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Orion Donovan Smith

@orionds.bsky.social
1.6K followers 125 following 28 posts

Baltimore resident and DC reporter covering the other Washington for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane. Member of the Standing Committee of Correspondents, Regional Reporters Association board member, Report for America alum, amateur bike mechanic.

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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 23h
“The conflict in Iran has run up the price of gas and diesel, and this all needs to end,” Sen. Jim Risch told me. “Once the conflict is over, it’s going to come down rather quickly.” His opponent, Todd Achilles, says Risch—chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—should do more to end it.
spokesman.com
Jim Risch calls for Iran war to end as rising costs take center stage in Idaho Senate race
WASHINGTON – The Idaho Republican who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Thursday the U.S. war with Iran must end to help bring down high costs for Americans, as President Donald Trump ...
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investigatewest.bsky.social @investigatewest.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
For years, the Spokesman-Review staff have raised concerns about editor Rob Curley's leadership, culminating in his suspension in August. @wilsonc.bsky.social and @bydaisy.bsky.social @rangemedia.co report on how Curley lost the faith of his newsroom: www.investigatewest.org/rob-curley-s...
investigatewest.org
How Rob Curley lost the Spokesman-Review newsroom
Newsroom staffers tell InvestigateWest and RANGE that concerns about Curley’s leadership festered until his August suspension — weeks before the paper was set to transfer to his nonprofit
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Radio-TV Correspondents Association and the Standing Committee of Correspondents have released this statement to address concerns @reedreports.bsky.social and I have heard about reporters being barred from recording video of Sen. McConnell when he returned to the Capitol yesterday.
rtcacapitolhill.org
Joint Statement on Latest Push for Filming in the Senate Wing of the U.S. Capitol – RTCA Capitol Hill | Radio & Television Correspondents' Association
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Those frantic, hysterical political fundraising texts aren’t for you, they’re designed to take advantage of known cognitive vulnerabilities among seniors, says this twice-spiked(!) report from @adambonica.bsky.social data4democracy.substack.com/p/hook-and-s...
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
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Charles Apple @charlesapple.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
More than 700 structures burned. 67,000 residents evacuated. 14 people unaccounted for so far. Here are The Spokesman-Review's front pages over the past three days of fires...
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Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 04/08/2026
It’s true. The Spokesman-Review has been doing incredible work and it's transitioning right now to nonprofit ownership. There’s never been a better time to subscribe: spokesman.com/subscribe
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Leah Sottile @leahsottile.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I've been asking reporters in Spokane how we can help and everyone says subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. The Spokesman-Review has been doing unreal coverage of the fires: www.spokesman.com
spokesman.com
The Spokesman-Review | Local News, Business, Entertainment, Sports & Weather for Eastern Washington
Serving the Inland Northwest since 1883. Spokesman.com provides breaking and in-depth coverage of Spokane area news, sports and community.
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Alexandra (Alex) Duggan @alexdugganreports.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I was on the scene that day and watched people flag police down to talk to someone walking away from the fire. My law enforcement sources confirmed to me this evening my description of the person I saw was consistent with the suspect. Here’s the story so far: www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...
spokesman.com
Sheriff: Man, 37, arrested on suspicion of setting Old Trails fire
A 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson for allegedly setting the Old Trails fire, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels announced Monday night.
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Aaron Hedge @aaronhedge.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The Spokesman is doing incredible reporting on this story. Follow them for critical info. @alexdugganreports.bsky.social www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...
spokesman.com
'Never seen it this bad': Thousands evacuated in north Spokane as wildfire crosses river into city
A wildfire driven by high winds jumped the Spokane River Saturday afternoon, burning homes and quickly moving into the Indian Trail Neighborhood.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
ICYMI in Sunday's Spokesman-Review, Democrats in Idaho's biggest county have given @rothforidaho.bsky.social an ultimatum: Raise $50k and produce a campaign plan by Aug. 12, or they'll consider endorsing independent @achillesid.bsky.social in the race against Sen. Jim Risch.
