://www.404media.co/tag/flock/
This week, Erin and Val sat down with local organizer hadley morrow to talk about their thoughts on protest safety, filing a complaint with the Office of Police Ombuds (OPO) and community organizing in Spokane.
If you witnessed law enforcement violence at protests in June and want to file an OPO complaint but don’t know where to start, you can email hadley at hello@hadley.consulting for help.
PLUS: On Tuesday, Aug. 19th at 5:30 PM, the Office of Police Ombuds Commission will be meeting in the City Council Chamber. Like City Council meetings, this is a public meeting with an open forum. Make your voices heard!
Further reading:
Where are the protesters’ phones?
Everything we know about the Spokane ICE protests
This week, we’re playing audio from a City Council District 3 candidate forum that was hosted recently by Spokane Braver Angels. Incumbent Zack Zappone and challenger Christopher Savage were asked questions about law enforcement, homelessness, housing, neighborhood infrastructure, political division and leadership styles.
Cody Arguelles, a third candidate running for the seat, couldn’t make it to this debate, but don’t worry! You can read about his platform (along with the other candidates') in our two articles linked below:
Meet the District 3 Spokane City Council Candidates
20 Questions with District 3 Spokane City Council Candidates
This week, Aaron Hedge and intern Clarinne Kirk attended a candidate forum hosted by the East Washington Freedom Alliance at Calvary Spokane, at which conservatives running for city council — District 1 incumbent Jonathan Bingle and District 3 challengers Christopher Savage and Cody Arguelles — pitched the audience on their visions for the direction of the city. We’re playing (mostly) raw audio from that event.
As a warning, the candidates in this forum do use language and make comments that are harmful to queer and trans communities.
Anwar Peace, a police accountability expert, former chair of the Spokane Human Rights Commission and a current HRC commissioner joined Hedge to discuss the US Marshals arrests of several Spokanites who participated in the June 11 ICE protests.
This week, Luke and Val talked to Katia Jasmin and Thamar Sauveuer of Creole Resources, an organization supporting Haitian immigrants in Spokane, about an emergency fundraiser they launched this week. According to the organization, dozens of Spokane Haitian immigrants with legal work permits were fired from their jobs this week because of the Trump administration’s revocation of the Temporary Protected Status program.
Additional reading:
Uncertainty for Spokane’s Haitian migrants — and for employers
The use of force by law enforcement during the June 11 and 14 protests in Spokane has left our community with lots of questions regarding protesting and immigration rights: what recourse do people have to report excessive uses of force? How does it work when Kootenai County Sheriffs — who explicitly collaborate with ICE — answer a call for aid from Spokane? Was the Keep WA Working Act violated on June 11 when police escorted the ICE van out? What the heck was that green gas law enforcement used?
We got the answers to some of those questions and more when Luke and Val sat down with Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall this week.
This week, Erin and Aaron talk about Erin’s deeply-reported story on a study that implied most unhoused people living on the streets of Spokane shouldn’t be here, and why we need to push back on narratives that undermine community care.
Read the full analysis here.
This week we have a convo between Luke Baumgarten and former City Council President Ben Stuckart, focusing on the June 11 protest at the Spokane Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facility. The protest was sparked by the detention of two young refugees, Cesar Alexander Alvarez Perez and Joswar Slater Rodriguez Torres during a routine check-in with immigration.
Ben shares the emotional and community-driven journey to support and advocate for the detained men, discussing the legal challenges, the supportive roles of various community members, and the broader implications of immigration policies.
01:00 Meet Cesar and Josar and the asylum process
10:00 Challenges and injustices
15:30 Protests and political context
31:00 The spontaneous protest begins
37:30 Arrest and jail conditions
50:31 Solidarity and community support
Read more:
Everything we know about the Spokane ICE protests
Queer BIPOC organizer arrested on their way to Spokane Pride
Faith leaders plan prayer vigil at Spokane ICE Center to support immigrants June 24
This week we talk about the marathon protests in Spokane this week against the ICE detention of two migrants. Luke pops in for a cameo because it was all hands on deck — even unpaid ones.
This week we had a visit from our WSU Murrow Fellow in Newport, Sophia Mattice-Aldous. She and Aaron Hedge discussed her deeply-reported piece on the landscape of opioid overdose in the rural areas of North Idaho and Northwest Washington, highlighted by the tragic story of Jasmine Martin, a 23-year-old who died from an overdose in 2024 while trying to get sober. The conversation delves into the availability of recovery resources, stigmas surrounding addiction, and the complexities of fentanyl use in small communities. Despite their grief, Jasmine's family, particularly her mother Tish and sister Antonia, are actively working to raise awareness and improve access to life-saving measures like Narcan.
Read the story here.
Val and Aaron explore the networking and marketing tactics — including those of at least one church in Spokane — of the Christian nationalist movement that staged an event in the Cal Anderson Park (named for a gay legislator) in Capitol Hill, Seattle’s historically queer neighborhood, where 23 protesters were arrested last weekend. The incident, which took place May 24, has gained national headlines, spawned more protests/counterprotests and drew the gaze of prominent watchers of Christian supremacy to Seattle.
This week Erin was flying solo on the radio, but Val and Hedge were there in spirit.
We have an interview with Christopher Blackwell, an incarcerated journalist in Washington discussing with Val and Hedge the challenges and dynamics of reporting from prison. The conversation covers a lot of ground: the limited technology available to even type and research stories, the dehumanization of incarcerated folks, how we can build community in prison and outside and more.
Then Erin fills us in on the latest news this week, including an update on union busting at Planned Parenthood, the new rent stabilization laws in Washington and the Strippers' Bill of Rights.
03:20 Interview with Christopher Blackwell Begins
31:59 The official cost of Union Busting at Planned Parenthood
38:46 Rent Stabilization Legislation
45:27 Strippers' Bill of Rights
This week, Valerie Osier and Aaron Hedge go through many (though certainly not all) of the prominent immigrant arrests carried out by federal agents in the Spokane area since the Trump administration took power and embarked on a dramatic and widespread immigration crackdown. They also chat about the many ethical and journalistic considerations we make when covering these stories.
Relevant reading:
- Immigration officials are arresting people in Washington and warehousing them in Idaho
- Spokane city reaffirmed its support of the Keep WA working Act
- Spokane Valley did the opposite
- Ghanaian immigrant, Bismarck Avornu, was detained after church; He’s one of few to get out on bond and he shared about what it’s like in the Northwest ICE Processing Center
- ICE agents with no warrant violently arrest migrants in Spokane Valley - Jeison and Cesar Ruiz Rodriguez
- Martin Diaz arrested without warrant.
- That arrest revealed to us that ICE is reportedly surveilling immigration activists
It's the KYRS Fund Drive this week (go support community radio!), so things were a little wild in the studio! Erin was flying solo, but was joined by two guests. First up was Maeve Griffith, who runs the show Out and About on KYRS and made headlines herself when she transitioned late in her career as a Spokane firefighter. Then, we were joined by Council Member Paul Dillon (and former KYRS DJ) who talked about the LGBTQIA2S+ ordinance that passed this week and some legislation on the horizon.
Relevant reading:
- ‘Be explicit in your advocacy or risk complicity.’
- 4/28/2025 City Council Live Log: 2SLGBTQIA+ Protection Ordinance
Erin and Aaron chatted through three segments: an in-depth discussion on Aaron's recent story with incarcerated writer Kevin Light-Roth on a treatment program for incarcerated individuals seeking early release, a rapidfire "We Doomscroll So You Don't Have to" segment listing some big headlines from this week, and an update on the case of Teresa Borrenpohl, the woman dragged out of the CDA Town Hall earlier this year.
Relevant reading:
- Want out of prison early? Navigate the drug treatment labyrinth: Dept. of Corrections says people who tested positive for illicit substances decades ago still require treatment if they want early release. Some of them don’t even have a history of addiction, but the prison’s behavioral health contractor places the inmates into their treatment program anyway.
- Doomscroll rapid headlines: Ban the Address passed, unemployment insurance for striking workers is headed to Gov. Ferguson's desk and next week the Spokane City Council will vote on an ordinance to protect LGBTQIA2S+ people.
- Teresa Borrenpohl update: our initial coverage, recent coverage by The Spokesman on the noninvestigation into the sheriff, Borrenpohl's lawsuit and the charges filed against the private security firm members.
Dept. of Corrections says people who tested positive for illicit substances decades ago still require treatment if they want early release. A private behavioral health contractor stands to make millions of dollars by referring more patients into their treatment program — even if they don't need it.
Luke and Erin got together for what might become a regular segment: “I Doomscroll so you don’t have to,” where Erin caught Luke up on all the big local news from this week. The Washington Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Spokane’s voter-approved Prop 1, which made camping illegal in most of the city, new safe streets measures and an ordinance to make the city safer for queer and trans people were on the docket for discussion this week.
Relevant reading:
- Spokane Prop 1 overturned by Washington Supreme Court: Camping ban ballot initiative “exceeds the proper scope of the local initiative power,” court decided this morning.
- Spokane could soon become a shield city for queer people: A new ordinance would include Two-Spirit people in the city’s human rights code, double up on state shield protections and ensure city employees’ insurance covers gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare.
- The people want safer streets — and the electeds are listening: Restricted turns on red, a traffic police unit (finally!) and a plan to get to the root causes of crash fatalities announced at Mayor Brown’s street safety press conference this week.
Erin and Val talked urbanism and city bike parking + an update on our reporting about the local Planned Parenthood's anti-union actions.
Relevant reading:
50 new bike racks coming to a spot near you, by Lauren Pangborn at RANGE Media
- Request a location for a bike rack
- Submit an existing bike rack to the community-generated list of racks across the city.
What we know after three months of reporting on the local Planned Parenthood:
A track record of poor labor conditions, a deep dive into executive compensation, ghosted donors, an upcoming merger and a 20-year-old discrimination case.
This week Aaron Hedge and Val flew solo and learned how to use the KYRS sound board, and talked police accountability from a few different angles. The first story centers on death of Donald Hagle, who was killed by Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies in 2024. We delved into him sister’s ongoing quest for answers and transparency, the complicated legislative landscape around police accountability, and the efforts (and failures) to introduce new independent investigative and prosecutorial bodies at the state level.
In the second part, we covered this week’s Spokane Valley City Council discussions, including a proposed sales tax to fund more police officers and a resolution reaffirming the city’s desire to not be a Sanctuary City and desire for Valley police officers to help federal immigration officers deport people. Hedge shared with us the public’s sentiment to the somewhat opposing goals.
Relevant reading:
Deputies killed Donald Hegel a year ago. His sister is still looking for answers.
Spokane Valley wants to break state law and direct their cops to help ICE and Border Patrol
00:57 Discussing the Latest Story
01:43 Background on Police Accountability
03:54 Details of the Police Shooting and Aftermath
11:51 Legislation and Police Accountability Efforts
19:34 Current Legislative Proposals and Budget Issues
25:20 The Case of Donald Hagle
32:51 Spokane Valley’s Police Funding Proposal
38:24 Sanctuary City Resolution in Spokane Valley
42:19 Public Sentiment and Council Decisions
Val was out of town last week, so Erin and Aaron filled her in on the biggest stories she missed: A Ghanaian immigrant detained by ICE who has been allowed to return home to await trial, the scoop on Congressman Michael Baumgartner's first Town Hall in Spokane since Trump's inauguration, a political drama out of Spokane Valley that could impact statewide public record access and a very brief update on a local police accountability advocate's First Amendment case against two regional sheriff's offices. Relevant reading:
- Migrant detained by ICE back with family: RANGE caught up with Bismark Avornu, who’s lived in the Spokane area for 15 years, where he met his wife and is raising two American children, about his 45 days in a Tacoma processing facility.
- Congressman Michael Baumgartner’s Spokane Town Hall: The wildest meeting we’ve ever attended
- How a Washington city’s war with its own council member could chip away at public records access: Legislative proposal would allow agencies to withhold the occupations of whistleblowers in investigations from public records.
- Spokane and Bonner county sheriff’s offices can no longer hide or delete critical Facebook comments after First Amendment concerns, judges rule
A track record of poor labor conditions, a deep dive into executive compensation, ghosted donors, an upcoming merger that could spell trouble for unionization efforts and a 20-year-old discrimination case that shows tactics similar to the ones described by our sources have been happening for a long time.
It was a classic Luke/Erin messaround as they talked about two political, pro-business newsletters and the stories they spawned this week + Congressman Michael Baumgartner's Town Hall.
Erin Seller's reads their latest story on varying responses to downtown Spokane homelessness.
FāVS News reporter and editor Cassy Benefield joined Luke and Aaron Hedge on the pod this week to talk about her story about World Relief Spokane, which partly focused on the story of Ukrainian immigrant Julie Horbenko, who thinks President Donald Trump might, with the flick of a pen, make it illegal for her to be here.
Refugees in Spokane at risk as World Relief navigates changing U.S. policies
Luke is back and a rare RANGE reporter appearance unlocked! Our split-custody Murrow Fellow who works out of Newport, WA came to talk shop on the pod about rural journalism in a border community. And our City Hall reporter Erin dove in to homelessness statistics and an arrest at council.
Former crime reporter Valerie Osier interviewed two of RANGE’s reporters about local news gone national. She talked to Erin Sellers about their story on a restrictive Idaho law and the future of gender-affirming care nationwide, and the other Aaron about his easy-to-digest breakdown on the now viral Coeur d’Alene Town Hall that ended with men in black dragging a woman out of the building for voicing her dissenting views. Relevant reading:
- Red states could preview gender-affirming care under Trump: An Idaho law banning state insurance from covering gender-affirming care could foreshadow a national ban on Medicaid spending for transgender care, by Erin Sellers
- A debrief of the now-infamous CDA town hall: A local extremism reporter’s guide to what happened in the viral video of a woman being dragged out of an Idaho town hall by a group of men with no official uniforms, by Aaron Hedge
Erin and Aaron practiced one of a journalist’s most important skills — interviewing — by asking questions about each other’s coverage of the 2025 Washington State Legislative Session. Erin talked about a bill that would require doctors to give patients increased information about pain management options before IUD procedures, and Aaron talked about fiscal notes and how they can be weaponized to kill important bills. Relevant reading:
- ‘Scissors, scissors’: Washington patients could soon have informed consent for IUD insertions, by Erin Sellers
- 20+ WA state bills to keep an eye on: Workers’ rights, protections for undocumented immigrants and queer kids, reproductive justice, voting access for incarcerated people, and a whole lot more this Washington legislative session, by the RANGE staff
Do you have questions about local government? Wondering who to complain to about an issue in your neighborhood? Wondering which agency governs certain things? Wondering why something is happening or how much it costs? Email us at freerange@kyrs.org with your questions, and we’ll try and answer them next week!
