Really good reporting from @ashleyhiruko.bsky.social on shelter beds being paid for but left unfilled, seemingly in part over a deputy mayor's personal dislike of a prominent Seattle homelessness services provider.

I was on @kuow.org yesterday talking about why Thurston County leaders never pursued a property management company that Auditors suspected of running a $940,000 pandemic aid fraud scheme. www.kuow.org/stories/what...

Whatcom County Council has now introduced legislation to increase oversight of lawsuit payouts in continued fallout from my reporting on the favorable treatment of a former public works director accused of sexual harassment.

New investigation: Auditors flagged dozens of payments to Lance Benson’s property management company as suspected fraud. But county leaders chose to go after the nonprofit aid distributor instead. www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...

Five years after a wildfire started by its power lines torched the town of Malden, Avista utilities has settled lawsuits with hundreds of victims for $27 million — but done little to prevent future fires. www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...

Self-styled green energy leaders OR and WA lag far behind in adding renewables. I interviewed OPB reporters Tony Schick and Monica Samayoa who report the region’s maxed out transmission grid is stalling growth. www.cascadepbs.org/podcasts/nor...

New docs show that jail guards failed to respond to requests for medical help in the hours before David McGrath and Kevin Wiley died at the Issaquah City Jail. www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...

WA Democrats opted to extend child support garnishments as part of their plan to balance the state's budget deficit, just one year after voting to end the practice. www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...

NEW: Oregon and Washington ranked near or at the bottom of the country for adding renewable energy during the past decade, despite pledges to eliminate fossil fuels from power generation.

With @opb.org

Kurt Beckett consulted for multiple wind and solar companies seeking development permits. Now he leads the agency tasked with permitting his ex-clients’ projects. www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...

WA's workplace safety agency taking unprecedented enforcement action after @lizzgiordano.bsky.social investigation found a teen lost his legs doing prohibited work for construction company Rotschy

We were out picketing today to let @cascadepbsnewsroom.bsky.social know we want a fair contract now!

The @cascadepbsunion.bsky.social is back on the march holding another lunch time info picket. And today we’re joined by 9 community members (not to mention all the honks in solidarity) who know Real News costs Real Money! We’re gonna keep fighting til we get the fair contract we deserve.

When Seattle pioneered the $15 minimum wage a decade ago, supporters and opponents made equally dramatic predictions about its impact. Both were wrong, @sanfordnate.bsky.social reports. www.cascadepbs.org/politics/202...

ep 3 is about central WA farmers, uneasy players in the big business of solar energy development. As they reckon with a changing economic landscape, some don’t like what they see. www.cascadepbs.org/podcast/nort... (4/4)

ep two explores EFSEC, a tiny, obscure state agency with the power to steamroll local opposition in the name of clean power. We unpack its many critics and would-be reformers. (3/4) www.cascadepbs.org/podcast/nort...

ep one takes us to the Horse Heaven Hills – where a diverse coalition of farmers, tribes, homeowners and conservationists are fighting a proposal to site hundreds of Space Needle-sized wind turbines. (2/4) www.cascadepbs.org/podcast/nort...

🧵introducing "It's Not Easy Going Green," a new Cascade PBS podcast from @maleeha-syed.bsky.social and I about Washington's clean energy transition and its discontents (Kermit graphic by @jcohenwrites.bsky.social). www.cascadepbs.org/its-not-easy... (1/4)