Opioid misuse and overdoses are a serious public health crisis across Washington state and nationwide. 

From 2019 to 2021, the annual number of opioid drug overdose deaths in the state nearly doubled. About 55 people in America die each day from an overdose of prescribed or illicit opioids, including fentanyl and heroin.

It’s crucial to get real information and education on opioid use to communities. Washington State University faculty and staff, including assistant professor Nicole Rodin at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, have teamed up with colleagues across Washington to get accurate and useful facts out to people and try to prevent overdoses. 

They’ve focused on rural communities hit hard by opioid use, often with limited medical facilities and support.

Rodin talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about the scope of the opioid epidemic, effective education, reducing stigma, and how we can all lend our support.

There’s a need to treat substance use disorders as health care, Rodin says. “It is a disorder. It is a medical condition, and we have yet to treat it that way as a society.”

Read more about WSU efforts on curbing substance use and addiction in the Spring 2024 issue of Washington State Magazine.

Other resources:

Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Collaborative (Northwest Region 10)

Opioid Overdose Prevention, Recognition, and Response (Washington State Department of Health)

How to talk about substance use (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2024)

WSU PEAR—Program of Excellence in Addictions Research

WSU APPL—Analytics and PsychoPharmacology Laboratory

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For over 20 years, Dick Perez was the official artist of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, painting the game’s history and every Hall of Fame ballplayer—a project he continues into his 80s. Marq Evans (Claydream, The Glamour & The Squalor) directed The Diamond King, a documentary that tells the fascinating story of Perez, the “Picasso of Baseball,” whose portraits transformed the commemoration of America’s most iconic pastime.

In this episode, Evans talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about Perez’s life, making the documentary, baseball, and art.

Find out more

The Diamond King official website

Trailer for The Diamond King

Dick Perez’s website

“Collecting the Diamond Kings” (Summer 2025, Washington State Magazine)

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“It’s only rock n roll, but I like it,” is not really a good answer in Washington State University’s popular history of rock music class.

Hundreds of WSU students learn how to really dig into the tunes. They study how rock ‘n’ roll is tied into American society, history, and culture, by analyzing lyrics and music styles from over the decades.

A.J. Miller is the main instructor of the rock ‘n’ roll history class through the WSU School of Music. He talks with magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich about the class, why it matters, and what students get out of it.

They cover everything from The Beatles to Beyoncé, Bob Dylan to Kendrick Lamar. And along the way, Miller introduces a six-step process for examining songs.

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Read more about the class in “School of rock” (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2025).

A.J Miller is also assistant director of the Washington State University Cougar Marching Band. Read about the band and watch a video of them in action at Washington State Magazine.

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Farming life and the essential work of producing food for the world has long been celebrated in art, literature, and essays.

Richard Scheuerman, an educator, author, and 1972 history graduate from Washington State University, wrote three books that take a deep dive into art and books about farming. He covers a huge span of time and geography, from the Bible to modern literature.

In those three volumes—Hallowed Harvests, Harvest Hands, and Harvest Horizons—Scheuerman calls for all of us to keep farms and agrarian work top of mind. Our very existence depends on a part of our society, where our food comes from, that often gets forgotten or ignored.

He talked with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about the themes of the books, how we need to appreciate food production, and more about art and literature that speaks to the nature of farming, harvesting, and the agrarian life.

Read more about the books in a Washington State Magazine review (Spring 2025).

Buy the books at Triticum Press or Palouse Heritage Farm.

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Students, teachers, and schools learned a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the challenges and opportunities were already there, just emphasized by the global health emergency, says Johnny Lupinacci, associate professor at the Washington State University College of Education.

Lupinacci teaches future teachers and education researchers, and he was a high school teacher himself. He points out how many ideas and issues within schools—like different learning styles and the digital divide—were already there. The pandemic brought them to the forefront.

In this episode, Lupinacci talks with magazine editor Larry Clark about lessons learned during and after COVID-19, from the need for scientific literacy to improving how we teach kids.

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Weatherwise, July 2024 was a doozy.

Palm Springs hit 124 degrees. Alaska had the wettest July on record. Washington DC tied its record for the most consecutive days with temperatures over 100. Hurricane Beryl became the earliest category five hurricane in history. And a Chicago derecho spawned 32 tornadoes in single day. 

