James Hanlon reports for The Spokesman-Review, based in Spokane, Washington, covering rural counties in eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. Previously, Hanlon reported for The Oxford Leader in Oxford, Michigan. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and Snowflake, Arizona, and he holds bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and film and media studies from Arizona State University. After college, Hanlon spent three years living in a Japanese village of 700 people, teaching English and writing about revitalization projects in the countryside for a local nonprofit. His work has also appeared in Kyoto Journal, Tokyo Cheapo and Asia Matters for America by the East-West Center.
Beat: Rural areas in Eastern Washington State
Much of eastern Washington is rural, especially the six counties surrounding Spokane—home to farms, resource extraction industries, federal lands, reservations and Washington State University. This multimedia reporter tells these stories with in-depth reporting and photography. Issues include broadband access and how that affects remote teaching in poor rural school districts; wildfire and its ramifications on logging; the ways rural communities innovate to encourage economic development.