The Olympic Herald’s new website is live.
Same mission, better machine: nearly 300 stories — every investigation, court report, and records fight we’ve published — now organized by section, fully searchable, and built to carry this work for the long haul.
What hasn’t changed matters more. Every story is
A Clallam County Superior Court judge on Friday postponed the felony rape trial of former Sequim police officer Christian Whitaker until November, granting a defense request for more time over the objection of prosecutors who argued the defense had already had nearly two years to get ready.
Judge Simon Barnhart
Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has permanently revoked the teaching certificate of Jordan Henderson, a former Evergreen Elementary School teacher convicted this year of sexually abusing four of his young students, and has permanently barred him from ever applying to teach in the state’s public schools
A Kitsap County man was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing fentanyl with intent to deliver it, capping a Clallam County prosecution that began with a March drug raid at the 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn.
Dylan C. Marsh-Backs, 36, pleaded guilty July
Six months ago, The Olympic Herald was launched with a single, uncompromising mission: to provide fearless, independent investigative journalism that holds power accountable.
Two hundred and fifty years ago this month, Thomas Jefferson wrote the job description for every honest newspaper that would follow: “let Facts be submitted to a
Earlier today, the Port Angeles School District released the first installment of records responsive to my June 22 Public Records Act request: the June 11 letter from Director Nancy Hamilton to the board and district counsel—the document at the center of last month’s censure fight.
Readers can download
The Washington State Court of Appeals has affirmed the convictions of Robert Aaron Estes, a Kitsap County man found guilty of six counts of second-degree child molestation involving two underage girls.
In an unpublished opinion issued July 7, the Division II appellate court unanimously upheld the August 2024 judgment
On Friday, I sent a formal demand letter to Superintendent Michelle Olsen, Board President Sandy Long, and the district’s public records officer.
📄 Tomashefsky July 3 Letter Re Prr (171KB ∙ PDF file)
It gives the Port Angeles School District a clear choice: start producing the censure records now, or defend
The fight for transparency in the Clallam County Superior Court escalated this afternoon as I filed a formal Petition for Internal Review challenging the court’s aggressive refusal to release years of judicial search warrant logs.
📄 NO. 2026-12 Petition Internal Review (275KB ∙ PDF file)
On February 27, I submitted
Two hundred and fifty years ago today, fifty-six men signed their names to an act of journalism.
We don’t usually talk about the Declaration of Independence that way. We’ve buried it under so much marble and ceremony that it’s easy to forget what the document actually
A 75-year-old Port Angeles man who was the subject of a Washington State Patrol Silver Alert has been located, authorities confirmed.
The alert for Axel Lorenzsonn was officially canceled by the Washington State Patrol Missing Person Alerts division, bringing a positive resolution to the search.
Lorenzsonn had been
A multi-agency search for a missing 22-year-old Port Angeles man came to a tragic conclusion on the morning of July 1, 2026, when authorities recovered the body of Gunnar Peterson from the waters near the public boat launch at Ediz Hook.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office
The devastating consequences of judicial leniency are rarely abstract. Within our regional justice system, the outcomes of a judge prioritizing an offender’s comfort over a public safety are tangibly measured in bloodshed, profound violence, and irreversible tragedy.
For a brief moment, an examination of the Washington Courts Odyssey Portal
The 2019 appointment of Judge Brent Basden to Clallam County Superior Court was—and remains—a highly controversial moment in our local judiciary.
While the governor’s office presented a polished narrative to the public at the time, newly released public records obtained by The Olympic Herald through a Public
Just days after the Port Angeles School District Board of Directors passed a highly controversial resolution censuring newly elected Director Nancy Hamilton, the district is attempting to build a four-and-a-half-month bureaucratic wall around the very documents they used to justify the reprimand.
On June 22, I
The North River School District is facing a $22,000 reduction in state funding after a Washington State Auditor’s report found the district overreported its special education enrollment during the 2024-2025 school year.
An assessment audit, published June 18, 2026, by the Office of the Washington State Auditor,
The Washington State Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 25, 2026, that the Department of Ecology acted lawfully when it implemented agricultural fuel exemptions under the state’s Climate Commitment Act, dealing a blow to farming and trucking groups seeking relief from emissions-related fuel surcharges.
📄 Opinion (840KB ∙ PDF file)
A multi-agency search is actively underway at Ediz Hook for 22-year-old Gunnar Peterson of Port Angeles, who has been missing since the early morning hours of June 28, 2026.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched on June 28 after Peterson was reported overdue by his
In the spirit of transparency, we are releasing the public records we previously obtained regarding the Clallam County Superior Court’s hiring and subsequent termination of former Family Court Commissioner Brian Parker.
As previously reported, Parker’s termination in February created the vacancy on the bench recently filled by Commissioner
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal law does not prohibit states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, a decision that preserves Washington state’s universal vote-by-mail system and maintains current election procedures for Clallam County voters.
In a 5-4 decision issued
A Washington attorney has permanently surrendered his law license rather than defend against formal disciplinary allegations, including claims that he misappropriated client funds and gave false testimony under oath.
Robert Patrick Brouillard, who was admitted to practice law in Washington in November 1990, filed a Resignation in Lieu of Discipline
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