Luke Baumgarten
@lukebaumgarten
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Writer & organizer. @RANGEmedia4all , Spokane Workers Coop, @WorkAtFellow , Treatment, @terrainspokane . Support local news
The South Hill
Joined October 2007
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Late Friday, I was put in touch with a Polish-born lawyer living in Dallas. She was asking for info about some guy named Matt Shea, who had freaked out the residents of a tiny town in eastern Poland.
I've done almost nothing but report this out for the last 5 days. Take a look:
Matt Shea, the far-right former WA Representative has been quiet lately until he turned up last week at a hotel in Poland, surrounded by Ukrainian orphans.
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@aallyahpatrice
I grew up in a rural, predominately white area in eastern Washington. Drove through for the first time since the pandemic and saw four brand new Dollar Generals in like a 40 mile stretch. All along the highway, often carved out of woods with no other businesses around. Wild.
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This is so profoundly incorrect it's staggering.
They were active on the North Idaho College campus!
Chief says Patriot Front wasn't known to operate locally before these arrests.
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PSA for journalists covering businesses who claim to be suffering or closing due to "homelessness"
Ask them for a rough period the trouble began, then ask them to see their books — profit & loss, balance sheet, cash flow — then use the date they gave to verify the dip & cause.
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I'm sorry but how the fuck does this end up in a newspaper in 2021?
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We lost our cat a couple nights ago to a car and I just woke to him not beside me.
He should be pushed into my side asleep, and the moment I move, he should wake up, lay on my chest and purr until I get up to feed him. God this is hard.
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Bigger story: the Sheriff advertising jobs in Times Square, or spelling Washington wrong ... twice.
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Without grading on a curve, Spokane gets a 7/10 on the boiling water challenge this morning.
Not having to live in the Midwest to experience it, though, is pushes it to 11/10
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Not trying to be a dick and not trying to brag (failing at both), but please read both of these and lmk which one gives you a better sense of the motives and motivations behind this action.
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Been wanting to do this for a while and
@danielwinlander
's piece was the prod I needed: a hard look jail data during the Haskell regime. The framing is a bonus:
Which has been worse for people of color, Lesley Haskell's words, or Larry Haskell's actions?
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Journalism tip: You are under no obligation to quote leaders when they use animalistic language to refer to our fellow citizens.
I want to say especially when they're kids, but really all the time. Let's not dehumanize each other.
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A new
#mural
has been started in
#Spokane
with the priming of the letters on a building downtown. Individual artists will fill in each letter over the next few weeks.
#BlackLivesMatter
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The mayor was right. Brown hasn't even won yet and Spokane has gotten more violent
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43% of all spending in Washington by wealthy people & special interests to elect their chosen candidates has been spent in Spokane.
More than Seattle. More than in the rest of the state combined. And it's not even close.
Learn more in this story I made way too many graphs for.
Now that you know how to spot an independent expenditure (IE), check out
@lukebaumgarten
's break down of the disproportionate amount of Washington IE dollars that are flooding Spokane's conservative candidate coffers:
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Okay I really think this is the most consequential story:
For wealthy donors, elections are an investment. Spokane voters may have just rejected the entire slate of big-money candidates.
How many cycles of multi-million-dollar losses will elites tolerate before they stay home?
Not all the votes are in, so we can't calculate the general election numbers yet, but Woodward's campaign & allied PACS spent over 1.3 million dollars trying to re-elect her ($570,011 from her campaign, $366,000 in IE supporting her, $401,547 in IE attacking Brown as of tonight)
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@MayorSpokane
Here is our story with all the context, background, and candidate responses.
We would still love to speak with you about the event. We've tried every avenue we know of to reach you.
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"These people are making this space unusable for us! Lets make it unusable for everyone!"
It never ceases to amaze me how people would rather destroy an environment for everyone rather than helping people get the help they need.
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Standing room only at the Hampton Inn off the Garden Springs exit for a town hall about the Catholic Charities Catalyst building.
I'll be doing my best to live tweet.
@erickdoxey
is here too. A few other news orgs as well.
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The wording of the
@meadschools
anti-CRT policy is weird, almost like somebody tried to shoehorn pieces of different legislation together.