Erin and Aaron welcomed on guest Eliza Billingham, The Inlander’s City Hall reporter, for an hour of Journos on Journos, interviewing each other about some of the biggest stories of the week: Billingham’s piece on Community Court and Sellers’ story on a City Council resolution in solidarity with undocumented immigrants, recommitting the city to following state law. Relevant reading linked below!
- Spokane’s Community Court handles most nonviolent offenses downtown. While arrests increase, founders say improving quality of life is “not an easy fix.” – Eliza Billingham, The Inlander.
- Solidarity, if not sanctuary: The Spokane City Council showed their solidarity with the immigrant community by promising to continue to follow state law, but opposition feared it created a false sense of security. – Erin Sellers, RANGE
The whole RANGE team sat down to discuss how they're approaching news coverage during the Trump administration, ongoing immigration cases they're following and County Commissioner Al French's commitment to divesting his stocks in PFAS chemical manufacturers. Relevant reading linked below!
- Know your immigration rights: Spokane is within 100 miles of a border, which puts our community at greater risk of mass deportations. It’s time to brush up on your rights, and how to protect your neighbors.
- Immigration officials are arresting people in Washington and warehousing them in Idaho: At least four people arrested in Spokane County, one for unlawful border crossing, were transported and held for several days at the Kootenai County Jail.
- ‘Daunting’: Uncertainty in Spokane as Trump threatens local officials who don’t aid deportations, but state law is clear for schools, hospitals and police
- Hundreds of refugees set to resettle in Spokane could be stopped by day-one executive orders from Trump administration.
- ‘Our communities are truly at risk’: Washington advocacy groups urge state leaders to defy federal deportation policies following surprise immigration raids in California.
- Commissioner French pledges to sell family stock in ‘forever chemicals’ manufacturers: The county commissioner, who says the investments belonged to his mother and were willed to him, has been the target of outcry in public meetings over nondisclosure of PFAS contamination.
Do you have questions about local government? Wondering who to complain to about an issue in your neighborhood? Wondering which agency governs certain things? Wondering why something is happening or how much it costs? Email us at freerange@kyrs.org with your questions, and we’ll try and answer them next week!
On this week’s episode of the pod, Luke, Erin and Aaron Hedge sat down with Sam Smith of Manzanita House to do a civics-for-adults training on your immigration rights and how to exercise them. Then, we played a pre-made package by Erin on a group of local teens who traveled to Olympia to lobby the state legislature for policies to shield transgender students, update reproductive care Medicaid rates and protect people who lose pregnancies from criminal prosecution. Relevant reading from both us and other outlets linked below!
- Know your immigration rights: Spokane is within 100 miles of a border, which puts our community at greater risk of mass deportations. It’s time to brush up on your rights, and how to protect your neighbors.
- On day one, Trump pits his administration against transgender people: Trump’s administration will likely run into legal trouble as it implements policies on federal identity documents and housing in federal prisons.
- The teens are alright: Five local teens made the long trek down to Olympia to lobby state legislators for policies to shield transgender students, update reproductive care Medicaid rates and protect people who lose pregnancies from criminal prosecution.
- ‘Daunting’: Uncertainty in Spokane as Trump threatens local officials who don’t aid deportations, but state law is clear for schools, hospitals and police
- Hundreds of refugees set to resettle in Spokane could be stopped by day-one executive orders from Trump administration
- ‘Our communities are truly at risk’: Washington advocacy groups urge state leaders to defy federal deportation policies following surprise immigration raids in California
Val, Luke and Aaron Hedge talked about deconstructing from Christianity, TikTok (and the potential ban) and how those two wildly different things relate — and the lessons on community that these reflections can give us.
03:49 Brief overview of the latest TikTok news
07:16 Defining Deconstruction in Christianity
13:26 Personal Stories of Faith and Doubt
25:20 Navigating Faith and Doubt Without Social Media
32:00 Community in Rural Spaces
37:12 Political Influence in Church
42:06 Discovering TikTok and New Perspectives
47:28 Challenges and Reflections on Deconstruction
Additional reading:
BBC: What does Trump's executive order mean for TikTok and who might buy it?
AP News: How TikTok grew from a fun app for teens into a potential national security threat
User Mag: The Great Creator Reset
This week on Free RANGE, Luke and both Erin/Aarons discussed an unexpected nationalist rabbit hole Hedge dove down, the contours of a new bike box program for people biking to City Hall (Spoiler alert, it's not all it's cracked up to be) and a Sellers deep-dive into numbers for the city's new homeless scatter sites, focusing on one that's opened beds for 30 medically fragile unhoused people at Westminster United Church of Christ.
Luke was out doing ~boss-coded things~ so co-host Erin interviewed fellow RANGE reporter Aaron Hedge on his newest big story: “A burning question for police: Does ‘deescalation’ mean ‘up to lethal force’?
If you’re not a big fan of reading 4k word stories, but you want to know about how Spokane’s police force — the third deadliest per capita in the nation — thinks about use-of-force and deescalation techniques, listen now!
The whole gang discusses our news year resolutions, including but not limited to: striving for better work-life balance, engaging more deeply with community, and doing more labor, rural and culture reporting.
00:00 Intro
01:03 Holiday Break Recap
04:33 Personal and Team Goals for the Year
06:39 Labor Reporting and Community Engagement
21:05 Connecting community desires with coverage
27:38 Focusing on police accountability
30:02 Forever Chemicals
31:19 Rural reporting, union busting, and rural union busting reporting
38:22 Engaging with Art and Culture
40:24 Once more re: community connections and support
48:28 Final Thoughts
Luke was out sick, so Audience Editor Valerie Osier joined Erin to talk about RANGE’s newest labor story: a timely expose on union-busting at the local Planned Parenthood affiliate. If you’re not a big fan of reading 4,000 word stories, but you want to know about the CEO’s crazy-high salary, the high cost of union-busting ($425 an hour) and the employees caught in the crossfire, listen now!
Editor's Note: The Faviola Lopez working at UFCW 3000 is actually a different Faviola Lopez than who worked at PPGWNI. Additionally, Paul Dillon was demoted from his role at PPGWNI shortly before going on parental leave, not after.
Luke and Erin did a 2024 Wrapped, running through the interesting (and often depressing) coverage RANGE did in the last year. You can find all of our coverage here!
And, shameless plug, we just launched a merch line, which you should shop! Help us get sustainable, show your commitment to civic engagement, and look hot doing it.
Do you have questions about local government? Wondering who to complain to about an issue in your neighborhood? Wondering which agency governs certain things? Wondering why something is happening or how much it costs? Email us at freerange@kyrs.org with your questions, and we’ll try and answer them next week!
Luke, Erin and guest Aaron Hedge — the environmentalism and County reporter at RANGE Media — chatted Spokane City Council rule changes (and the consequences for conservatives), the continued saga of Liberty Lake City Council’s growing control over their library and a grab-bag of other local news items! If you listened to our episode and want to learn more, here are the stories we referenced:
- Erin’s write-up for RANGE of Spokane City Council rule changes and what they mean
- Aaron and Erin’s stories on the Liberty Lake Library saga, and the national context of obscenity
- The new homelessness data dashboard
- Our coverage on the Spokane Regional Health District’s Feasibility Study on privatizing opioid treatment
- Stories on the downtown fires from The Spokesman’s Alexandra Duggan and Nick Gibson
Do you have questions about local government? Wondering who to complain to about an issue in your neighborhood? Wondering which agency governs certain things? Wondering why something is happening or how much it costs? Email us at freerange@kyrs.org with your questions, and we’ll try and answer them next week!
Welcome to our very special Thanksgiving episode of Free RANGE, where Luke and Erin convened a panel of local notables Joni Harris, Sara Dixit and Kai Teo — a cook, an organizer and a data journalist, respectively, to discuss the political disconnection felt right now by working people in Spokane and one idea the nerds at RANGE have had to try to help struggling renters feel more protected by and connected to community:
Political Engagement Challenges* Working-class individuals often feel disconnected from political processes * Service industry workers face scheduling barriers to traditional civic participation * Many people are unaware of local political developments that affect them directly * There's a perception that political engagement doesn't lead to material improvements
Renter Rights Web Tool Concept* Proposed tool would allow renters to check if landlords are registered and compliant with local laws * Features could include: * Form letters for renters to use when communicating with landlords * Explanations of next steps if landlords don't comply * City Council contact information for further assistance * Optional data collection on rent prices and housing conditions * Tool aims to provide tangible benefits while potentially increasing civic engagement
Outreach Strategies* Utilize existing community spaces and events (e.g., bars, trivia nights) * Create physical flyers and place them strategically around the city * Partner with local businesses to display information * Host launch parties or social events to introduce the tool * Leverage word-of-mouth and personal networks for distribution
Building Community and Solidarity* Focus on creating "third spaces" that are neither work nor home * Avoid demonizing those with different political views * Recognize the importance of coalition-building in worker movements * Address root causes of political disengagement rather than symptoms
Next Steps* Develop the renter rights web tool with suggested features * Plan outreach strategy using multiple channels (events, flyers, partnerships) * Consider hosting a launch party or series of events to introduce the tool * Explore ways to create more "third spaces" for community building in Spokane
Luke, Erin and guest Aaron Hedge — the environmentalism and County reporter at RANGE Media — talked about the city’s will-they-won’t-they relationship with the C.O.P.S. contract, CEO Larry Krauter’s departure from the Spokane Airport and a short Civics round-up of all the biggest pieces of news that came out of local municipal meetings this week. If you listened to our episode and want to learn more, here are the stories we referenced:
- Our live post thread on Bluesky of the Spokane City Council meeting, including comments from C.O.P.S. volunteers
- Eliza Billingham’s story for The Inlander on the C.O.P.S. contract
- Aaron Hedge’s story for Spokane FAVS on Tactical CIVICS, the group one of the C.O.P.S. volunteers coordinates.
- Thomas Clause’s story for the Spokesman on Larry Krauter leaving the Spokane airport.
- Aaron Hedge’s coverage on Larry Krauter’s involvement with PFAS nondisclosure.
- Our weekly CIVICS coverage, which you can sign up to receive every Monday!
- Elena Perry’s story for the Spokesman on the CVSD’s decision to advocate against transgender athletes.
- Nick Gibson’s story for the Spokesman on Spokane Valley’s decision to further criminalize homelessness.
- Emry Dinman’s story for the Spokesman on the delay of the parks levy.
- Erin Sellers story for RANGE Media on the details of STA’s Connect 2035 plan.
RANGE Media’s Luke Baumgarten and Erin Sellers pay attention to news in Spokane and the Inland Northwest so you don’t have to.
Join them Thursdays at 3 pm on KYRS Thin Air Community Radio for a round-up of the serious (and not so serious) local news of the week, behind the scenes drama at public meetings and deeper dives on important stories with the journalists who broke them.
If you want to learn more about RANGE Media (or support us financially!) click here!
~ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE~
Luke and Erin discussed the closure of City Hall due to threats of violence, the most recent Spokane election results (and what they actually MEAN) and an update on gender-affirming healthcare options in Idaho. If you listened to our episode and want to learn more, here are the stories we referenced:
- Emry Dinman’s story for The Spokesman on the closure of City Hall and the threats that caused it.
- KUOW’s podcast Lost Patients that Luke referenced.
- Ellen Dennis’ story for The Spokesman on the Democrat legislative majority
- Ellen Dennis’ (now out-of-date) story for The Spokesman on Washington’s leftward shift
- Luke Baumgarten’s story for RANGE on the wealth tax initiative
- Erin Sellers’ story for RANGE on being queer in Idaho
- A story from The Idaho Capital Sun on the law in Idaho banning state funds for gender affirming care
- A story on Trump’s campaign promises to end federal funding for gender affirming care.
Behold the first episode of RANGE's new radio show, Free RANGE, produced at KYRS Thin Air Community Radio.
Hosts Luke Baumgarten and Erin Sellers are joined by Aaron Hedge to talk about the week in news.
Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) is amid a months long process to determine if it should privatize its treatment services division, which currently serves 1,000 patients, connecting them with methadone and mental health services to manage opioid addiction.
The process, which began last spring has been a tense one led by SRHD Administrative Officer Dr. Alicia Thompson. Thompson recently completed Phase One of the Feasibility Study, which is what they're calling the process to determine if the division should move forward towards privatization. During phase one, Thompson gathered and analyzed feedback from a variety of stakeholders, including patients, employees, and service providers identifying the impacts privatization could have on them.
At the September board meeting, Thompson presented her findings and two separate recommendations: One to end the process now and keep the division, establishing a designated fund for it within SRHD to ensure it can save and invest money in its future to grow. And another to continue the process and start looking into the legal ramifications and physical process of converting the division to private or selling it off to a private provider.
The board of health was scheduled to vote on those recommendations during the September board meeting, but after community feedback against privatization and a robust discussion among board members, they decided to postpone the ultimate decision until the October board meeting, which is set for Thursday, October 31.
Prior to the September board meeting, we sat down for a Q&A with Susie Saunders, the representative of Protec 17, the union for SRHD’s Treatment Services Employees. We asked Saunders to weigh in on the potential privatization of the division and what it could mean for employees. What follows is that conversation lightly edited for clarity and time.
This week, we’re telling you exactly how you can live your nosy dreams with public records.
