Ayyyyy, so proud of my friend and work bestie @leahsottile.bsky.social for winning the Oregon Book Award for Blazing Eye Sees All!

Go buy a copy in celebration!

Unpacking a Death at Amazon A man died April 6 at an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Oregon. Our reporting on the facility continues.

Staff at an Oregon Amazon facility have continued to come forward since our reporting last week on a death there to describe what they say are challenging and sometimes dangerous working conditions.

We take you inside our reporting in this episode of Notes from the Edge.

Running for a seat on the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners before 2030.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is leaving Trump's Cabinet after abuse of power allegations Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet after multiple allegations of abusing her position, including an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job.

LCD, we hardly knew thee.

Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas on deconstructing ‘true crime’ in podcasting and journalism - Nieman Storyboard The team behind ‘Hush’ discuss the ethics of narrative journalism and creating a serialized podcast that's sensitive to victims and families

"What you realize pretty quickly in the show is that we directly interrogate what true crime is." @leahsottile.bsky.social and @ryanjhaas.bsky.social

niemanstoryboard.org/2026/01/22/l...

#podcasts #storytelling #journalism

Postal service hiring ad with the all-caps caption "MAKE AN IMPACT," showing the back of a burly, thick-necked man wearing a bulletproof vest that reads "US POSTAL INSPECTOR/POLICE/FEDERAL AGENT"

Postal service hiring ad showing two men in bulletproof vests reading "POLICE" with the all-caps caption 'ARE YOU READY FOR A CHALLENGE?"

Image from postal service hiring ad showing the backs of two burly, short-haired men wearing bulletproof vests that say "US. POSTAL INSPECTOR"

under Trump, even postal jobs are now ICE-coded

Oregon attorney general sues ‘sham’ disaster-relief nonprofit that spent thousands on casinos, strip clubs The lawsuit, filed Thursday, claims the founder of Cascade Relief Team “capitalized” on surge in donations after deadly Labor Day wildfires.

Pretty serious allegations of fraud in this lawsuit.

Truly the most interesting rift I have ever seen in Idaho law enforcement & politics 👀

Put @thewesternedge.bsky.social's reporting against any media outlet in our region over the past two months. We're just starting and I can't wait to share the great reporting we have coming over the next two months.

If you can't subscribe, consider a donation toward our next records request. 🙏

Unmasking Gregory Bovino's Border Patrol Agents w/ investigative reporter Sergio Olmos YouTube video by Western Edge

And we've been highlighting excellent reporting from other Western journalists, like @sergioolmos.bsky.social. Our goal is elevate journalism in the West. Some of the best reporting in the country happens here, but it doesn't always get the attention it deserves.

Robo-Cops: AI Is Coming For Your Local Police As Northwest police departments adopt artificial intelligence, some see a dystopian nightmare. Others see an inevitable future

We shined a light on the ways artificial intelligence is being quickly integrated into police body cameras by one of the most powerful law enforcement companies in the west, Axon.

Is Redemption Possible in Oregon's Capital City? The Western Edge uncovered a manufactured crisis, backroom deals, political spending, AI slop and a city council bending to appease a police union.

@leahsottile.bsky.social and I uncovered how a public crisis around a reformed murderer was fabricated by a police union and politicians in Oregon's capital ahead of a tough election season.

The Shady Cop Who Haunts Halloweentown A porn-texting police chief, a mayor posting through it all and the Oregon town that can’t let go of the 2024 election.

But our first two months has been so much more. We also held a rural police department and their political supporters accountable for taking over the city budget with bare-knuckle tactics.

‘Everyone is Replaceable’: Death Rattles Oregon Amazon Facility A worker died at Amazon’s Troutdale warehouse last week. Employees were told to look away.

That reporting, of course, includes this week's viral story that took people across the country inside Amazon's response to a death at one of its fulfillment centers. I can say I've heard from dozens of people who work for Amazon who appreciate a media organization actually seeing them.

We're Just Getting Started The Western Edge is two months old. Here's how we've been using the First Amendment.

It's just one of the many pieces @thewesternedge.bsky.social has put out in the first two months of our existence. What we've seen is a huge audience hunger for reporting and writing that cuts at power and is told in a captivating way.

Idaho and the Federal Push to Draft Local Police YouTube video by Western Edge

I sat down with @alexdugganreports.bsky.social last week to talk about the ways Idaho police officers have pushed back on White House efforts to recruit them into immigration enforcement. A fascinating rift between MAGA and local LE.

Update: Kotek vetoed the bill. Called on the state Government Ethics Commission to work with her office, the Legislature, media and local government associations to come up with solutions for next session.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/04/16/k...

‘It’s untenable’: Lake County district attorney suddenly resigns, cites lack of funding DA Paul Charas said a lack of funding has made it difficult to prosecute cases in the rural Oregon county.

Lake County Oregon's district attorney resigned after just a year on the job because his office has virtually no money to prosecute crimes. The budget equates to about $55 per case, he said.

Thank you for your support. We also don't love Substack's content moderation approach, fwiw.

A screenshot of political candidates in Clackamas County showing four middle-aged white men with receding hairlines.

Clackamas County really living up to the "they're the same picture" meme on this one.

I will add, this is very true in news deserts across the West and most people just haven't noticed yet. In Columbia County, people are starting to pick up that when legitimate watchdog media dies, corruption thrives.

Hoping we are at or near the bottom of this cycle. It's bad!

The Mystifying Syndrome That Makes People Spontaneously Drunk

Interesting story this month in the New York Times about auto-brewery syndrome.

The Zuber family, subjects of the second season of Hush, regularly wondered if their daughter had this disease and that's why her blood alcohol was so high the night she died despite no signs of alcohol found.

‘Everyone is Replaceable’: Death Rattles Oregon Amazon Facility A worker died at Amazon’s Troutdale warehouse last week. Employees were told to look away.

Amazon has reached out to The Western Edge with an additional statement. The company acknowledged work continued after a 46-year-old man died at an Oregon distribution center on April 6. Amazon says staff were too focused on life-saving efforts to stop work across the building.

‘Everyone is Replaceable’: Death Rattles Oregon Amazon Facility A worker died at Amazon’s Troutdale warehouse last week. Employees were told to look away.

I've fully updated yesterday's story with the additional details from Amazon's statement. (3/3)

The company also states that the man, who records indicate was 46, died from a "pre-existing medical issue." Amazon also disputes accounts from an employee who said that sound curtains in the building had made it warmer inside in recent months. (2/3)

A statement from Amazon on Tuesday, April 14 about the death of an employee on April 6. The company said it kept operations running in parts of the building while it focused on trying to save the man's life.

Amazon has sent an updated statement following @thewesternedge.bsky.social's reporting yesterday. They acknowledge work continued in parts of the building, but say that was because people were busy trying to save the man who died. (1/3)

Something interesting here is that the sheriff’s office press release didn’t mention the driver exiting the car.

The driver did exit the car and met Cochran around the other side, where he was shot.

This part, his family argues, was preventable.

Vancouver City Council approves resolution opposing shorter I-5 light rail route Planned light rail stops were reduced from two to one, with light rail terminating at the Vancouver waterfront.

The fight over light rail stops along the I-5 bridge replacement into Vancouver continues.

Google cloud? Steam from data centers may be disrupting aviation along Columbia River Some people in The Dalles say Google's data centers are changing their weather.

Interesting new possible danger from data centers in the Northwest.

As far as I'm aware, no Portland area media have written about this death besides @thewesternedge.bsky.social, even as national outlets are picking it up. Bizarre!