Journalism
Coffee or Die Magazine, Nov 28, 2021
A man sits at the window-facing counter of a dive bar in Bremerton, Washington, plotting how to make the best use of his time. A handwritten list in front of him reveals he needs screws from the hardware store, oil, coolant, reef lines, and a flagpole from the marine supply store. An American flag-garnished toothpick left over from Independence Day skewers a lemon wedge resting at the bottom of his glass alongside dying ice cubes. Vodka tonic. From the well. Chunky silver rings adorn his fingers, and a multitude of bracelets scrape the counter as he inks a star next to the words “Confirm OITF.”
Nothing about the man at the counter suggests he was kicked out of two of the world’s most famous grunge bands before becoming an elite member of the US Special Forces. That’s exactly how Jason Everman likes it.
Coffee or Die Magazine, Jan 14, 2022
William Clark’s breath made clouds of fog in the December air as he and his teammates headed into an open field in Helmand province. Through his night vision goggles, Clark suddenly spotted something their eye in the sky had missed: a man, hiding behind a tree.
Clark shined a laser toward the base of the tree, and his partner Aks, a Belgian Malinois working dog, rushed at the target. In an instant, Aks snapped his jaws onto the enemy fighter’s arm and remained attached, dangling from the man’s body, as the panicked fighter ran toward a building that hadn’t been cleared yet.
Gunfire erupted. Clark and his teammates dropped to the ground, searching for cover in the sparse field. Bullets sliced through the night sky, flying from all directions.
And Aks was out in the center of it all.
Coffee or Die Magazine, April 3, 2022
Shahab donned a shirt he hadn’t worn in weeks, said goodbye to his family, and left the cramped apartment in Mazar-i-Sharif on Sept. 2, 2021. The father of eight had started walking to the money exchange when Taliban foot soldiers stopped him. They searched his shirt pockets and extracted an identification card from one of his old contracting jobs.
Shahab’s blood ran cold.
Coffee or Die Magazine, March 29, 2022
Hundreds — maybe thousands — of soldiers and their advocates describe their entanglement with the Army’s investigation of G-RAP as a bureaucratic nightmare in which service members are being punished years after participating in what they thought was a program to help the Army. Most, it appears, never face charges but stumble across the G-RAP trap as De Leon did, when an old note in their service records surfaces to tie them to wrongdoing they’ve never had a chance to defend.
Coffee or Die Magazine, Jan 21, 2022
Navy SEALs have paused training operations in Washington state parks as a legal challenge from locals concerned about the environmental and psychological impacts of “war games” comes to a head.
“I do not care to catch a glimpse of apparently armed men skulking around and I DEFINITELY do not want to risk having my young grandchildren see such a sight,” one commenter wrote to state regulators.
KOIN 6 News, Jan 5, 2021
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has vowed to crack down on “antifa anarchists” after a riot on New Year’s Eve, but months of catch-and-release policing has skeptics wondering if anything will change.
KOIN 6 News, Jan 12, 2021
KLICKITAT COUNTY, Wash. (KOIN) — Walt Patrick slowly rolls a giant wooden spool-shaped cradle back and forth. Inside, a human body is gradually being turned into compost, one of the first licensed “natural organic reductions” to be performed in the entire country.
KOIN 6 News, Oct 6, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Police made more than 200 arrests in connection with ongoing civil unrest in Portland during the month of September; however, nine out of every 10 suspects have already had their charges dropped.
KOIN 6 News, Nov 11, 2020
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon’s new drug decriminalization law is being heralded as a first-of-its-kind experiment, but it won’t apply to all land within the state.
Measure 110 decriminalizes possession of personal-use amounts of drugs and requires a large chunk of existing tax dollars to be re-allocated to drug treatment.
The day after the election, Warm Springs Tribal Police Chief Bill Elliott announced current tribal and federal drug statutes would remain in place on the reservation. So if you’re traveling through tribal land and get caught with any amount of drugs, you could be arrested and charged.
KOIN 6 News, Sep 30, 2020
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — When Mara McGraw found out she had neuroendocrine cancer — a terminal diagnosis — she felt hopeless, afraid, and depressed. She did more than a year of talk therapy and even tried mainstream drugs like Prozac, but nothing helped. Until she tried psilocybin therapy about five weeks ago.
KOIN 6 News, Sep 9, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — August was a month for the history books in Portland. Officers with the Portland Police Bureau made more protest-related arrests than any prior month, though July saw dramatic clashes and dozens of arrests by federal officers during their defense of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse.
KOIN 6 News, Jun 24, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Jeremy Christian, who killed two people and critically injured another on a MAX train, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
KOIN 6 News, Jun 17, 2020
ROSEBURG, Ore. (KOIN) — A former Oregon National Guardsman who rose to international fame when he and his friends stopped an attempted terrorist attack in France is looking to unseat longtime congressman Peter DeFazio.
KOIN 6 News, May 6, 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Health Authority has started releasing data showing which ZIP codes people being treated for coronavirus live in, but some county health officials caution the data does not paint a full picture.
KOIN 6 News, May 15, 2020
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — Beth Satterwhite makes farming look cool. Her photos of fresh flowers and colorful produce have earned her nearly 38,000 followers on Instagram.
“Everybody on the Internet likes to tell me, ‘Oh I wish I had your life,’” Satterwhite said. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t think you know what my life is actually like, but sure it looks nice on Instagram.’”
KOIN 6 News, Jul 30, 2019
CANBY, Ore. (KOIN) — A Canby High School senior is named one of the top female trap shooters in the country, an accomplishment three years in the making after Canby went against the norm and formed a trap team.
However, Issabella Berge’s big moment was almost derailed at the national championship this year, after an official threatened to disqualify her based on what she was wearing.