Turns out that's just what Michael Cannon did: his policy is a goulash of Trump exec order and model legislation adopted in Texas & Georgia.
The Mead School District Board will have its first reading of two separate policy proposals aimed at censorship tonight.
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After attending an explicitly political event put on by well-known local & national Christian nationalists,
@MayorSpokane
criticized Matt Shea for politicizing the event, seeming to suggest she had been duped into attending.
Our story:
On Monday, Woodward criticized Matt Shea for politicizing the Christian nationalist event that had been planned for months.
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I don't think this was intentional, but one of the ways we stigmatize rural poverty is by treating trailers like they're less meaningful than a house on a foundation.
As a kid who grew up in one: trailers are structures. They're shelters. They're homes.
Updates on yesterday’s Fishtrap fire:
- Evacuation orders have been lifted completely
- No structural damages reported besides one double-wide trailer
- Cause of the fire is still under investigation
More tonight at 6:00 on
@kxly4news
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@MayorSpokane
No luck connecting with your campaign staff to request a quote the old fashioned way, but can you explain who you chose to receive the blessing of Matt Shea, a man you've condemned: "I strongly condemn Representative Matt Shea’s divisive and extreme rhetoric and ideology."
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It's funny how the mayor's race is starting to play out on Twitter like a national campaign.
Main difference is very few people in Spokane use Twitter, so this is like an unsanctioned boxing match in the basement of a bar to an audience of a couple dozen journos & politicos
Thank you to the nine citizens who have come forward to offer their service to our City. I am calling on Lisa Brown to disavow Wilkerson’s partisan ‘trifecta’ power grab plan. Voters deserve better!
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Just gonna go on the record here: I am 3 months away from paying off $40,000 in student debt plus whatever interest accumulated since 2003.
I am also very in favor of cancelling student debt so people who still have a long way to go don't have to suffer as long as I did.
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@ChocOne0One
@terrymr
@MohanadElshieky
Passed by the City Council but the Mayor has refused to enforce it.
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There's something instructive in this moment for our local media.
Next time you consider reprinting a press release from the police or Sheriff, remember this is what MPD sent out that day.
Cops are not objective sources. They are offering their side, not offering facts:
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When Harvard calls to talk about your worker-owned journalism project.
I love asking local news folks to tell me about the place they call home. You can tell a lot about
@RANGEMedia4all
by the way
@lukebaumgarten
and
@ValerieOsier
talked about Spokane and their neighbors.
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I think I have a bit of heat fatigue from being out in the sun the last couple mornings before it got TRULY hot.
If you're still on the fence about whether "we make it easy to be homeless," go pitch a tent in the sun and stay there until you pass out or puke & get back to me.
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Clown shit.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers backpedals and says she has now decided she will vote to uphold the Electoral College results. She's also called on the president to condemn and "put an end to this madness."
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Most incredible race of the night so far in my mind. Absolutely amazing.
Tough road for the general, but for the only truly, unabashed progressive -- in a *prosecutors race* -- to be leading in the primary. That says something.
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This is incredible. An ISP in North Idaho is blocking Twitter and Facebook for censoring users
Umm from my North Idaho internet provider.... this is INSANE.
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I just can't get over the idea of a shadow government forming on the 7th floor.
My sister in Christ, that is the floor the City Council is on, a separate branch of the actual, non-shadow government.
@danielwinvw
Not having a public discussion about job cuts because employees AREN’T LOSING THEIR JOBS! Finding organizational efficiencies, hiring freeze, getting back to core-level services are a start. NOT funding rainbow crosswalks & creating a shadow government on 7th floor of city hall.
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@MayorSpokane
Seems like you might still be up. I am too. I'd be happy to take a call at the number I just emailed and texted to you. Thanks in advance.
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That was a fast no.
BREAKING: WSDOT and the WA Commerce Department say they will NOT remove the cooling center at Camp Hope, despite the city's demand that it be removed by Monday. The city says it is an illegal structure and is the responsibility of the property owner (WSDOT).
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Got passed a pretty explosive document from ex housing director John Hall, 27 pages of critical analysis and receipts re staffing shortages & dysfunction that have resulted in millions of dollars of housing money unclaimed, unspent and in danger of being taken back by the feds.
