Environment A decade after the Oso landslide, WA works to improve preparedness The Snohomish County disaster killed 43 residents in 2014. Today, geologists can better help people get out of harm’s way due to boosts in tech and funding. by Tom Banse Washington State Standard / March 20, 2024
Equity A division on foster care in Olympia Whose voice should count most in legal decisions about the future of kids removed from their homes because of suspected abuse or neglect? by Allegra Abramo for InvestigateWest / January 23, 2018
Equity How programs for homeless youth pivoted in the pandemic Upended by COVID-19, some service providers went online, took to the road or otherwise found new ways to aid homeless youth and young adults. by Allegra Abramo & Sam Leeds Youth Today / February 7, 2022
Equity Head trauma, painful restraints: WA foster kids face abuse out of state The state removed foster kids from an Iowa facility following reports of abuse, but red flags abound at other group homes. by Allegra Abramo InvestigateWest / February 5, 2019
Politics Foster kids trapped as WA system collapses Washington kids are being warehoused in hotels and shipped out of state. by Allegra Abramo InvestigateWest / September 21, 2018
Equity As kinship caregivers struggle, Washington’s foster care system benefits A crisis festers while family members who care for neglected kids receive little support from the state. by Allegra Abramo Investigate West / August 10, 2018
Politics Using tech to fight opioid addiction About 600 Washingtonians die each year from overdosing on prescription opioids or heroin, according to the state Health Department. by Allegra Abramo for InvestigateWest / March 3, 2016
Politics Birth control, women's health issues at play in Olympia At least a dozen bills on a range of women’s reproductive health issues have been debated in Olympia during 2016’s short legislative session. by Allegra Abramo for InvestigateWest / February 18, 2016
Politics Social workers fleeing troubled foster care system Lousy pay, a toxic workplace and excessive workloads are driving away the people who serve vulnerable kids and their families. by Susanna Ray for InvestigateWest / December 7, 2016
Equity Short-term foster care costs taxpayers millions Foster youth rallying to demand the Legislature do more to end a crisis that now has the state paying up to $600 a night to house foster kids. by Allegra Abramo for InvestigateWest / October 10, 2017