Join host Luke Baumgarten and reporter Erin Sellers as they explore the vital role of public records in holding our electeds accountable.
First we have a lively roundtable with local reporters Nate Sanford of the Inlander and Daniel Walters of InvestigateWest (but formerly at the Inlander too!), who both submit a ton of records requests. We learned their best tips and tricks and how they use records to crack open stories that are crucial to our community. We also get to hear their stories from the journalism trenches. Walters recently finished an investigation into just how long 15 different Northwest governments take to respond to public records and — spoiler — it turns out the city of Spokane is the slowest.
Next we talk to local dad (and Spokane Reimagined founder) Erik Lowe, who shares how public records play into his work as a traffic safety and urban planning advocate.
Plus, in this episode we celebrate Sellers’ one year RANGE-iversary! Be sure to congratulate them on an absolutely stellar year in journalism and support their work!
12:44 Journalist roundtable with Nate Sanford & Daniel Walters
54:41 Public records with local Dad (and transit advocate!) Erik Lowe
01:10:00 Outtakes
This is now our THIRD episode in this new season of RANGE (see we can be consistent) and we’re still taking feedback. We’re the press for the people, and the pod for the people so you tell us: what do you want to hear? Submit feedback here!
We’re also still taking voicemails at 509-508-1055.
The Pod stays back, baby! Episode two is out and only a few hours late.
We’re still nailing down our format and process, so in the future, you can expect the pod ~~a little earlier than 8 pm~~ whatever time Luke actually gets this uploaded to the website…
Join host Luke Baumgarten and some of the RANGE team, Val Osier, Erin Sellers & our intern Holly VanVoorhis. Luke plays nature documentary voiceover artist to narrate a day in the life of a journalist navigating the treacherous waters of ethical audio use, then switches hats to lead a bit of reporter therapy. Unfortunately, it was virtual, so no one really knows what his couch looks like yet.
Next, we did a bit of self-plagiarism and stole a segment from our Wide Range newsletter: Luke, Val and Erin each brought in a piece of good news, a piece of bad news and a piece of embarrassing news. We all learned about:
- Statewide AI oversight
- Local transportation and traffic calming
- Some Idaho reproductive health news
- and Ellen Degeneres’ visit to Spokane (whether that one is good, bad or embarrassing is a bit subjective, but Val has thoughts.)
Finally, Luke sat down for a short interview with our intern Holly, who wrote a story this week about the facts and fiction of fentanyl. She debunked some myths, gave some additional context and answered some burning questions on the top of our minds like, can cops actually get a contact high?
We’re just starting to get our wobbly baby deer legs under us, but we’re still taking feedback. We’re the press for the people, and the pod for the people so you tell us: what do you want to hear? Submit a feedback form here!
We’re also still taking voicemails at 509-508-1055.
And we continue to want to take your questions about civic government, rumors you may have heard that you want us to fact check or inquiries about our reporting (or reporting in general), send them to us at team@rangemedia.co with “Mailbox” in the subject line. We may answer your questions or fact check your rumors on upcoming segments of the pod 👀
The pod is back for the next time, for the last time. And this time, we are pulling back the curtain!
The old format was a lot to pull off each week, so we’re brainstorming ways to make it happen consistently.
Join host Luke Baumgarten and the rest of the RANGE crew, Val Osier, Erin Sellers & Aaron Hedge, as they go on a fantastic voyage into the life of the journalistic mind, brainstorming new segment ideas and discussing the unique powers of audio journalism to engage with listeners, inform our community and do atmospheric storytelling — which is to say we talk about podcast stuff we like and how to make it happen with the small, mighty team we have.
We also discuss a shift we’re trying to make across everything we do at RANGE to get more reader and listener engagement, and more directly let your questions and concerns shape our reporting. Scroll down for more on that.
Next, we tested out one of our segment ideas, The Fact Check, before concluding with a quick interview with Howl Hall on the Mifepristone Supreme Court case and what it’s been like for Hall, a graduating senior at The Community School to team up with RANGE to produce journalism that is important to him and his classmates.
This episode is half brainstorm, half experimentation, two-thirds Luke remembers how to edit audio and 3/5ths he learns a new software. We aren’t mathematicians, but that’s like over 2 podcasts for the price (free) of 1.
It turned out … better than expected? We’ll let you be the judge.
LET US KNOW
Seriously: we really want to know what you think of the new ideas and plan.
- Send us an email (or a voice clip!) at team@rangemedia.co
- Leave Luke a voicemail at 509-508-1055.
- Fill out our survey in the show notes RIGHT HERE.
We cannot stress this enough: We want your ideas for segments. We want you to ask us questions. We will answer them. We might even turn them into stories. We want to know what you want to know.
If we know about what you want to know, we'll tell you about it. If we don't know about it, we might report it out!
We're a small team, but we care about the things that you care about. And we're going to do it all. We're going to talk about it all because from here on out, Range is living out loud.
CHAPTERS
- 00:00 Cold Open
- 00:09 Intro
- 05:18 Segment 1: How do we want to do this thing?
- 08:17 Belated Introductions
- 36:06 Segment 2: Pride mural good-faith fact check
- 43:43 Segment 3: Mifepristone explainer feat. Howl Hall
- 44:52 Segment 3
- 01:06:53 Outro
- 01:07:52 ???
Welcome to a place where dead dogs, communion wafers, pipe diameters and fluoride in the water live alongside important ongoing public testimony about the conduct of public officials and the ramifications of legislation passed by Spokane’s City Council.
The Open Forum period at Spokane City Council meetings is a land of contrasts, playing host to a number of topics that, at first glance, might seem random or irrelevant.
But for some activists and community members, the open forum period exists as a critical method of engagement with the city officials who hold power in Spokane.
Last Monday, the council voted through a new set of rules for 2024, which included some sweeping changes to the way open forum is conducted. Council members say the goal of these changes is to prioritize time-sensitive city business and increase civic engagement, but activists fear they will limit free speech.
Join host Luke Baumgarten as he interviews two city hall journalists, The Inlander's Nate Sanford and RANGE's own Erin Sellers, about the ins-and-outs of the controversial new rules and their possible implications.
With temperatures climbing into the 90s in May and wildfire smoke already fouling air quality in some areas of the Northwest, RANGE wanted to learn more about what this unseasonably warm weather means for the rest of summer, the risks of heat-related illness in our community and the role climate change plays in driving extreme weather.
So, RANGE out to Dr. Brian G. Henning, the Director of Gonzaga Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment and a professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Gonzaga University.
You’ll hear Dr. Henning talk about the importance of a healthy urban canopy — a dense urban canopy — to reduce what scientists call heat islands. Heat islands are hotspots in cities where rather than sunlight being absorbed by trees and used to power photosynthesis, which creates oxygen, and keeps ground temperatures cool, there are fewer or perhaps zero trees. So the heat reaches the ground, is absorbed by the concrete and asphalt, and that heat radiates, creating temperatures that are 14 degrees hotter in say, Hillyard than the tree-lined streets of the South Hill.
Trees in Spokane will not fix climate change. Climate change is a global crisis that will require a global solution. But trees can help mitigate the local effects of that global crisis. And we need to do it now, because trees don’t grow to maturity over night.
So then the obvious question is: what can we do today to help our neighbors survive and make our neighborhoods more resilient while we wait 20 years for that tree cover to grow? And what other steps can we take?
All that and more in this episode.
Today, on a brief trip to Spokane to visit Thrive International and the Podium sports complex, Gov. Jay Inslee visited the RANGE office for a half-hour interview. The interview, like much of our coverage, focused on key areas of concern for Spokane: homelessness, affordable housing and behavioral health.
Gov. Inslee repeatedly called for increased investment in home building from the state legislature and even direct housing development by the state.
He also touted his connections to Eastern Washington, called for additional investments and initiatives to bolster the state’s behavioral health workforce, and called attention to conflict with neighboring Idaho over the state’s support of the women’s right to abortion.
We’re back at you with a whole new podcast episode and it’s only been … five months? We’re still figuring out how to carve a sustainable podcast with all of our reporting work and limited staff, but we’ve missed you — and we know you missed Luke’s buttery podcast voice — so we have a special episode!
In November, we hosted our first-ever live podcast recording at the Central Library, where we got a panel together to talk about Ranked Choice Voting, and the attendees got to ask questions.
Marilyn Darilek from League of Women Voters Spokane and Trenton Miller from FairVote WA joined Luke on stage to explain the ins and outs of Ranked Choice Voting and share about the process to get it adopted in municipalities all over the state. We even held a mock Ranked Choice Vote election on quality seasonal pies.
Given how strongly people feel about pumpkin, apple and pecan, it was remarkably civil!
Real quick: what is Ranked Choice Voting?
In our current voting system, you get to place one vote for one person in any given election. Your only alternative to voting for one person is to vote for no one. Plenty of political scientists believe this system all but guarantees a two-party dominant system — and that is certainly how it has played out in America.
In ranked choice voting, though, as we’ll hear explained in detail, you get to pick several candidates in order from the person you like the most to the person you like the least. And if you loathe someone so much, you can just not rank them at all.
If your top choice has a chance of winning, that vote stays. If your top choice gets eliminated, your second choice gets your vote and so on, until one candidate has 50% plus 1 vote.
It’s up to each of us to decide if RCV is something we want to fight for, but at the very least we should recognize the shortcomings of our current system.
If you hear yourself saying “I like this person, but they can’t win, so I won’t vote for them” — then our system of voting is not working for you.
Of course that doesn’t mean your candidate will always win. But shouldn’t we have a system where the best thing you can possibly do as a citizen is say, “I believe this is the best person to lead us, and that’s who I’m going to vote for?”
People who study ranked choice voting elsewhere believe that it leads to more pluralistic elections: there’s room for more parties and more political viewpoints when you can rank your favorites rather than voting for just one.
And even if the two parties stick around for a while, the immediate benefit of ranked choice voting is that you still get to have a vote be a truer and more nuanced representation of your opinion about a race — and therefore a more nuanced representation of how you think this city, this county, this state, this nation, ought to be run — without feeling like you’re throwing away your vote on a candidate who is too good to be elected.
The event went off without a hitch, and we look forward to doing many more.
MASSIVE THANKS to our guests Marilyn Darilek from League of Women Voters and Trenton Miller from FairVote WA, and our friends at the Spokane Public Library who made this event possible: Shane Gronholz, Vanessa Strange, Andy Rumsey and Jason Johnson.
We’re back with the third installment in our RANGE of Care miniseries on productive disagreements at an interpersonal level and a societal level through the lens of family therapy and restorative justice. This began as a conversation about how to have productive disagreements and quickly became a discussion about how do we change our criminal legal system, and maybe on our way to that needing to change our entire society and how we relate to each other—a small order, right? Meg and Luke are joined again by Inga Laurent, Professor of Law at Gonzaga who studies, theorizes and helps implement restorative justice practices in court systems and schools. Inga and Meg talk about tools we can use in order to reconcile with one another and keep ourselves mentally safe.
Today on the pod, we have the second part of our conversation with Daniel Walters. https://www.rangemedia.co/far-right-pride-couer-d-alene/ (Last week) we spent a lot of time breaking down the chronology of how the June 11 anti-Pride event was conceived and initially promoted locally, but how “local” in the case of North Idaho now includes an increasing number of far-right celebrities. This week we discuss how, just as the pot seemed likely to boil over, all sides took a step back — tweaking their plans to de-escalate — and how that might have been the difference between what actually happened and something deadlier. We also discuss the way these things get covered by the media: does the far-right get over-covered? Or do larger outlets only pay attention to the Inland Northwest when people like Matt Shea are involved? Read Daniel’s story https://www.inlander.com/spokane/why-coeur-dalenes-pride-in-the-park-became-the-target-for-white-supremacist-groups-like-patriot-front/Content?oid=24009613 (here).
Today on the pod, The Inlander’s Daniel Walters joins us to talk about the many groups, YouTube celebrities, and far-right hype people who brought the June 11 counter-demonstration against Coeur d’Alene’s Pride in the Park near to a boiling point. This event led to 31 Patriot Front members getting arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to riot, including at least two men with ties to far-right pastor Matt Shea. There’s A LOT to unpack here, so we’re cutting the discussion up into two parts. We wanted to go through it methodically as an opportunity to document not just the people actively shaping politics in Kootenai County and the broader Inland Northwest, but the people who are promoting the region to hundreds of thousands of people nationwide. So buckle up for part one of a discussion of all the connections, alliances and squabbles of a region that has real importance for many different ideologies and groups across the spectrum: from conservative to libertarian to far-right. Read Daniel’s story https://www.inlander.com/spokane/why-coeur-dalenes-pride-in-the-park-became-the-target-for-white-supremacist-groups-like-patriot-front/Content?oid=24009613 (here).
At a lot of media companies, the crime beat is new reporter purgatory. This is probably your first job out of college: listen to scanner traffic and when something newsworthy happens, you run out and report it. In one sense, it’s journalism on easy mode — the stories literally come to you — and in that sense, it’s understandable to put a young reporter on it. But that inexperience creates a real imbalance between the journalist and power, asking the least experienced writers to hold their own against career law enforcement bureaucrats and professional communicators. And because there’s so much to cover, new reporters often only have time to get the police account of things, and rarely get a chance to actually follow up to see if the person arrested actually ends up facing trial. You’re going to hear from two different young reporters, Rebecca White from KPBX and Valerie Osier, on the effects of this, and why, for the health of our communities and the mental health of young reporters, the crime beat has to go.
The Inland Northwest offers a unique glimpse into the future of the rest of the US in light of the expected overturn of Roe v. Wade & Planned Parenthood v. Casey, two landmark Supreme Court decisions that codified the federal right to an abortion. This is because there already aren’t any abortion clinics in North Idaho, so many abortion-seekers as far away as western Montana need to go over the border to Eastern Washington clinics. For years, over 40% of patients seeking abortions at border clinics run by Planned Parenthood have been from out of state. Recently, that number has jumped to over 50%. We talked to friend of the pod & Inlander reporter Samantha Wohlfeil about her recent cover story, "https://www.inlander.com/spokane/washington-state-prepares-for-an-influx-of-patients-if-abortion-regulation-is-handed-over-to-the-states/Content?oid=23883242 (My Body, State's Choice?)" what additional work Washington abortion clinics are preparing for the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Follow Samantha on https://twitter.com/SAWohlfeil (Twitter).
