RANGE

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,...

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 during an organizing summit in Spokane last month, which was hosted by re:power . Organizers from groups such as the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane , Asians for Collective Liberation in Spokane , re:power, and Waters Meet all spoke about hope, movement...

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...

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 –...

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...

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...

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...

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 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 fr...

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 Pro...

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 violat...

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 communi...

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 av...

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 headlin...

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 incarcerat...

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:...

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...

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 Hal...