RANGE

How in the world do we unpack from a pandemic? It's an important question during a profoundly important time as the world contemplates decisions that when made, will once again shift the ground beneath our feet. “We are tired of change. We are pandemic fatigued, we crave predictability, we want connection unfettered by mandates and limitations. We want to be done. But if the question is, how in the world is everyone at the same time unpack from a pandemic? Then the answer is they don't,” says RANGE of Care host and psychotherapist Meg Curtain Rey-Bear. Meg and Ingrid gather again to chat through this endless pandemic, chronic trauma, how to build resiliency, and the journey back: what happens for all of us when the world starts lifting mandates and shifting from pandemic to endemic. They also talk about how adults with kids and teens, who have had crucial developmental moments interrupted for the past two years, might help hold space for processing this pandemic.This is RANGE of Care, a series of conversations exploring the intersections of our mental health, the biology of human emotion, our body's responses, and the social, cultural, political and environmental happenings in our communities. It’s hosted by Meg Curtain Rey-Bear, co-owner of Wellness Therapy Spokane and a longtime mental health advocate. Meg is joined by Ingrid Price, child psychotherapist and owner of the Giving Tree Wellness. Luke occasionally chimes in too.

If you’re about to be evicted in Washington state, what rights do you have? Luke talks to Heidi Groover, who is the real estate reporter for the Seattle Times, about a story she wrote last October about tenant protections in Washington state. These protections give low-income people facing eviction the right to an attorney. This is a first of its kind state law anywhere in the United States and Heidi walks us through how these protections are supposed to work. A landlord can’t file an eviction until they have offered a tenant a chance at mediation through an Eviction Resolution Program with a “reasonable repayment plan.” This program can help connect the tenant with rental assistance programs too. If the case makes it to court, the tenant has the right to an attorney even if they can’t afford one. Most importantly, if you are a renter and need If you need help staying in your home, contact the Tenants Union of Washington.

Listen now (107 min) | Spokane's new Planning Director, Spencer Gardner, chatted with Luke about his planning philosophy all the way back in 2019. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Starting the year off with a banger: Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig joins us to talk about the legislative year that was, and what to expect from Washington state in 2022 as the legislature tries to pack all its work into a whirlwind 60 day session. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week we speak with Inlander reporter Samantha Wohlfeil, who has been filing the best stories anywhere on the continuing — and honestly, worsening — crisis at the Spokane Regional Health District. She wrote the authoritative piece to date on the steady exodus of staff from the district. It’s vital reading. Since we recorded, more heads have rolled. Here, Sam covers the firing of two leaders heavily involved with pandemic response and the subsequent dismay of staff. Read her at the Inlander and follow her on Twitter Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Listen now | RANGE OF CARE | Building resiliency in the face of burnout, uncertainty and flux Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week on the pod, Gene Brake, Spokane-based Realtor, civil rights activist, and neighborhood leader joins us to talk about:How the local Realtor association is spending heavily in local political races and the un-democratic process they use to decide who gets their support How administrative dysfunction on the one hand and restrictive zoning on the other are affecting our ability to build the housing we need. One neighborhood’s plan to build densely in targeted areas to both provide more homes while still keeping the area affordable for its mostly low-income residents. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

We won’t call it an “emergency” pod because the news is kinda good. We’d call it Breaking news … but it’s not really that either. WHAT IT IS: a conversation with Rebecca Cook, proud Spokanite and Vice President of IATSE Local 488, which serves film and TV crews in Washington, Oregon, Montana and North Idaho.We discuss: The breadth of entertainment workers in our area How a 12-hour “shoot day” is really a 16-hour work day.How grueling hours lead to unsafe working conditions and potentially deadly commutes.How “new media” like Netflix, Amazon & Disney+ continue to pay people poorly, even as they cross a quarter-trillion dollars of market value, thanks to outdated contracts they are trying desperately to maintain at the expense of workers’ health and safety.The overwhelming majority of workers who are now saying “enough is enough.”BUT ALSO: Some seriously encouraging news about how taking this stand seems to be working.Further ReadingWorking conditions on film shoots: IAStories on Instagram & TwitterSolid background on how we got here.Track this fast-moving story at the industry trades Deadline & VarietyA Smidge of ActionAn exhaustive list of resources and ways to help.It’s one of our more hopeful episodes in a while! Enjoy! Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week we discuss the tremendous challenge of climate change and the impacts of that challenge on mental health — especially the mental health of young people, who will bear a disproportionate trauma and hardship from our collective inaction. Younger generations are suffering deeply from what feels like an overwhelming challenge, and need support. They are also incredibly resilient and are creating a kind of activism that feels completely different than the climate activism of the 90s and 2000s.We also talk — among many other things — about climate denial as an observable psychological response and discuss strategies to bring those folks in.Our PanelVinai Norasakkunkit | a professor at Gonzaga whose research focuses on the intersection of cultural psychology and clinical psychology. He studies the psychology of globalization and youth marginalization, as well the cultural shaping of social anxiety and happiness and the cultural shaping of: attitudes towards climate change.Maggie Gates | a climate justice advocate and educator. She graduated from Gonzaga in 2019 with a degree in Political Science and shortly after co-founded Sunrise Spokane, a youth-led climate activism group. The group’s model is brilliant and will hopefully be transformational for all activism, but feels especially necessary for something as big as climate change.Our host, as always, is Meg Curtin Rey-Bear, psychotherapist and co-owner of Wellness Therapies Spokane. Luke tags along on this one as well. Past EpisodesLet The Sunrise In | A conversation about climate and Sunrise Spokane with Rosie ZhouKids, COVID, and “Deep Loneliness” | The first episode in what has become known as our Range of Care series. Analyze This (Pandemic) | Meg first joined us last November to talk about mental health entering the holidays, and a second year of COVID uncertainty and risk. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