On his way out the door last month, former Spokane Neighborhood, Housing and Human Services Director John Hall sent 27 pages of recommendations to the Mayor’s office. He also raised concerns about tens of millions of unspent housing dollars.
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Hard to overstate what a big deal this is. French hasn't cracked 40% and Harmon came in 3rd with about 12%. Yates had 46% in the primary.
More people will vote in the general, but assuming the ratios are similar, Yates only needs about 1/3 of Harmon voters to win.
I'm honored and humbled to receive Don Harmon's endorsement! As the former Mayor of Airway Heights and a recent Republican opponent for County Commissioner, Don understands that our County will benefit from new leadership that prioritizes bipartisan, effective solutions.
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Woodward issues press release to say that, even though she keeps falling further and further behind, she's not going to concede ... out of respect for the voters ...
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How'd we get a story like this? Partly you take years to know a community the way
@coldwetdays
has. Partly its getting to know people in their complicated fullness, the way
@aaronhedge
did. Partly its challenging narratives that seem too simple. That's what
@RANGEMedia4all
does.
Far-right celebrity pastor Sean Feucht, Matt Shea and allies built a massive media campaign claiming to have saved the soul of an unhoused Spokane man. The man tells a different story.
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Okay there's one more funny little wrinkle about Mayor Woodward's *I'm not conceding yet* statement. Short Sunday morning 🧵
It starts with this line:
Woodward issues press release to say that, even though she keeps falling further and further behind, she's not going to concede ... out of respect for the voters ...
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We now know that when folks were calling it Charlottesville II, it was more than a spiritual successor.
The 30+ guys arrested are Patriot Front, a splinter group of the one responsible for Charlottesville.
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When your reporting reaches the governor's office.
This news deserves a short 🧵
Our state agencies and nonprofit partners have been working tirelessly the past several months to compassionately and quickly find safer, supportive housing options for the hundreds of people living at Camp Hope.
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I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're on the left and you're tired of feeling nothing but, marrow-curdling dread at the minute-by-minute horrors of life under capitalism (and you listen to podcasts), check out
@SrslyWrong
. Utopian, earnest & fun.
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"BINGLE BUNGLE!" BOARD BLEATS
It's frustrating, because "BOARDS BLASTS BINGLE BUNGLE" was sitting right there and they didn't use it.
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On school board, clean sweep for sanity.
Spokane School District:
~Melissa Bedford has beaten Daryl Geffken for Position 3
~Riley Smith has defeated Kata Dean in the race for Position 4
#waelex
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When businesses drum up media by claiming a "worker shortage," it's journalistic malpractice to not ask how much they pay for the roles they can't fill.
@KREM2
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The turkeys in Manito are going full West Side Story by the tennis courts
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One of the emergent joys of living in this weird ass place is stepping off the bus and seeing a lone wild turkey waiting to use the crosswalk.
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Glad there's at least one local leader pushing back against the death cult.
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Hearing from a source that Mayor Woodward just called Lisa Brown to concede the race.
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It's official: Dr. Lutz is fighting back.
After a tumultuous 48 hours,
@spokanehealth
Officer Dr. Bob Lutz released a statement on Saturday addressing the attempt to oust him.
He has not resigned and does not plan to, according to his statement. He has also retained legal counsel.
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@Dr_Dext
@shaun_jen
@queerBengali
The original poster was calling for ideological purity of a sort, too. The kind that demands a lesser of two evils approach and therefore ensures the only viable candidates are a little but evil.
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Perfect timing, guys. You did a heck of a job on this.
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Have a pretty sickening feeling about what might go down in Coeur d'Alene tomorrow.
Just some of the chatter from the far right about their plans to oppose Pride.
Calling it Charlottesville II.
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It's a hard point to argue. Makes you wonder who the mayor's staff thought she would gain by attending.
-- of course the Mayor says she was surprised to see Shea there, which raises a whole other set of questions about due diligence of her campaign staff, city staff, herself etc
things aren’t going well if you’re a republican who’s lost brandi kruse
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I don't often get surprised by public statements but I gotta say, I can't believe Ozzie said this with a straight face.