spokesman.com
Idaho Democrats think Jim Risch could be beaten, but they aren't sure they want a Democrat to run for Senate
WASHINGTON – Democratic Party leaders in Idaho’s most populous county think they have their best chance in decades to oust an incumbent Republican senator. They just aren’t sure a Democrat is the one ...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
ICYMI: I asked county election officials in WA & ID what they think of the SAVE America Act. Of the 9 who replied, 8—most Republicans—shared serious concerns. Even the 1 who supports the bill said "it would be a disaster" for many states. www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...
spokesman.com
The 'SAVE America Act' has brought Congress to a halt. Local election officials say it's an unworkable bill
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has made it clear his top legislative priority is the “SAVE America Act,” a bill that would impose new restrictions on the way Americans vote this November.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Some highlights from the Great American State Fair: An elk with an Amazon package in Washington state's empty booth, WA's own Glenn Beck railing against what "they" don't want you to know, and Benny Benassi's 2002 electro-house hit "Satisfaction."
spokesman.com
Glenn Beck and an elk standing next to an Amazon box: The sights and sounds of the Great American State Fair
WASHINGTON – Wednesday’s theme at the Great American State Fair was “faith, values and inspiration.”
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I spoke yesterday with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Rep. Michael Baumgartner about President Trump's threats to destroy Iranian society and the results of the past five weeks of war. Crocker called Trump's rhetoric "beyond extreme" and said the war has left the Iranian regime in a stronger position.
spokesman.com
As shaky U.S.-Iran ceasefire begins, Crocker calls Trump's threats 'beyond extreme' while Baumgartner defends them as 'Machiavellian'
WASHINGTON – As renewed threats and conflicting claims tested the first day of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization, a decorated American diplomat said the truce could leave Iran’s government in a stronger position than when the United States and Israel launched the war five weeks earlier.
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Alexandra (Alex) Duggan @alexdugganreports.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
A “small but growing number” of Spokane’s veterans hospital staff have affixed photos of Alex Pretti, the man killed by border patrol agents in MN, onto their ID badges. www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...
spokesman.com
'One of our own': Employees, patients at Spokane veterans' hospital honor Alex Pretti, the VA nurse slain in Minneapolis
Employees at Spokane’s veterans’ hospital observed a moment of silence on Monday morning, and some affixed photos of Alex Pretti to their own ID badges in a show of solidarity with the VA nurse shot d...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Veteran and VA employees in Spokane honored Alex Pretti, the slain nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA, with flowers outside Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center and by putting Pretti's photo on their own ID badges. With @alexdugganreports.bsky.social in today's Spokesman-Review.
spokesman.com
'One of our own': Employees, patients at Spokane veterans' hospital honor Alex Pretti, the VA nurse slain in Minneapolis
Employees at Spokane’s veterans’ hospital observed a moment of silence on Monday morning, and some affixed photos of Alex Pretti to their own ID badges in a show of solidarity with the VA nurse shot d...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
"A small but growing number" of employees at Spokane's VA medical center are putting photos of Alex Pretti, their fellow VA clinician killed by CBP agents in Minneapolis, over their own name badges, one nurse tells me. They began today with a moment of silence. More to come at spokesman.com
An employee badge at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane is covered with a photo of Alex Pretti, a VA nurse who was killed by Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Scoop: Rep. Dan Newhouse won't run for re-election in 2026, leaving Congress after a dozen years representing Central Washington in the House. One of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, his departure will leave an open seat in Washington's most reliably conservative district.
spokesman.com
Dan Newhouse won't seek re-election in 2026, retiring after 12 years representing Central Washington in Congress
WASHINGTON – Rep. Dan Newhouse will announce Wednesday that he won't seek re-election and will retire at the end of 2026, stepping down after a dozen years representing Central Washington's 4th Congre...
