Monica Carrillo-Casas
SPR Reporter/Murrow FellowMonica Carrillo-Casas joined SPR in July 2024 as a rural reporter through the WSU College of Communication’s Murrow Fellows program. Monica focuses on rural issues in northeast Washington for both the Spokesman-Review and SPR.
Before joining SPR’s news team, Monica Carrillo-Casas was the Hispanic life and affairs reporter at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho. Carrillo-Casas interned and worked as a part-time reporter at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, through Voces Internship of Idaho, where she covered the University of Idaho tragic quadruple homicide. She was also one of 16 students chosen for the 2023 POLITICO Journalism Institute — a selective 10-day program for undergraduate and graduate students that offers training and workshops to sharpen reporting skills.
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Whitworth University welcomed 658 new students Saturday for move-in day, with 90% of them having visited campus prior to their acceptance. -
The four fires were reported on Wednesday. Two have spread significantly since then. -
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Health insurance costs for people who buy individual coverage through the Affordable Care Act could spike next year, affecting thousands of people across Washington state. -
Partners for Rural Washington and Zero Emissions Northwest have partnered to bring solar projects to 16 rural schools across Eastern Washington. The initiative is funded by one-time incentives from the Community Solar Expansion Program, which was authorized by the state Legislature and is administered through the Washington State University Energy Program. -
Salas was 16 when he was wrongfully convicted of shooting 24-year-old Jose Arreola twice in the head in November 1995. He spent 27 years in prison before he was released exactly two years ago Sunday. -
Ambulance services across Stevens County, including Stevens County Sheriff’s Ambulance, Deer Park Ambulance and Chewelah Rural Ambulance, are battling shrinking funding, staffing shortages and the rising costs of keeping ambulances running. -
The number of employees affected is about 60. The programs facing closure include three orthopedic physical therapy clinics, including one at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Medical Center, one at Providence Medical Park in Spokane Valley and one at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah. Providence is also closing the DominiCare program in Chewelah. -
The Stevens County Homeless Housing Taskforce is working on an updated plan aimed at addressing homelessness across the county’s rural communities. The goal is to complete the plan for 2025 to 2030 by the end of August. -
Tacos y Tequila Festival, an annual two-day celebration of Latino culture hosted by Nuestras Raíces Community Center – a nonprofit serving the Latino community in Eastern Washington – has been cancelled.