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I've had some controversial takes lately so here's another: Arugula is the best salad green and it's not even close.
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Holy shit this is dark. Nadine is glad Lutz is gone because it'll help reopen the economy faster.
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Yes, living and sleeping completely exposed to the elements - no privacy, no safety, no opportunity to let your guard down - widely agreed to be "far better" than having a bed and a door that locks, but also having a bummer desk job.
THIS! The freedom to hustle is far better than working 9-5 or following rules at a shelter. Liberal policies, like Camp Hope and Lisa’s so-called safe parking lots, enable this way of life on the street. Spokane deserves better!
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Excited to see Mayor Woodward's sweeping criminal justice reform platform that will surely be following this clear, decisive statement about how retroactive punishment is no way to reform behavior!
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Cannot emphasize enough how much we do not need another surface lot in this city.
Touted as one of the oldest-continually operating brewing shops in the country, Jim’s HomeBrew Supply, at 2619 N. Division St., will be closing Sept. 4 to make way for a parking lot for used cars, owner James Johnson said.
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Betting big on the parking lot owners constituency here.
Today we held a press conference to call out Lisa Brown for hiding her true campaign platform of homeless encampments in parking lots across Spokane. You can find out all about her plan, in her own words, at .
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It's hard to overstate the magnitude of this letter.
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Get in, nerds, we're going to fundamentally change the Spokane media landscape.
We’re setting our 2023 New Year's resolutions and the shortlist so far includes growing our team, getting us sustainable through community support and launching a game-changing program to expand on our civics work.
You can be part of it too!
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Well our local pandemic surge made the national news. Congrats everyone.
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What cup of lukewarm broth came up with the name "Sports County USA"?
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So she admits crime is factually, observably down, but there are more visible poor people, so she keeps her kids away.
This isn't about safety. It's about discomfort. Crucial difference.
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Forever chemicals can cause cancer.
The state has required people to report contamination since 2021. The Spokane airport had evidence its operations had polluted ground water since at least 2017, but never reported it. It took a citizen whistleblower.
Forever chemicals have made groundwater unsafe across the West Plains. Spokane International Airport officials knew for years they were partly to blame, but kept it quiet.
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Here's why this is important: Americans continue to over-estimate crime rates.
It is our job to help people form *accurate* understandings of the reality of our cities and towns, not reinforce fears because doing so drives clicks and eyeballs.
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This is so fucking dangerous.
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There's nothing at all funny about this, but the video of the cops popping the UHaul door has real Scooby Doo vibes.
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Almost two years in the making. Set this as a goal when it was just me in my damn attic. Now
@ValerieOsier
,
@Carlschirps
, our soon to be new Civics Editor, me and most importantly all of you are gonna make it happen.
BIG NEWS: We finally get to announce a new and extremely exciting partnership with Documenters — a nationwide organization that helps newsrooms like ours recruit, train and pay residents to attend public meetings, take notes, and expand the public record.
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Given the Chiefs fan base, this feels like a pretty brave statement?
We fully support
@GovInslee
's announced mandate requiring proof of COVID vaccine or negative test starting on Nov. 15.
Please check our website for a full statement.
DETAILS 📰 |
#GoChiefsGo
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In a change of pace, instead of 30 turkeys at 14th and Grand, right now there are six deer.
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Please take a moment & read this. Today we were sent emails detailing a city administration plan to dismantle the newly built cooling shelter at Camp Hope.
The threat of death in these heatwave conditions is real, & this shelter is a thin lifeline for 600+ of our neighbors.
In a series of emails we obtained, Interim City Attorney detailed a plan to tell the WSDOT that Camp Hope's temporary cooling shelter is an illegal building and demand the agency remove it from their property by Monday.
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Go buy a book. Aunties needs you
If you’re looking for a reason to buy that book or tote bag or candle you’ve had your eye on, this might be it. Nobody was hurt and nobody got in, but we could use a little extra support.
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First concession
Katey Treloar concedes to Paul Dillon in Spokane City Council District 2
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Why are we only interviewing cops when asking whether and why crime is up? Why not some social scientists?
