InvestigateWest is a nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom located in Seattle, WA. Environment, Government, Watchdog, Public Health.
Award-winning investigative and explanatory journalism that uncovers society’s shortcomings and provides a road map for changes to public policy and practice in the Northwest.
Award-winning investigative and explanatory journalism that uncovers society’s shortcomings and provides a road map for changes to public policy and practice in the Northwest.
Operating as usual
A 15-year-old’s political activism could result in Oregon legislators considering lowering the state voting age to 16. https://bit.ly/3ijIIQw
Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, agreed to sponsor a constitutional amendment By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital...
Entire systems of special education are fraying in Oregon, as teachers, administrators and support staff try to stretch limited resources to meet intense needs. https://bit.ly/3jVBuCU
By Elizabeth Miller (OPB) Last year, Andrew and Sara Weith went to Glencoe Elementary School...
The Idaho Republican Party’s State Central Committee will consider several changes to its rules at its 2023 winter meeting, including a policy that would allow the party’s committee members to question the conduct of a Republican elected official and consider punishment for deviating from the party platform. https://bit.ly/3ZcPiJf
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris, Idaho Capital Sun, January 5, 2023 The Idaho Republican Party’s State Central...
Oregon law enforcement shot 41 people in 2022. Twenty-three were killed. The record-setting police violence matches a nationwide trend. https://bit.ly/3Z7d61e
By Jonathan Levinson (OPB) Just six days into 2022, law enforcement said Roman Ivan Kokhanevych,...
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday that all people convicted by a split jury have the right to appeal those convictions, clearing the way for several hundred incarcerated people to have their cases retried. https://bit.ly/3Gzh63l
The ruling could mean hundreds of cases will be retried or dropped By Kaylee Torney...
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In October, InvestigateWest reported (and co-published with The Washington Post) an investigation about the hundreds of people languishing in Oregon’s prisons even after their convictions were ruled unconstitutional.
Today, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that they deserve another shot at justice. Background here:
In Oregon and Louisiana, hundreds remain behind bars two years after U.S. Supreme Court outlawed...
Idaho’s primary election is, essentially, the whole contest. With partisan divides that strongly favor Republican candidates, the majority of campaign spending happens in the months leading up to primary elections, and Democrats do not even run for office in many districts. https://bit.ly/3YzTFOk
New rule would bar voters if they’ve been active with other parties in past two...
Many schools across Oregon are falling short of their duty to identify homeless students and c***ect them with food, shelter and academic support, an InvestigateWest analysis has found. https://www.invw.org/2022/12/01/dozens-of-oregon-school-districts-likely-undercounting-homeless-students/
Homeless students can get assistance from their schools, but unless they’re identified, they get none...
As more policymakers, companies and individual Oregonians are beginning the transition to 100% clean electricity, more attention is shifting to the power grid — usually a more out-of-sight and out-of-mind piece of the puzzle. https://bit.ly/3VquWJH
By Monica Samayoa (OPB) One person’s dream home might be a villa on the shore...
As a nonprofit news organization, InvestigateWest prides itself on independent, inclusive, and in-depth coverage of the topics that matter to you. But this also means we rely on readers to support our people-first reporting.
And when you donate today, your investment goes even further. Any contribution you make, up to $1,000, will be matched by local funder and NewsMatch, and any recurring monthly donation will be multiplied by 12.
Donate here: https://www.invw.org/donate/
Gig Harbor, Washington, on Dec. 5 became the second city in the Pacific Northwest region to proclaim that Southern Resident Orca whales have legal rights. A week earlier, Port Townsend, Washington, made the same proclamation, marking the first time a U.S. city council has made such a recognition. https://bit.ly/3YuS7F4
The moves are the latest developments in the “rights of nature” movement gathering momentum in...
Citing an increase in misinformation, complaints and time-consuming public records requests from election deniers, Oregon’s Secretary of State is seeking $2 million over the next two years to hire more staff dedicated to election security and oversight. https://bit.ly/3HGppuZ
By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle, December 8, 2022 Citing an increase in misinformation, complaints...
CenturyLink customers in Seattle and Portland receive wide-ranging levels of service for the same price, with poorer residents and people of color more likely to be burdened by slow speeds.
Advocates doubt federal funding for broadband will ease disparities in urban places By Kaylee Tornay...
Idaho women who died from pregnancy-related problems doubled between 2019 and 2020, according to the latest Maternal Mortality Review Committee report recently published by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. https://bit.ly/3Yuh5ok
Only one of 11 pregnancy-related deaths reviewed by committee showed COVID as potential contributing factor...
Many people believe they’re benefiting charities when they buy used clothing from Value Village. But the leader of a nonprofit formerly partnered with the Bellevue-based thrift store chain said that’s a mistaken impression. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson agrees. https://bit.ly/3WeUoT1
The attorney general’s office argued that the for-profit thrift store deceived customers by misrepresenting its...
In case you missed it: InvestigateWest is thrilled to announce that it has been selected as a Report for America host newsroom. Through this partnership, InvestigateWest will expand its coverage of democracy and extremism in the Northwest. https://www.invw.org/2022/12/07/investigatewest-to-expand-coverage-of-democracy-and-extremism-with-help-from-report-for-america/
InvestigateWest is thrilled to announce that it has been selected as a Report for America...
We totally agree: "InvestigateWest delivers great bang for your buck."
Thank you, Lisa Mennet and Paul Joseph Brown!
With local newspapers continuing to cut reporters and democracy itself under threat, Seattle philanthropists Lisa...
