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Articles by Emily McCarty
Aquinas, Suicide, and Communities of Faith
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WA youth in the state's care endure rain, cold for holiday visits Original
Madigan and her husband, Jason, had set up a formal dinner for Christian as nicely as they could, considering the conditions: an overcast day with rain, a cold metal picnic table partly covered by an overhead eave, and a propane tower heater that, for safety reasons, sat too far away to be of use. It would also double as their Christmas visit, as the facility limited the number of visitors per day. The family was one of many trying to make birthdays and holidays special after Gov.
The Washingtonians still fighting 2020 election results Original
Tjoelker brings his video camera to document the events, something he said liberal media will not do, and talks to attendees. To curb assumptions that he’s “left wing media and there to make them look bad, make them look like fools,” Tjoelker stuck a Trump/Pence sticker to the bottom of his camera lens. One man told Tjoelker, “Everyone should be out here. This is the biggest fraud and most unbelievable thing I've ever seen in my life.
Looking forward, looking back
Claire Dederer Oct. 29, 2007 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now The Next Rodeo: New and Selected Essays GRAYWOLF PRESS William Kittredge is a man peculiarly suited to write about the West. He comes from a family that used the land as Westerners did long ago, before everything began to run out.
Brine shrimp by the billions in the Great Salt Lake
Why is this shrimp fishery nearly conflict-free? Sam Wotipka June 11, 2014 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now Harvesting brine shrimp cysts from Great Salt Lake, Utah. Wayne Wurtsbaugh, Utah State University A male brine shrimp uses large claspers to grasp a female for mating. Wayne Wurtsbaugh, Utah State University In October of 1951, a letter appeared in The Aquarium, a magazine for fish hobbyists.
Mustafa Santiago Ali describes the path forward for environmental justice
Former EPA program leader shares ideas for federal action in the Biden administration. Carl Segerstrom Interview Dec. 3, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now A cap-and-trade system to cut toxic air emissions; a bipartisan agreement to strengthen the Clean Air Act; a federal program to ease the unjust burden of pollution in minority communities: All this sounds like an environmental to-do-list for President-elect Joe Biden.
What firefighters want
Name withheld by request Dec. 1, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now In “The Forest Service should embrace a full-time workforce” (July 2020), Anastasia Selby made a compelling argument for full-time employment. However, that is in stark contrast to what many Forest Service firefighters actually want. The seasonality of the job is something the vast majority of wildland firefighters enjoy.
Invocation perseverance; prolific Griz 399; errant GPS
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region. Betsy Marston Dec. 1, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now IDAHOMike Healy of Hailey, Idaho, says the semi-weekly Idaho Mountain Express runs a “Miscellany” section in its classifieds that’s eagerly scoured by connoisseurs of local oddities. People give shout-outs or complain about everything from a braying donkey to e-bikes on public lands.
Former HCN interns look back
Our internship provides real-world skills, and a community, for a lifetime. HCN staff Dec. 1, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now “The HCN internship taught me to seek nuance over easy tropes, and helped me see my home region in new ways — key skills for an emerging journalist.
Pebble Mine permit denied by Trump administration
The Army Corps of Engineers “concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest.” Oliver Milman Nov. 26, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now The Pebble Mine was proposed at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay where sockeye salmon migration can exceed 46 million fish annually.
I lost my mom to COVID-19. Don’t lose yours (Commentary)
This story was originally published by Crosscut and is republished here by permission. For once, the church nursery told my mom, “Emily didn’t cry the entire time.” As a toddler, I was attached to my mother, sobbing hysterically when she left for the service, scared she wouldn’t return. Last week, I cried again, this time knowing she wouldn’t return. I am the youngest of four children, six years after my last sibling, most likely an accident. But even until the last day, she never admitted it.
Thanksgiving as a holiday of the imagination
Tim Giago Opinion Essay Nov. 24, 2003 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now There is a saying among the Lakota that when the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth Rock, they fell on their knees and prayed, and then they fell on the Indians and preyed. Perhaps it is not surprising that the stories of this country's founding are awash in error.
I Lost My Mother to COVID-19. I’m Asking You to Stay Home
For once, the church nursery told my mom, “Emily didn’t cry the entire time.” As a toddler, I was attached to my mother, sobbing hysterically when she left for the service, scared she wouldn’t return. Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners The Most Local BC Breweries and Beer Right Now From Delta to Pemberton, six producers who rose to The Tyee’s 100-Mile Beer Challenge. Last week, I cried again, this time knowing she wouldn’t return.