On this week’s episode, we speak with Jeff Ketchel, Executive Director of the Washington State Public Health Association, about the state of public health 18-plus months into a centenary pandemic. It’s slow, painstaking work done by diligent people in the messy environment of human frailty, government funding, society, culture and politics. Not complicated at all!Then you throw covid into the mix and all of those variables suddenly become amplified and even more unpredictable. There’s the bad news we’re mostly aware of, and some good news that’s under-reported. So all-in-all, we think you’l walk away from this episode feeling marginally better about things!And plus it gives us an excuse to showcase the Swiss Cheese Model of disease prevention. Most of those slices are impacted, directly or indirectly, by public health policy. Further readingPandemic and politics drive mass exodus of WA public health leaders (Crosscut)Local Public Health 101 (RANGE)Costa Ricans Live Longer Than Us. What’s the Secret? (New Yorker)How does health spending in the US compare to other countries? (Health System Tracker) Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Many of our local law enforcement officials have expressed concerns about a set of new laws (HB 1310, HB 1054) that, among other things, require stricter standards for probable cause when detaining someone, require de-escalation during encounters, ban chokeholds and significantly restrict the use of tear gas. Despite the handwringing, it seems pretty reasonable to us, so we spoke with Enoka Herat of the ACLU Washington about what the laws do and don’t do Further readingA good primer from Crosscut about what police are allowed and not allowed to do under the law.A good primer on carotid and choke holds in the Washington Post, and why 62% of the largest police forces in America banned them unilaterally … you know, rather than being forced to by their state legislature.—Note: early in the episode Luke calls himself lugubrious when he obviously — OBVIOUSLY — meant loquacious. We regret the error. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Psychotherapist Meg Curtin Rey-Bear guest hosts a roundtable with fellow therapists Maggie Rowe, a clinical social worker and certified child life specialist, and Ingrid Price, a licensed mental health counselor and a child mental health specialist. It’s a tough, wide-ranging, but ultimately hopeful conversation about what kids and parents are going through. Content warning: includes frank discussions about self-harm and suicidal ideation among young people. Previous pandemic mental health contentPODCAST: Analyze This (Pandemic)PRINT: Ten-ish tips for thriving through another tough season Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Normal people can’t afford to live in North Idaho anymore.As of 2019 — the most recent data we have — the median household income in Bonner County was $50,256, almost 25% below the national average of $65,712. That year, median housing sale prices fluctuated between $307,000 and $340,000. Not cheap, but payments would be well under the 30% of income that finance nerds say is ideal for people to pay their bills and survive. Barely two years later, the median sale price is $675,000.Unless wages have doubled — and we know they haven’t! — a normal Bonner County home would need to spend well over 50% of their income for a normal house. This isn’t the first cycle of displacement in North Idaho history. It’s been happening since the first fur trappers arrived, and really took off during the period of the Homestead Act and Indian removal.And while markets change, it’s the same old exploitation. That’s the topic of our third and, for now, final episode on what the hell is happening in Idaho. We speak to Sociologist Ryanne Pilgeram about timber, labor militancy and the switch that flipped 25 years ago, turning North Idaho from reliably pro-labor Democrat to run-of-the-mill Republican and then the slide toward deeper and deeper conservatism that lands us squarely in the present day. If you like the conversation, you’ll love Ryanne’s book Pushed Out, a fascinating sociology of the small former mill town of Dover, Idaho. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

The conclusion of our two-part chat with Sandpoint Reader Editor and Co-founder Zach Hagadone. If you haven’t already, listen to the first episode before proceeding. It’s pure gold. This hour we drill deep into Idaho’s 1st Legislative District — a microcosm of many of the larger political dynamics playing out statewide — to understand in miniature many of the dynamics that have led to such unprecedented dysfunction statewide.With that established, we zoom back out and talk about the state races that won’t just define this election cycle, but will probably end up shaping the state of play in Idaho for years. YEARS!Another barn burner. Don’t miss it. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

