Nate Sanford

Staff sex abuse in Idaho women’s prisons largely unchecked InvestigateWest reporting exposes sexual abuse by guards, retaliation against victims and a system that fails to track the scope of the problem

More than two dozen women incarcerated in an Idaho prison told us they were sexually abused by staff.

And we identified 37 prison workers accused of sexual misconduct toward imprisoned women in the last 10 years. Most resigned or faced few consequences. www.investigatewest.org/staff-sexual...

Shutdown got you down? Bone up on your FOIA strategies at our AccessFest panel at 2:30 EST.

Cracking government secrets: Smart FOIA strategies that work

With @jasonleopold.bsky.social @sanfordnate.bsky.social @fishnette.bsky.social

@ire.org

I'm speaking on a panel at IRE's AccessFest today about how to obtain government chatbot records!

The Curse of the Middle Guy: Ferguson’s first 8 months as governor Expectations were high for Bob Ferguson. For many across the political spectrum, the reality has been baffling and disappointing. What happened?

The last story I edited before Monday's news was @laureldemkovich.bsky.social's excellent examination of Bob Ferguson's first 8 months as governor, a tenure marked by low public approval, decisions baffling to Dems and Republicans, and reduced press availability.
www.cascadepbs.org/politics/202...

Donate to Support Cascade PBS journalists after online newsroom axed, organized by Isabella Breda On Monday, Sept. 22, Cascade PBS announced that it would be s… Isabella Breda needs your support for Support Cascade PBS journalists after online newsroom axed

It’s difficult to find the words to express how our unit is feeling right now, but we’ll take a stab at it: shocked, disappointed, angry, gutted. @cascadepbs.bsky.social’s choice to eliminate long-form written reporting is a massive loss for our community in a critical moment. tinyurl.com/LayoffFund

FOIAFriday

Tomorrow, KNKX reporter Nate Stanford will be joining us about ChatGPT logs and how you can obtain them through public records.

Register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

I’ll be talking about my reporting on government AI use on MuckRock’s FOIA Friday podcast this week, and on a panel at @ire.org AccessFest conference next month.

This investigation wouldn’t have been possible without support from the editors + news team who Cascade PBS decided to lay off this week

We want to know how local governments are using ChatGPT. Here’s how you can help. Help us understand how governments use this latest technology.

MuckRock is requesting ChatGPT logs from local governments across the country. Have a suggestion for us? Let us know!

Seattle Area Trans Women Are Being Attacked by Groups of Men Warning: This story contains descriptions of violence. “Go to Pony, go to Pony, go to Pony—there’s more people there,” said a frantic woman as she approached Madison Carstens and her friends next to t...

Earlier this month, three trans women were beaten by a group of young men in Seattle's gay neighborhood.

According to the county prosecutor's office, there's been at least four more group beatings since June 2024. In one case, strangers joined in. The kicker?

www.thestranger.com/news/2025/09...

My position as a shared reporter with KNKX and Cascade PBS still has outside grant funding for another year, so I’ll continue doing journalism at KNKX. I don’t know what I’ll be doing at Cascade PBS yet. It will be really hard with the entire news team gutted.

My colleagues at Cascade PBS do essential accountability reporting. This is a huge loss for the community and devastating for local journalism

It's been a bad day! For now I'll just say I can't think of a worse time to have fewer reporters and editors on the job and that I'm very glad to have a union on our side.

Today, I was laid off from Cascade PBS along with my entire team and most of the newsroom. I'll have more to say, but I have loved my time as news editor alongside some of the best journalists I have ever worked with. Every time a newsroom closes, stories go with it. The silence that follows is loud

A dark day for Northwest journalism: @cascadepbs.bsky.social is axing the @cascadepbsnewsroom.bsky.social, laying off 17 people, per internal memo obtained by @kuow.org.

Cascade PBS got ~10% of its budget from Corp. for Public Broadcasting. Unclear why its whole newsroom had to be axed.

Seattle's Cascade PBS announces layoffs, end of online long-form journalism The move, attributed to the loss of federal funding for public media, marks the layoffs of 17 staffers and the creation of three new positions, station President and CEO Rob Dunlop told KUOW.

Devastating news for local journalism.

BREAKING: Cascade PBS, which operates the website Crosscut, is laying off 19 people, reportedly including its entire news staff. In an email to staff, CEO Rob Dunlop blamed federal cuts, saying the nonprofit is "winding down our longform, written journalism."

