The Newsfeed: 'Wolf Land' documentary premieres Oct. 4 on Cascade PBS

A new Cascade PBS documentary, Wolf Land, tells the story of a self-described “wolf-protecting cowboy,” Daniel Curry, who rides the line between cultures in search of common ground in his quest to save wolves.

“I think our main goal was to really take this black-and-white issue and break it down and show solutions. This is a really divisive issue, where people typically take one side. They’re either pro-wolf or anti-wolf, pro-ranching or anti-ranching, and our goal was to really show that there are ways, if people can talk to each other, listen to each other, and look for solutions on issues.”

- Director and Producer Sarah Hoffman

Wolf Land premiered on Cascade PBS Oct. 4 and is available to stream via its on-demand channel.

Art by NW: Reinaldo Gil Zambrano carves bold explorations of home

Growing up in Caracas, Venezuela, Spokane-based artist Reinaldo Gil Zambrano found a canvas on the walls of his childhood home. Now, as an assistant professor of printmaking at Gonzaga University with his own family to nurture, Gil Zambrano pours his thoughts about home into painstakingly carved artworks.

Sometimes homes take the place of heads on human bodies, weighing them down with the pressures of ownership. Faces open to reveal entire neighborhood blocks within, and animals with sly smiles carry whole homes on their backs — both suggesting the ways we bring our personal understanding of home with us as we move to each new place.

REI appoints new board directors after contentious spring election

REI has appointed three new members to its Board of Directors, after the outdoor retail co-op’s membership voted to reject the uncontested slate of candidates put forth by the board in its spring elections.

Mark Lloyd is a longtime REI member who withheld his vote in the spring election. He wasn’t happy to hear about the new appointments. “That certainly does not fulfill the will of the membership that [said] ‘Hey, we have a real problem with what’s going on,’” Lloyd said. REI “essentially invalidated the last board election. They just said … ‘If we don’t get who we want for the election, we just appoint people.’”

Whatcom Council eyes closing legal loophole that hid $225K payout

In April 2024, Cascade PBS broke a story revealing a $225,000 payout to a Whatcom County employee who accused her manager of sexual harassment and retaliation. County code requires settlements of more than $25,000 to be approved by the Whatcom County Council, but prior to Cascade PBS’s reporting, the Council had been in the dark about this case due to a legal loophole.

The county is a member of the Washington Counties Risk Pool, which means that rather than holding the liability of a claim, Whatcom County passes it on to the risk pool, and the code requiring approval from the County Council no longer applies. The Council is seeking to close this loophole by amending the code to require that the Council be notified of payments made by third parties, such as the risk pool, when settling claims against the county.

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