RANGE

This week's episode features a pre-recorded conversation between reporters from the Seattle-based outlet, CHUM News, and some of the RANGE team!

RANGE reporters Daisy, Luke, and Erin gathered at a park in Wenatchee with worker-owners Adam Willems and Meron Menghistab from CHUM to swap stories from respective hometowns, talk about news items that had statewide significance, and dive into a couple of news stories that folks said they would be interested in hearing about.

Find the preview episode and information on the project here:

The POD: Best of CHUMs

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, RANGE reporters Erin Sellers and Daniel Walters were joined by Lauren Pangborn to talk about all things urbanism, bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects, and how different infrastructure projects have been approached over the years.

Lauren is RANGE’s Urbanism Columnist, serves as the Chairperson of Spokane’s Bicycle Advisory Board, and a member of the Transportation Commission. You can reach Lauren at [email protected].

The trio also analyzed the data of Daniel’s stolen bikes and bike parts, which you can find in Erin's story below:

In-the-box solution (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, RANGE reporter Aaron Hedge interviewed Daniel Walters about his most recent story, the process and reasoning behind it, and the work that went into it.

Daniel’s story consists of follow up interviews with three formerly unhoused men, continuing his previous conversations with them from 2023.

Stabbed. Frostbitten. Overdosed. Sheltered. Sober. Saved. (Daniel Walters, RANGE Media)

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge pre-recorded an interview with Tracy Simmons, the editor and Executive Director of FāVS News.

FāVS is an acronym for “Faith and Values” news, which is an online publication that covers religion and ethics across Washington State and Idaho.

Along with her role at FāVS, Tracy is a scholarly associate professor of journalism at Washington State University and writes for the Spokesman Review and national publications.

The two of them talked about the history of FāVS and how it came to be, Tracy’s work and involvement with FāVS, the religious beat in journalism, and why religion reporting is important right now, in this current moment.

The Pacific Northwest isn’t godless. We just haven’t been paying attention. (Tracy Simmons, FāVS News)

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

Some may say that Seattle is not a four-hour car-ride from Spokane, but rather a whole world away. What even happens there? Is their mayor actually a communist? Does all authentic grunge music still emerge fully formed from its music scene? Does a Kraken actually live in the sound, or is that just the hockey team? While Seattle is WAY out of our coverage area, we're stepping out of our comfort zone to meet a few of our favorite west siders in Wenatchee!

In just a few weeks, we're going to confer with CHUM News to swap stories from both sides of the state, fact check myths about our cities and talk about the news that impacts everyone across Washington. In anticipation of this Midstate Meet-up, we had CHUM on the pod to chat about what they're building. We talked arts and culture, data centers and got Seattle recs from the locals.

As Spokane journalists, we want to ask CHUM all the most important questions when we meet them in person next week, so drop us a line: What do you want us to fact check about Seattle? What do you want to know about the west side?

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, RANGE reporter Aaron Hedge interviewed John Hancock, a clean water activist from the West Plains.

John has made efforts to educate and bring clean water to his neighbors whose water wells are contaminated by PFAS.

The two of them talked about the PFAS crisis in the West Plains and how it affects people, the advocacy and organizing around finding solutions, and John’s involvement in this activism work.

A group that organizes around this issue is the West Plains Water Coalition.

Read RANGE's coverage on the West Plains PFAS below:

'We admit it' (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)

Health emergency declaration discussed for West Plains PFAS crisis (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)

WA state: Spokane city and county now liable in PFAS crisis, too (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, Erin Sellers and Aaron Hedge went on the air to dive deeper into the Spokane 3 trial, the jury verdict, and the implications of the trial on free speech and protesting.

The “Spokane 3” – Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II – were charged by the federal government with conspiracy to impede a federal officer by using threats, force or intimidation to stop ICE agents from discharging their duties.

The alleged conspiracy charges come from last year’s June 11th protest, where people in the community tried to stop ICE from taking two detained young men – who were in the US legally – to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma.

The trial began on Monday, May 18th and ended on Thursday, May 28th, where a predominantly white jury consisting mostly of people who don’t live in Spokane gave all three individuals guilty verdicts.

However, this legal process is expected to last longer, as all three individuals filed Rule 29 motions in hopes of acquittal.

They also talked about the jury trial for a Salvadoran man accused of assaulting an ICE officer during an arrest last summer in East Wenatchee.

Find the stories they talked about (in order) below:

The Trial of the Spokane 3: ‘The entire weight of the United States government’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

A shocked city reckons with guilty verdict of Spokane 3 (Aaron Hedge, Daisy Zavala Magaña, and Sandra Rivera, RANGE Media)

Tried for a second time (Daisy Zavala Magaña, RANGE Media)

Find RANGE's full coverage on the protests and federal trials here.

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge and Pascal went on the air to talk more about the Spokane 3 trial – which began earlier this week on Monday, May 18th – and provide an overview of updates from the courtroom. The two of them gave updates from days 1, 2, and 3 of the trial (which were Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday).

The “Spokane 3” consists of Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II, who were charged by the federal government with conspiracy to impede a federal officer by using threats, force or intimidation to stop ICE agents from discharging their duties.

The alleged conspiracy charges come from last year’s June 11th protest, where people in the community tried to stop ICE from taking two detained young men – who were in the US legally – to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma.

They also talked about what’s been going on behind the scenes at RANGE since that protest.

Find the stories they talked about (in order) below:

‘This guy needs to be charged for incitement at the federal level’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

PHOTO ESSAY: Community rallies for Spokane 3 as federal trial starts (Aaron Hedge, Pascal Bostic, and Sandra Rivera)

Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 1: Deputy said ‘I want to hit someone with a stick’ during protest (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 1: ‘Please do not bring in politics. Please do not bring in politics.’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

The Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 2: The Jury, the Opening Statements, the First Witness (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

The Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 3: ‘Emotions went high today.’ (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

Find RANGE's full coverage on the protests and federal trials here.

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

We have two segments for this week's episode!

During the first segment, RANGE reporters Daniel Walters and Val Osier discussed the former Mayor Nadine Woodward's tort claim against the City of Spokane and the context around it. (Long story short: Woodward is threatening a $10 million lawsuit in response to a 2023 resolution from Spokane City Council, saying the resolution violated her free speech rights.)

Find the story here: Nadine and the supremes (Daniel Walters, RANGE Media)

During the second segment, Erin joined Daniel and Val to talk about RANGE's reporting on the June 11, 2025 protest and its aftermath, including developments in federal trials against Spokanites.

Find RANGE's full coverage on the protests and federal trials here.

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!

On this week’s episode, Aaron Hedge and Pascal spoke with two Gonzaga students – Sandra Rivera and Abby Zappone – about journalism in Spokane and the collaboration, research, and work that goes into it.

Sandra and Abby are part of the six-person staff that created Spoke, a magazine that showcases Spokane’s journalistic world through essays from the student perspective.

Sandra is the Art Director and Abby is the Photo and Research Editor.

Spoke isn’t available online yet, but be sure to keep an eye out for when it is!

Check out this week's Free RANGE episode on YouTube!