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.
And if you haven't kept up with The Western Edge recently, we just had our two-month anniversary. We've spent that time cutting at powerful police unions, politicians and corporations -- and highlighting the best reporters in the West.
Here's to the next two months.
What happened when the White House came to deep red Idaho and asked police to essentially become ICE officers?
Those police said, "Aw, hell nah."
This week's "Notes from the Edge" interview is with ace Spokesman-Review reporter @alexdugganreports.bsky.social.
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)
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.
We've now obtained the 911 calls related to this death. They indicate the injured man possibly had a head injury of some type.
Also, if you like reporting that holds powerful people and companies accountable without fear, please consider subscribing to @thewesternedge.bsky.social. We are a team of just two, but there aren't many people more serious about journalism than us.
For more than a week, Amazon has managed to keep a death at its Troutdale, Oregon, facility out of public view.
Workers I spoke to are pissed.
Last week, a worker one of Amazon's Portland area facilities died on the warehouse floor. Employees were told to look away and keep working.
A new story by @ryanjhaas.bsky.social for @thewesternedge.bsky.social - reporting this news first.
www.thewesternedge.media/p/everyone-i...
Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Troutdale, Oregon, said they were told to keep working as a colleague lay dying on the floor.
“Just turn around and not look. Let’s get back to work,” Sam recalled the manager saying.
And hey, some good news, @thewesternedge.bsky.social is a finalist for The Next Challenge's Pioneer Award. Our idea is simple: use the emerging tools of the creator economy to bring solid journalism to news deserts -- all while the people writing and reporting the stories get a share in the profit
Really great listen from @thewesternedge.bsky.social yesterday talking about the state of local news in #Oregon. Horrible to hear the Roseburg paper closed yesterday, especially considering it was the first #localnewsday.
www.thewesternedge.media/p/layoffs-ma...
Here are a few great points:
As newspapers continue to disappear from the Northwest, it's time for fact-based journalists to take ownership of their own work. We aren't waiting for the old institutions to fix this problem.
On Local News Day, @ryanjhaas.bsky.social and @leahsottile.bsky.social discuss layoffs at the Roseburg News Review, how helicopter reporting only further decimates local news and why it's time to spread that Wordle money around. Watch the whole video: www.thewesternedge.media/p/layoffs-ma...
A photo of Oregon State University's Megan Ward, Justin St. Germain and Western Edge journalists Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas speaking on a panel about true crime and journalistic ethics.
Big thanks to @oregonstate.edu staff Megan Ward and Justin St. Germain for hosting @thewesternedge.bsky.social last night for a conversation around the ethics of making true crime media. A large crowd that had so many smart questions. Truly a great evening!
"...one prominent western company, Axon — based in Arizona — is at the forefront of law enforcement’s 'AI era,' and is offering police departments financial incentives to get on board."
Axon was once Taser International. Now, it's making body cams with integrated AI...
An April Fool's special: @leahsottile.bsky.social and @ryanjhaas.bsky.social wade into the Lindy West discourse like true fools.
The full video is available for paid subscribers at www.thewesternedge.media.
While some police departments in the PNW have been skeptical of AI use, others are going all in. A recent survey by @thewesternedge.bsky.social of Northwest cities, police departments and prosecutors found wildly differing views on AI’s future in policing.
www.thewesternedge.media/p/robo-cops-...
We spoke about the ways U.S. immigration officials are using the language and visuals of war to carry out domestic immigration enforcement -- and how a reporter who has been on the front lines of the Ukraine war views that.
We spoke this week with @sergioolmos.bsky.social about how he and @calmatters.org, along with the teams at @evidentmedia.org and @bellingcat.com, revealed the identities of a team of Border Patrol agents that roved the country over the past year with Gregory Bovino.
Fantastic piece of storytelling is extremely our shit.
If you're a paid subscriber to @thewesternedge.bsky.social, we have a treat for you this week: A video convo with Leah and I talking about our March feature: "The Shady Cop Who Haunts Halloweentown." We reveal some unpublished details and discuss the long-term effects of cultures of grievance.
This week on @thewesternedge.bsky.social, we're publishing a beautiful, crushing essay by former ACLU Legal Observer James Mapes about aging in Portland, observing protests and smoking cigarettes.
www.thewesternedge.media/p/a-life-of-...
"I am 32. I am writing a report about getting shot in the head." Read this new essay by longtime ACLU Legal Observer James Mapes about the toll of observing protests through his life.
www.thewesternedge.media/p/a-life-of-...
Angels of our time.
This story contains a porn-texting police chief, a money-hungry police union, a nasty mayor’s race, a man in a Waldo costume and the phrase “pig pig pig” — your weekend read from The Western Edge.
Oregonians who had their lives upended by the 2020 Labor Day wildfires continue to see large paydays in court.
PacifiCorp owns $1 billion so far -- but that's likely just a fraction of the total potential liability.
Although, not everything in Salem's prison history is so rosey. During our historical research for this story, we came across a report of one person OSP executed in the early 1900s.
Pieces of that man's skin were then sold to elites in Salem as a collectible. A tale for another day perhaps.
In January, conservative media portrayed Salem as a "Woke Oregon city" for letting a convicted murderer join a citizen board.
The truth about Salem is it's become much less progressive in how it treats formerly incarcerated people since its founding.
The Western Edge brings the facts.
