Covering the other Washington for @SpokesmanReview | 2026 Chair, Standing Committee of Correspondents | Long-suffering Mariners and Canucks fan
Concrete, WA → Baltimore, MD
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Five years after the VA launched a new computer system in Spokane, @desmondbutler and I found the $10 billion Oracle EHR is still beset with problems, as the Trump administration gears up to launch it at 13 more hospitals in 2026.
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Orion Donovan Smith retweeted
Former WA House Republican Leader JT Wilcox weighs in on what real leaders do after a big butt-whuppin'
After a big election loss you can tell who the real leaders are. They are the ones who take responsibility. It's true that most of what happened in WA was driven by the national wave, but whether it is all their fault or not, Leaders are honest about the result and identify and own the mistakes that they made. Anyone who refuses to do that doesn't deserve the loyalty of the rest of us. In politics we all have a shelf life, but the date isn't printed on us. Leaders will recognize if this is it.
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Graham and many others thought the Republicans' reckoning for giving themselves over to Trump would come in Nov 2016, but with the Comey letter et al, it didn't.
It could have come in 2024, but the Dems stuck with Biden too long.
It finally came tonight. 10 years.
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But this is one tactical error Let's Go Washington made: Now, Olympia knows that over 58 percent of the state is totally fine with some threshold of income taxes
I strongly support an income tax on everyone (at least, every adult earning a wage) in WA. If we adopted Idaho's tax system we'd have ~$9B more a year to spend.
But the reality is there aren't the votes in #waleg, Ferguson would veto it, and I doubt voters would go for it.
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🚨NEW: Democrats in the lower Yakima Valley look poised to flip 2 state house seats long held by Republicans: tri-cityherald.com/news/poli…
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Results from Idaho's most populous (and Dem-leaning) county show Todd Achilles faring well, but his fellow independent Natalie Fleming is taking a significant bite out of the votes he needs to beat Jim Risch.
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"The reason behind those high US health care costs is straightforward: The prices that clinicians, hospitals, drugmakers and other players in the health system charge are high."
This is a good piece on the issue that's likely to dominate next couple years: wapo.st/4ixi9T4
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One thing to watch for today is which party wins the most House races.
That should tell you who’s winning control of the House
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RT @BonnieAire: “you can choose to be the guy that promotes gambling and alcohol” lolllll
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New: Haley Steven’s official staff including her longtime chief are resigning from her office this morning, per spox.
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New: I obtained documents showing Spokane's VA hospital was planning to cut jobs and close some services.
When I asked VA about it, the department told me there was no such plan — then "detailed" the hospital's director to work on "some special projects."
spokesman.com/stories/2026/o…
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Folks: some professional news. I'm joining the Washington Observer in December as senior political reporter. Very stoked to dig around in state politics, government & power with a renewed zeal and voice. washingtonobserver.substack.…
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Upstart independent candidate Todd @Achilles4Idaho has latched onto an aggressive campaign for US Senate to meaningfully challenge the longtime @GOPSenate @SenatorRisch in #Idaho. Can his unorthodox tactics deliver a #Midterms2026 shocker? w/ @Scutlz_1. idahostatesman.com/news/poli…
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needed video to believe he actually said this 9 days before an election.
TRUMP on HIGH GAS PRICES: We’re making money like we’ve never made before. They’ll say: President Trump is bragging about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. I don’t give a damn. We’re making a freaking fortune.
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Early this year, I visited Ingram, a TX town of ~1,900, to check out a tip.
The area was starting to recover from its worst flood in a century.
But as Latino workers drove to jobsites to help rebuild, the tipster said, a cop in a black Dodge Charger kept stopping them ... 🧵
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Ken Paxton shares a bag of beef jerky with TMZ DC’s @hicharliecotton and reveals what it would take for him to debate his opponent, James Talarico.
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The nonprofit poised to take over The Spokesman-Review at the end of October plans to keep suspended executive editor Rob Curley in a leadership role.
The newsroom isn't happy about it. investigatewest.org/rob-curl…
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Merrill College students know their rights as journalists.
"Cat Murphy is a master's student at the University of Maryland, credentialed as a reporter for our Capital News Service and doing the job we teach our students to do. Cat recorded openly in a public space alongside other news outlets, and that is her legal right," Dean Rafael Lorente (@DeanLorente) said. "I'm proud of how she handled herself in a difficult situation."
Republican Rep. Andy Harris incorrectly told a reporter they were breaking the law as the reporter and others recorded an exchange with him last night.
Harris had just wrapped up a debate with Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz.
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