Proposed legislation would limit plastic production and restrict new petrochemical facilities. https://bit.ly/3VHOdHc
Proposed legislation would limit plastic production and restrict new petrochemical facilities. By Joseph Winters /...
Lake Oswego-based Obsidian Renewables would like to be the largest green hydrogen producer in the Northwest. https://bit.ly/3uvBtrg
Lake Oswego-based Obsidian Renewables would like to be the largest green hydrogen producer in the...
A new pilot program is adding locally-sourced foods to the Lummi Tribe’s food assistance program. https://bit.ly/3Fespfc
The Lummi Nation in northwest Washington is part of a push to give Native Americans...
With wildfires growing more intense and frequent, the United States is burning through funds in an attempt to manage the costly blazes. https://bit.ly/3FtAA8R
States are struggling to budget given incomplete data By Jessie Blaeser / Grist This story...
A record-breaking number of fir trees died in Washington and Oregon in 2022 with the latter being the hardest hit. https://bit.ly/3UtA6E4
Labeled “Firmageddon,” by researchers, the drought-driven “mortality event” is the largest ever recorded in the...
All but a handful of states make poor residents contribute a greater share of their income to taxes than wealthy people do. Economists call that upside-down approach “regressive.” Nationwide, the share the lowest-income earners pay to state and local taxes is 54% higher than what the top earners pay. And those policies hit communities of color the hardest. https://bit.ly/3Utbziw
All but a few states take a greater share of income from poor people than...
BIG NEWS: InvestigateWest is proud to announce we will join Report for America as a host newsroom in 2023! By teaming up with the national service program, we will expand our coverage of democracy and extremism in the Northwest.
Please consider supporting that effort by making a donation today! https://www.invw.org/donate/
Failing to identify homeless students isn’t simply a matter of bureaucratic bookkeeping. It can mean the difference between a student accessing free school meals or going hungry, getting to participate in athletics or missing out, etc. https://bit.ly/3gV3LYZ
Homeless students can get assistance from their schools, but unless they’re identified, they get none...
Scientists are investigating the causes of a nearly 40% decline in the Pacific gray whales that pass along the Oregon Coast each winter and spring on their way from Baja, Mexico to the Arctic. http://bit.ly/3VaDogt
A significant number of Pacific gray whales have died and washed ashore from California to...
A growing list of Oregon sheriffs are telling their constituents they won’t enforce voter-approved gun restrictions despite not yet knowing how some aspects of the law will work and not having a clear role in enforcing others. http://bit.ly/3u5vklC
By Jonathan Levinson (OPB) A growing list of Oregon sheriffs are telling their constituents they...
Tribes have pushed the government to pay closer attention to contamination in the Columbia River Basin, but that hasn’t happened. Regulators have done so little testing for toxic chemicals in fish that officials admit they don’t have enough information to prioritize cleanup efforts or to fully inform the public about risks to human health. http://bit.ly/3EI3hNW
For decades, the U.S. government has failed to test for chemicals and metals in fish....
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As a reader of InvestigateWest, you’ve come to depend on us for in-depth, investigative reporting that you can’t find anywhere else. And, as a nonprofit, we depend on supporters like you to make this work possible. Will you consider making a donation to InvestigateWest today, in honor of ?
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In a hunt for “virtually nonexistent” voter fraud, Washington’s signature-matching procedure disenfranchises tens of thousands of people every election and should be banned across the state, a lawsuit filed last week in King County Superior Court argues.
The state’s ballot procedure disproportionately rejects votes from young voters and people of color By...
California owners want to build one of the biggest crypto mining operations in the country in a tiny Washington town, but concerns about energy usage, noise and sustainability stand in the way. http://bit.ly/3if9OIe
California owners want to build one of the biggest operations in the country, but concerns...
Oregon will be the first state in the nation to enshrine the right to affordable health care in its constitution. Supporters of the measure say Oregon is a national leader in health care and a constitutional amendment is a next logical step to protect and expand health care access. http://bit.ly/3TO3nci
By Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle, November 15, 2022 Oregon will be the first state...
The need for food assistance is at a near-record high in Oregon, and food bank managers are sounding the alarms about rising hunger across the state. Local and regional food managers said they see no signs of the demand abating in the coming months, and at least one said the food pantry she manages has been forced to shrink the amount of food they provide because of rising prices and soaring demand. https://www.invw.org/2022/11/21/oregon-food-banks-forced-to-tighten-belts-as-hunger-swells-across-the-state/
Rising prices and soaring demand show no sign of subsiding By Kaylee Tornay / InvestigateWest...
A proposal from Washington’s Public Works Board would limit the power of private companies’ objections to stall public broadband projects. http://bit.ly/3hRsiyv
A proposal from Washington’s Public Works Board would limit the power of private companies’ objections...
Abortion providers predicted Roe v. Wade’s reversal would cause an influx of out-of-state patients. New data and clinic reports show they were right. http://bit.ly/3gcnF1x
Abortion providers predicted Roe’s reversal would cause an influx of out-of-state patients. New data and...
Two more rural Oregon counties are in line to approve ballot measures showing their support for becoming a part of Idaho. http://bit.ly/3UMuKEs
Politics and policy will look very different in the city of Portland starting in January – and it will be even more radically remade by 2024. Voters in Oregon’s largest city opted for major change in last week’s election. http://bit.ly/3G9Mw0b
Voters in Oregon’s largest city ousted an incumbent and agreed to radically remake the city’s...
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