Erik Neumann
@erikneumann.bsky.social
OPB Southwest Washington Bureau Chief. Signal: ENeumann.12
Documents obtained by OPB show that City Manager Kris Swanson was fired after two police officers submitted letters to the mayor about worries of retaliation for testifying in an investigation about the city manager. However, those letters provide no specific examples of retaliation.
Battle Ground city manager firing came after police officer complaints
Councilors questioned the firing of City Manager Kris Swanson during a last-minute special meeting on Wednesday night.
opb.org
Extremely tight race in WA-3 as Braun and Gluesenkamp Perez advance to the general election
Two more days to vote in Washington state's primary election. Here's a surprisingly detailed infographic about this year's consequential supreme court races
Washington State Supreme Court Elections Visualizer
Explore the 2026 Washington State Supreme Court elections — candidates, positions, and key dates — in one easy-to-read visual guide.
washingtonsupremecourt.org
Washington's 3rd Congressional District race is surely a toss-up. One Republican strategist I talked to said it could be one of the top three targets in the country for controlling the U.S. House
Washington’s 3rd District could be among the most competitive House seats this fall
Nine candidates are running in the state’s August primary, but only two will emerge from that race to compete in November. It’s one of just 18 around the country that’s considered a toss-up.
opb.org
Wow, with Washington's Aug. 4 primary coming up, the League of Women Voters has done an awesome service of interviewing all 16 candidates for the Washington State Supreme Court - an election that could remake the state's highest court
League of Women Voters of Washington - Supreme Court Candidates
lwvwa.org
Breaking News: The Trump administration moved to open the habitats of imperiled animals to farming, drilling, mining and other development. Environmentalists characterized it as the most severe erosion of protections for wildlife in half a century. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/c...
The feds have approved an environmental review for the Interstate Bridge that took five years, setting the stage for construction
Interstate Bridge Program announces milestone in construction of new Oregon-to-Washington bridge
The bi-state megaproject announced Wednesday that it had received federal approval to begin construction.
opb.org
Water rights can feel intentionally hard to understand. Kudos to Emily for putting numbers behind some of the biggest water users of the Deschutes River
An Oregon law lets one wealthy region turn the desert green. When drought hits, farmers pay the price
During a historic drought, half of Central Oregon’s lifeblood river was diverted to a wealthy agricultural region that got a lot more water than its plants could drink. These water-rich landowners gre...
opb.org
nothing says transparency like a state agency withholding public records until i *mail them* fifteen cents
Boy, am I going to miss Zane. He was an ante-upper and an envelope-pusher in all the best ways. He took everything exactly the right amount of seriously. His wit and wordplay was hard to keep pace with, but it was fun to try. He was a stellar journalist and an even better colleague.
Zane Sparling, reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive, dies of cancer at 33
“He wanted his identity to be a reporter, and that’s what it was,” his father said.
oregonlive.com
This is a really smart story by @erikneumann.bsky.social about how a local newspaper in Battle Ground, WA has been taken over by a couple of brothers with Christian nationalist ties. This isn't the first time this has happened with a paper on the outskirts of Portland: www.opb.org/article/2026...
Controversial Battle Ground business owners buy community’s only newspaper
Brothers Camden and Mac Spiller announced Wednesday they have purchased the Battle Ground Reflector.
opb.org
Officials on Saturday said they have retrieved the remains of the final victims of Tuesday’s deadly Longview paper mill chemical tank rupture, bringing the disaster’s confirmed death toll to 11.
Coroner: Remains of final victims recovered from Longview paper mill disaster
Officials on Saturday said they have retrieved the remains of the final victims of Tuesday’s deadly Longview paper mill chemical tank rupture, bringing the confirmed death toll from the disaster to 11.
opb.org
really tragic day in longview, wa with one dead and nine still unaccounted for in paper mill incident www.opb.org/article/2026...
9 people still unaccounted for after Longview industrial implosion leaves at least 1 dead
Others were being treated for injuries after a chemical vat imploded at Southwest Washington paper mill Tuesday morning.
opb.org
"He's got a sound that is him. And that's rare – it's funny, but that's rare. You hear just a couple of seconds and you know who that is."