Video games obviously don’t just come into being. Like any piece of art, they have creators. And we happen to know one right here in Spokane. A couple weeks ago we talked to Justin Baldwin, Creative Lead & Cofounder at http://moonlightkids.co (Moonlight Kids). He’s one of the creators of a pretty popular indie game called The Wild at Heart. It’s described as cute and cozy, but it introduces important themes to kids and other users, like working through childhood trauma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBryItoGzxE (Trailer) Follow Justin on Twitter: @butttoots Or Instagram: @themoonlightkid Follow Moonlight Kids: https://twitter.com/moonlightkids_?lang=en (@moonlightkids_)
In today’s RANGE of Care, we’re continuing our talk on productive disagreements. Joining us is Inga Laurent, Professor of Law at Gonzaga who studies, theorizes and helps implement restorative justice practices in court systems and outside of judicial settings like schools. So how does the conversation from our https://www.rangemedia.co/spokane-therapist-disagree-empathy-productive-conversation/ (last episode) on productive disagreements in interpersonal relationships tie into a legal framework like restorative justice? It’s in the name: restorative. The point isn’t to cast a person out of society or community. The point is to encourage a conversation in which the person or people who were harmed can gain closure and those who did harm can make amends. If you want more of Inga’s insight, she’s an occasional columnist at https://www.inlander.com/author/inga-laurent (The Inlander). Don’t forget to share this with a friend and if you’re able, https://www.rangemedia.co/#/portal/signup (become a member) of RANGE for $10 per month.
We’re at the end of Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month and hopefully you’ve had a chance to go to one of the many events hosted around town celebrating the rich and almost unfathomably diverse peoples and cultures represented. The majority of those events were put on by a coalition led by two organizations: https://www.apicspokane.org/ (APIC Spokane), whose mission is advocating for racial, social, and economic justice for Asians & Asian Americans in solidarity with Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and other systematically oppressed communities, and the https://www.picawa.org/ (Pacific Islander Community Association of WA) an organization dedicated to establishing a cultural home, centering community power, and furthering the wellness of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities physically, culturally, socially and spiritually. These two partner organizations rallied around using this month to draw attention to their criticisms of the imposed category “Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.” The category groups wildly different cultures that span literally 40% of the globe, lumping together the American diaspora of over 60% of the world’s population – everything from Bangladeshi-Americans to Tahitians — in one category. So it’s like, are we really spotlighting this incredible individual and cultural diversity by smashing them all into one month? And beyond that, you’ll hear our guests, Ryann Louie and Sarah Dixit of APIC talk about how statistical aggregation papers over legacies of colonial violence and completely obscures real disparities in health outcomes and death for many Pacific Islander communities. There is a lot of excess death – unnecessary death, preventable death – happening that is not truly understood because of how we lump people together statistically. In this podcast, you’ll hear about their efforts to push for race data disaggregation and why it’s important. You’ll also hear what you can do to help, like not using aggregated terms, asking aggregated organizations if they do have NH/PI representation and simply following https://www.instagram.com/apicspokane (APIC) and https://www.instagram.com/picawashington/ (PICA) on social media. ALSO, don’t miss the companion art show called “Hidden in Plain Sight” that is only open for three more days, through May 28 at the new Terrain Gallery at 628 N. Monroe.
In the US, it’s supposed to be “innocent until proven guilty,” but it’s a routine part of our criminal legal system to imprison people while they await trial, causing them to lose their jobs, housing, access to transportation and more. This is a problem across America, and we’ve covered it extensively on RANGE (see links below), but here’s a new wrinkle, courtesy of our friends at InvestigateWest. Whether or not you get access to pretrial services, which often requires home monitoring, drug testing and other costly programs, largely depends on the jurisdiction you’re in. Some counties have no services at all. In others, the defendant is responsible for the cost of those services — such as ankle monitors, which can run $500 per month — effectively keeping the most destitute people in jail. Even in counties where services are offered, the costs can be drastically different depending on what part of the county you’re arrested in. That’s the situation in Spokane, where getting arrested in the City of Spokane gives defendants free access to many more services than people arrested for the same crime in other parts of the county. We talked to Wilson Criscione, a reporter from InvestigateWest, who covered this issue extensively in the first article for their project called “https://www.invw.org/justice-by-geography/ (Justice by Geography).” In it, he told us the story of Amber Letchworth, a Washington woman who was pulled over and arrested after a police officer found a dirty baggy containing meth on her car floor. She couldn’t pay for bail, so while waiting in jail for the next few weeks, she lost her home and access to a car. She pleaded guilty to felony drug possession in an effort to get out of jail sooner. But she still left jail homeless and lost her financial aid for college because of her felony record. Amber had been mourning the death of her grandmother and was not in a good place. On paper, she was a good candidate for pretrial diversion, but no diversion took place, and she spiraled, for a time, to an even darker place. Had she been diverted to mental health or addiction treatment, her arrest may not have started her on a path to drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, and more arrests. There are two bitter ironies in this case, one personal, one systemic: The drug charge that set this whole chain of events in motion has since been vacated after State v. Blake — a State Supreme Court decision last year that https://www.nwpb.org/2021/12/03/washington-supreme-court-state-vs-blake-drug-possession-law-payments/#:~:text=State%20Vs%20Blake%20is%20a,to%20charges%20related%20to%20distribution. (ruled Washington’s simple possession law unconstitutional). But the real kicker is that Asotin County is one of the counties that actually HAS pretrial services — on paper anyway — but the program administrator had retired and the remote, rural county hadn’t been able to find a replacement. This story is crucial as we examine the disproportionate effects of our criminal legal system and what can be done to lift more people out of it. Wilson and Luke talk about the current patchwork system of pretrial services in Washington and how they play out differently in Spokane compared to the rest of Spokane County. Read the full story, republished with permission from InvestigateWest, https://www.rangemedia.co/spokane-justice-geography-washington-pretrial-services-jail-trial/ (here). Previous Coverage of Pre-Trial Inequalities: https://www.rangemedia.co/episode-010-independence-day-1c2/ (EPISODE 010 | Independence Day) https://www.rangemedia.co/episode-011-independence-day-cont-6c1/ (EPISODE 011 | Independence Day (cont)) https://www.rangemedia.co/episode-025-no-new-jail-feat-jim/ (EPISODE 025 | No New Jail feat. Jim Dawson) https://www.rangemedia.co/and-justice-for-some-feat-cam-zorrozua/ (And Justice for Some feat. Cam Zorrozua & Virla Spencer)
References: ...
Today we’re talking about productive disagreements: why we need them, what they look like and how to have them. It’s not whether or not we agree or disagree that is the issue, but how we do it and how we teach the next generations how they can disagree productively and empathetically. Meg and Ingrid talk about some of our first experiences with disagreements from a developmental perspective: toddlers who disagree with their parents on eating their peas or going to bed, kids who disagree with their classmates that pink is the best when they really like yellow, and teenagers who disagree with their parents that 9 p.m. is a reasonable curfew. What we learn at a developmental level at those ages– what our parents teach us on how much our voice matters and how to have empathy– shapes how we approach disagreements on much bigger issues when we’re older. It shapes if we feel safe disagreeing with others or if we feel safe going against the grain. Disagreement is a fundamental part of our government and democracy. And our ability to disagree directly correlates with our ability to advocate. To be clear: we’re not ever saying that people’s humanity is up for disagreement. Nor are we saying that people of marginalized communities and identities need to be doing this work or subject themselves to being the object of someone’s anger. It’s those in the dominant culture– white, cisgender folks– who’s responsibility it is to be leading this bigger change. Meg and Ingrid talk about a few ways to do this on a micro level. Here are a few, but be sure to listen to the episode to get the full picture: Teach your children how to disagree safely and hold space for disagreements. Start monitoring your own physical and emotional reactions to things you disagree with. Start small, with people you already feel safe with. Take a pause if you start to recognize deregulation in your body.
References: “The Dying Art of Disagreement” by neo-conservative Bret Stevens https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/opinion/dying-art-of-disagreement.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/opinion/dying-art-of-disagreement.html) Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown https://brenebrown.com/book/braving-the-wilderness/ (https://brenebrown.com/book/braving-the-wilderness/) RANGE of Care is a series of conversations on the intersections between mental health, the biology of human emotion, our bodies response and the social, cultural and political happenings in our communities. It’s hosted by Meg Curtain Rey-Bear, a Spokane psychotherapist, and Ingrid Price, a Spokane child psychotherapist. Luke usually chimes in too because he can’t help himself. You can support RANGE by becoming a member by going to https://www.rangemedia.co/ (rangemedia.co) and clicking the subscribe link.
Happy birthday to us! Is that weird to say? We hope not because we’re excited to still be going strong a whole TWO years after Luke decided to start a podcast in his attic. We asked you, dear readers/listeners, to send us your questions for our very first reader mailbag– and you all delivered! We got questions about wildfires, climate change, county commissioners, the housing market, crime, and a lot more. We did our best to answer as many as we could in the time we had, but some will need their own original reporting. In this episode, we also shared with you what’s been going on with RANGE, formally introduced our Audience and Membership Editor Valerie Osier and what the heck she does, and told you all about our hopes and dreams for this fledgling publication. Additional reading/listening: https://www.rangemedia.co/agtastrophe/ (Agtastrophe) https://www.rangemedia.co/the-more-climate-changes/ (The More Climate Changes) https://www.rangemedia.co/episode-21-faith-some-more-feat-chris/ (Faith Some More feat. Chris Bovey and Bryce Neusse) https://www.rangemedia.co/housing-in-crisis-feat-terri-anderson/ (Housing in Crisis feat. Terri Anderson) https://www.rangemedia.co/episode-020-house-money-feat-ben/ (House Money feat. Ben Stuckart)
This week on the pod, we talk to Deb Conklin, former Clallam County Prosecutor and current pastor of two churches in Spokane, Liberty Park Methodist in Perry and St. Paul’s United Methodist in West Central. In her almost 25 years as a pastor, Deb has also served rural congregations in Deer Park, Davenport and Rosalia. That’s the sort of resume that Deb had been on our list of people to talk to for RANGE because of her justice work in Spokane, and she got bumped to the front of the queue when she declared her intention late last week to run for Spokane County Prosecutor as a non-partisan candidate. We discussed competing models of justice between retributive and restorative theories of justice, and beyond that, you’ll also hear some pretty big differences between how Deb was trained as a prosecutor – only charging people with crimes you’re certain you can get convictions on – and the way we’re used to we’re used to hearing prosecutorial decisions being made in Spokane. If you think back to our https://www.rangemedia.co/land-of-the-free/ (Bail Project episodes) and the episode with https://www.rangemedia.co/and-justice-for-some-feat-cam-zorrozua/ (Cam Zorrozua and Virla Spencer), of the Way to Justice, you’ll remember those advocates talking about prosecutors throwing every charge possible at an accused person as a way of heightening bail and heightening pressure to take a plea.
Take a listen and let us know what you think of our first candidate interview.
Poet, Spark Central Executive Director and general purpose badass Brooke Matson joins Luke and special co-host Elissa Ball to discuss the historic (and current) stigma around ADHD and the steps individuals and (hopefully, some day) society itself can take to reimagine and reframe day-to-day life to help people harness and come to love their unique brains, and the tremendous drive for experimentation and incandescent creativity they're capable of, if given the space to flourish. Brooke's recent TEDxSpokane talk is a great primer for this episode. “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcNLwWhsgaQ&ab_channel=TEDxTalks (ADHD Redefined | Brooke Matson | TEDxSpokane)”
If you want to support Spark Central, April 15th is “https://spark-central.org/spark-salon (Amplify Us),” Spark Central’s annual salon and benefit show. This year’s gala will be a hybrid online and in-person event held at The Knitting Factory. The evening features an interview with best-selling author Jess Walter and a silent auction, plus live musical performances by T.S. The Solution, Atari Ferrari, and other music acts — including one of Spark’s own Girls Rock Lab bands.
How in the world do we unpack from a pandemic? It's an important question during a profoundly important time as the world contemplates decisions that when made, will once again shift the ground beneath our feet. “We are tired of change. We are pandemic fatigued, we crave predictability, we want connection unfettered by mandates and limitations. We want to be done. But if the question is, how in the world is everyone at the same time unpack from a pandemic? Then the answer is they don't,” says RANGE of Care host and psychotherapist Meg Curtain Rey-Bear. Meg and Ingrid gather again to chat through this endless pandemic, chronic trauma, how to build resiliency, and the journey back: what happens for all of us when the world starts lifting mandates and shifting from pandemic to endemic. They also talk about how adults with kids and teens, who have had crucial developmental moments interrupted for the past two years, might help hold space for processing this pandemic. This is RANGE of Care, a series of conversations exploring the intersections of our mental health, the biology of human emotion, our body's responses, and the social, cultural, political and environmental happenings in our communities. It’s hosted by Meg Curtain Rey-Bear, co-owner of Wellness Therapy Spokane and a longtime mental health advocate. Meg is joined by Ingrid Price, child psychotherapist and owner of the Giving Tree Wellness. Luke occasionally chimes in too.
If you’re about to be evicted in Washington state, what rights do you have? Luke talks to Heidi Groover, who is the real estate reporter for the Seattle Times, about a https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/in-historic-move-free-attorneys-for-tenants-facing-eviction-to-begin-in-a-dozen-washington-counties/ (story) she wrote last October about tenant protections in Washington state. These protections give low-income people facing eviction the right to an attorney. This is a first of its kind state law anywhere in the United States and Heidi walks us through how these protections are supposed to work. A landlord can’t file an eviction until they have offered a tenant a chance at mediation through an Eviction Resolution Program with a “reasonable repayment plan.” This program can help connect the tenant with rental assistance programs too. If the case makes it to court, the tenant has the right to an attorney even if they can’t afford one.
