Luke Baumgarten
@lukebaumgarten.bsky.social
Writer & organizer. Building @rangemedia.co & Spokane Workers Cooperative. Support local news https://rangemedia.co
My parents and half my family have evacuated, more waiting to hear. Today I’ve gotten offers of shelter from southwest of Spokane to Sandpoint, and that’s just the friends who have been texting. This is a standup fucking community when it wants to be. We show up for our people.
Candidate Survivor: Spokane's Spiciest Candidate Survivor is happening July 30 at Overbluff Cellars, hosted by RANGE (us!) and our friends at the WA Bus Education Fund, in partnership with KSPS PBS and Hogwash Whiskey Den. Get your tickets now at the link below!
Select tickets – Candidate Survivor: Spokane's Spiciest Candidate Forum – Overbluff Cellars, Washington Cracker Building
Candidate Survivor: Spokane's Spiciest Candidate Forum – Overbluff Cellars, Washington Cracker Building, Thu Jul 30, 2026 - For the last few months, we’ve been cooking up something hot…a candidate forum for those who like their local politics with a bit of spice. With the primaries nearing and election season in full swing, we are so excited to invite you to join worker-owned news outlet RANGE Media and Wash...
tickettailor.com
Did you know we have one-stop shop on our website for all things Spokane elections? Well, we do! Click the link below for our comprehensive election coverage + voting resources:
Spokane Election 2026 – RANGE Media
Welcome to RANGE’s one-stop shop for Washington election stuff. Here you’ll find resources for voting, links to voters guides and our coverage on it all. We’ll be updating this page with more of our c...
rangemedia.co
‘People are risking their lives to do it the right way.’ Spokane’s Haitian community is crisis-planning after Supreme Court decision allowed the Trump administration to strip Temporary Protected Status from Haitians, Syrians:
Spokane Haitian community responds to TPS court decision.
Spokane’s Haitian community is crisis-planning after Supreme Court decision allowed the Trump administration to strip Temporary Protected Status from Haitians, Syrians.
rangemedia.co
We’ve been talking a lot about adding a little more alt-weekly swag and I think this nails it. Great work @merrywanderer.bsky.social
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 2mo agoSpokane’s most eclectic polycule just had a baby! Yesterday, after 9 months of gestation, the Safe and Health task force shared their goals for a safer, healthier Spokane — but they’re fuzzier on what exactly their baby’s going to do and how much it’ll cost:
I just saw Taylor Swift hop around hugging Mariska Hartigay. What a time to be alive.
This week has been A LOT and we're all processing a lot of emotions right now. So we wanna know: what music are you listening to to get through it? We're making a playlist, so put ur faves 👇
Just got a survey from my university asking how I use AI in research, wanting details on barriers to use as well as burdens that AI has reduced for me. Not one question about barriers or burdens that the use of AI has created. So the unstated position is that it must be good. This is advertorial.
The attorneys for the defense have said they plan to appeal the verdict, but before that they will ask the judge to overturn it in a Rule 29 hearing in five weeks.
BREAKING: Jury finds Spokane 3 protesters guilty of federal conspiracy charges
The defendants could face up to six years in federal prison and/or $250,000 in fines. They are expected to appeal the verdict.
rangemedia.co
Almost the whole @rangemedia.co team was down at the press conference afterward. What I saw, personally: a lot of tears, a lot of anger, an overwhelming resolve to keep fighting.
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 2mo agoThe attorneys for the defense have said they plan to appeal the verdict, but before that they will ask the judge to overturn it in a Rule 29 hearing in five weeks.
Recap of the end of oral arguments. Verdict likely tomorrow.
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 2mo agoToday prosecutors painted a careful picture of federal agents under siege and a sophisticated conspiracy of protesters working to stop ICE agents. The defense stressed that the protesters didn't plan anything and pointed to federal officers' violence against them on June 11.
This is a fascinating development.
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 2mo agoNow we hear the police say they want to get Justice Forral separate from the group, "we are being asked to apprehend Justice at this point," Smith said. We can hear them planning on how to get Forral to leave the group, and we see Forral yelling at them from a corner.
We are so back. Heard scuttlebutt from lawyer friends all weekend wondering if the defense will ask and if the judge would grant summary judgment. Not many folks think the Feds made their case.
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 2mo agoWe are back in the courtroom for The Trial of the Spokane 3. It's the sixth day of the trial and today the defense will begin to make their case.
Who wants to help change the world?
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 2mo agoMemorial Day weekend: the unofficial start of summer — and a perfect moment to go land the best job you've ever had. RANGE is hiring its first Membership & Marketing Manager. We're a worker-owned local newsroom in Spokane. $60–68k. You're gonna love it. Apply by June 12 → http://rangehiring.n...
I continue to be so proud of this team. It can be scary turning a lens on any government, especially this current federal government. Truth, diligence and moral clarity still mean something, and have a powerful way of leveling even the most slanted playing field.
RANGE Media@rangemedia.co · 3mo agoBREAKING: Judge Rebecca Pennell ruled that ICE supervisory detention officer Jeremy Burlingame can be called back into court so the defense can question him about his Twitter account, which was deleted hours after our story posted.
Most people were supportive of our decision, but I got a sense that some weren't. Like maybe we were high on our own supply. What could Erin know that other reporters didn't know — that perhaps even Defense attorneys and prosecutors didn't know? Turns out, a lot:
Trial of the Spokane 3, Day 5: ICE agent will be called back in to court to testify about Twitter account
The content of that account, which RANGE reported on exclusively yesterday, is so bad even the prosecution said, “They are horrendous, there’s no other way to put it.”
rangemedia.co
A few weeks ago lawyers tried to subpoena my colleague Erin Sellers to *testify* in the trial of the Spokane 3. We fought that, believing she would be more valuable to the people of Spokane in the press gallery, not the witness stand. The Spokesman wrote about it. www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...
A Spokane reporter is sought to testify in an upcoming federal trial, a rare move
Federal defense attorneys are seeking for a Spokane reporter to testify on behalf of their client, who is charged with conspiracy against immigration agents.
spokesman.com
Spokane 3 trial is already spicy as hell and we’ve barely begun. Follow @rangemedia.co dispatches from @merrywanderer.bsky.social
Can you tell if I’m being offered sex, drugs or perhaps just Kenny Loggins?
Do you think Democrats will ever get over the West Wing?
Doing morning email at a downtown coffee shop for the first time in months. Remembering my favorite game to play: Lumberjack or Creative Director?
We have, in fact, been getting a lot of folks reaching out.
the palouse is the dust of the palouse@palouse-dust.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe amount of work put into investigating this story from a small independent news team is incredible. It's a bummer of a subject, but this coverage is already inspiring people who work/worked at NPOs to share horror stories about bad leadership.
I don’t think I’ve seen this Guy Ritchie movie
Houston Chronicle@houstonchronicle.com · 5mo agoState Rep. Steve Toth defeated Houston-area Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who has come under attack by members of the right-wing media and failed to secure the endorsement of President Donald Trump. bit.ly/4cpBPHh