Yeah it's just the thumbnails. The content itself is just a guy playing news clips and reading articles while doing standard talk show style commentary.

The AI did a bit better with Mayor Harrell. Maybe because there are more photos of him in the training data?

It's strange and uncanny how the woman in the thumbnail looks **vaguely** similar to Wilson, but is still clearly a totally different person.

A screenshot of a YouTube thumbnail titled: "Elect Progressive Socialist Katie Wilson for Mayor of Seattle - what could go wrong??" The thumbnail image shows a white woman with brown hair that appears to be AI-generated standing in front of the Seattle skyline. The person is vaguely similar to Katie Wilson, but clearly a different person.

Cursed Katie Wilson AI YouTube slop thumbnail:

MLK Labor pivots to dual Harrell, Wilson endorsement for mayor Delegates from the MLK Labor Council voted Wednesday evening to endorse both Mayor Bruce Harrell and challenger Katie Wilson in Seattle’s mayoral election. Before the primary, MLK Labor had given Harr...

NEW: Delegates from the MLK Labor Council voted Wednesday evening to endorse both Mayor Bruce Harrell and challenger Katie Wilson in Seattle’s mayoral election. Before the primary, MLK Labor had given Harrell a sole endorsement in this year’s race.

Sean Feucht sues Spokane claiming 'emotional distress' over City Council resolution denouncing former mayor's appearance with him and Matt Shea The Silent Majority Foundation, a conservative legal organization, is helping Feucht sue the city

Feucht was represented by Pete Serrano, the new appointee for Eastern WA attorney general
www.inlander.com/news/sean-fe...

Statement on Feucht Lawsuit Dismissal A Superior Court judge granted a motion from the City, dismissing and ultimately finding no legal merit to multiple claims made by Mr. Sean Feucht.

A judge just dismissed conservative pastor Sean Feucht's lawsuit against Spokane as meritless.

Feucht (the guy who played at Gasworks last month) had alleged that a 2023 council resolution denouncing the mayor for appearing with him violated his free speech
my.spokanecity.org/news/release...

Seattle Mayor Harrell announces new AI plan for city services Seattle residents could see expanded use of artificial intelligence in permitting, public safety, customer service and more as Mayor Bruce Harrell rolls out a new framework for how the city will incor...

NEW: Seattle residents could see expanded use of artificial intelligence in permitting, customer service and more. On Thursday, Mayor Harrell announced a new 26-page AI plan that includes guidelines for training employees, evaluating tools and expanding the use of AI in city services.

Lynnwood considers raising its minimum wage to above $20 an hour If a new initiative to increase hourly rates by nearly $4 passes, the city would join others in Washington with the country’s highest wage floors.

Lynnwood may become the latest Washington city to raise its minimum hourly wage above $20 — higher than almost anywhere in the nation. The city currently follows the state’s minimum, but advocates are gathering support for an initiative to raise wages to $20.24/hour & strengthen worker protections.

It's an interesting debate. On one hand, it makes sense on its face to only distribute vouchers to D5 residents for their district special election. On the other, candidates will be able to collect donations from people citywide and beyond, so it does reduce the impact of the voucher program.

On this show, Seattle’s City Council is a bunch of sock puppets Bug eyes, blast balls and a singing SPD plant monster are all part of ‘The Seattle Channel’’s satire shining a light on city politics.

Come for the chat with the anonymous artist behind @theseattlechannel.bsky.social puppet show on his motivations, goals, and process for the episodes. Stay for @photogenna.bsky.social's amazing behind-the-scenes photos. www.cascadepbs.org/politics/202...

"I think there probably are ways that generative AI can be helpful for newsrooms, but I’m still pretty wary of it. I’m worried about accuracy, public trust and plagiarism."

Is your mayor using ChatGPT? Here’s how to FOIA around and find out - Poynter Seattle PBS reporter Nate Sanford investigated how city officials throughout Washington are using generative AI. Here’s how he did it.

I talked with @poynterinstitute.bsky.social about how to get copies of government officials' ChatGPT histories.

FOIA around and find out:
www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

Is your mayor using ChatGPT? Here’s how to FOIA around and find out - Poynter Seattle PBS reporter Nate Sanford investigated how city officials throughout Washington are using generative AI. Here’s how he did it.

Love this Q&A from my @cascadepbsnewsroom.bsky.social colleague @sanfordnate.bsky.social on how he did his investigation on cities using AI. Some really useful tips on how to do it for your local governments.

www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...