In early April, we brought you the strange story of the blood feud between North Idaho College’s administration and its board of trustees. NIC is a public junior college and its board had always been elected by the people of Kootenai County, but to hear locals talk about it, those races were never partisan. That changed last year and the resulting saga was by turns silly, absurd, chilling and at times, even a little scary. If you would have asked me then, I would have probably said that would be the weirdest local news story of the year. Boy was I wrong.Since then, most of Idaho seems to be caught in one preposterous political news cycle after another. Here’s a taste of the stories that have come since: The Kootenai County library board race ended in veiled accusations of SatanismA state representative repeatedly doxxed a teenage rape victim. (Anti-extremism groups called for her resignation; she responded by announcing a run for Lieutenant Governor)Current Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin created an anti-indoctrination taskforce to “to protect our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism, and Marxism."A group of legislators led by McGeachin later held the state budget hostage until the legislature agreed to ban teaching Critical Race Theory in public schools, including colleges — despite failing to define just what Critical Race Theory is. Five rural Oregon counties voted to secede from the Beaver state and join Idaho.Ammon Bundy, the amateur rancher and professional stand-off-haver, announces a run for Governor … despite being banned from the Idaho Statehouse. That’s just scratching the surface, honestly. And while it’s not immediately obvious the through-line connecting these stories, our guest this week, Zach Hagadone of the Sandpoint Reader, argues they’re isolated skirmishes in a multi-way civil war for the soul of the Idaho Republican Party. It’s a big topic, with both regional and national implications — as many as 24 states have followed or are considering following Idaho’s lead on Critical Race Theory as well — so this is going to be another one of our patented two-part deep dives. Buckle up, it’s a wild ride. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Back for his second turn in the hot seat, filmmaker Benji Wade and I discuss the new documentary WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (streaming on Hulu).Unlike our last film episode, we actually recommend watching this one — and we use the occasion of a better than average film about one of recent history’s most spectacular failures to ask some pretty important questions, like: Why do so few startups become sustainable? Is the misery left by all that wasted time, energy and money worth the few that go on to become Facebook (and destabilize society in the process)?Does anyone consider the ethics and real-world misery of this modality of business, or does profit justify all?For people who like conversations about non-traditional work, freelancing, independent contracting, the gig economy and burnout. And whether we like it or not, it’s something we need to think about. Independent contracting and telework will become more common as companies cut costs by moving wokers offsite in the post-COVID era.Like last time, Benji threw out some other topically related films to also check out:Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never HappenedRoger and Me (on offshoring)The Big One (on corporate downsizing)Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Business disaster porn)The Century of the Self (Freudian psychology, advertising & control)Power of Nightmares (neo-conservatism)All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (life in the digital age) Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week on the show we welcome Rosie Zhou, a lead organizer with Sunrise Spokane — a student and young-adult-led organization focused on ensuring we get to 100% carbon independence within the less-than-seven-year window set out in the 2018 special report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.What makes young organizers like Rosie and her friends really special and worth paying attention to isn’t just the fervor and clarity of their demands for decisive action, but the inclusivity, holism and intersectionality of the tactics they’re bringing to the climate fight. Their environmentalism is absolutely still about starving polar bears and rising sea levels. It’s also about a clean industrial revolution that can lift us out of our economic torpor — viewed through a lens that recognizes the disproportionate impacts that inaction will have on the poor, people of color, and basically everyone in the global south. It’s a really powerful, compelling message, and these young people are just getting started. Enjoy. Connectsunrisespokane.orgon Instagramon Twitter on FacebookExploreThe Science of the Climate ClockThe 18th Brumaire of Louis BonaparteGoofsLet the Sunshine In Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Listen now | Rae-Lynn Barden on VOA's commitment to meeting people where they're at Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

