Indigenous Affairs Yakama Nation’s new public safety campus gives justice room to grow The tribal court system, which had occupied a cluster of trailers since the ’50s, plans to add services like a mental health or a veterans court. by Nika Bartoo-Smith Underscore News and ICT / January 9, 2024
Equity Snoqualmie Tribe starts land protection sales tax at Salish Lodge The 2% tax will preserve ancestral sites such as Snoqualmie Falls, and could be a model for other Indigenous nations. by Nika Bartoo-Smith Underscore/ICT / July 17, 2023
News The Washington mental health lifeline made for and by Native people The Native and Strong Lifeline provides connection and culturally specific care to callers in crisis. by Nika Bartoo-Smith Indian Country Today and Underscore News / June 19, 2023
Opinion In the PNW, Confederate flag controversies are not new Recent incidents in the region and a secession movement in Oregon show the Civil War era and its divisions still echo in the Northwest. by Knute Berger / July 19, 2021
Opinion How the Confederacy shaped the American West and cowboy culture In arguing that the South won the Civil War, historian Heather Cox Richardson points to the paradox of the cowboy and how it presents an enduring dilemma for our democracy. by Knute Berger / June 3, 2021
Opinion The legacy of racism built into Northwest highways and roads From the Oregon Trail to the Lake Washington Bridge, transportation infrastructure has often driven growth while promoting exclusion. by Knute Berger / April 27, 2021
Opinion U.S. mishandling of COVID echoes the 20th century eugenics movement A false belief in the genetic superiority of virus survivors may help explain the Trump administration's mismanagement of coronavirus. by Knute Berger / December 1, 2020
Opinion From Civil Rights to COVID-19: ‘Without truth, you don’t have justice’ Investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell has deepened the public memory of the Civil Rights Era. His reporting offers important lessons for today. by Knute Berger / May 25, 2020
Opinion Yes, there were black slaves in the Pacific Northwest. Historians are making our region confront it An Oregon author is exploring little-known chapters of the region's ugly, racist roots. by Knute Berger / September 30, 2019 / Updated at 4:14 September 30, 2019
Culture How a PNW cowboy shattered 19th-century gender norms Harry Allen was an outlaw of a different sort. by Knute Berger / March 20, 2019