“All of that happened just in July, which is just astonishing,” says Josh Ward, field meteorologist for Washington State University’s AgWeatherNet.

Last year was another year for weather extremes in the United States, Ward notes. As of November 1, the nation experienced 24 weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion each in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Global warming is contributing to the increase in weather-related disasters. 

Ward graduated from the University of North Carolina Asheville in May and moved to Eastern Washington in September. Had he stayed in Asheville, he would have witnessed the catastrophic flooding in western North Carolina that followed Hurricane Helene’s September 26 landfall in Florida and the storm’s destructive path through the Southeast.

Looking ahead for the Northwest, Ward says the weak La Niña developing will mean a cold, snowy winter.

Meanwhile, NOAA has reported that fall 2024 was the warmest on record for the United States. “Another record broken,” Ward says. “We are in the decade of breaking records for weather, I do believe.  So be on the lookout for that in the future.”

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The stories of Washington State University are stories of the state, covering agriculture and architecture, geography and geology, history and industry, people and places, and a lot more from the Puget Sound to the Palouse.

 Many of those stories are gathered in The Evergreen Collection: Exceptional Stories from Across Washington State, an anthology to celebrate 20 years of Washington State Magazine. No matter where you live in the state or what interests you, you’ll find something in the book to draw you in.

In this episode, editor Larry Clark and associate editor Adriana Janovich read some excerpts from the book, discuss how it came about, and share a few of their favorite stories.

You can buy the book at WSU Press or bookstores.

Produced by Larry Clark. Music by WSU emeritus professor and composer Greg Yasinitsky.

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If you listen to Washington State University sports, you’ll hear calls from a Coug who’s returned home: Chris King. Chris graduated in 2009 from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, returned to WSU when he took over radio broadcast announcing duties from Matt Chazanow in fall 2024.

King came back to Pullman after announcing for minor league baseball and Division I broadcasting experience with the University of Idaho Vandals and at Boise State University. He works for Washington State Sports Properties, a division of college athletics media company Learfield, and has won awards for his previous work. 

Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark and King talked about his path back to WSU, teamwork in producing sports broadcasts, telling the stories of Cougar sports, how he became a sports broadcaster, and some of the challenges of the job.

Follow Chris King on social media via X, or send him a message.

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Coho salmon in urban areas were dying from stormwater runoff, but scientists didn’t know why until a few years ago.

A team of researchers from Washington State University and University of Washington identified a chemical found in tires as the culprit. 

Tires contain 6PPD, which keeps the rubber from cracking after exposure to ozone in the atmosphere. But 6PPD also reacts with ozone, forming the organic chemical 6PPD-quinone. 

During rainstorms, tire dust washes into rivers and streams, where 6PPD-quinone is lethal to juvenile and adult coho in small doses. It’s a complex issue—with no easy fix.

Caitlin Lawrence and Nathan Ivy are master’s students studying aquatic toxicology at WSU’s School of the Environment. Washington State Magazine science writer Becky Kramer talked with them about their separate research projects related to coho and 6PPD-quinone.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

Puget Sound Starts Here

Washington Stormwater Center

The podcast music is by WSU emeritus professor of music and composer Greg Yasinitsky.

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As the Pac-12’s remaining members—Washington State University and Oregon State University—began rebuilding the conference, WSU President Kirk Schulz announced in June 2024 that Anne McCoy was the new permanent athletics director.

McCoy hit the ground running earlier in the year as interim AD, since she has worked for WSU Athletics since 2001 in almost every department. She faces a lot of challenges in her new role…along with some exciting opportunities.

Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark met with McCoy in the athletic director’s office on the WSU Pullman campus to chat about stepping in as AD; the future of Pac-12 and Cougar sports in a rapidly evolving national college sports landscape; the student athlete experience; and how Washington State fans can play their part in the bright new future of WSU athletics.

The press conference audio at the beginning is courtesy of WSU Athletics.

The podcast music is by WSU emeritus professor and composer Greg Yasinitsky.

Learn more

A conversation with Anne McCoy: WSU Regent and alum Enrique Cerna sat down with McCoy to learn more about her plans for WSU Athletics and her insights on college sports. (YouTube)

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