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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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Featured Stories
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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.
Northwest News Staff
Northwest Editor
Steve Suo
Reporters
Rob Davis, Audrey Dutton and McKenzie Funk
Northwest Fellows
Ashley Hiruko, Kyle Hopkins and Tony Schick
Local Reporting Network Partners
ProPublica is supporting local and regional newsrooms as they work on important investigative projects affecting their communities. Some of our past and present partners in the region:
Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage, Alaska
High Country News
Multistate
Idaho Statesman
Boise, Idaho
KUOW
Seattle, Washington
KYUK
Bethel, Alaska
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Portland, Oregon
Street Roots
Portland, Oregon
The Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
More Stories
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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.
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Anchorage Rebuilds Its Prosecutor’s Office After Our Reporting Revealed Hundreds of Criminal Case Dismissals
The city dropped more than 250 domestic violence assault cases and more than 270 drunken driving cases between May 1 and Oct. 2 last year. Now it says it has hired a full staff of 12 “frontline” prosecutors who will take cases to trial.
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Trump Administration Abandons Deal With Northwest Tribes to Restore Salmon
The Trump administration canceled a deal, signed under President Joe Biden, that would have enabled the removal of four hydroelectric dams along the Columbia River that are considered harmful to salmon.
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Portland Said It Was Investing in Homeless People’s Safety. Deaths Have Quadrupled.
The city responded to an increase in homeless deaths by intensifying encampment sweeps and adding emergency shelter at the expense of permanent housing. Experts say this has perpetuated the problem.
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Red State Voters Approved Progressive Measures. GOP Lawmakers Are Trying to Undermine Them.
In the wake of ballot measures that increased abortion access and improved sick leave for workers, a coordinated effort is unfolding across the country to restrict direct democracy — and shift power to partisan legislatures.
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Newtok, Alaska, Was Supposed to Be a Model for Climate Relocation. Here’s How It Went Wrong.
The project’s challenges highlight how ill-prepared the U.S. is to respond to the way climate change is making some places uninhabitable.