Most importantly, if you are a renter and need If you need help staying in your home, contact the https://tenantsunion.org/ (Tenants Union of Washington).
Listen now (107 min) | Spokane's new Planning Director, Spencer Gardner, chatted with Luke about his planning philosophy all the way back in 2019.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
Starting the year off with a banger: Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig joins us to talk about the legislative year that was, and what to expect from Washington state in 2022 as the legislature tries to pack all its work into a whirlwind 60 day session.
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This week we speak with Inlander reporter Samantha Wohlfeil, who has been filing the best stories anywhere on the continuing — and honestly, worsening — crisis at the Spokane Regional Health District.
She wrote the authoritative piece to date on the steady exodus of staff from the district. https://www.inlander.com/spokane/as-pandemic-rages-on-spokane-health-district-employees-say-poor-leadership-is-driving-dozens-to-leave-agency/Content?oid=22505619 (It’s vital reading).
Since we recorded, more heads have rolled. Here, Sam https://www.inlander.com/spokane/spokane-health-district-fires-two-leaders-heavily-involved-in-pandemic-response/Content?oid=22854263 (covers the firing of two leaders heavily involved with pandemic response) and the subsequent dismay of staff.
Read her at the https://www.inlander.com/author/samantha-wohlfeil (Inlander) and https://twitter.com/sawohlfeil?lang=en (follow her) on Twitter
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Listen now | RANGE OF CARE | Building resiliency in the face of burnout, uncertainty and flux
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This week on the pod, Gene Brake, Spokane-based Realtor, civil rights activist, and neighborhood leader joins us to talk about:
How the local Realtor association is spending heavily in local political races and the un-democratic process they use to decide who gets their support
How administrative dysfunction on the one hand and restrictive zoning on the other are affecting our ability to build the housing we need.
One neighborhood’s plan to build densely in targeted areas to both provide more homes while still keeping the area affordable for its mostly low-income residents.
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We won’t call it an “emergency” pod because the news is kinda good. We’d call it Breaking news … but it’s not really that either.
WHAT IT IS: a conversation with Rebecca Cook, proud Spokanite and Vice President of IATSE Local 488, which serves film and TV crews in Washington, Oregon, Montana and North Idaho.
We discuss:
The breadth of entertainment workers in our area
How a 12-hour “shoot day” is really a 16-hour work day.
How grueling hours lead to unsafe working conditions and potentially deadly commutes.
How “new media” like Netflix, Amazon & Disney+ continue to pay people poorly, even as they cross a quarter-trillion dollars of market value, thanks to outdated contracts they are trying desperately to maintain at the expense of workers’ health and safety.
The overwhelming majority of workers who are now saying “enough is enough.”
BUT ALSO:
Some seriously encouraging news about how taking this stand seems to be working.
Further Reading
Working conditions on film shoots: IAStories on https://www.instagram.com/ia_stories/?hl=en (Instagram) & https://twitter.com/IA_Stories (Twitter)
Solid background on https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/iatse-contract-talks-amptp-hollywood-strike-1235086185/ (how we got here).
Track this fast-moving story at the industry trades https://deadline.com/results/#?q=iatse (Deadline) & https://variety.com/results/#?q=iatse (Variety)
A Smidge of Action
An https://linktr.ee/IAStories (exhaustive list of resources and ways to help).
It’s one of our more hopeful episodes in a while! Enjoy!
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This week we discuss the tremendous challenge of climate change and the impacts of that challenge on mental health — especially the mental health of young people, who will bear a disproportionate trauma and hardship from our collective inaction. Younger generations are suffering deeply from what feels like an overwhelming challenge, and need support. They are also incredibly resilient and are creating a kind of activism that feels completely different than the climate activism of the 90s and 2000s.
We also talk — among many other things — about climate denial as an observable psychological response and discuss strategies to bring those folks in.
Our Panel
Vinai Norasakkunkit | a professor at Gonzaga whose research focuses on the intersection of cultural psychology and clinical psychology. He studies the psychology of globalization and youth marginalization, as well the cultural shaping of social anxiety and happiness and the cultural shaping of: attitudes towards climate change.
Maggie Gates | a climate justice advocate and educator. She graduated from Gonzaga in 2019 with a degree in Political Science and shortly after co-founded Sunrise Spokane, a youth-led climate activism group. The group’s model is brilliant and will hopefully be transformational for all activism, but feels especially necessary for something as big as climate change.
Our host, as always, is Meg Curtin Rey-Bear, psychotherapist and co-owner of Wellness Therapies Spokane.
Luke tags along on this one as well.
Past Episodes
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/let-the-sunshine-in (Let The Sunrise In) | A conversation about climate and Sunrise Spokane with Rosie Zhou
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/kids-covid-and-deep-loneliness (Kids, COVID, and “Deep Loneliness)” | The first episode in what has become known as our Range of Care series.
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/episode-018-analyze-this-pandemic (Analyze This (Pandemic)) | Meg first joined us last November to talk about mental health entering the holidays, and a second year of COVID uncertainty and risk.
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On this week’s episode, we speak with https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffersonketchel/ (Jeff Ketchel), Executive Director of the https://www.wspha.org/ (Washington State Public Health Association), about the state of public health 18-plus months into a centenary pandemic.
It’s slow, painstaking work done by diligent people in the messy environment of human frailty, government funding, society, culture and politics. Not complicated at all!
Then you throw covid into the mix and all of those variables suddenly become amplified and even more unpredictable.
There’s the bad news we’re mostly aware of, and some good news that’s under-reported. So all-in-all, we think you’l walk away from this episode feeling marginally better about things!
And plus it gives us an excuse to showcase the Swiss Cheese Model of disease prevention. Most of those slices are impacted, directly or indirectly, by public health policy.
Further reading
https://crosscut.com/news/2021/08/pandemic-and-politics-drive-mass-exodus-wa-public-health-leaders (Pandemic and politics drive mass exodus of WA public health leaders) (Crosscut)
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/state-board-of-health-to-investigate (Local Public Health 101) (RANGE)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/30/costa-ricans-live-longer-than-us-whats-the-secret (Costa Ricans Live Longer Than Us. What’s the Secret?) (New Yorker)
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-spendingcomparison_gdp-per-capita-and-health-consumption-spending-per-capita-2019 (How does health spending in the US compare to other countries?) (Health System Tracker)
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Many of our local law enforcement officials have expressed concerns about a set of new laws (https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1310&Initiative=false&Year=2021 (HB 1310), https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1054&Initiative=false&Year=2021 (HB 1054)) that, among other things, require stricter standards for probable cause when detaining someone, require de-escalation during encounters, ban chokeholds and significantly restrict the use of tear gas.
Despite the handwringing, it seems pretty reasonable to us, so we spoke with Enoka Herat of the ACLU Washington about what the laws do and don’t do
Further reading
A good primer from https://crosscut.com/politics/2021/07/what-new-wa-police-accountability-laws-do-and-dont-do (Crosscut) about what police are allowed and not allowed to do under the law.
A good primer on carotid and choke holds in https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/police-use-of-force-chokehold-carotid-ban/ (the Washington Post), and why 62% of the largest police forces in America banned them unilaterally … you know, rather than being forced to by their state legislature.
—
Note: early in the episode Luke calls himself lugubrious when he obviously — OBVIOUSLY — meant loquacious. We regret the error.
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Psychotherapist Meg Curtin Rey-Bear guest hosts a roundtable with fellow therapists Maggie Rowe, a clinical social worker and certified child life specialist, and Ingrid Price, a licensed mental health counselor and a child mental health specialist. It’s a tough, wide-ranging, but ultimately hopeful conversation about what kids and parents are going through.
Content warning: includes frank discussions about self-harm and suicidal ideation among young people.
Previous pandemic mental health content
PODCAST: https://www.rangemedia.co/p/episode-018-analyze-this-pandemic (Analyze This (Pandemic))
PRINT: https://www.rangemedia.co/p/it-needs-to-be-okay-not-to-be-okay (Ten-ish tips for thriving through another tough season)
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Normal people can’t afford to live in North Idaho anymore.
As of 2019 — the most recent data we have — the median household income in Bonner County was $50,256, almost 25% below the national average of $65,712. That year, median housing sale prices fluctuated between $307,000 and $340,000. Not cheap, but payments would be well under the 30% of income that finance nerds say is ideal for people to pay their bills and survive.
Barely two years later, the median sale price is $675,000.
Unless wages have doubled — and we know they haven’t! — a normal Bonner County home would need to spend well over 50% of their income for a normal house.
This isn’t the first cycle of displacement in North Idaho history. It’s been happening since the first fur trappers arrived, and really took off during the period of the Homestead Act and Indian removal.
And while markets change, it’s the same old exploitation. That’s the topic of our third and, for now, final episode on what the hell is happening in Idaho.
We speak to Sociologist Ryanne Pilgeram about timber, labor militancy and the switch that flipped 25 years ago, turning North Idaho from reliably pro-labor Democrat to run-of-the-mill Republican and then the slide toward deeper and deeper conservatism that lands us squarely in the present day.
If you like the conversation, you’ll love Ryanne’s book https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295748696/pushed-out/ (Pushed Out), a fascinating sociology of the small former mill town of Dover, Idaho.
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The conclusion of our two-part chat with Sandpoint Reader Editor and Co-founder Zach Hagadone. If you haven’t already, https://www.rangemedia.co/p/idahos-uncivil-war (listen to the first episode before proceeding). It’s pure gold.
This hour we drill deep into Idaho’s 1st Legislative District — a microcosm of many of the larger political dynamics playing out statewide — to understand in miniature many of the dynamics that have led to such unprecedented dysfunction statewide.
With that established, we zoom back out and talk about the state races that won’t just define this election cycle, but will probably end up shaping the state of play in Idaho for years. YEARS!
Another barn burner. Don’t miss it.
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In early April, we brought you the strange story of the blood feud between North Idaho College’s administration and its board of trustees. NIC is a public junior college and its board had always been elected by the people of Kootenai County, but to hear locals talk about it, those races were never partisan. That changed last year and the resulting saga was by turns silly, absurd, chilling and at times, even a little scary.
If you would have asked me then, I would have probably said that would be the weirdest local news story of the year. Boy was I wrong.
Since then, most of Idaho seems to be caught in one preposterous political news cycle after another. Here’s a taste of the stories that have come since:
The Kootenai County library board race ended in https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/may/08/censorship-satanic-agendas-kootenai-county-library/ (veiled accusations of Satanism)
A state representative https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/idaho-advocates-rep-priscila-giddings-held-accountable-doxxing-jane-doe/277-ae05ad3a-0e7b-4798-b9cc-9f2cbd2d39e6 (repeatedly doxxed) a teenage rape victim. (Anti-extremism groups called for her resignation; she responded by https://www.kivitv.com/news/political/inside-the-statehouse/rep-priscilla-giddings-announces-run-for-lieutenant-governor (announcing a run for Lieutenant Governor))
Current Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin created an anti-indoctrination taskforce to “https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/idaho-lt-gov-mcgeachin-forms-taskforce-protect-students-scourge-critical-race-theory-socialism-communism-and-marxism/277-bf53d7b1-8a2b-4f60-baf0-6d36a6f77288 (to protect our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism, and Marxism.)"
A group of legislators led by McGeachin later held the state budget hostage until the legislature agreed to https://www.npr.org/2021/05/01/992761507/idaho-governor-signs-bill-to-ban-critical-race-theory-in-schools (ban teaching Critical Race Theory in public schools), including colleges — despite https://www.idahostatejournal.com/opinion/columns/idaho-pursues-that-most-elusive-adversary-critical-race-theory/article_53fc2fa4-5a04-5ed8-b746-2af122851fd1.html (failing to define just what Critical Race Theory is).
Five rural Oregon counties https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/oregon-idaho-secession.html (voted to secede from the Beaver state and join Idaho).
Ammon Bundy, the amateur rancher and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundy_standoff (professional) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Malheur_National_Wildlife_Refuge (stand-off-haver), announces a https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article252131633.html (run for Governor) … despite being https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/article250530114.html (banned from the Idaho Statehouse).
That’s just scratching the surface, honestly.
And while it’s not immediately obvious the through-line connecting these stories, our guest this week, Zach Hagadone of the Sandpoint Reader, argues they’re isolated skirmishes in a multi-way civil war for the soul of the Idaho Republican Party.
It’s a big topic, with both regional and national implications — as many as 24 states have followed or are considering https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06 (following Idaho’s lead on Critical Race Theory) as well — so this is going to be another one of our patented two-part deep dives.
Buckle up, it’s a wild ride.
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Back for his second turn in the hot seat, filmmaker Benji Wade and I discuss the new documentary WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (streaming on https://www.hulu.com/movie/wework-or-the-making-and-breaking-of-a-47-billion-unicorn-c6deead3-f45f-43c6-b8bf-fc56e9f8a589 (Hulu)).
Unlike our https://www.rangemedia.co/p/episode-22-hillbilly-smellegy-feat (last film episode), we actually recommend watching this one — and we use the occasion of a better than average film about one of recent history’s most spectacular failures to ask some pretty important questions, like:
Why do so few startups become sustainable?
Is the misery left by all that wasted time, energy and money worth the few that go on to become Facebook (and destabilize society in the process)?
Does anyone consider the ethics and real-world misery of this modality of business, or does profit justify all?
For people who like conversations about non-traditional work, freelancing, independent contracting, the gig economy and burnout.
And whether we like it or not, it’s something we need to think about. Independent contracting and telework will become more common as companies cut costs by moving wokers offsite in the post-COVID era.
