Historic watering hole lost to overnight fire in Mullan by Nicole Hensley More than a dozen bars used to wet the whistles of Mullan steelworkers in the heyday of mining – now there is one. A fire burned the rickety Silver Dollar Bar to the ground early Tuesday morning, taking an old miners union hall and railroad car with it. Read more about the fire that destroyed one of the last historic buildings in Mullan, Idaho at The Spokesman-Review. Four may be charged in assault at WSU by Nicole Hensley Pullman police are recommending felony charges against four people connected to an assault on Washington State University instructor David Warner. Police also want prosecutors to charge the instructor’s friend, Lawrence J. McDonald, with a misdemeanor for his part in the March 30 melee. McDonald, who told police he was too drunk to remember what happened in the parking lot of WSU-owned Adams Mall, is accused of harassing people and challenging passers-by to fights. He had been drinking with Warner at two bars earlier that night, police said. Read more about the police department’s investigation and when the prosecutor could formalize charges at The Spokesman-Review.
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Historic watering hole lost to overnight fire in Mullan by Nicole Hensley

More than a dozen bars used to wet the whistles of Mullan steelworkers in the heyday of mining – now there is one. A fire burned the rickety Silver Dollar Bar to the ground early Tuesday morning, taking an old miners union hall and railroad car with it.

Read more about the fire that destroyed one of the last historic buildings in Mullan, Idaho at The Spokesman-Review.

Four may be charged in assault at WSU by Nicole Hensley

Pullman police are recommending felony charges against four people connected to an assault on Washington State University instructor David Warner. Police also want prosecutors to charge the instructor’s friend, Lawrence J. McDonald, with a misdemeanor for his part in the March 30 melee. McDonald, who told police he was too drunk to remember what happened in the parking lot of WSU-owned Adams Mall, is accused of harassing people and challenging passers-by to fights. He had been drinking with Warner at two bars earlier that night, police said.

Read more about the police department’s investigation and when the prosecutor could formalize charges at The Spokesman-Review.

Of victims and news cycles

“I think when we have incidents like this - we lose the story of the person that’s been victimized. I understand ultimately in a news cycle you can’t tell everyone’s story because sadly there’s so much violence. It’s so important to see people’s humanity and learn about their own lives because I think that will be part of the path to changing our society.” - David Leonard, associate professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University speaking of his friend and colleague David Warner.

Warner was found beaten and unconscious in a Pullman parking lot last month and is still in critical condition at a Spokane hospital.

More about this story here and the arrest of a woman suspected of aiding others in the assault of a WSU instructor.

Predicting The End of the World With Science | KXLY Hypothetically speaking, if a nearby star were to go supernova, it could eventually reach our blue planet and rip apart our atmosphere. Complex life would cease to exist. That scenario is unlikely says Dr. Dirk Schulze-Makuch, professor of astrobiology at Washington State University. That’s one of nine of possible ways Earth could meet its doom, and there’s only so much we can do about it. As my story was sent into the copy-edit process, I asked the editor if they were a hypochondriac. Those who were might feel the slight sense of paranoia this doomsday story brings. The professor did stress, however, that paranoia is not the solution - awareness is.  The professors last name, Schulze-Makuch, is pronounced like “Schuuuulze-Makoof”. I had to call back and ask really quick because we were going to tease this story on broadcast and well - you need to know these kind of things on TV. From what I gathered from my conversation with Schulze-Makuch, here are some ways you can save yourself from impending doom: Stop using antibiotics, especially antibacterial soap. Find a remote island and live there. Be careful what nanotechnology you choose to put into your body, which lacks the natural defense mechanisms to battle any of it if it goes wrong. Explore space, start with Mars. The sooner the human race spreads out, the better.
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Predicting The End of the World With Science | KXLY

Hypothetically speaking, if a nearby star were to go supernova, it could eventually reach our blue planet and rip apart our atmosphere. Complex life would cease to exist. That scenario is unlikely says Dr. Dirk Schulze-Makuch, professor of astrobiology at Washington State University. That’s one of nine of possible ways Earth could meet its doom, and there’s only so much we can do about it.

As my story was sent into the copy-edit process, I asked the editor if they were a hypochondriac. Those who were might feel the slight sense of paranoia this doomsday story brings. The professor did stress, however, that paranoia is not the solution - awareness is. 

The professors last name, Schulze-Makuch, is pronounced like “Schuuuulze-Makoof”. I had to call back and ask really quick because we were going to tease this story on broadcast and well - you need to know these kind of things on TV.

From what I gathered from my conversation with Schulze-Makuch, here are some ways you can save yourself from impending doom:

  • Stop using antibiotics, especially antibacterial soap.
  • Find a remote island and live there.
  • Be careful what nanotechnology you choose to put into your body, which lacks the natural defense mechanisms to battle any of it if it goes wrong.
  • Explore space, start with Mars. The sooner the human race spreads out, the better.


My Very First AP Wire Hit

Pullman | KXLY

Charlie wouldn’t understand the festivities happening around him because he’s a wild animal, a red-tail hawk eying the room in a way one does to understand their surroundings and survive.

He’s the oldest living red-tail hawk in the entire world as defined in the longevity records by falconers. His home is Washington State University with the Raptor Club. Calculations have estimated his age to equal about 234 human years.

If a human being lived 234 years, they’d been born just after the signing of the United State’s Declaration of Independence. They’d live through one civil and two world wars. They’d see a man walk on the moon.

A certain birthday boy, Charlie, did not witness all those things, but this is just an illustration to say how old he is. It was his 31st birthday on Thursday and he was surrounded by friends and acquaintances. 

I say friends because the members of the Washington State University Raptor Club love him. His fellow birds really aren’t social so let’s call them acquaintances.

Next thing I know, the story was picked up by the AP. A fellow producer texted me while I was in the grocery store taking pictures of a dead fly on a package of pickled radishes. I may or may not have jumped up and down.

Seattle | KOMO News

PULLMAN, Wash. - A 31-year-old red tail hawk living in Washington State University’s raptor club may be the oldest of his kind.

KXLY TV reports that Charlie the hawk’s handlers celebrated his birthday Friday. They calculate that at 31, Charlie has lived the equivalent of about 234 human years. 

This is a career first for me. Excuse me while I twirl. 

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