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Someone Is Getting Away With Eunice Whitman’s Killing. Alaska’s Slow Justice System Let It Happen.
Justine Paul was indicted on flawed evidence. A defense witness wrote that police should have treated no fewer than 12 people as suspects of “higher interest.” A decade after the killing, no one has been convicted in Whitman’s death.
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Featured Stories
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Bad Evidence Got Him Indicted for Murder. He Waited 7 Years to Walk Free.
Justine Paul was accused of killing his girlfriend, Eunice Whitman. In Alaska’s slow-motion criminal justice system, he was kept behind bars even as the evidence against him fell apart.
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Oregon Struggles to Land Federal Counterterrorism Money as Trump Orders Troops to Stop “Terrorists” Hindering ICE
A quiet battle has played out in court over money that “sanctuary” states say is needed to fight true extremist threats from both ends of the political spectrum.
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Alaska Owns Dozens of Deteriorating Schools. Now It Wants Under-Resourced Districts to Take Them On.
Rural school district superintendents are trying to “find the best, most optimal use of very lean resources.” Taking on the state’s unmaintained buildings, they say, will only increase their burden.
Northwest News Staff
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Reporters
Rob Davis, Audrey Dutton and McKenzie Funk
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Ashley Hiruko, Kyle Hopkins and Tony Schick
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Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage, Alaska
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Boise, Idaho
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Seattle, Washington
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Portland, Oregon
The Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
More Stories
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“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops
After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence was misleading.
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Alaska’s Public Schools Serve as Emergency Shelters. Those Buildings Are Also in Crisis.
Across hundreds of Alaskan communities, public schools are often the safest buildings where people can take shelter during disasters. After decades of state neglect, however, some have become emergencies themselves.
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What Really Happened in Portland Before Trump Deployed the National Guard
In the two months before Trump’s decision, criminal charges were announced against only three people. On nights when physical conflict did erupt, it often came from police firing on, shoving, pepper-spraying and tackling protesters.
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Idaho Banned Vaccine Mandates. Activists Want to Make It a Model for the Country.
The Idaho Medical Freedom Act makes it illegal to require anyone to take a vaccine or receive “medical intervention.” Leslie Manookian, the activist behind the law, hopes to make it a “societal norm” for the rest of the country.
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Disabled Idaho Students Lack Access to Playgrounds and Lunchrooms. Historic $2 Billion Funding Will Do Little to Help.
Despite federal law, disabled students can’t access playgrounds, lunchrooms, classes and bathrooms. With added funding, school districts are still unable to make necessary fixes.
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Oregon Fast-Tracks Renewable Energy Projects as Trump Bill Ends Tax Incentives
Gov. Tina Kotek ordered the move, which follows reporting by Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica that highlighted impediments green energy advocates blame for the state’s poor ranking when it comes to the growth of renewables.
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Seattle Spent Millions on Hotel Rooms to Shelter Unhoused People. Then It Stopped Filling Them.
Early last year, the city signed a $2.7 million lease extension to continue using a hotel’s rooms as shelter space. Yet despite committing to pay the rent, the city stopped sending people there.
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Before Tom Dundon Agreed to Buy the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Accused the Company He Created of Predatory Lending
In 2020, the state sued Santander Consumer USA for allegedly preying on Oregonians through high-interest car loans they couldn’t afford in a case involving more than 265,000 borrowers nationwide.
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Alaska Vowed to Resolve Murders of Indigenous People. Now It Refuses to Provide Their Names.
When the nonprofit Data for Indigenous Justice filed public records requests with the Alaska Department of Public Safety concerning cases it had investigated, the state rejected them.
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Idaho’s Coroner System Is “Broken and a Joke.” Here Are 5 Ideas From Coroners on How to Fix It.
Lawmakers have been warned for 70 years that the state’s system of elected coroners is broken, yet major reforms haven’t materialized. An anonymous state survey and interviews by ProPublica reveal what coroners say would help.
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How One Oregon Activist Is Using a Decades-Old Liberal Policy to Stall Green Energy Projects in Rural Areas
Irene Gilbert is a 76-year-old retired state employee on a mission, fighting energy projects like large wind farms in Oregon’s rural communities. Renewable energy advocates and lawmakers treat activists like her as gadflies who should be stopped.
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How the Rapid Spread of Misinformation Pushed Oregon Lawmakers to Kill the State’s Wildfire Risk Map
After Oregon’s record-breaking fire season in 2020, lawmakers wanted to map out which properties were most at risk. But anger from homeowners escalated quickly.
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Alaska Ignored Warning Signs of a Budget Crisis. Now It Doesn’t Have Funding to Fix Crumbling Schools.
Lawmakers only budgeted $40 million of the nearly $800 million that districts say is needed to fix and maintain schools to keep them safe and operating. Gov. Mike Dunleavy then vetoed more than two-thirds of that.
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Idaho Schools Consistently Break Disability Laws. Parents Say They’re Not Doing Enough to Fix the Problem.
Idaho students with disabilities have worse outcomes than many of their peers in other states, according to federal data. Parents say it can take months to evaluate students, and in some cases schools have refused to provide needed services.
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He Was Accused of Killing His Wife. Idaho’s Coroner System Let Clues Vanish After a Previous Wife’s Death.
Clayton Strong had a history of domestic unrest in two marriages. The women’s families say a more thorough investigation of Betty Strong’s death in Idaho might have saved the life of his next wife, Shirley Weatherley, in Texas.