Like last time, Benji threw out some other topically related films to also check out:
https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279 (Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened)
https://www.google.com/search?q=roger+and+me&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS888US888&oq=roger+and+me&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i433j0l3j46j0l4.4380j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 (Roger and Me) (on offshoring)
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS888US888&sxsrf=ALeKk02qL0AH55l1v_aUv3YZFfJP6fIv7Q:1623145601659&q=The+Big+One+(film)&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgecR4kJFb4OWPe8JS2xknrTl5jXEDIxdXcEZ-uWteSWZJpZANFxuUJcPFK8Wpn6tvYFSRXJKtwSDFzYXgGolw8eqn6xsaZhUUGWQnFSQJPHw7g1Ep2Mh916Vp59gcBRmAQGJXgIOUppYQF7tnsU9-cmKOYMcUuS9bD2-y1xLm4ghJrMjPy8-tFNThYmCw-P_eXomTE6hpwYf0ZfZaDE37VhxiY-FgFGAI4odalZZbWZSVkVHEs4hVKCQjVcEpM13BPy9VQSMtMydXEwCW1h5K3AAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwixgIXI4IfxAhUNu54KHT79AMUQ6RN6BAgUEAE&biw=1066&bih=632 (The Big One) (on corporate downsizing)
https://www.google.com/search?q=enron+the+smartest+guys+in+the+room&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS888US888&biw=1374&bih=723&sxsrf=ALeKk00aw4EkbV1fwBUzbKXetq0xaoLUyg%3A1623145626842&ei=mjy_YPb7MsnJ-gS9o7LYCg&gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TcwszSyLDZg9FJOzSvKz1MoyUhVKM5NLCpJLS5RSC-tLFbIhAgW5efnAgBujRAt&oq=enron&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMYAjIECCMQJzIFCAAQsQMyAgguMgUIABCxAzIFCAAQsQMyAggAMgUIABCxAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADoHCAAQRxCwAzoHCAAQsAMQQzoKCC4QsAMQyAMQQzoKCC4QxwEQrwEQJzoECAAQQzoECC4QQzoICAAQsQMQgwE6CwguELEDEMcBEKMCOgoIABCHAhCxAxAUSgUIOBIBMVCWTljLUWCIXWgFcAJ4AYABkgGIAfwDkgEDNS4xmAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBD8ABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) (Business disaster porn)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04&ab_channel=JustAdamCurtis (The Century of the Self) (Freudian psychology, advertising & control)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04&ab_channel=JustAdamCurtis (Power of Nightmares) (neo-conservatism)
https://www.google.com/search?q=all+watched+over+by+machines&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS888US888&sxsrf=ALeKk02LaSn-PlUrPf6uEKAGhNYZqeMhTw%3A1623145780674&ei=ND2_YIvZKJfK-gTApZ-gAQ&gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TfINi6sNCsxYPSSSczJUShPLEnOSE1RyC9LLVJIqlTITUzOyMxLLQYAIV4OUQ&oq=all+watch&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMYADIHCC4QJxCTAjICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAgguMgIIADoHCCMQsAMQJzoHCAAQsAMQQzoJCAAQsAMQBxAeOgoILhCwAxDIAxBDOgQIIxAnOgQILhBDOgQIABBDOggIABCxAxCDAToFCC4QkQI6BQgAELEDOhAILhCxAxCDARDHARCjAhBDOgsILhCxAxDHARCjAjoECC4QJzoICC4QxwEQrwFKBQg4EgExUOvVAljU4QJgrukCaARwAHgAgAFfiAGpBpIBAjEwmAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBDsABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz (All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace) (life in the digital age)
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This week on the show we welcome Rosie Zhou, a lead organizer with Sunrise Spokane — a student and young-adult-led organization focused on ensuring we get to 100% carbon independence within the less-than-seven-year window set out in the 2018 special report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
What makes young organizers like Rosie and her friends really special and worth paying attention to isn’t just the fervor and clarity of their demands for decisive action, but the inclusivity, holism and intersectionality of the tactics they’re bringing to the climate fight.
Their environmentalism is absolutely still about starving polar bears and rising sea levels. It’s also about a clean industrial revolution that can lift us out of our economic torpor — viewed through a lens that recognizes the disproportionate impacts that inaction will have on the poor, people of color, and basically everyone in the global south.
It’s a really powerful, compelling message, and these young people are just getting started. Enjoy.
Connect
http://www.sunrisespokane.org (sunrisespokane.org)on https://www.instagram.com/sunrise_spokane/?hl=en (Instagram)on https://twitter.com/sunrise_spokane?lang=en (Twitter )on https://www.facebook.com/sunrisespokane/ (Facebook)
Explore
https://climateclock.world/science (The Science of the Climate Clock)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ch01.htm (The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte)
Goofs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPK7ZF6jfJE&t=132s&ab_channel=danbanrock1 (Let the Sunshine In)
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Listen now | Rae-Lynn Barden on VOA's commitment to meeting people where they're at
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If you or a loved one are experiencing domestic or sexual violence and would like help, the https://strongheartshelpline.org/ (StrongHearts Helpline) offers assistance from within an indigenous cultural context.
This week we speak with Yakama tribal member Jenny Slagle about some brutal, vital topics:
The disproportionality with which our indigenous neighbors go missing, experience sexual violence, and end up murdered
The structural poverty, ongoing genocide, and racist disregard that has allowed systemic failures to go unremarked-upon for decades.
The deeply personal impacts for families whose loved ones go missing.
It’s a heavy topic, but essential.
LOCAL ORGS & EVENTS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/343739446952658/ (The Native American Alliance for Policy & Action) | Spokane-based
https://www.facebook.com/events/818698642354724/ (MMIW Day of Action event) | Riverfront Park on May 5
https://www.facebook.com/events/167259671969645/ (MMIW Training) | Virtual event on May 5
National resources
https://www.niwrc.org/resources/toolkit/mmiw-toolkit-families-and-communities (MMIW Toolkit)
https://strongheartshelpline.org/ (StrongHearts Helpline)
https://www.niwrc.org/ (National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center)
KEY INFO
https://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/research-data/prc-publications/VAWA_Data_Brief__FINAL_2_1_2018.pdf (NCAI Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native Women findings) (2018)
Over 80% of Native women have experienced violence.
Nearly 60% have experienced sexual assault.
96% of those sexual assaults come at the hands of a non-Native perpetrator
https://lakotalaw.org/news/2020-05-01/mmiw-resource-guide (MMIW Resource Guide) created by the Lakota People’s Law Project. A great primer on the problem.
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Hey y’all. A couple weeks ago the DC-based Chronicle of Higher Education ran https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-county-turns-against-its-community-college (a story) from right in our backyard about a coordinated effort by Kootenai County Republicans to run for the ostensibly non-partisan North Idaho College Board of Trustees on explicitly conservative talking points. They leveraged the full power of the local Republican Central Committee, ended up winning a super majority on the board, then quickly came into conflict with the college’s administration, faculty and staff.
The report’s author, https://twitter.com/EmmaJanePettit (Emma Petti)t, joins us to get the details.
It’s a fascinating window on our region and a great conversation, though one important question remains unanswered: whether this is a new tactic in the conservative war on higher education or if it’s just https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/wackadoodles-north-idaho (Kootenai County being Kootenai County).
As a bit of a coda, this week Emma wrote a quasi-follow up piece about https://www.chronicle.com/article/anti-american-pushing-marxism-and-more-do-you-recognize-your-college-here?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in (Idaho Freedom Action’s campaign to “Fix Idaho Colleges”) by robocalling about Marxism and how students are conditioned to “apologize for being white.”
FURTHER READING
https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-county-turns-against-its-community-college (A County Turns Against Its College) | Emma Pettit | Chronicle of Higher Education
https://cdapress.com/news/2021/mar/26/i-dont-work-you-greg/ (“I Don’t Work for You, Greg”) | Fallout from Emma’s story | Cd’A Press
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/mar/02/north-idaho-college-president-on-conflict-with-boa/ (NIC Pres: ‘These are more than serious distractions’)| Spokesman-Review
PREVIOUS REPORTING
https://cdapress.com/news/2021/jan/20/call-resignation/ (NIC trustee Wood calls for chair to resign) | Cd’A Press
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/feb/10/north-idaho-college-trustees-reject-removal-of-boa/ (NIC trustees reject removal of board chair in split vote) | Spokesman-Review
CITED
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/wackadoodles-north-idaho (Here’s What Happens When Republicans Have No One to Fight) | Buzzfeed
GOOFS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALth838XCcQ (It’s a whole new ballgame on campus)
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This week we talk with State Rep. Marcus Riccelli about all the work our state legislature has been doing this session. Including:
Public Health Reform
Universal Health Care
Capital Gains Tax
This one isn’t through the house yet and has an opportunity to get better, see below.
Just Cause Evictions
And last but not least … wait for it …
his controversial take on the downtown stadium.
What started as a spirited disagreement about our land-use priorities in the core became a interesting discussion of public debate, the civic commons, and clawing back our ability to engage even when we disagree as an antidote to the polarization crippling our world. Not gonna want to miss this one. And while you’re at it:
TAKE ACTION
Capital Gains passed the senate without a rule that would make it take effect immediately. This gravely hurts the law’s ability to last beyond the next election cycle.
So https://app.leg.wa.gov/Rosters/MembersByDistrictAndCounties/House (Email your reps) — including Riccelli — and let them know you want the wealthiest people in Washington to start paying their fair share now.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
This week on the pod we talk with reporter Daisy Zavala, who wrote our heartbreaking farmworker profile “https://www.rangemedia.co/p/essential-but-unprotected (Essential, but Unprotected)” (there’s also a https://www.rangemedia.co/p/esenciales-pero-sin-protecciones (Spanish-language version)).
This is still a hell of an interview regardless of whether you’ve read the story or not — much of the interview is discussing the pitfalls of being a young professional journalist of color — but if you carve out 20 minutes and read the story first, you’ll understand why the conversation is so urgent.
First, it’s just vitally important to understand the hardship of farmwork on a good day, and the frequent danger of it.
Second, journalism is at an inflection point — simmering for years and brought to a boil by the strife caused by the pandemic and this summer’s unrest — about the voices we have traditionally welcomed and those we have traditionally excluded, or forced to “conform to established standards,” which is a euphemism, in this context, for “always center whiteness.”
It’s a great conversation.
Pitch In
http://familiasunidasjusticia.org/en/home/ (Familias Unidas por la Justicia) | Washington-based independent farmworker union.
https://www.waisn.org/ (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network) | Coalition fighting to establish and maintain rights for immigrants and refugees.
https://www.immigrantreliefwa.org (Washington Covid-19 Immigrant Relief Fund) | An immigrant-led relief initiative.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
Continuing our housing series with a dash of sprawl containment, farmland preservation, racial equity and environmental impact (not to mention crawdad fishing in Elk!), this week we talk with Kitty Klitzke, Spokane Program Director for Futurewise, an organization that works throughout Washington state to encourage healthy, equitable and opportunity-rich communities, and to protect our most valuable farmlands, forests and water resources through wise land use policies and practices.
We talked about the WA Can’t Wait campaign, supporting three new state bills that update the long-in-the-tooth Growth Management Act. The GMA, which was passed in 1990 and has been a core tool for communities statewide to curb sprawl, has concrete loopholes in need of closing and also needs some additional protections for racial equity and environmental impact not included in the original legislation. It’s additive work but essential if we want to put stronger controls on land use to ensure we build dense, vibrant urban clusters while preserving our wild spaces and farmland.
Because of the political dynamics of Spokane County, it’s been a historically vital piece of legislation and the bills currently before the legislature in Washington will close a loophole that has been especially destructive to native habitat and generational farmland on places like Five Mile and the Moran Prairie.
Plus, Kitty is just fun as hell to talk to.
We can almost guarantee it’s the most fun you’ll ever have talking about progressive land use policy.
And once you’re moved to act, you can do so here:
TAKE ACTION
Tell your reps to:
https://futurewise.salsalabs.org/SB5042URGENTACTION/index.html (Close the vesting loophole)
https://futurewise.salsalabs.org/HB1099SenateAction/index.html (Create climate targets for greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled)
https://futurewise.salsalabs.org/HB1220SenateActionAlert/index.html (Require cities and counties to plan for)
A diversity of housing types to meet the needs of families at all income levels, especially our extremely low to moderate-income families;
Provide emergency shelters, emergency housing, and permanent supportive housing
Implement policies and strategies to prevent community displacement from market forces
Implement policies to address the impacts of racially-biased, exclusionary, and discriminatory housing and land-use policies on our BIPOC communities.
If you like your RANGE, you can support it:
Edited by Connor BaconRecorded at https://speakpodcasting.com/ (Speak Studios). Check ‘em out.
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Hey y’all, it’s been a few weeks of pretty relentlessly depressing topics here at RANGE HQ so we thought we’d do something a little lighter.
Not like, light light, but still light-er.
Doing another film ep, this time talking about the Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival — which begins TONIGHT AT 7 PM! — with festival director and head of Spokane Area Jewish Family Services, Neal Schindler.
It’s a virtual event, so you can watch some great films and help a worthy local cause all without putting on pants, just the way we like it in 2021.
All film trailers, discussion schedules and details for buying tickets and passes can be found at http://sajfs.org/our-programs/sjcff/ (the festival website).
Thanks, as always, to Connor Bacon for a tight, timely interview edit and to Simmental for our theme music.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
This week on the pod we talk to Virla Spencer and Camerina Zorrozua of The Way to Justice, a newish non-profit that helps people get their lives back after run ins with the criminal legal system.
Cam works primarily in post-conviction relief — helping people who have been locked up — while Virla runs the re-licensing program, helping poor folks who have lost their drivers license due to an inability to pay fines or other reasons to create a path back to just having the basic mobility most of us take for granted.
These two are larger than life personalities separately. Together they’re pretty close to a force of nature.