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Nick Grube @nickgrube.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Chris Dawson built an empire off a program that gave him massive no-bid contracts in exchange for the promise of uplifting Native Hawaiians. He’s now accused of cheating it to line his own pockets. Check out my latest with @propublica.org and @civilbeat.bsky.social www.civilbeat.org/2025/12/hawa...
civilbeat.org
Lack of Oversight In SBA Program May Take Millions Away From Native Hawaiians
A small business program allowed Christopher Dawson to win big contracts if he promised to uplift Native Hawaiians. Instead, federal prosecutors allege, he used the money to line his own pockets.
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Nick Grube @nickgrube.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Republicans have seized upon a scandal involving a Native Hawaiian defense contractor to target a civil rights era program meant to help disadvantaged businesses compete in the federal marketplace. www.civilbeat.org/2025/12/frau... (A collab w/ @civilbeat.bsky.social & @propublica.org)
civilbeat.org
‘Fraud Magnet’? Senator Wants To Halt SBA Contracts Amid Hawaiʻi Case
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joni Ernst cited a criminal investigation of Christopher Dawson, accused of hijacking small business funding intended to help Native Hawaiians.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
I spoke with Jim Risch, Ryan Zinke & Michael Baumgartner about the U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean & Eastern Pacific. Sen. Risch said there's "no difference" between drugs & weapons. Rep. Zinke said the alternative to strikes is "no enforcement." www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...
spokesman.com
Inland NW Republicans defend Caribbean boat strikes amid bipartisan scrutiny of potential war crimes
WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans from the Inland Northwest have largely stood by the Trump administration this week amid bipartisan scrutiny of U.S. military strikes on small boats allegedly car...
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Patricia Kime @patriciakime.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Not ready for prime time? via @washingtonpost.com and Spokesman-Review @orionds.bsky.social and Desmond Butler wapo.st/3KGIcKC
wapo.st
VA staff flag dangerous errors ahead of new health records expansion
A multibillion-dollar electronic system seeks to boost medical care for veterans across VA’s network. Some medical providers say glitches put patients at risk.
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Sabrina Eaton @sabrinaeaton.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
This report attributes several deaths of Ohio VA patients in the Columbus area to the glitchy new VA computer system
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
The story is jointly published by our two outlets, and you can read a non-paywalled version here: spokesman.com/stories/2025... 8/end
spokesman.com
VA staff flag dangerous errors ahead of new health records expansion
On the eve of a major expansion, a multibillion-dollar project to upgrade the computer systems of all Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals is beset with problems, according to some medical staff w...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
What began as a local story for us at The Spokesman-Review has become a national story, so we partnered with The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) to take a broader look at the project, which is estimated to cost taxpayers at least $33 billion. 7/
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Current and former VA employees told us that deploying the EHR at a big, complex hospital could lead to problems that haven't emerged at the relatively small facilities where it's used today. They also raised concerns about the pace of the 2026 rollout. 6/
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
The Biden administration halted the system's rollout in 2022 after patient harm first came to light. Now, the Trump administration is accelerating that rollout, with planned launches in mid-2026 at major hospitals in Michigan, followed by others in Ohio, Indiana, Alaska & KY. 5/
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
That error, which the VA acknowledged in a letter to Sands' widow, illustrates how EHR-related patient harm happens and why it's such a tough problem to solve. It involves humans interacting with a computer system, and it's rarely simple to ascribe blame to one or the other. 4/
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Raymond "Chuck" Sands, a USMC veteran who served in Vietnam and had lung cancer, died in Ohio in 2022 after an EHR error led to a 36-hour delay getting antibiotics. When his wife called the VA to check the status of a prescription, the EHR showed info for the wrong patient. 3/
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
The system played a role in 4,601 cases of patient harm as of Aug. 1, per internal VA data we obtained through FOIA. While VA safety experts classified most of those cases as "minor," they include the deaths of six veterans. We detail one of those cases for the first time. 2/
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Five years after the VA launched a new computer system in Spokane, Desmond Butler 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. 1/ www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
washingtonpost.com
VA staff flag dangerous errors ahead of new health records expansion
A multibillion-dollar electronic system seeks to boost medical care for veterans across VA’s network. Some users say glitches and errors put patients at risk.