NPR@npr.org · 4mo agoThe legendary jazz saxophonist, who revolutionized the art of improvisation, died Monday at his home in Woodstock, N.Y. n.pr/3Q2hMWr
The Longview Public Schools superintendent was arrested by police on Thursday morning. She was arrested on charges related to obstructing an ongoing investigation into student sexual assault at Mark Morris High School.
Longview superintendent arrested on obstruction charges for high school sexual assault investigation
Longview schools superintendent Karen Cloninger was arrested Thursday morning on charges related to a student sexual assault investigation at Mark Morris High School.
opb.org
In a partisan shift, the Battle Ground city council is expected to hear one proclamation condemning violence connected to Antifa and another supporting ICE enforcement. Notably, two LGBTQ-related proclamations were not approved for this year
OPB@opb.org · 4mo agoOne draft proclamation set to be presented at an upcoming Battle Ground city council meeting condemns “Antifa-associated violence,” which describes it as “threats to public safety, civil order, and constitutional governance.”
a good read and a cautionary tale for many PNW towns
OPB@opb.org · 4mo agoIn a remote corner of rural Southern Oregon, the small, former timber town of Lakeview is drowning in debt. Its story is an extreme example of the pitfalls facing governments across Oregon’s tight-knit rural communities, where departments face high turnover, scant oversight and meager resources.
I've been trying to piece together what's happening in a small Southwest Washington town where businesses have been bought up and some residents are worried about a possible religious vision for their community. Here's what I found out
A Christian vision for Battle Ground?
How one businessman is transforming the heart of a Southwest Washington town.
opb.org
Spinning off Jefferson Public Radio from SOU to save $300k per year seems like a shortsighted plan. That station (where I used to work) brings a lot to the university
OPB@opb.org · 4mo agoAs part of the university’s cost-savings measures, Deloitte Consulting suggested finding a new home for JPR, or “spinning it off,” but didn’t explain what that might mean.
I talked with the Battle Ground teacher who has been on leave for the past eight months after she was accused of making light of Charlie Kirk's death. Now, other teachers in the district worry something similar could happen to them
After the dismissal of a Battle Ground high school teacher, other educators censor their curricula
An arbitrator said Amanda Gonzales should get her job back, but the district has not let her return to class. Gonzales was put on leave eight months ago.
opb.org
Big news for OPB and KMHD today!
OPB - KMHD Creators Union@opbkmhdcreators.bsky.social · 5mo agoWe did it y'all!!!! After 20+ months and 35 bargaining sessions, the content creators at OPB and KMHD, represented by SAG-AFTRA, have reached a tentative agreement. Read the full press release: www.sagaftra.org/opb-and-kmhd... #supportpublicmedia #opb #sagaftra #unionstrong
"If you abdicate the search for satisfaction now, you will put it further out of reach. Resist the urge to arm yourself with uninformed cynicism masking as oh-so-wise pragmatism that’s really just good old fear of rejection."
This Is a Hard Time to Start a Career. These Two Words Can Help.
nytimes.com
Great news, but it will be interesting to see if this trickles down the the small, rural stations that were hardest hit by Congress' funding cut
Jeff Brady@jeffbradynews.bsky.social · 5mo ago"NPR has received two of the largest gifts in the public media network's existence, totalling $113 million." - @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social @npr.org www.npr.org/2026/04/16/n...
Sen. Braun has Trump's endorsement. Will he embrace MAGA politics?
The Columbian@columbian.com · 5mo agoPresident Donald Trump weighed in on Washington’s 3rd Congressional District race Tuesday with a social media post that endorsed state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, and bashed incumbent Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.
Vancouver city councilors are pushing back against a proposal to scale back light rail stops from two, ending at a station in downtown, to just one that would end 90 feet above the city's waterfront
Vancouver City Council could vote to oppose shorter I-5 light rail route
Planned light rail stops were reduced from two to one, with light rail terminating at the Vancouver waterfront.
opb.org