If you or a loved one are experiencing domestic or sexual violence and would like help, the StrongHearts Helpline offers assistance from within an indigenous cultural context. This week we speak with Yakama tribal member Jenny Slagle about some brutal, vital topics:The disproportionality with which our indigenous neighbors go missing, experience sexual violence, and end up murderedThe structural poverty, ongoing genocide, and racist disregard that has allowed systemic failures to go unremarked-upon for decades.The deeply personal impacts for families whose loved ones go missing. It’s a heavy topic, but essential.LOCAL ORGS & EVENTSThe Native American Alliance for Policy & Action | Spokane-basedMMIW Day of Action event | Riverfront Park on May 5MMIW Training | Virtual event on May 5National resourcesMMIW ToolkitStrongHearts HelplineNational Indigenous Women’s Resource CenterKEY INFONCAI Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native Women findings (2018)Over 80% of Native women have experienced violence. Nearly 60% have experienced sexual assault. 96% of those sexual assaults come at the hands of a non-Native perpetratorMMIW Resource Guide created by the Lakota People’s Law Project. A great primer on the problem. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Hey y’all. A couple weeks ago the DC-based Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story from right in our backyard about a coordinated effort by Kootenai County Republicans to run for the ostensibly non-partisan North Idaho College Board of Trustees on explicitly conservative talking points. They leveraged the full power of the local Republican Central Committee, ended up winning a super majority on the board, then quickly came into conflict with the college’s administration, faculty and staff. The report’s author, Emma Pettit, joins us to get the details. It’s a fascinating window on our region and a great conversation, though one important question remains unanswered: whether this is a new tactic in the conservative war on higher education or if it’s just Kootenai County being Kootenai County. As a bit of a coda, this week Emma wrote a quasi-follow up piece about Idaho Freedom Action’s campaign to “Fix Idaho Colleges” by robocalling about Marxism and how students are conditioned to “apologize for being white.”FURTHER READINGA County Turns Against Its College | Emma Pettit | Chronicle of Higher Education“I Don’t Work for You, Greg” | Fallout from Emma’s story | Cd’A PressNIC Pres: ‘These are more than serious distractions’| Spokesman-ReviewPREVIOUS REPORTINGNIC trustee Wood calls for chair to resign | Cd’A PressNIC trustees reject removal of board chair in split vote | Spokesman-ReviewCITEDHere’s What Happens When Republicans Have No One to Fight | BuzzfeedGOOFSIt’s a whole new ballgame on campus Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week we talk with State Rep. Marcus Riccelli about all the work our state legislature has been doing this session. Including:Public Health ReformUniversal Health CareCapital Gains TaxThis one isn’t through the house yet and has an opportunity to get better, see below.Just Cause EvictionsAnd last but not least … wait for it … his controversial take on the downtown stadium. What started as a spirited disagreement about our land-use priorities in the core became a interesting discussion of public debate, the civic commons, and clawing back our ability to engage even when we disagree as an antidote to the polarization crippling our world. Not gonna want to miss this one. And while you’re at it:TAKE ACTIONCapital Gains passed the senate without a rule that would make it take effect immediately. This gravely hurts the law’s ability to last beyond the next election cycle. So Email your reps — including Riccelli — and let them know you want the wealthiest people in Washington to start paying their fair share now. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week on the pod we talk with reporter Daisy Zavala, who wrote our heartbreaking farmworker profile “Essential, but Unprotected” (there’s also a Spanish-language version).This is still a hell of an interview regardless of whether you’ve read the story or not — much of the interview is discussing the pitfalls of being a young professional journalist of color — but if you carve out 20 minutes and read the story first, you’ll understand why the conversation is so urgent. First, it’s just vitally important to understand the hardship of farmwork on a good day, and the frequent danger of it.Second, journalism is at an inflection point — simmering for years and brought to a boil by the strife caused by the pandemic and this summer’s unrest — about the voices we have traditionally welcomed and those we have traditionally excluded, or forced to “conform to established standards,” which is a euphemism, in this context, for “always center whiteness.”It’s a great conversation. Pitch InFamilias Unidas por la Justicia | Washington-based independent farmworker union.Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network | Coalition fighting to establish and maintain rights for immigrants and refugees.Washington Covid-19 Immigrant Relief Fund | An immigrant-led relief initiative. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Continuing our housing series with a dash of sprawl containment, farmland preservation, racial equity and environmental impact (not to mention crawdad fishing in Elk!), this week we talk with Kitty Klitzke, Spokane Program Director for Futurewise, an organization that works throughout Washington state to encourage healthy, equitable and opportunity-rich communities, and to protect our most valuable farmlands, forests and water resources through wise land use policies and practices.We talked about the WA Can’t Wait campaign, supporting three new state bills that update the long-in-the-tooth Growth Management Act. The GMA, which was passed in 1990 and has been a core tool for communities statewide to curb sprawl, has concrete loopholes in need of closing and also needs some additional protections for racial equity and environmental impact not included in the original legislation. It’s additive work but essential if we want to put stronger controls on land use to ensure we build dense, vibrant urban clusters while preserving our wild spaces and farmland. Because of the political dynamics of Spokane County, it’s been a historically vital piece of legislation and the bills currently before the legislature in Washington will close a loophole that has been especially destructive to native habitat and generational farmland on places like Five Mile and the Moran Prairie.Plus, Kitty is just fun as hell to talk to. We can almost guarantee it’s the most fun you’ll ever have talking about progressive land use policy. And once you’re moved to act, you can do so here:TAKE ACTIONTell your reps to:Close the vesting loopholeCreate climate targets for greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveledRequire cities and counties to plan forA diversity of housing types to meet the needs of families at all income levels, especially our extremely low to moderate-income families;Provide emergency shelters, emergency housing, and permanent supportive housingImplement policies and strategies to prevent community displacement from market forcesImplement policies to address the impacts of racially-biased, exclusionary, and discriminatory housing and land-use policies on our BIPOC communities. If you like your RANGE, you can support it:Edited by Connor BaconRecorded at Speak Studios. Check ‘em out. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Hey y’all, it’s been a few weeks of pretty relentlessly depressing topics here at RANGE HQ so we thought we’d do something a little lighter. Not like, light light, but still light-er.Doing another film ep, this time talking about the Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival — which begins TONIGHT AT 7 PM! — with festival director and head of Spokane Area Jewish Family Services, Neal Schindler. It’s a virtual event, so you can watch some great films and help a worthy local cause all without putting on pants, just the way we like it in 2021.All film trailers, discussion schedules and details for buying tickets and passes can be found at the festival website. Thanks, as always, to Connor Bacon for a tight, timely interview edit and to Simmental for our theme music. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week on the pod we talk to Virla Spencer and Camerina Zorrozua of The Way to Justice, a newish non-profit that helps people get their lives back after run ins with the criminal legal system. Cam works primarily in post-conviction relief — helping people who have been locked up — while Virla runs the re-licensing program, helping poor folks who have lost their drivers license due to an inability to pay fines or other reasons to create a path back to just having the basic mobility most of us take for granted. These two are larger than life personalities separately. Together they’re pretty close to a force of nature. If you like what you hear, you can support their work at www.thewaytojustice.comFurther StudyHOW IT STARTED: Blueprint for Reform | Creating an Efficient and Effective Regional Criminal Justice System HOW IT’S GOING: Blueprint Status Report (not great tbh) Spokane County incarceration data - updated frequentlySenate bill that would end suspension of licenses for failure to pay fines. and links to comment/support: Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

