Orion Donovan Smith

‘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…

'We are alive:' federal workers get hugs, validation in fraught period of shutdown and layoffs
www.baltimoresun.com/2025/10/03/w...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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?

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...

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...

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.

‘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.

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...

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.

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...

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...

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.

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...

🧵 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...

“Oakland…fine me.”

Mariners broadcast some gangsters! 😎

Still got it! In full uniform, Ichiro Suzuki throws an 84 mph first pitch for the Mariners' #OpeningDay.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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-...

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...

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.”

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.

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.

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...

A federal 'clown show': WSU board of regents warns of cuts to research amid Trump federal grant chaos Washington State University administrators are warning of funding cuts to research amid fallout from the Trump administration’s crackdown on federal grants.

“It has to come from [Republicans], b/c when Democrats speak in this environment, it’s like the teacher on the old Charlie Brown cartoon,” a WSU regent and wheat grower said.“No one’s listening. It’s got to be brave Republicans that want to act in the public interest."
@amandasullender.bsky.social

Activist Maryland soccer player who faced gay slur battles hidden barriers For professional soccer player Collin Martin, a homophobic taunt remains a guidepost pointing him toward a core mission: trying to battle unseen cultural barriers preventing other male athletes fro…

Five years ago, Collin Martin's teammates walked off the pitch to protest a gay slur directed at him. Few other male athletes have come out since, and he holds tightly to that scene as proof of what is possible. Here’s what’s happened with him since then:

www.baltimoresun.com/2025/01/31/a...

Chief VA watchdog who helped expose flawed computer system in Spokane speaks out after being fired by Trump WASHINGTON – A year after the Inland Northwest became the testing ground for a new computer system that promised to revolutionize veterans’ health care, leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs h...

“I think it’s harmful to transparency and it’s also going to impact the accountability of government officials. You’re less likely to be able to hold people accountable if you don’t have truly nonpartisan, independent IG offices.” www.spokesman.com/stories/2025... via @orionds.bsky.social

Analysis | Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries At a news conference, Trump read a list of conditions he called disqualifying, but his administration started such hiring in 2019.

The FAA people-with-disabilities program President Trump has blamed for the crash - with no evidence, with no investigation, and despite the fact that two air-traffic controllers were having to do the job of four - started under President Trump www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Chief VA watchdog who helped expose flawed computer system in Spokane speaks out after being fired by Trump WASHINGTON – A year after the Inland Northwest became the testing ground for a new computer system that promised to revolutionize veterans’ health care, leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs h...

I spoke with former VA IG Mike Missal after he was fired by Trump a week ago along with the IGs at 17 other agencies.

The dis-Missal (sorry) came after he led investigations that ID'd $37.6 billion in savings and exposed patient harm related to the new EHR, likely averting more harm to veterans.

Gratified and disheartened, former Jan. 6 police officer Harry Dunn of Maryland is preemptively pardoned Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn heard he was preemptively pardoned Monday morning while watching the news at his Silver Spring home. He found it difficult to put his conflicting emotions i…

Gratified and disheartened, former Jan. 6 police officer Harry Dunn of Maryland is preemptively pardoned. This was his response:
www.baltimoresun.com/2025/01/20/g...

After 20 years at the Capitol, Cathy McMorris Rodgers leaves behind a changed Congress: 'When she speaks, people listen' WASHINGTON – It was late October 2023, and House Republicans were in a bind.

As Cathy McMorris Rodgers ends her 20 years in Congress, I spoke with some of the folks who know her best—including Mike Johnson, Paul Ryan, John Boehner & many non-speakers—about the Spokane rep’s legacy and how the House will be different without her.

www.spokesman.com/stories/2024...

RFK Jr.’s unusual fund-raising was a windfall for an obscure Massachusetts group - The Boston Globe An agreement, called a joint fund-raising committee, was set up with the Libertarian National Committee, to bolster the Kennedy campaign.

New from me:
As his campaign was floundering this summer, RFK Jr. quietly inked a fundraising deal with Libertarians.
The unusual arrangement ended up being a windfall for his campaign -- and Trump's

www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/11/n...