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Jeff Barker @barkman42.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
'We are alive:' federal workers get hugs, validation in fraught period of shutdown and layoffs www.baltimoresun.com/2025/10/03/w...
baltimoresun.com
‘We are alive:’ federal workers get hugs, validation in fraught period of shutdown and layoffs
WASHINGTON — The poem about vulnerability and persistence was hitting its mark. It could hardly have found a more appropriate audience. “We are alive and we are trying,”  Drew Tye Ruby-Howe recited…
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Tal Kopan @talkopan.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Some news: The Trump administration notified some AmeriCorps programs this week it was reinstating funding that had been abruptly terminated in April, a sudden about-face that came with no explanation for the reversal or clarity on its scope. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/17/n...
bostonglobe.com
Months after widespread cuts, some AmeriCorps programs receive sudden notice of reinstatement - The Boston Globe
The sudden about-face came with no explanation for the reversal or clarity on its scope.
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Jennifer Shutt @jennifershutt.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Senate version of the "big, beautiful bill" would raise the debt limit by $5 trillion, a $1 trillion increase over the $4 trillion included in the House version www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-ne...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Last week, before Trump ordered ICE to stop targeting farmworkers (as the NYT and others have reported), I talked to several GOP lawmakers about the open secret that U.S. relies heavily on unauthorized migrant workers. Could Congress finally reform immigration law for them?
spokesman.com
Republicans in Congress urge Trump to target criminals, not farmworkers, as ICE arrests increase
WASHINGTON – Amid a recent surge in arrests of immigrants allegedly living in the country illegally, some raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have drawn quiet concern from Republicans in...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
There's plenty of troubling-to-horrifying stuff going on in the world these days, but this @kashhill.bsky.social story stands out. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
President Trump wants to boost U.S. mining, commercial fishing and oil/gas drilling. But his administration has closed a Spokane office responsible for protecting workers' safety in those same industries. I spoke with researchers at NIOSH's Spokane Research Lab whose jobs are in jeopardy.
spokesman.com
As Trump administration aims to boost mining, drilling and fishing, Spokane office dedicated to workers' safety remains in jeopardy
WASHINGTON – Among the more than 150 executive actions President Donald Trump has taken since assuming office in January are orders that aim to boost oil and gas drilling, mining and commercial fishin...
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Tal Kopan @talkopan.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
A music and art festival nestled in an Appalachian river valley wouldn‘t immediately seem like a place where DOGE would be top of mind. But when I went, I indeed found a community that feels like DOGE is closing in all around. My dispatch: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/09/n...
bostonglobe.com
‘It’s all connected’: In Appalachia, a bustling community struggles under the weight of mounting DOGE cuts - The Boston Globe
The omnipresence of concern illustrated how President Trump’s dramatic efforts to downsize the federal government through DOGE are reverberating around the country.
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Jeff Barker @barkman42.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
A Prince George's County community is on edge after Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported from that Maryland county. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/04/19/a...
baltimoresun.com
A Prince George’s County community is on edge after Abrego Garcia deported
Five weeks after Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison, an immigrant community in Prince George’s County is on edge.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
I'm proud and grateful to work for The Spokesman-Review, a local news outlet with both an illustrious past (second-worst paper in America, per Harry Truman) and a bright future. They also continue to pay me, even though I'm so bad at social media that I'm posting this a day late.
spokesman.com
Cowles family plans to donate The Spokesman-Review to local nonprofit
The Cowles family intends to donate The Spokesman-Review to a recently formed Spokane-based community nonprofit organization that plans to continue publishing the newspaper amid the changes and challe...