I lost my mom to COVID-19. Don't let the holidays steal yours
I am the youngest of four children, six years after my last sibling, most likely an accident. But even until the last day, she never admitted it. “I always wanted four children,” she told me, tubes coming out of everywhere: the port in her chest, the oxygen in her nose, the IV in her arm. On Sunday, she had gone into the emergency room. By Thursday afternoon, she was dead.
Trump administration chops logging restrictions in the Tongass National Forest
But President-elect Biden could reinstate them once in office. Victoria Petersen Nov. 18, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now The Trump Administration lifted protections on about 9.3 million acres of Tongass National Forest, the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest. Want to catch up on big developments quickly? See more stories here. BACKSTORY The Tongass National Forest in Alaska holds life-sustaining value for the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples.
Montana’s new governor scares conservationists
Republican Greg Gianforte has a history of support for rolling back protections for public lands and waters. Jeff Gailus Nov. 10, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now Governor-elect Greg Gianforte (left) takes a selfie with Montana’s USDA State Director Charles Robinson and Southern Montana Telephone Company owner Bob Helming at a February 2020 (pre-COVID) celebrating a fiber-to-the-home network construction project.
Climate change intensifies tsunami threat in Alaska
As glaciers retreat and permafrost thaws, massive landslides threaten coastal communities. Victoria Petersen Nov. 9, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now Tucked against glacier-capped mountains, the Begich Towers loom over Whittier, Alaska.
New Mexico’s oil fields have a sinkhole problem
The hunt for industrial brine has opened massive and unexpected sinkholes, which is taking delicate work, and more than $54 million, to fill. Elizabeth Miller Nov. 5, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now This story was originally published by Undarkand is republished here through the Climate Desk partnership. On a Julymorning in 2008, the ground below southeastern New Mexico began to shift and crack, shooting a huge plume of dust into the air.
LIVE: WA 2020 election results for president, governor and more
We're tracking electoral votes from eastern states now and will be updating this page with live local results throughout the evening. Supporters of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden (obscured) wave flags and hand out information to arriving voters outside an early voting polling station in West Palm Beach, Florida, Oct.
Why these politically savvy WA voters aren't voting for president
The 34-year-old Issaquah resident, who works as the chief operating officer of a bank, is disenchanted with the presidential candidates.
Maskless in Montana; stuck in a rut; hot pronghorn
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region. Betsy Marston Nov. 1, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now MONTANAPhillip Dupaul, 60, cleans the homes of elderly people in Great Falls, Montana, but never wears a face mask, telling the Missoulian that “it hampers his ability to breathe.” That’s also what he told Judge John Larson, when he reported mask-free for jury duty in late August.
Stop the destruction of Tohono O’odham lands
Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. urges Congress to take action and stop Trump’s border wall. Ned Norris Jr. Opinion Oct. 30, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now This February, Ned Norris, Jr., chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, testifies at an oversight hearing on destruction at the U.S.-Mexico border. “For the past 160 years, the Tohono O’odham have been on the front lines of border issues, often bearing the brunt of failed federal border policies,” he said.
Violence at the U.S.-Mexico border as a presidential election nears Original
Law enforcement deploys tear gas and rubber bullets in confrontation with Indigenous activists. Anna V. Smith, Jessica Kutz Oct. 28, 2020 Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now Officers in riot gear advance on a group of protesters gathered at the border on October 12th. Soon after deploying tear gas, officers shot an O’odham Nation member (middle, green vest and pants) with a rubber bullet at close range. On Oct.
California’s history of anti-Blackness hides beneath its progressive reputation
A new history of the state traces early civil rights battles spearheaded by Black activists. Cassie da Costa Interview Oct. 20, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both freed and enslaved Black people came to the American West from the South, searching for lives free of the violence and oppression imposed first by slavery, and later by Jim Crow.
Census outreach in high gear for Native groups across WA
Some of George’s days start at 5 a.m. and go until midnight. She’s handed out her personal number to tribal members. To put it lightly, she’s dedicated to the job. “This isn’t just a job, or position. It’s definitely work that needs to be done,” George said. On this Saturday, she was in Toppenish, a small town south of Yakima that’s on the Yakama reservation. She was decorating vehicles used for census outreach in underserved tribal neighborhoods throughout the lower Yakima Valley.
How Native groups are making sure they count in the 2020 census
Some of George’s days start at 5 a.m. and go until midnight. She’s handed out her personal number to tribal members. To put it lightly, she’s dedicated to the job. “This isn't just a job, or position. It's definitely work that needs to be done,” George said. On this Saturday, she was in Toppenish, a small town south of Yakima that’s on the Yakama reservation. She was decorating vehicles used for census outreach in underserved tribal neighborhoods throughout the lower Yakima Valley.