The conclusion of our interview with the inimitable Terri Anderson, Spokane Director and Policy Lead for the Tenants Union of Washington this week on the podcast.If you haven’t listened to PART 1, I really recommend you do so before diving in here. You’ll thank me later.Things have not miraculously become perfect in the week since we posted the first episode, so it is still vitally important that you:TAKE ACTIONContact your state senator about:SB 5160 | Offramp from the moratorium that helps tenants stay housedSB 5169 | Prohibits rent increases for six months after the moratorium & limits increases to no more than CPI from six months to one year.Contact your state reps about:HB 1236 | Just cause evictionsHB 1300 | Damage deposit reform.Contact the Tenants UnionCall 509-464-7620Email Terri at [email protected] READING“We’ve got a clock ticking”: Calls for help grow as end to Washington’s eviction moratorium inches closer | Spokesman-ReviewGOOFSIt’s getting hot in hereIf you like your RANGE, you can support it:Edited by Connor BaconRecorded at Speak Studios. Check ‘em out. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Even after we manage to contain the public health crisis brought on by Covid-19, the danger isn’t over in Spokane. The economic crisis has left thousands of people without steady employment and, as a result, thousands of our neighbors are behind on their utility bills and behind on rent. This almost exclusively affects the poor, and because of our nation’s legacy of white supremacy and Spokane’s history of redlining, that burden disproportionately impacts people of color. It’s not a good scene. Washington state has a temporary eviction moratorium in place but that’s like a finger in the dike. It’s holding back disaster for now, but unless we take serious action, there’s no stopping a flood of evictions. The good news is, there’s a path to mitigating the short term crisis while also creating a fairer and more just legal and support system for renters from here on out. We talk about all of this and more with Terri Anderson, Spokane Director and Policy Lead for the Tenants Union of Washington this week on the podcast. TAKE ACTIONContact your state senator about:SB 5160 | Offramp from the moratorium that helps tenants stay housed SB 5169 | Prohibits rent increases for six months after the moratorium & limits increases to no more than CPI from six months to one year.Contact your state reps about:HB 1236 | Just cause evictions HB 1300 | Damage deposit reform.Contact the Tenants Union Call 509-464-7620 Email Terri at [email protected]. FURTHER LISTENINGEPISODE 20 | House Money feat. Ben StuckartFURTHER READINGThe impending rental tsunami | Spokesman-Review GOOFSIt’s getting hot in hereIf you like your RANGE, you can support it:Recorded at Speak Studios. Check ‘em out. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

In this week’s episode we take a brisk 30-minute jaunt through some new polling data that confirms, yep, the rest of Spokane County wants a jail about as badly as we do — which is to say: NOT. AT. ALL.It’s encouraging news for everyone from reformists to prison abolitionists to get this sort of poll result in a Republican-leaning county like Spokane. But the real kicker is when the pollsters asked people if they’d vote to raise their taxes in order to fund addiction treatment and homelessness services. For the answer to that question, you’ll have to listen.Past No Jail ContentSpokane let people out of jail. Crime went down | RANGEEPISODE 010 | Independence Day feat. the Bail Project | RANGEEPISODE 011 | Independence Day (cont) | RANGEFurther Perusing:Spokane County officials revisit plans for a new jail | KREMChange Research | The pollstersFuse Washington | The org that paid for itGoofsFetch!Cool people support RANGE Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Listen now | Hey y’all! Amazing conversation about cooperatives this week with Joel Williamson, one of the co-founders of LINC Foods and the Grain Shed. We talk about coops as an organizational and business structure that is not just inherently more ethical for the workers who work within that system, it also more effectively traps capital in our communities, building resiliency through the entire system. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Listen now | Friend of the pod and Gonzaga professor Joan Braune — noted critical theorist and Nazi disliker — joins to talk about how language shapes the way we view reality and how the blanket usage of words like “terrorism” and “extremism” — even when explicitly describing right wing violence like last week’s attack on the Capitol building — might actually do more harm than good by incorrectly and unfairly lumping the emancipatory struggle of the left with the oppressive projects of the far right. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week on the pod we zig a little into our first film crit episode, and chat with local filmmaker Benji Wade about Hillbilly Elegy, a movie that has been on everyone’s lips since it came out in time for the election.It’s the not-so-riveting story of how a poor white kid from Southeast Ohio overcame generational trauma through nothing but his own pluck and grit (or so the film would have you believe), attended Yale Law School, went to work for Peter Thiel — one of the great monsters of recent American history — and eventually moved back to Cincinnati to start a non-profit that helps, like, train unemployed coal miners and steelworkers how to code, or something.Seems a little far-flung to what we usually talk about on RANGE, but the plight of poor people in extractive economies in Appalachia is pretty similar to the plight of poor people in extractive economies in the Inland Northwest, and this movie is a masterclass in blaming the poor for their plight. So yeah, a topic ripe for RANGE. The movie is bad, but the conversation is good, and Benji and I took the time to cobble together a mountaintop worth of other actually good coal-country (and coal-country-adjacent) content for you to remove into your ear- and eye-holes.That was a coal mining joke. You’re welcome. Referenced in the episodeReview: Ron Howard's Rust Belt Saga Is Yokel HokumReview: Everything about Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy movie is awfulSlavoj Zizek explains IdeologyWhat is “White Trash”?Better things to watch than Hillbilly ElegyHarland County, USAMatewanCoal Miner’s DaughterJunebugThis Boy’s LifeJustified (prime Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins content)Better things to listen to than Hillbilly Elegy“Listen to Dolly Parton Instead”Anything Loretta LynnDeath in the West podcastBetter things to read than Hillbilly ElegyEducated by Tara WestoverThe Enchantments of Mammon by Eugene McCarraherGoofs Bar none the best TV theme song everMe and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Got some hot pod-on-pod action this week. We were joined for this very special Christmas-adjacent podcast by Chris Bovey and Bryce Neusse of the Broken podcast. We talk about how the dudes lost their respective churches but rediscovered their faith in the wake of George Floyd, and how they feel like their calling now is to slay the biggest hypocrisies in the evangelical faith while considering themselves evangelicals. For them it comes down to trying to live a life that is less like Joel Osteen and more like one Jesus Christ (For our unreligious listeners: he was the guy on the cross). Luke also opens up about his childhood in the evangelical church, the traumas that pushed him out and his hope for more people like Chris and Bryce. Friends, it’s A LOT. GET INVOLVEDChris and Bryce feed houseless neighbors on Pacific and Division Sundays at 11FURTHER STUDY  Broken podcastSpokane Vintage PrintsBackground on the Halabja Massacre (BBC, Wikipedia)GOOFS“God Bless us every one” (OG version)“This is how Michael Caine speaks” (the Trip)“A large, absent-minded spirit” Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

