Two Colville women were booked into a rural Washington jail. It became a death sentence
Critics say WA jails are letting opioid users suffer from withdrawals, leading to preventable deaths
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'; document.querySelector('#copytext').value = textContent; modal.showModal(); }); // Modal close functionality const modal = document.querySelector('.republish-modal'); const closeBtn = document.querySelector('.republish-modal-close'); // Close button click closeBtn.addEventListener('click', function() { modal.close(); }); // Close on backdrop click modal.addEventListener('click', function(e) { if (e.target === modal) { modal.close(); } }); // Close on ESC key (this is usually built-in, but adding for safety) modal.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) { if (e.key === 'Escape') { modal.close(); } }); // Copy text button functionality document.querySelector('.copy-text-button').addEventListener('click', async function() { const textarea = document.querySelector('#copytext'); const text = textarea.value; try { // Try modern Clipboard API first if (navigator.clipboard && window.isSecureContext) { await navigator.clipboard.writeText(text); this.textContent = 'Copied!'; } else { // Fallback for older browsers textarea.select(); document.execCommand('copy'); this.textContent = 'Copied!'; } // Reset button text after 2 seconds setTimeout(() => { this.textContent = 'Copy text'; }, 2000); } catch (err) { console.error('Failed to copy text: ', err); // Fallback to selection if copying fails textarea.select(); this.textContent = 'Text selected'; setTimeout(() => { this.textContent = 'Copy text'; }, 2000); } }); });Investigative journalism creates change, as evidenced by today’s report in the Los Angeles Times that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired half of the members of the state Board of Registered Nursing on Monday.
The Governor was spurred into action by a joint project between the LA Times and investigative journalism non-profit ProPublica that highlighted how nurses with well-documented histories of violence, criminal convictions, theft, drug abuse and incompetence continue to work in the California system for years.
Reporters Tracy Weber, Charles Ornstein and Maloy Moore revealed that poor board oversight and lengthy disciplinary review times kept these nurses working in California even after they had been disciplined by other licensing boards or barred from practicing in other states. Patient assaults and horrible care followed.
The harm done to patients by a broken system riddled with inept and corrupt nurses was captured beautifully by photojournalist Liz O. Baylen’s audio slideshow and centerpiece picture of the pale, twisted hands of quadriplegic Spencer Sullivan holding a photo of himself, healthy, fit and tan, as he was before receiving too much pain medication and too little monitoring following a 2001 neck surgery.
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