Brandon Block

Seattle

Writer at Freelance

Investigative Reporter at Cascade PBS

investigative reporter @cascadepbs. formerly @theolympian, @report4america, @princetoninasia, @city_paper

Articles

How big tech monopolies made the internet worse

3 days ago | cascadepbs.org | Brandon Block

Or, as Cory Doctorow puts it, “ensh-ttified.”Listen to the full sessions on the weekly Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast. “The thesis of ensh-ttification is whether or not you’re paying for the product, you’re the product,” said Doctorow, a journalist and tech activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation who coined the term in a 2022 article and has expanded his analysis into a forthcoming book of that name.
WA lawmakers walk back agreement to end child support garnishment

3 weeks ago | wenatcheeworld.com | Brandon Block

Jessica Silver watched nervously, hands in pockets, as her two youngest children swung in the backyard from a homemade tree swing fashioned from a skateboard. Side by side, Justin, 11, and Kaity, 13, suddenly tipped backwards and fell to the ground, giggling all the way. Silver hurried over to help them up. They gleefully climbed back on the swing and quickly tipped over again. kAm%96 c_\J62C\@=5 D:?8=6 >@> 4C24<65 2 D>:=6 2?5[ 7@C 2 3C:67 >@>6?E[ =2F8965 2=@?8D:56 E96>] %96? D96 C6>:?565 yFDE:?
WA lawmakers walk back agreement to end child support garnishment

3 weeks ago | cascadepbs.org | Brandon Block

The 40-year-old single mom cracked a smile and, for a brief moment, laughed alongside them. Then she reminded Justin to brush his hair out of his eyes. “I overcompensate, and I over-mother,” she acknowledged. “I’m very protective.” Silver also worries. She worries about big things, like when her five kids are going to get kicked out of this Bellingham house, which a homeless prevention program pays for, for now.
New Washington energy chair’s industry ties raise ethics questions

1 month ago | wenatcheeworld.com | Brandon Block

Kurt Beckett’s second meeting as chair of Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council went smoothly, once he figured out how to turn on his microphone. Beckett named various energy plants that had applied for or received permits from EFSEC — an obscure agency at the heart of the state’s energy transition — and a staffer read updates on each.
New Washington state energy chair’s industry ties raise ethics questions - The Daily Chronicle

1 month ago | chronline.com | Brandon Block

Kurt Beckett’s second meeting as chair of Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council went smoothly, once he figured out how to turn on his microphone. Beckett named various energy plants that had applied for or received permits from EFSEC – an obscure agency at the heart of the state’s energy transition – and a staffer read updates on each. He called out Horse Heaven Hills, a wind farm proposed near the Tri-Cities that would be the state’s largest.
New Washington energy chair’s industry ties raise ethics questions

1 month ago | cascadepbs.org | Brandon Block

Beckett possessed an inside view into the wind farm dispute – thanks to his recent work for a Seattle lobbying firm, which included promoting the wind farm and facilitating meetings between the developer, Scout Clean Energy, and local Tri-Cities groups. He listed off the next project, Hop Hill, a solar plant whose developer also paid Beckett to promote the project. Next: another solar farm – and another former client of Beckett’s.
Trump admin’s $84M clawback could sink Grays Harbor levee plan

2 months ago | cascadepbs.org | Brandon Block

The Trump administration announced the cancellation of a federal grant to build a levee along the Hoquiam River, seen here in Hoquiam in 2022. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS) The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week its intention to cancel a disaster relief program that had promised more than $80 million to build a levee in flood-prone Grays Harbor County. Without the federal money, local officials told The Daily World that the project is dead in the water.
Northwest Reports: It’s not easy going green

2 months ago | cascadepbs.org | Brandon Block

Wind turbines, as part of the Nine Canyon Wind Project located southeast of Kennewick are seen from Horse Heaven Hills on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Emree Weaver for Cascade PBS) Washington has ambitious climate goals and massive energy needs. But as proposals for renewable energy projects emerge, so does opposition. In fact, as Cascade PBS investigative reporter Brandon Block discovered, the fight against wind and solar development seems as fierce as the fight for it.
Reader Survey: Tell us how you really feel about the news

2 months ago | cascadepbs.org | Sireen Abayazid |Cameron Sheppard |Laurel Demkovich |Brandon Block

In a news cycle that is constantly changing, Cascade PBS wants to learn more about our readers. Help us understand how you get your news and how you feel about the current media climate by taking our latest reader survey. We also want to provide our readers with coverage that benefits you. Let us know what issues you want to hear more about and what topics or communities you feel are overlooked.
$17M from Pierce County affordable housing tax funds 9 projects

2 months ago | cascadepbs.org | Cameron Sheppard |Sireen Abayazid |Laurel Demkovich |Brandon Block

This article originally appeared in The News Tribune. Pierce County has announced $17 million in affordable-housing investments made possible by revenue from the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Sales Tax. In 2023, the Pierce County Council approved the sales tax that collected one-tenth of 1% of sales to leverage additional revenue for affordable-housing investments. The tax was named after Maureen Howard, a prominent advocate for the homeless in Tacoma who died in January 2023.