This week, in the second part of our interview with Ben Stuckart — an hour of pure cask-strength righteous indignation about our housing crisis, cut with an effervescent spritzer of audio slapstick and other goofery.It’s real good.Further reading Spokane City Council considers new sales tax to fund affordable housing (S-R)Council tentatively approves sales tax to fund affordable housing (S-R)Even further readingThe new ‘Curing Spokane’ video is an inaccurate and shallow report on Spokane’s homelessBerkeley Kevin Bacon Housing Study“Helsinki’s radical solution to homelessness” Public Housing meets Housing FirstWhy rich people in Austria want to live in housing projectsIf you like your RANGE, you can support it:Recorded at Speak Studios. Check ‘em out. Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Morning everyone. Big energy on the pod this week. Speaking with former city council president, current public policy gadfly Ben Stuckart about the very-’90s named PHACTS — Public Health Action Coalition Team of Spokane — a group of dozens of professionals and organizations who have united in the face of Bob Lutz’ firing (covered extensively in RANGE, see below) to effectuate public health policy change at both the state and local level. It’s a packed episode. Enjoy. Then, once you’re sufficiently fired up, get involved below:TAKE ACTIONFollow PHACTSEmail the organizers to get involved at [email protected] MOREBob Lutz coverage in RANGE (Chronological): 1 2 3 4 5New Coalition calls for change … (Spokesman-Review)“You don’t expect to be so vilified” (Seattle Times) Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

Listen now (65 min) | EMERGENCY POD — Kinda As the pandemic enters its eighth month, the nation is subsumed by the biggest wave of coronavirus yet and Washington State grapples with new restrictions, we spoke with Meg Curtin Rey-Bear, LMHC, co-owner of Wellness Therapies Spokane Get full access to RANGE at www.rangemedia.co/subscribe

HOUSEKEEPING: Had a lot of wild news roll through Spokane last week. If you haven't subscribed to the RANGE Newsletter, you really should. SHOW NOTES Western States Center's Kate Bitz joins us to talk about the ever-percolating threat of white nationalism, it's roots stretching back to the founding of our nation and the settling of the Inland Northwest, why it's such a uniquely pernicious problem here, and how this history of hate might affect the election and how a Biden victory might embolden extremists the way the Clinton presidency did. Stay safe, y'all, take care of each other this week, and oh yeah: IN CASE OF ELECTION FUCKERY, CLICK HERE (Election protection hotline) GOOFS I'm walkin' here! Sometimes there's a [person], and I won't say hero, because what's a hero? Tiger repelling rock

HOUSEKEEPING: I started a Patreon. If you love, like or even tolerate RANGE, please consider becoming a Patron! SHOW NOTES Profoundly happy to welcome Jess Walter on to talk about his brand new book, The Cold Millions, which you can buy starting TODAY from literally anywhere books are sold because the man is a damn phenomenon. And while you CAN buy this book anywhere, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Wishing Tree Books for lending me their advance copy to make this review happen. When you buy this book, for the love of God, buy it from a local independent seller like Wishing Tree or Aunties or -- ideally, both. Buy one from each place and give one to a friend! SUPPLEMENTS Book Trailer by Factory Town Show Town: Theater and Culture in the Pacific Northwest by Holly George Harry McClintock “Hallelujah! I’m a Bum” Early recording Little Red Songbook first published in Spokane in 1909 Citations Needed episode discussing "Hallelujah!..." in the context of populist folk and country contrasted with Country's reactionary turn TRUE CRIME Dashiell Hammett’s Spokane detour in The Maltese Falcon. Hammett claimed to have been offered $5,000 dollars to murder IWW leader Frank Little. Little was later lynched in Butte Montana. 10,000 people walked in his funeral procession.

Tenant organizer and Spokane DSA co-chair Jeremy Logan joins us to talk about his arrest at the hands of Spokane County Sheriff's Deputies on the way to a Black Lives Matter protest and the truly remarkable obsession Sheriff Ozzie seems to have now that national media took an interest in the arrest. Logan also shares the story of the last decade of his life and just how hard it is to pull yourself out of poverty, especially when you've previously been in the system. BACKGROUND Huffington Post article about Jeremy's arrest -- the one that set Ozzie off Ozzie's resulting press conference (watch at your own risk) Two big questions about the arrest of Jeremy Logan (Inlander) How local law enforcement uses social media to surveil protesters (Inlander) Ozzie's podcast about Jeremy Logan (Different from the press conference!)

