James Hanlon

Current Position: reporter

James Hanlon came to The Spokesman-Review in June 2022 through a grant received from the Report For America reporter program. He is the rural counties reporter covering the eastern Washington and North Idaho counties. All of Hanlon's stories are available without a subscription on The Spokesman-Review's website, and can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license.

Email: jamesh@spokesman.com

Funding Information

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Most Recent Stories

News > K-12 education

School levies pass with strong margins in North Idaho

UPDATED: Wed., May 21, 2025

Voters approved levies for five North Idaho school districts Tuesday, reversing a trend for some districts that have struggled to pass funding measures in recent years.

News > ID Government

Victoria Bauman wins Community Library Network seat

UPDATED: Wed., May 21, 2025

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee completed a takeover of the Community Library Network Tuesday when its preferred candidate won a fifth seat on the board of trustees.

News > Pacific NW

U.S. tribes bolster caribou recovery and restoration in British Columbia

UPDATED: Sun., May 18, 2025

NAKUSP, British Columbia – Six years after the last wild caribou in the Lower 48 was relocated to Canada, conservationists and Inland Northwest tribes see a glimmer of hope less than 100 miles north of the border.

News > Sci/Tech

‘You can’t fire 90% of the people and assume the work gets done’: Sen. Murray questions RFK Jr. over Spokane mine safety lab cuts

UPDATED: Wed., May 14, 2025

Federal research on mine safety will continue despite job cuts, including at a facility in Spokane, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

News > Religion

Spokane Catholics rejoice for America’s first pope

UPDATED: Fri., May 9, 2025

Word of the new pope’s ties to Chicago spread quickly, and with bated breath, some Spokane residents hoped to hear Cardinal Blase Cupich’s name called. Cupich served as bishop of Spokane from 2010 to 2014, when he was tapped by Pope Francis to become Archbishop of Chicago.

News > WA Government

Washington state auditor’s reports find fraud, lack of financial controls at small towns in Franklin and Adams counties

UPDATED: Wed., May 7, 2025

Employees of a pair of small towns in central Washington misappropriated tens of thousands of dollars from taxpayers, according to reports by the Washington State Auditor’s Office.

News > Spokane

‘The city is so welcoming’: The tales of Bloomsday 2025 in Spokane

UPDATED: Mon., May 5, 2025

It was the perfect spring morning for a run as people lined up by the thousands for the 49th annual Lilac Bloomsday Run. Beautiful blue skies, not too cold to wait for the starting gun, but crisp enough to keep someone from overheating on the seventh mile.

News > ID Government

Voters will select a new Community Library Network trustee while Post Falls waits for adults-only room to open

Sun., May 4, 2025

A former Post Falls School Board member and a former nonprofit communications director are running for an open seat on the Community Library Network Board of Trustees in North Idaho.

News > Higher education

EWU graduates first class of nursing program

UPDATED: Fri., May 2, 2025

The first cohort of a new nursing program at Eastern Washington University flipped their tassels from the right to the left during a commencement ceremony Friday morning.