RANGE

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...

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 w...

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 re...

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, an...

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 updat...

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 voici...

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 ki...

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! S...

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 ri...

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 rate...