In what is sure to be a collectors item for real news heads, this ep features rare journo-nerd b-sides from The Spokesman Review's Shawn Vestal. TOPICS DISCUSSED East-coast bias National correspondents helicoptering into protests (Lack of) newsroom diversity On believing the children young journalists are our future SUPPLEMENTS The Truth Does not Change According to Our Ability to Stomach It -- Leah's poppin' fresh newsletter Shawn's columns

This week’s guest is a big deal. How big? I’m just going to quote her bio in the New York frickin Times: Leah Sottile is a writer based in Oregon whose work focuses on extremist ideologies, the anti-government movement and fringe cultures. She is the host and reporter for the podcast “Bundyville,” which has been nominated twice for a National Magazine Award. I should have outlined it better in my intro, but I'll do it now: Bundyville is an absolutely essential look at extremism in the West and season two drills down specifically into our little nook of the Inland Northwest. Check it out. She’s back in Oregon now but she’s lived in Spokane on and off for a good chunk of her life. I can’t think of anyone better to help look at the Boogaloo specifically and extremism more generally, both taking the national view and pulling some of the local threads. Tremendously proud of this interview and grateful to Leah for carving two frickin' hours out of her busy schedule to hang out. SUPPLEMENTS Inside the Boogaloo - Leah's story for NYT Mag Bundyville seasons 1 & 2 - absolute required listening GOOFS So hot right now Abe Simpson is sometimes anti-fascist, always anti-Missouri

Hey y'all. Long time, no pod. Here's part one of an honest chat with Shawn Vestal about how white people can have tough conversations with themselves and others about the work we all need to do in this moment. Spurred by a column Shawn wrote about the backlash from a video posted by Catholic Charities CEO Rob McCann, which led to a sharp (and gross) rebuke from Thomas Daly, Spokane’s Catholic bishop. SUPPLEMENTS Rob McCann video The Backlash Shawn's Column

Hey! It's the second part of the conversation with Angelique Tomeo and Sabrina Ryan-Helton of the Bail Project. If episode one was about talking about the system and how it destroys people's lives and weakens the fabric of society itself, episode two is more about how we might fight back in the short term by helping bail as many folks as possible out so they can actually claim their rights and fight their cases. Just a reminder: there's a supplement to these episodes outlining what happened to crime rates when Spokane let a bunch of people out of jail due to COVID. Really gives some extra urgency to the work. If you feel moved by this work, make sure to ask to join the Bail Project Spokane's Facebook community. Lots of information and solidarity happens in that space. And at Sabrina's request: it's not too late to sign the anti-Killology training petitions. There are two. Here's the first and the second. Photo illustration by Connor Bacon SUPPLEMENTS Spokane let people out of jail; Crime went down. The story of a 72-year-old man who was locked up for 33-months pre-trial. The Bail Project website Bryan Stevenson's 2014 interview on Fresh Air about how "we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent."

Hey y'all fascinating conversation -- part 1 of 2 -- with Angelique Tomeo and Sabrina Ryan-Helton of the Bail Project about how maybe America isn't really the land of the free after all, what with the absurd amounts of pre-trial detention going on all throughout America (and certainly in Spokane) and how, just maybe, we should totally dismantle and abolish such a horribly inhumane system all together. As a supplement to this episode make sure to check out my essay on what happened to crime rates when Spokane let a bunch of people out of jail due to COVID. Really gives some extra urgency to the work. Photo illustration by Connor Bacon SUPPLEMENTS Spokane let people out of jail; Crime went down. The story of a 72-year-old man who was locked up for 33-months pre-trial. The Bail Project website Bryan Stevenson's 2014 interview on Fresh Air about how "we have a criminal justice system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent." GOOFS Why yes, that is a mash-up of a climactic scene from 1996 blockbuster Independence Day and the Spokane County Jail. With this one sound effect you too can make stupid Law & Order spoofs.

This week’s RANGE comes in two parts. PART 1 | A Letter to My City Council Members | Offers a little background on the soon to be voted-upon police contract as a warm up for a dramatic reading of a letter Luke wrote this week asking Spokane City Council to tear it up with extreme prejudice. PART 2 | Our Borders, Ourselves | We reach the conclusion of the awesome interview with Yakima immigration attorney Stephen Robbins, where the conversation turns toward some of the more mundane, overlooked atrocities of Trump's immigration policy and also some (infuriatingly) hilarious reflections on our dumb, dehumanizing border policy. SUPPLEMENTS Spokane City Council Directory -- has a nice map in case if you want to send directly to your district's commissioners, but I'm sure they'd ALL love to hear from you. Check out Stephen Robbins' podcast Redirect. The latest episode dives into the thousand cuts of an avalanche of a bunch of bad new Trump immigration policies Follow Robbins on Twitter GOOFS I've never seen Mr Smith Goes to Washington, but for some reason that image of Jimmy Stewart staring mournfully up at a broken system is seared into my memory. Apparently the movie was loosely based on a Montana Senator.

Immigration lawyer Stephen Robbins dials in for a WIDE ranging chat about life in Yakima -- currently the unexpected epicenter (or in Governor Inslee's words, "Eh-pee-center") of Coronavirus in Washington State. We cover the demographic and political environment in the county and how pre-existing sanitation and other abysmal conditions in the agricultural industry might be contributing to a public health crisis in a placewhere half the population sees not wearing masks as a patriotic statement and the other half works in an industry that is 50%-70% undocumented and lives very close to the edge in the best of times. So yeah, it gets a little dark in this ep, but there's a labor fight that's actually going kinda well, so it ends on a hopeful note! SUPPLEMENTS "DACA Survives" latest episode of Stephen's great immigration law podcast Robbins on Twitter Spokesman story about Luis Cortes Romero, the U of Idaho Law grad who just saved DACA Episode image of backbreaking Yakima farm labor courtesy of the Library of Congress GOOFS None because I'm perfect.