If you like what you hear, you can support their work at http://www.thewaytojustice.com/ (www.thewaytojustice.com)
Further Study
HOW IT STARTED: https://www.spokanecounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/1685/CJC-Blueprint-for-Reform-PDF?bidId= (Blueprint for Reform) | Creating an Efficient and Effective Regional Criminal Justice System
HOW IT’S GOING: https://www.spokanecounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/35530/Blueprint-for-Reform-Status-Update-October-2020 (Blueprint Status Report) (not great tbh)
https://www.spokanecounty.org/4248/Criminal-Justice-Data (Spokane County incarceration data) - updated frequently
https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?billnumber=5226&year=2021&initiative=False (Senate bill) that would end suspension of licenses for failure to pay fines.
and links to comment/support:
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The conclusion of our interview with the inimitable Terri Anderson, Spokane Director and Policy Lead for the Tenants Union of Washington this week on the podcast.
If you haven’t listened to https://www.rangemedia.co/p/housing-in-crisis-feat-terri-anderson (PART 1), I really recommend you do so before diving in here. You’ll thank me later.
Things have not miraculously become perfect in the week since we posted the first episode, so it is still vitally important that you:
TAKE ACTION
Contact https://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/Pages/default.aspx (your state senator) about:
SB 5160 | Offramp from the moratorium that helps tenants stay housed
SB 5169 | Prohibits rent increases for six months after the moratorium & limits increases to no more than CPI from six months to one year.
Contact https://app.leg.wa.gov/Rosters/MembersByDistrictAndCounties/House (your state reps) about:
HB 1236 | Just cause evictions
HB 1300 | Damage deposit reform.
Contact the Tenants Union
Call 509-464-7620
Email Terri at terria@tenantsunion.org.
FURTHER READING
“https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/feb/15/weve-got-a-clock-ticking-calls-for-help-grow-as-en/?fbclid=IwAR225q3FkpsDuu0NxLlaRQ6BUnbqZaip2q2mB4oGJ9w-d1m93PR9ev4R7ss (We’ve got a clock ticking)”: Calls for help grow as end to Washington’s eviction moratorium inches closer | Spokesman-Review
GOOFS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZZr_p6vB8&ab_channel=NellyVEVO (It’s getting hot in here)
If you like your RANGE, you can support it:
Edited by Connor BaconRecorded at https://speakpodcasting.com/ (Speak Studios). Check ‘em out.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
Even after we manage to contain the public health crisis brought on by Covid-19, the danger isn’t over in Spokane. The economic crisis has left thousands of people without steady employment and, as a result, thousands of our neighbors are behind on their utility bills and behind on rent.
This almost exclusively affects the poor, and because of our nation’s legacy of white supremacy and Spokane’s history of redlining, that burden disproportionately impacts people of color.
It’s not a good scene.
Washington state has a temporary eviction moratorium in place but that’s like a finger in the dike. It’s holding back disaster for now, but unless we take serious action, there’s no stopping a flood of evictions.
The good news is, there’s a path to mitigating the short term crisis while also creating a fairer and more just legal and support system for renters from here on out.
We talk about all of this and more with Terri Anderson, Spokane Director and Policy Lead for the Tenants Union of Washington this week on the podcast.
TAKE ACTION
Contact https://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/Pages/default.aspx (your state senator) about:
SB 5160 | Offramp from the moratorium that helps tenants stay housed
SB 5169 | Prohibits rent increases for six months after the moratorium & limits increases to no more than CPI from six months to one year.
Contact https://app.leg.wa.gov/Rosters/MembersByDistrictAndCounties/House (your state reps) about:
HB 1236 | Just cause evictions
HB 1300 | Damage deposit reform.
Contact the Tenants Union
Call 509-464-7620
Email Terri at terria@tenantsunion.org.
FURTHER LISTENING
EPISODE 20 | https://www.rangemedia.co/p/episode-020-house-money-feat-ben (House Money feat. Ben Stuckart)
FURTHER READING
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jun/10/eviction-rental-crisis-could-be-a-few-months-away/ (The impending rental tsunami) | Spokesman-Review
GOOFS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZZr_p6vB8&ab_channel=NellyVEVO (It’s getting hot in here)
If you like your RANGE, you can support it:
Recorded at https://speakpodcasting.com/ (Speak Studios). Check ‘em out.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
In this week’s episode we take a brisk 30-minute jaunt through some new polling data that confirms, yep, the rest of Spokane County wants a jail about as badly as we do — which is to say: NOT. AT. ALL.
It’s encouraging news for everyone from reformists to prison abolitionists to get this sort of poll result in a Republican-leaning county like Spokane.
But the real kicker is when the pollsters asked people if they’d vote to raise their taxes in order to fund addiction treatment and homelessness services.
For the answer to that question, you’ll have to listen.
Past No Jail Content
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/spokane-let-people-out-of-jail-crime (Spokane let people out of jail. Crime went down) | RANGE
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/episode-010-independence-day-1c2 (EPISODE 010 | Independence Day) feat. the Bail Project | RANGE
https://www.rangemedia.co/p/episode-011-independence-day-cont-6c1 (EPISODE 011 | Independence Day (cont)) | RANGE
Further Perusing:
https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/spokane-county/spokane-county-officials-revisit-plans-for-a-new-jail/293-612846208 (Spokane County officials revisit plans for a new jail) | KREM
https://changeresearch.com/ (Change Research) | The pollsters
http://fusewashington.org/ (Fuse Washington) | The org that paid for it
Goofs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjt9Qx9MBPk (Fetch!)
Cool people support RANGE
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
Listen now | Hey y’all! Amazing conversation about cooperatives this week with Joel Williamson, one of the co-founders of LINC Foods and the Grain Shed. We talk about coops as an organizational and business structure that is not just inherently more ethical for the workers who work within that system, it also more effectively traps capital in our communities, building resiliency through the entire system.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
Listen now | Friend of the pod and Gonzaga professor Joan Braune — noted critical theorist and Nazi disliker — joins to talk about how language shapes the way we view reality and how the blanket usage of words like “terrorism” and “extremism” — even when explicitly describing right wing violence like last week’s attack on the Capitol building — might actually do more harm than good by incorrectly and unfairly lumping the emancipatory struggle of the left with the oppressive projects of the far right.
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This week on the pod we zig a little into our first film crit episode, and chat with local filmmaker Benji Wade about Hillbilly Elegy, a movie that has been on everyone’s lips since it came out in time for the election.
It’s the not-so-riveting story of how a poor white kid from Southeast Ohio overcame generational trauma through nothing but his own pluck and grit (or so the film would have you believe), attended Yale Law School, went to work for Peter Thiel — one of the great monsters of recent American history — and eventually moved back to Cincinnati to start a non-profit that helps, like, train unemployed coal miners and steelworkers how to code, or something.
Seems a little far-flung to what we usually talk about on RANGE, but the plight of poor people in extractive economies in Appalachia is pretty similar to the plight of poor people in extractive economies in the Inland Northwest, and this movie is a masterclass in blaming the poor for their plight.
So yeah, a topic ripe for RANGE.
The movie is bad, but the conversation is good, and Benji and I took the time to cobble together a mountaintop worth of other actually good coal-country (and coal-country-adjacent) content for you to remove into your ear- and eye-holes.
That was a coal mining joke. You’re welcome.
Referenced in the episode
Review: https://www.thewrap.com/hillbilly-elegy-film-review-ron-howard-glenn-close-amy-adams-netflix/ (Ron Howard's Rust Belt Saga Is Yokel Hokum)
Review: https://www.vox.com/culture/21547861/hillbilly-elegy-review-netflix (Everything about Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy movie is awful)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk8ibrfXvpQ (Slavoj Zizek explains Ideology)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/438717/summary (What is “White Trash”?)
Better things to watch than Hillbilly Elegy
https://www.criterionchannel.com/harlan-county-usa (Harland County, USA)
https://www.criterion.com/films/29461-matewan (Matewan)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hnuKNXAp9E (Coal Miner’s Daughter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFHwwxqnE7A&has_verified=1 (Junebug)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKZC14U1buA (This Boy’s Life)
https://www.hulu.com/series/justified-2faf68df-e153-4e47-b117-a048427b250f (Justified) (prime Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins content)
Better things to listen to than Hillbilly Elegy
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/dont-watch-hillbilly-elegy-listen-to-dolly-parton-instead (“Listen to Dolly Parton Instead”)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCazGoeKn0U-L1evwEnJg6kA (Anything Loretta Lynn)
https://deathinthewestpod.com/ (Death in the West) podcast
Better things to read than Hillbilly Elegy
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525528067 (Educated )by Tara Westover
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780674984615 (The Enchantments of Mammon) by Eugene McCarraher
Goofs
Bar none https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDdNVHoalJ0 (the best TV theme song) ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVdlpZ4M-Hw (Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard)
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Got some hot pod-on-pod action this week. We were joined for this very special Christmas-adjacent podcast by Chris Bovey and Bryce Neusse of the Broken podcast.
We talk about how the dudes lost their respective churches but rediscovered their faith in the wake of George Floyd, and how they feel like their calling now is to slay the biggest hypocrisies in the evangelical faith while considering themselves evangelicals.
For them it comes down to trying to live a life that is less like Joel Osteen and more like one Jesus Christ (For our unreligious listeners: he was the guy on the cross).
Luke also opens up about his childhood in the evangelical church, the traumas that pushed him out and his hope for more people like Chris and Bryce. Friends, it’s A LOT.
GET INVOLVED
Chris and Bryce feed houseless neighbors on Pacific and Division Sundays at 11
FURTHER STUDY
https://open.spotify.com/show/6CfZLWoCKUjwABqHf6VOuN?si=fMN1We25TvWh1d27YCjRDQ&fbclid=IwAR1nLgwDbim1kzs-YVg-KJJDJBpz8bkoq4SmHzoclSAaVNybg4r90231gew (Broken podcast)
https://www.etsy.com/shop/vintageprintnw (Spokane Vintage Prints)
Background on the Halabja Massacre (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_4304000/4304853.stm (BBC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_chemical_attack (Wikipedia))
GOOFS
“God Bless us every one” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSyx6DaUwxA&ab_channel=videoquoter (OG version))
“This is how Michael Caine speaks” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIQIpC5_wY&ab_channel=BBC (the Trip))
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ljtbteT8a2k&list=PLTRtP41WBBsRfXNGgFALYRDC1Nbsk9MAK&index=11&t=0s&ab_channel=MuppetSongs (A large, absent-minded spirit)”
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This week, in the second part of our interview with Ben Stuckart — an hour of pure cask-strength righteous indignation about our housing crisis, cut with an effervescent spritzer of audio slapstick and other goofery.
It’s real good.
Further reading
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/nov/27/spokane-city-council-considers-new-sales-tax-to-fu/ (Spokane City Council considers new sales tax to fund affordable housing) (S-R)
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/nov/30/with-reservation-spokane-city-council-tentatively-/ (Council tentatively approves sales tax to fund affordable housing) (S-R)
Even further reading
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/aug/30/shawn-vestal-the-new-curing-spokane-video-is-an-in/ (The new ‘Curing Spokane’ video is an inaccurate and shallow report on Spokane’s homeless)
https://cityobservatory.org/bacon_musical_chairs/ (Berkeley Kevin Bacon Housing Study)
“https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness (Helsinki’s radical solution to homelessness)” Public Housing meets Housing First
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-26/why-rich-people-austria-want-live-housing-projects (Why rich people in Austria want to live in housing projects)
If you like your RANGE, you can support it:
Recorded at https://speakpodcasting.com/ (Speak Studios). Check ‘em out.
Get full access to RANGE at https://www.rangemedia.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast (www.rangemedia.co/subscribe)
Morning everyone. Big energy on the pod this week.
Speaking with former city council president, current public policy gadfly Ben Stuckart about the very-’90s named https://www.facebook.com/PHACTSpokane (PHACTS) — Public Health Action Coalition Team of Spokane — a group of dozens of professionals and organizations who have united in the face of Bob Lutz’ firing (covered extensively in RANGE, see below) to effectuate public health policy change at both the state and local level. It’s a packed episode. Enjoy.
Then, once you’re sufficiently fired up, get involved below:
TAKE ACTION
Follow https://www.facebook.com/PHACTSpokane (PHACTS)
Email the organizers to get involved at publichealthspokane@gmail.com
LEARN MORE
Bob Lutz coverage in RANGE (Chronological): https://www.rangemedia.co/p/dr-lutz-asked-to-resign (1) https://www.rangemedia.co/p/dr-lutz-fights-back (2) https://www.rangemedia.co/p/even-on-election-day-the-health-district (3) https://www.rangemedia.co/p/lutz-fired-in-8-4-vote (4) https://www.rangemedia.co/p/state-board-of-health-to-investigate (5)
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/nov/19/new-coalition-calls-for-change-in-wake-of-lutzs-fi/ (New Coalition calls for change …) (Spokesman-Review)
“https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/you-dont-expect-to-be-so-vilified-the-strange-turn-the-pandemic-took-for-public-health-workers/?fbclid=IwAR00PNNW8YI-0pAozcbkiuBcA2GT_ch9fTNnbjTahwYXDCfEbTX8r0QwXIM (You don’t expect to be so vilified)” (Seattle Times)
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Listen now (65 min) | EMERGENCY POD — Kinda As the pandemic enters its eighth month, the nation is subsumed by the biggest wave of coronavirus yet and Washington State grapples with new restrictions, we spoke with Meg Curtin Rey-Bear, LMHC, co-owner of Wellness Therapies Spokane
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HOUSEKEEPING: Had a lot of wild news roll through Spokane last week. If you haven't subscribed to the RANGE Newsletter, you really should.
SHOW NOTES
Western States Center's Kate Bitz joins us to talk about the ever-percolating threat of white nationalism, it's roots stretching back to the founding of our nation and the settling of the Inland Northwest, why it's such a uniquely pernicious problem here, and how this history of hate might affect the election and how a Biden victory might embolden extremists the way the Clinton presidency did.
Stay safe, y'all, take care of each other this week, and oh yeah:
IN CASE OF ELECTION FUCKERY, CLICK HERE (Election protection hotline)
GOOFS
I'm walkin' here!
Sometimes there's a [person], and I won't say hero, because what's a hero?
Tiger repelling rock
HOUSEKEEPING: I started a Patreon. If you love, like or even tolerate RANGE, please consider becoming a Patron!