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Ariana Figueroa @arianalfigueroa.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
🧵 1/6 I spoke w/ former State Department folks and foreign policy aids who raised concerns about the Leahy Law being violated with the State Department paying El Salvador $6 million for a year to detain roughly 300 men the U.S. removed. www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-h...
newsfromthestates.com
U.S. human rights law likely violated in $6M payment for El Salvador prison, experts say
WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department is paying El Salvador $6 million to house hundreds of immigrants deported from the United States in an immense and brutal prison there, Centro de Confinamiento d...
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Last Dive Bar @lastdivebar.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
“Oakland…fine me.” Mariners broadcast some gangsters! 😎
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The Athletic @theathletic.com · 28/03/2025
Still got it! In full uniform, Ichiro Suzuki throws an 84 mph first pitch for the Mariners' #OpeningDay.
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Shira Stein @shiramstein.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
If successful in their races, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee would be taking on roles with little similarity to their time in Congress — and the likelihood that they will be blamed for anything that goes wrong, even if it isn’t directly their responsibility or fault www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
sfchronicle.com
Katie Porter and Barbara Lee are running for executive roles. Did Congress prepare them?
If successful in their races, Porter and Lee would be taking on roles with little similarity to their time in Congress.
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Shane Harris @shaneharris.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
This story can be republished under a Creative Commons license thanks to the support of The Spokesman-Review's subscribers and donations from the Spokane community. We're the smallest paper in the country with a reporter in DC, yet my editors were quick to send me to Chicago for this story.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
I talked with several of the roughly 1,700 VA employees who were fired in February, supposedly to improve efficiency, and are now being paid not to work as court cases play out. They include an HVAC technician who likely saved taxpayers >$10 million and a pharmacy worker who helped save $775k.
spokesman.com
They were fired in the name of efficiency based on 'a lie.' Now the VA is paying them not to work
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. – The night before Valentine’s Day, Ricky Noschese and his wife Laurie left their jobs at a military and veterans hospital and stopped to pick up a heart-shaped chocolate cake to s...
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Tia Mitchell, AJC Washington Bureau Chief @tiamitchell.com · 14/03/2025
My latest for the @ajc.com: A deep dive into the campaign spending of former U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, who after announcing his retirement kept up a busy scheduled that included high-end hotels, thousands of dollars in flights and even concert tickets. (w/ Phoebe Quinton) www.ajc.com/politics/on-...
ajc.com
Former US Rep. Drew Ferguson's campaign donation spending raises questions
Despite being the only member of Georgia’s U.S. House delegation not on the 2024 ballot, Ferguson outspent almost a third of his colleagues after his retirement announcement.
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Orion Donovan Smith @orionds.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Ken Kizer, who led a transformation of VA health care in the late ‘90s, told me that the department’s plan to cut >80k jobs is “back-asswards” and doing it while accelerating the Oracle EHR rollout is “lunacy.”
spokesman.com
Trump administration to cut more than 80,000 jobs at Department of Veterans Affairs, internal memo says
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to cut more than 80,000 jobs in the next six months as part of the Trump administration's effort to dramatically downsize the federal workforce, a...
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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Kind of incredible that, btwn Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett, the Seahawks had arguably the two most underrated receivers of their respective generations. Feel fortunate to have watched both for so long.
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Lawrence Andrea @lawrencegandrea.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Behind the scenes of the state Supreme Court race, a 'turf war' simmers between Wisconsin GOP and Turning Point "There’s a war. It’s a quiet war. Nobody’s really paying attention to the war. But there’s a war going on." www.jsonline.com/story/news/p...
jsonline.com
Behind the scenes of the Supreme Court race, a 'turf war' simmers between Wisconsin GOP and Turning Point
Behind the scenes of a tough race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, a turf battle is playing out in the GOP as the group Turning Point seeks influence.
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