Jac Archer dials in to talk protest, big white supremacy (murder), little white supremacies (the gutting of EWU's gender and ethnic studies programs) and how you can't just support black liberation when it makes you comfortable. Oh, and Luke and Jac also talk Scandal (the show) and trade James Baldwin quotes like total badasses. This talk fired Luke the hell up, and he wanted to get it out in time for Sunday's protest so you could get fired up, too. Smash white supremacy, Rangers! LITERAL NAZI ALERT If you do attend the rally, be on the look out for this POS, a Neo-Nazi who has pledged to come to Spokane and "make history." Be safe. SUPPLEMENTS The Anti Defamation League Pyramid of Hate James Baldwin, "To be in a rage, almost all of the time" James Baldwin on the myth of outside agitators from The Price of the Ticket Citations Needed "Cops push "Outside Agitator" line, exploit fears of Far Right Violence to delegitimaze protests" This week's episode art is from an incredible photo series of last week's protest by Eugene Mu GOOFS The Girl from Ipanema, elevator edition

While much of America is on fire, and trust in police is shaken to the core, activists have discovered that Spokane law enforcement has invited Dave Grossman -- the inventor of "Killology," a widely discredited training technique -- to train our local police. His ideas are flippant, callous and more concerned with making sure cops know how to beat a shooting than how to help those in need. These are not de-escalation techniques. This episode showcases audio of Grossman's lectures and makes the case that he should not be welcome in Spokane. Among Grossman's more infamous pupils: the guy who killed Philando Castile in Minneapolis in 2016, a precursor killing that laid the groundwork for the nationwide unrest that sprang up after the murder of George Floyd. Ask Sheriff Knezovich and Police Chief Meidl to disinvite this merchant of death: [email protected] [email protected] GROSSMAN BACKGROUND "Conditioned Response" short doc 2017 "George Floyd death puts spotlight on 'warrior training' for police" 2020 "Teaching officers how to kill with fear-based warrior tactics" Insider 2020 "2 Departments Quit Controversial Police Training" CBS Minnesota "Militarizing the Minds of Police Officers," The New Yorker 2017 The “Killologist” Training America’s Cops, Men's Journal 2017 OTHER SUPPLEMENTS 2020 "Mindset Bootcamp" web page and flier ‘If I Would Have Been Here, George Floyd May Still Be Alive’ The Cut 2020 "Email reveals deep sympathies to officer convicted of excessive force," Inlander 2016 "Spokane Cops Salute Karl Thompson" Spokesman 2011

Good news Millennials: your life sucks exactly as much as you think it sucks! And that's according to journalism! Luke takes a deepish dive into a Washington Post article by Andrew Van Dam and a few other sources on income and wealth inequality and turns out -- yep! -- what we always suspected to be true is true: There is no generation more abjectly screwed than your friendly neighborhood millennial. It also seems there is but one solution. It's an increasingly common refrain around RANGE HQ. Can you guess what it is? SUPPLEMENTS "The unluckiest generation in U.S history" by Andrew Van Dam / WaPo Strauss-Howe Generational Theory -- in case you want to go where I didn't dare The Gilded Age part 1 | American Experience | PBS UC Berkeley Study on inequality 1913-2014 Income inequality fact sheet | inequality.org Episode art is from an extremely cursed essay in the failing Time Magazine CURIOSITIES Behold the first millennial | True Detective S01 Definition of Black Pill (besides the video above) A deadly new fighting style A little nibble of how much weirder and cooler protestants used to be.

An interview with cook, writer, artist & activist Tunde Wey sends Luke down a rabbit hole thinking about the place of restaurants as one of the most accessible, understandable (and delicious!) places where capital from literally all over the world collides right in front of us, and how restaurateurs -- like all small business owners -- must take this moment of crisis to be an ally of workers, not big business. All this and a couple little confessions from yours truly. EPISODE SUPPLEMENTS New Yorker Interview with Tunde Wey by Helen Rosner Wey's essay "Let it Die" Let It Die | Episode 1 | "How Much Did the Devil Pay You?" GQ Profile of Wey by Brett Martin CURIOSITIES The New Yorker hell joke is from Good Place S02E11* And of course the source of that iconic devil quote* *Yikes on all the Luciferian references. That kind of week.

Luke takes a trip down to nerd town and really digs into the data on predicted coronavirus deaths, national perceptions on how quickly to open back up, the interplay of fear of the virus and economic anxiety and finally how to win an argument against someone who calls you "sheeple" without coming off as a total cuck globalist! Then, at the end of the show (right as Luke was about to go to bed), Dr. Bob Lutz, Spokane regional health officer, drops by to break a little news. EPISODE SUPPLEMENTS Department of Homeland Security Covid Projections (May 1) The story that broke that document A whole bunch of data around people's anxieties And a bunch about their behavior pre-lockdown. CURIOSITIES An absolutely iconic piece of art In case you want to hear Rossini or Grieg without my shenanigans over top. In case you want to hear Guns & Roses cover Paul McCartney without Trump's shenanigans over top. Bill Murray is a god on earth. A little extra context for Alex Jones' cannibalism fantasy