Yakama Nation case could set precedent for sacred tribal sites in WA Original
Yakima County officials have twice approved the expansion, which the Yakama Nation appealed twice and then sued the county and the mining company in 2017. The case could spend several more years in court because of the complexity and cutting edge nature of the cultural resource protection laws being debated, according to Ethan Jones, the Yakama Nation’s lead attorney in the case. The case dates back years before the lawsuit.
From WSU to Western, college town businesses are feeling the squeeze
The extra bedrooms in Tony Poston’s house are named after old Washington State University friends who come to visit him in Pullman on fall weekends for football games. The WSU alumni would make a full weekend out of it, doing rounds around town, hitting up the RV lots with all the tailgaters and getting beers at The Coug. Poston would make sure to swing by his WSU-branded merchandise store on campus to say hi to more alumni.
From WSU to Western, college town businesses are feeling the squeeze
Now, Martin Stadium, with a capacity of almost 33,000, sits empty and silent. No RVs line the streets or fill the parking lots. Poston’s physical store, while still selling online, is permanently closed. The Coug has plastic sheeting up inside to separate the customers. For Pullman, Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order was only half the shutdown. The same istrue for many of the small college towns whose identities are found as much in downtown districts as in mascots and school colors.
Facing the Fallout
As WA restaurants struggle, workers weigh physical and economic survival Beyond coronavirus exposure and making rent, service workers are likely coping with long-lasting mental health effects. Already stigmatized, sex workers have fewer choices in a pandemic For years, sex workers have struggled to find safe work under tighter federal regulations. Coronavirus made that worse.
In challenging times, love is an act of resistance
Heid E. Erdrich’s new award-winning poetry collection, ‘Little Big Bully,’ seeks resilience through human connection. Bojan Louis Oct. 7, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now Cover art by Andrea Carlson In Little Big Bully, award-winning writer Heid E.
A little paper with clout
How High Country News evolved. Carl Segerstrom Interview Sept. 1, 2020 From the print edition Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now The legacy of Tom Bell, the founder of High Country News, looms large over the magazine’s history. And yet, he only ran HCN for about five of the 13 years that it was published in Lander, Wyoming.
Opinion | Two homeless teens committed murder. Should they have been treated like adults?
The teenagers were 16 and 17 when, along with their then 13-year-old younger brother, Joseph, they entered the camp known as the “Jungle” with the intent of robbing a prolific drug dealer. Joseph was prosecuted in juvenile court, convicted of murder and assault charges, and, in May 2018, sentenced to eight years in juvenile detention.
Between high decibel levels and police inaction, tensions are building between Spokane Planned Parenthood and the pop-up church outside
click to enlarge Daniel Walters photo Ken Peters, founder of the Church at Planned Parenthood. By Emily McCarty / Crosscut.com / July 29, 2020 The debate over whether a Spokane religious group can hold services in front of a Planned Parenthood facility is getting so loud and heated that it is headed toward a courtroom, where noise ordinances, the right to health care and the First Amendment are all likely to be debated.
Spokane Planned Parenthood sues pop-up church over noise
But Planned Parenthood has been measuring noise levels, which its officials say are disruptive, intimidating, detrimental to the health and safety of staff and clients, and go above the legal decibel limit of city and state noise ordinances. In June, they’d had enough, so they filed a lawsuit against Covenant Church, which started the mobile ministry. Covenant Church pastor Ken Peters, who founded TCAPP, said he chose to host services outside the facility for a reason.
For kids who need psych help in WA: ‘There’s nothing. Places are booked.’
They are Washington families who have youth with severe behavioral health needs. The children might be homicidal, suicidal, violent, intellectually disabled or chronically mentally ill. Every child is unique, but they all need one thing: long-term inpatient psychiatric care.
Methow Valley businesses eager for tourism, wary of tourists
Now Bonica, who moved to Twisp, population 958, in 1978, is one of many small business owners in Okanogan County with mixed feelings about the reopening of businesses in the Methow Valley, just as both the coronavirus and the tourist season are heating up. The Methow Valley in Central Washington is a beautfful stretch of wilderness sprinkled with tiny communities, from Winthrop and Twisp on Highway 20, south to Pateros and Brewster near the Columbia River.
Yakima County farmworkers called ‘sacrificial lambs’ of pandemic
Rosalinda Guillén was one of the community leaders who sounded the alarm about farmworker safety in March. She’s the executive director of Community to Community Development, an organization based in Bellingham that focuses on democracy and food justice, as well as providing support to agricultural workers. “No healthcare, poor housing, exhaustion, crowded into packing sheds, crowded into buses. They have been vulnerable for generations.