If your two sources are the Sheriff and the Police Chief, it's not really a two-source story.
These are not reliable narrators and need countering
Case in point: 1/
There has been a lot of crime detailed in the pages of the
@SpokesmanReview
lately.
@gregpmason
took a look at the data and broke down some of the recent trends.
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PSA: If you think unemployment benefits are too high, the wages you pay are too low.
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After a long local election, rather than watching this presidential debate, the
@RANGEMedia4all
crew & I are hanging out with about 20 Spokanites who want to bring more transparency to local government in the first training of our Documenters program, and damn, it feels so good.
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Here's a development in the Patriot Front arrests story: two of the men arrested have ties to Matt Shea and his church.
BREAKING: Two of the Patriot Front members arrested at Saturday's Pride event in Coeur d'Alene have deep connections to Matt Shea and his church.
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The badasses at
@Crosscut
reprinted my broadband piece from last week. Special thanks to
@mason__bryan
for shepherding it through the editing process.
Go give em a click. Let them know we appreciate westside pubs giving air to eastside opinions.
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So if you don't want to read the full tweet thread, both policies under consideration at the Mead School Board failed.
Here's the end of the thread with the (almost) blow by blow:
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"rushed away," lol. They milled about with Oelrich and Stratton taking over a minute to gather their things and leave the stage.
This wasn't an insurrection. It was electeds getting mad about a lack of decorum.
Pro Palestine group has taken over tonight’s city council meeting. Council members were rushed away to a back room.
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I love this place
Boots Bakery is now another place in
#Spokane
you have to show proof of
#vaccination
to dine in.
Since announcing this new requirement, owner Alison Collins says she’s received a lot of criticism and also an outpouring of support.
@kxly4news
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That is a spicy meatball.
Catholic Charities of Spokane issues a fiery response to the lawsuit filed against them by neighborhood leaders and business interests
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Sorry but this is unacceptable. The press is supposed to be adversarial to power, not power's +1,
@robcurley
Ever since the riot, the Spokesman and other media outlets have had little luck getting Rep. McMorris Rodgers to agree to an interview. She didn't respond to multiple interview requests from the Inlander last week.
But her plus one at inauguration today?
SR Editor Rob Curley.
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An underrated Autumn moment: driving down Rockwood Blvd on Nov 1.
The stately architecture from a bygone era. The maples & oaks approaching full splendor. The day laborers removing Halloween decorations at homes they couldn't afford in two lifetimes.
Just a classic scene.
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I genuinely feel sorry for everyone who doesn't live in Spokane.
It’s Spokane’s birthday today. Here’s some photos of our town.
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@SAWohlfeil
&
@arielle_amara
thanks for your questions.
@MelissaKXLY4
you fucking rock.
This was one of the most incompetent, infuriating displays I've ever witnessed.
This should all be public record, in the open. Hiding behind "personnel" is absolute bullshit.
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Feeling incredibly lucky to be a part of this cohort. Really excited for the deep work we're going to be doing to operationalize our work at Range.
I guess this means we need a Twitter account.
Big congrats to
@dallasfreepress
,
@Detour_Detroit
,
@el_timpano
,
@FortWorthReport
,
@greenphillyblog
,
@matternews_
,
@MSFreePress
,
@94FernandoSoto
,
@OpenVallejo
,
@lukebaumgarten
,
@southerlymag
, and
@thehaitiantimes
👏🎉
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Look!
@voxdotcom
just discovered Martin v Boise!
You can tell it's an east-coast editorial team who worked on this just by "little-noticed."
If you live in the west, MvB is not "little noticed." It's maybe second only to Dobbs in impact.
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@RightWingWatch
Our newsroom in Spokane has been covering this. Below are stories about the Mayor's attendance of Let Us Worship rally last night, alongside previous coverage tracing the deep connections between Feucht & TPUSA Faith to Shea other Inland Northwest people
After attending an explicitly political event put on by well-known local & national Christian nationalists,
@MayorSpokane
criticized Matt Shea for politicizing the event, seeming to suggest she had been duped into attending.
Our story:
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I had some thoughts about how to make things painful for the family without putting journalists in the crosshairs:
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