The Olympia Standard

Recently in Olympia, we’ve been experiencing an intimidating culture shock that have left many wondering: who are the people with guns? To answer this question, we interview David Neiwert, a journalist and author who has followed far right extremist movements in the Pacific Northwest for decades. We talked about who these groups are, why they are here, and what we can do as a community. Down...

With 53% of our population living in rental housing, Olympia is a majority renter community. On top of that, there are far too few rental homes in our city, putting renters seeking housing at a disadvantage. Now throw in a pandemic, where renters who have lost their income are accumulating rent debt. To learn more about the landscape for rental housing, we talked to Whitney Bowerman, a small local...

Local journalism is struggling to survive, including our own newspaper, The Olympian. This was true before the pandemic, and has intensified in the crisis. Yet communities rely on local reporting to stay abreast of issues, keep government accountable, and share the good news taking place with the people around them. To get some outside perspective, we interviewed Kristen Hare of the Poynter Instit...

Before COVID-19, many in Olympia were engrossed in the Outsiders podcast. This production from KNKX and The Seattle Times delved into the issue of homelessness, using Olympia as a case study. We spoke with Will James, a reporter at KNKX and producer of Outsiders. Why Olympia? What has the response to the podcast been? What are some of the biggest misconceptions about homelessness? And how do we cr...

What did Olympia bring to the Legislature? And how will the state impact our lives in Olympia? Here is our annual update on the legislative session! This year we sat down with Representative Laurie Dolan to answer these questions, focusing on education, transportation, and reform for the formerly incarcerated. We also dove into the impacts of COVID-19 and the upcoming special session to address th...

Over a month into a declared state of emergency, Thurston County health officials are working hard to respond to COVID-19. We spoke with Schelli Slaughter, the director of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services, about the response. When did she first realize that this was going to be a major threat to people in our area? How are we supporting those without a home during a “stay at...

The past few weeks have turned life in Olympia on its head. In this episode, recorded remotely in our homes, we share some updates from our lives and our observations of the changes we have seen in the community and city government. We also talk about what issues we will be tracking as we move through this crisis. Stay home, stay healthy, Olympia! This will protect our community and essential work...

What makes Olympia uniquely situated to support cooperatives? Maybe it’s because we’re home to the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, which supports the development of cooperative businesses and housing. We interviewed John McNamara and Miles Nowlin to learn about cooperatives in our area, the unique benefits of the cooperative model, and what support is available for people to...

A few of the questions we received from our listeners for our 2020 agenda are about Olympia’s economy. We invited Mike Reid, the economic development director for Olympia, to talk about our economic profile, how our city could change over time, and those who are not yet being served by the economy. If you are curious where some of the numbers we talk about in this episode, check out the rece...

A new decade, a new census! Every ten years, the federal government completes a count of all the people living within the US borders. We interviewed Amy Hatch-Winecka and Sara Porter from the Thurston Regional Planning Council to learn about the on-the-ground efforts to count everyone in our area. These numbers make a difference in federal funding, political representation, community planning, and...

In June 2018, the Opioid Response Task Force started to develop a plan to address the opioid crisis in the county. This plan was approved by the Thurston County Commissioners a year later. We sat down with Katie Strozyk, the opioid response coordinator, to learn about the goals and actions that are being implemented. Those who are interested in getting involved or learning more can check out the O...

What’s in the works for The Olympia Standard in the coming year? We asked our listeners to send us their ideas and questions on issues they’d like us to discuss. On this episode, we reviewed what was submitted and offered our thoughts on how we might approach them. We’re also exploring the idea of growing our team! Listen and see if this might be an opportunity that catches your...

Steve Hall worked for the city of Olympia for over 30 years, recently retiring as our city manager. When someone leaves a position of employment, exit interviews are conducted so that the organization learn from the employee’s experience. This episode is our exit interview with Steve. We talked about the arc of Olympia’s history during his time in a leadership position, how our city ha...

This episode focuses on the response to the crisis of homelessness, both in the city and across the county. We interviewed Keylee Marineau, the county’s Homeless Prevention and Affordable Housing Coordinator, and Cary Retlin, the city’s Home Fund Manager. We talked about what we know (and don’t know) about people experiencing homelessness, the need for shelter beds and permanent...

Publicly funded behavioral health, including treatment for mental health and substance use, is rapidly evolving. We interviewed Mark Freedman and Joe Avalos of the Thurston-Mason Behavioral Health Organization to learn about these changes and how they will impact our community. We talked about the work of the BHO and the gaps in the system, new directives from the Legislature, and the expansion of...

We took a dive into the results of the election and what they mean for our community. Emmett plugged the precinct data onto maps for the port and mayoral races. Dani spoke about her experience as a candidate. We also discussed the future of the podcast, given the results of her race. Download this episode https://theolympiastandard.com/feed/podcast/

On issues of immigration, most people are paying attention to the southern US border. To highlight how these issues impact our own community, we interviewed Steffani Powell, a local immigration attorney, and Alejandra Hunt, who works with Steffani and is on the board of CIELO. We talked about immigration from the federal, state, and local perspective, and what is happening in our community to resp...

Your ballot is waiting in your mailbox today! In this episode, we review all the state and local measures you will vote on. We also interview Maria Flores, who is running for the only contested school board race. Her opponent declined to interview. Why should you care about schools if you don’t have a school-age child? Listen and learn. Download this episode

Dani has returned to the show as we continue our interview with candidates that will appear on the Olympia ballot. On this episode, we interview Joe Downing and Helen Wheatley, who are running for the Port of Olympia commission. We ask about the social, economic, and environmental issues associated with port politics, as well as a question about interpersonal skills. Download this episode

Abby Spegman joins us one more time to interview Nathaniel Jones and Cheryl Selby, candidates for mayor of Olympia. We add a few more questions to the mix, asking about the structure of city government and the role of the mayor, in addition to our questions on how the candidates will craft policy as an elected official. We explore how they think, how they function as a member of a team, and how th...

Abby Spegman joins us again as a guest host to interview Matt Goldenberg and Dani Madrone, candidates for position 3 on the Olympia City Council. Our questions for Olympia City Council candidates focus not on specific policy proposals, but rather how the candidates will craft policy as an elected official. We explore how they think, how they function as a member of a team, and how they work in the...

On this episode of The Olympia Standard, Abby Spegman comes on the show as a guest host to interview Jessica Bateman, who is running for re-election for position 2 on the Olympia City Council. Phyllis Booth, who is also running for this position, did not respond to the invitation to participate. Our questions for Olympia City Council candidates focus not on specific policy proposals, but rather ho...

One of our listeners asked us to cover the state of emergency healthcare in Olympia. We have heard about emergency rooms that are beyond capacity and ambulances being diverted to hospitals in other cities. To learn more about the state of emergency services, we interviewed Michelle James, the chief nursing officer at Providence who also oversees the Community Care Center downtown, and Chris Thomas...

With the public discourse that arose from last year’s election of the Thurston County Prosecutor, our listeners have asked us to keep tabs on issues of criminal justice in our area. We interviewed the recently re-elected prosecutor, Jon Tunheim, as well as the Director of Public Defense, Patrick O’Connor, to track some of the ongoing issues that have been in need of reform. We talked a...

With measles outbreaks occurring in several counties in Washington state this year, we wondered: what would happen if we had an outbreak in Olympia? How vulnerable are we? How do new state laws impact school-age families, and what more needs to be done to support public health? To answer these questions, we interviewed Jeanie Knight, division director for Disease Control and Prevention for Thursto...