Small town activists show up big for Black Lives Matter
Since George Floyd’s death on May 25, Cuhtahlata has changed her schedule to every day, joining Ellensburg’s anti-racism protests in support of Black Lives Matter. The killing of Black men at the hands of police has shaken her as a protester, and also a grandmother. “And then when this happened [George Floyd’s death] and happened again. It happened again and continues to happen, it seems, like two or three times a week,” Cuhtahlatah said. “All I could see was my grandsons on the ground dying.
AR-15s complicate anti-racism protests across Washington
The issue has created some unusual alliances and unexpected conflicts: While some businesses are asking for protection, others are clashing with gun owners. Protesters and police aren’t always sure exactly where they fit into the debate. Bradley Lindsey, a 30-year-old living in Bellevue who was recently laid off from his aerospace machinist job, came armed with an AR-15 to a Kirkland jewelry store at the request of his friend, the owner.
Editor’s Notebook: The power of Black imagination
Imagining the particulars of societal change from the minor (will we ever sit in a packed movie theater again?) to the massive (what would “defunding the police” look like?) is an intellectual workout that can be both thrilling and overwhelming.
For community health clinics, one medical crisis could cause another
“I don't like switching and have to tell my whole life story again,” said Huff, who travels to the clinic in a free 15-minute medical shuttle from Castle Rock, her tiny town of about 2,200 that’s an hour north of Vancouver, Washington. “I like to stay with one person.” Her clinic is one of Cowlitz Family Health Center's seven medical clinics that span three rural counties that hug the Columbia River: Pacific County on the coast, Wahkiakum County in the middle and Cowlitz County to the east.
Lack of behavioral health care in WA forces families apart
Christian, their 12-year-old adopted son, is currently in inpatient treatment for children with behavioral issues at a facility in Spokane. One year ago, the facility issued him a 30-day notice, which has been extended to a year, for his increasingly difficult and violent behaviors, effectively giving the family a deadline. The family has been trying to find him an appropriate placement ever since.
What we learned from interviewing pandemic protesters
Even a newly appointed member of the Spokane Regional Health District’s Board of Health was there, contradicting current public health guidelines, doubting efficacy of face coverings, promoting use of vitamin C and encouraging the idea of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. Washingtonians opposing Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” orders seemed to be growing — if not in numbers, in decibels.
The pandemic politics of Washington's stay-at-home protesters
Tjoelker was one of the many to show up May 9 to tiny Lynden in Whatcom County for the “Lynden Freedom Parade,” which followed the Dutch-style tradition of parading through town in vehicles instead of walking, although many showed up on foot to hold signs of solidarity from the side. The protest in Lynden against Gov.
1 in 4 Washingtonians could need food assistance soon
“We’re still looking under every stone to find every amount of resources available, while our philanthropic partners are working to achieve additional funding as well,”said Katie Rains, a member of the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s food assistance team. This widespread food insecurity is currently costing the state $6 million a week — half a million of which is needed just for packaging, personal protective equipment and sanitation.
With little PPE, in-home caregivers are essential but exposed
While she gets gloves through her home care agency, they were able to secure only two disposable masks for each worker or agency provider. Although they’re single-use medical masks, Williams washes and reuses them. Williams, who has been doing this work for six years, is also an individual provider, where the personal protective equipment (PPE) situation is more dire.
Northwest Wonders
Apocalypse: Now What? License to drive Readers ask: When and where is it OK to get behind the wheel during a pandemic? We explore the gray area. Seattle’s motorcycle clubs ride free (but socially distanced) Coronavirus has scooter, moped and motorcycle enthusiasts rolling with caution. Coronavirus disrupts child custody plans for WA parents Family courts are closed except for emergencies, leaving many scrambling to improvise new parenting arrangements. Apocalypse: Now What?
Advocates seek early release for incarcerated youth amid COVID-19
The 59-year-old Wenatchee bus driver raised 17-year-old Donte alone, alongside his 21-year-old sister, who is now out of the house. Donte is technically her great-nephew, but she adopted him at 2 years old and affectionately calls him her son. Donte was initially sent to Naselle Youth Camp, a medium security juvenile facility at the southwestern tip of Washington, but also spent time in two low-security community juvenile facilities, Sunrise and Canyon View.
The ugly side of 'environmental wins' in the pandemic
Like so many of you, one of my big concerns when I first started reporting on the coronavirus and how it is completely destabilizing human society was what this might mean for the environment and all the living creatures we impact. Our attention is rightfully focused on the immediate and huge losses of human life and the gaping holes in social safety nets many of us take for granted.
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