RANGE

On this week’s episode, Erin and Aaron are joined by a guest, Phil Neff!

As the Research Coordinator at the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights, Phil is well-versed in all things Flock camera-related.

The three of them discuss how these cameras work, what they do, and the effects they’re having on the people in our communities.

Plus, at the end of the episode, Aaron also gives a brief update on what’s happening in the trials of 9 protestors from Spokane.

Find our recent coverage (and last week's episode) below:

There’s been a lot of protests this year, both nationally and in Spokane. 

Automated License Plate Readers – or FLOCK cameras – have been used to search for people who might’ve been at these protests.

On this week’s episode, Erin, Aaron, and Val talk about these cameras, Erin’s months-long investigative reporting on them, and the recent stories we’ve published.

Find the recent coverage (and a previous FLOCK-related episode) below:

The Aaron and Erin Dream Team took over Free RANGE this week!

They discussed Aaron's trip to Moscow, Idaho, where him and co-author Jenny Davis (Gonzaga University) visited the town as they did some reporting for their recent story. Compared to its larger, national media coverage of dominionist pastor Doug Wilson and Christian nationalism, the co-authors' day in Moscow told a different story: one about the Idaho town's politics, culture, and the folks who live there. Read the story here:

This week, Aaron and Val talked about two ballot initiatives from Let’s Go Washington, a political organization who backs ballot initiatives.

The first ballot initiative is IL26-001, otherwise known as “Strength and Communication Between Parents and Schools.” This would allow parents to access their child’s school records, including any disciplinary, medical, and mental health related records.

The second initiative is IL26-368, also called “Protecting Fairness in Girls’ Sports.” This would require female students who want to participate in their school’s sports to go through a medical examination and obtain documentation that “verifies” they’re a girl. Not only is this incredibly transphobic and tries to ban trans girls from girls’ sports, but it’s also hugely invasive to all students.

SpoVal pastor helps push initiatives to erode student privacy (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media and Cassy Benefield, FāVS News)

Another week, another episode!

This week, the team debriefed on the elections. They discussed the District 1 Spokane city council race, Spokane Prop 1 (“Together Spokane”), and other local coverage. They also zoomed out and talked about national elections, including the results of the New York City mayoral race (which candidate Zohran Mamdani won).

(Our podcast episodes are aired live with KYRS on Thursdays from 3-4pm. Because of this, please note that when the team talks about elections, the results and data were current as of Thursday, Nov. 6th.)

To view the most current election results, you can follow this link to Spokane County’s election results page.

Plus, in the wake of the federal government shutdown and the Trump administration refusing to fully disburse SNAP benefits, RANGE has partnered with Waters Meet and SCAR to create a food resource map. Covering seven counties, three Sovereign Tribal Nations and beyond, this map shows where you can get or give help. Find the map here.

The RANGE team all went on the show again! There's always news to catch up on, which is why Val, Erin, and Aaron did just that: they caught Luke up on (even more) local news. Read the articles below:

WA state Republicans are trying to turn school districts red (Sophia Mattice-Aldous, RANGE Media)

A peek in the pocketbooks of Spokane City Council candidates (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

Last minute pocketbook-peeking of city council candidates (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

Resolution 8201: Should the WA Cares Fund play the stock market? (Sophia Mattice-Aldous, RANGE Media)

It’s been awhile since the RANGE team has all been on the show! Val, Erin, and Aaron chat as they catch Luke up on local news. Read the articles below:

Spokane’s Prop 1(s): What they’ll do for parks and schools and how much they’ll cost (Erin Sellers and Clarinne Kirk, RANGE Media)

Spokane City Council candidate Alejandro Barrientos may be ineligible to represent District 2 (Erin Sellers, RANGE Media)

Ad attacking Bingle falsely attributes wrong committee in apparent violation of state law (Emry Dinman, the Spokesman-Review)

PAC responds to complaint over mislabeled mailer (Aaron Hedge, RANGE Media)

Reporter Aaron Hedge was joined by Cassy Benefield – a reporter and associate editor with Fāvs News – as they talked about Charlie Kirk and his impact in the PNW.

We have two segments this week.

The first segment is a short audio story RANGE Producer Pascal worked on. They spoke with participants during an organizing summit in Spokane last month, which was hosted by re:power. Organizers from groups such as the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, Asians for Collective Liberation in Spokane, re:power, and Waters Meet all spoke about hope, movement building, and action.

For the second segment, reporter Erin Sellers read their recent investigative story out loud, titled “Jordin v. Brayman: Spokane’s first right-to-counsel eviction trial by jury.” You can find the story linked below:

Jordin v. Brayman: Spokane’s first right-to-counsel eviction trial by jury (Content warning: This story contains description of and reference to sexual assault.)

This week, we’re bringing you a conversation on the state of local journalism. 

This conversation was part of last month’s Grassroots Radio Conference, which was a collaboration between Sprouts Radio, Pacifica Network, and KYRS. 

The panel – which was hosted at the Spokane Public Library – included Luke Baumgarten (RANGE Media) and Stephanie Schubert (Pacifica Network).