SHOW NOTES
Profoundly happy to welcome Jess Walter on to talk about his brand new book, The Cold Millions, which you can buy starting TODAY from literally anywhere books are sold because the man is a damn phenomenon.
And while you CAN buy this book anywhere, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Wishing Tree Books for lending me their advance copy to make this review happen.
When you buy this book, for the love of God, buy it from a local independent seller like Wishing Tree or Aunties or -- ideally, both. Buy one from each place and give one to a friend!
SUPPLEMENTS
Book Trailer by Factory Town
Show Town: Theater and Culture in the Pacific Northwest by Holly George
Harry McClintock “Hallelujah! I’m a Bum” Early recording
Little Red Songbook first published in Spokane in 1909
Citations Needed episode discussing "Hallelujah!..." in the context of populist folk and country contrasted with Country's reactionary turn
TRUE CRIME
Dashiell Hammett’s Spokane detour in The Maltese Falcon.
Hammett claimed to have been offered $5,000 dollars to murder IWW leader Frank Little.
Little was later lynched in Butte Montana. 10,000 people walked in his funeral procession.
Tenant organizer and Spokane DSA co-chair Jeremy Logan joins us to talk about his arrest at the hands of Spokane County Sheriff's Deputies on the way to a Black Lives Matter protest and the truly remarkable obsession Sheriff Ozzie seems to have now that national media took an interest in the arrest.
Logan also shares the story of the last decade of his life and just how hard it is to pull yourself out of poverty, especially when you've previously been in the system.
BACKGROUND
Huffington Post article about Jeremy's arrest -- the one that set Ozzie off
Ozzie's resulting press conference (watch at your own risk)
Two big questions about the arrest of Jeremy Logan (Inlander)
How local law enforcement uses social media to surveil protesters (Inlander)
Ozzie's podcast about Jeremy Logan (Different from the press conference!)
In what is sure to be a collectors item for real news heads, this ep features rare journo-nerd b-sides from The Spokesman Review's Shawn Vestal.
TOPICS DISCUSSED
East-coast bias
National correspondents helicoptering into protests
(Lack of) newsroom diversity
On believing the children young journalists are our future
SUPPLEMENTS
The Truth Does not Change According to Our Ability to Stomach It -- Leah's poppin' fresh newsletter
Shawn's columns
This week’s guest is a big deal. How big? I’m just going to quote her bio in the New York frickin Times:
Leah Sottile is a writer based in Oregon whose work focuses on extremist ideologies, the anti-government movement and fringe cultures. She is the host and reporter for the podcast “Bundyville,” which has been nominated twice for a National Magazine Award.
I should have outlined it better in my intro, but I'll do it now: Bundyville is an absolutely essential look at extremism in the West and season two drills down specifically into our little nook of the Inland Northwest. Check it out.
She’s back in Oregon now but she’s lived in Spokane on and off for a good chunk of her life. I can’t think of anyone better to help look at the Boogaloo specifically and extremism more generally, both taking the national view and pulling some of the local threads.
Tremendously proud of this interview and grateful to Leah for carving two frickin' hours out of her busy schedule to hang out.
SUPPLEMENTS
Inside the Boogaloo - Leah's story for NYT Mag
Bundyville seasons 1 & 2 - absolute required listening
GOOFS
So hot right now
Abe Simpson is sometimes anti-fascist, always anti-Missouri
Hey y'all. Long time, no pod. Here's part one of an honest chat with Shawn Vestal about how white people can have tough conversations with themselves and others about the work we all need to do in this moment.
Spurred by a column Shawn wrote about the backlash from a video posted by Catholic Charities CEO Rob McCann, which led to a sharp (and gross) rebuke from Thomas Daly, Spokane’s Catholic bishop.
SUPPLEMENTS
Rob McCann video
The Backlash
Shawn's Column
Hey! It's the second part of the conversation with Angelique Tomeo and Sabrina Ryan-Helton of the Bail Project. If episode one was about talking about the system and how it destroys people's lives and weakens the fabric of society itself, episode two is more about how we might fight back in the short term by helping bail as many folks as possible out so they can actually claim their rights and fight their cases.
Just a reminder: there's a supplement to these episodes outlining what happened to crime rates when Spokane let a bunch of people out of jail due to COVID. Really gives some extra urgency to the work.
If you feel moved by this work, make sure to ask to join the Bail Project Spokane's Facebook community. Lots of information and solidarity happens in that space.
And at Sabrina's request: it's not too late to sign the anti-Killology training petitions. There are two. Here's the first and the second.
Photo illustration by Connor Bacon
SUPPLEMENTS
Spokane let people out of jail; Crime went down.
The story of a 72-year-old man who was locked up for 33-months pre-trial.
The Bail Project website
Bryan Stevenson's 2014 interview on Fresh Air about how "we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent."
Hey y'all fascinating conversation -- part 1 of 2 -- with Angelique Tomeo and Sabrina Ryan-Helton of the Bail Project about how maybe America isn't really the land of the free after all, what with the absurd amounts of pre-trial detention going on all throughout America (and certainly in Spokane) and how, just maybe, we should totally dismantle and abolish such a horribly inhumane system all together.
As a supplement to this episode make sure to check out my essay on what happened to crime rates when Spokane let a bunch of people out of jail due to COVID. Really gives some extra urgency to the work.
Photo illustration by Connor Bacon
SUPPLEMENTS
Spokane let people out of jail; Crime went down.
The story of a 72-year-old man who was locked up for 33-months pre-trial.
The Bail Project website
Bryan Stevenson's 2014 interview on Fresh Air about how "we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent."
GOOFS
Why yes, that is a mash-up of a climactic scene from 1996 blockbuster Independence Day and the Spokane County Jail.
With this one sound effect you too can make stupid Law & Order spoofs.
This week’s RANGE comes in two parts.
PART 1 | A Letter to My City Council Members | Offers a little background on the soon to be voted-upon police contract as a warm up for a dramatic reading of a letter Luke wrote this week asking Spokane City Council to tear it up with extreme prejudice.
PART 2 | Our Borders, Ourselves | We reach the conclusion of the awesome interview with Yakima immigration attorney Stephen Robbins, where the conversation turns toward some of the more mundane, overlooked atrocities of Trump's immigration policy and also some (infuriatingly) hilarious reflections on our dumb, dehumanizing border policy.
SUPPLEMENTS
Spokane City Council Directory -- has a nice map in case if you want to send directly to your district's commissioners, but I'm sure they'd ALL love to hear from you.
Check out Stephen Robbins' podcast Redirect. The latest episode dives into the thousand cuts of an avalanche of a bunch of bad new Trump immigration policies
Follow Robbins on Twitter
GOOFS
I've never seen Mr Smith Goes to Washington, but for some reason that image of Jimmy Stewart staring mournfully up at a broken system is seared into my memory.
Apparently the movie was loosely based on a Montana Senator.
Immigration lawyer Stephen Robbins dials in for a WIDE ranging chat about life in Yakima -- currently the unexpected epicenter (or in Governor Inslee's words, "Eh-pee-center") of Coronavirus in Washington State.
We cover the demographic and political environment in the county and how pre-existing sanitation and other abysmal conditions in the agricultural industry might be contributing to a public health crisis in a placewhere half the population sees not wearing masks as a patriotic statement and the other half works in an industry that is 50%-70% undocumented and lives very close to the edge in the best of times.
So yeah, it gets a little dark in this ep, but there's a labor fight that's actually going kinda well, so it ends on a hopeful note!
SUPPLEMENTS
"DACA Survives" latest episode of Stephen's great immigration law podcast
Robbins on Twitter
Spokesman story about Luis Cortes Romero, the U of Idaho Law grad who just saved DACA
Episode image of backbreaking Yakima farm labor courtesy of the Library of Congress
GOOFS
None because I'm perfect.
Jac Archer dials in to talk protest, big white supremacy (murder), little white supremacies (the gutting of EWU's gender and ethnic studies programs) and how you can't just support black liberation when it makes you comfortable.
Oh, and Luke and Jac also talk Scandal (the show) and trade James Baldwin quotes like total badasses.
This talk fired Luke the hell up, and he wanted to get it out in time for Sunday's protest so you could get fired up, too. Smash white supremacy, Rangers!
LITERAL NAZI ALERT If you do attend the rally, be on the look out for this POS, a Neo-Nazi who has pledged to come to Spokane and "make history." Be safe.
SUPPLEMENTS
The Anti Defamation League Pyramid of Hate
James Baldwin, "To be in a rage, almost all of the time"
James Baldwin on the myth of outside agitators from The Price of the Ticket
Citations Needed "Cops push "Outside Agitator" line, exploit fears of Far Right Violence to delegitimaze protests"
This week's episode art is from an incredible photo series of last week's protest by Eugene Mu
GOOFS
The Girl from Ipanema, elevator edition
While much of America is on fire, and trust in police is shaken to the core, activists have discovered that Spokane law enforcement has invited Dave Grossman -- the inventor of "Killology," a widely discredited training technique -- to train our local police.
His ideas are flippant, callous and more concerned with making sure cops know how to beat a shooting than how to help those in need. These are not de-escalation techniques. This episode showcases audio of Grossman's lectures and makes the case that he should not be welcome in Spokane.
Among Grossman's more infamous pupils: the guy who killed Philando Castile in Minneapolis in 2016, a precursor killing that laid the groundwork for the nationwide unrest that sprang up after the murder of George Floyd.
Ask Sheriff Knezovich and Police Chief Meidl to disinvite this merchant of death: oknezovich@spokanesheriff.org cmeidl@spokanepolice.org
GROSSMAN BACKGROUND
"Conditioned Response" short doc 2017
"George Floyd death puts spotlight on 'warrior training' for police" 2020
"Teaching officers how to kill with fear-based warrior tactics" Insider 2020
"2 Departments Quit Controversial Police Training" CBS Minnesota
"Militarizing the Minds of Police Officers," The New Yorker 2017
The “Killologist” Training America’s Cops, Men's Journal 2017
OTHER SUPPLEMENTS
2020 "Mindset Bootcamp" web page and flier
‘If I Would Have Been Here, George Floyd May Still Be Alive’ The Cut 2020
"Email reveals deep sympathies to officer convicted of excessive force," Inlander 2016
"Spokane Cops Salute Karl Thompson" Spokesman 2011
Good news Millennials: your life sucks exactly as much as you think it sucks! And that's according to journalism!
Luke takes a deepish dive into a Washington Post article by Andrew Van Dam and a few other sources on income and wealth inequality and turns out -- yep! -- what we always suspected to be true is true: There is no generation more abjectly screwed than your friendly neighborhood millennial.
It also seems there is but one solution. It's an increasingly common refrain around RANGE HQ. Can you guess what it is?
SUPPLEMENTS
"The unluckiest generation in U.S history" by Andrew Van Dam / WaPo
Strauss-Howe Generational Theory -- in case you want to go where I didn't dare
The Gilded Age part 1 | American Experience | PBS
UC Berkeley Study on inequality 1913-2014
Income inequality fact sheet | inequality.org
Episode art is from an extremely cursed essay in the failing Time Magazine
CURIOSITIES
Behold the first millennial | True Detective S01
Definition of Black Pill (besides the video above)
A deadly new fighting style
A little nibble of how much weirder and cooler protestants used to be.
An interview with cook, writer, artist & activist Tunde Wey sends Luke down a rabbit hole thinking about the place of restaurants as one of the most accessible, understandable (and delicious!) places where capital from literally all over the world collides right in front of us, and how restaurateurs -- like all small business owners -- must take this moment of crisis to be an ally of workers, not big business.
All this and a couple little confessions from yours truly.
EPISODE SUPPLEMENTS
New Yorker Interview with Tunde Wey by Helen Rosner
Wey's essay "Let it Die"
Let It Die | Episode 1 | "How Much Did the Devil Pay You?"
GQ Profile of Wey by Brett Martin
CURIOSITIES
The New Yorker hell joke is from Good Place S02E11*
And of course the source of that iconic devil quote*
*Yikes on all the Luciferian references. That kind of week.
Luke takes a trip down to nerd town and really digs into the data on predicted coronavirus deaths, national perceptions on how quickly to open back up, the interplay of fear of the virus and economic anxiety and finally how to win an argument against someone who calls you "sheeple" without coming off as a total cuck globalist!
Then, at the end of the show (right as Luke was about to go to bed), Dr. Bob Lutz, Spokane regional health officer, drops by to break a little news.
EPISODE SUPPLEMENTS
Department of Homeland Security Covid Projections (May 1)
The story that broke that document
A whole bunch of data around people's anxieties
And a bunch about their behavior pre-lockdown.
CURIOSITIES
An absolutely iconic piece of art
In case you want to hear Rossini or Grieg without my shenanigans over top.
In case you want to hear Guns & Roses cover Paul McCartney without Trump's shenanigans over top.
Bill Murray is a god on earth.
A little extra context for Alex Jones' cannibalism fantasy
A bad editorial in our local newspaper demanding workers use their health to grease the economy inspires a brief history of newspaper editorial boards, a deep dive into the American concept of objective journalism, an attempt to reframe the value of human life (no big deal there).
Oh, and our first old-timey radio skit!
Housekeeping:
Here's a link to the editorial in question.
Our badass theme music is by Simmentall
Starting a podcast maybe isn't the first thing you'd imagine doing four-plus weeks into a nationwide lock down, but we're all working through this in our own way, okay?
It's been an almost indescribably dark time for many people across the world, and there isn't currently an end in sight. But maybe there's something to be found in this utterly brutal but also unprecedented month that can give us some hope for the future and, more importantly, a path to get there.
Not a lot is clear right now, but one thing seems clear: we can't just return to normal. We have to imagine something much, much better.
Writer, organizer and occasional journalist Luke Baumgarten locks himself in his attic for a week or so and emerges with ... whatever this is.
NOTE: Luke is definitely a professional audio technician and natural vocal performer. You should 100% assume that any sound issues or gross/strange vocalizations are completely intentional.