Slop new world
By Ben OlsonReader Staff For the first time in the Reader’s history, we ran the candidate questionnaire responses that we publish before every election through an AI-detection software called Pangram. We were surprised and...
Category: Ben Olson
Sticks and stones
Words of the Year provide a long view at the bubbling yeast of humanity By Ben OlsonReader Staff In 2003, Merriam-Webster began declaring a Word of the Year because it was the most-searched definition...
CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
2026 general Election By Reader Staff Before each election, the Sandpoint Reader reaches out to candidates in contested legislative and local races to ask questions about how they would represent the constituents in the...
‘Affordability’ the top concern at forum
All invited Republican candidates decline to attend By Ben OlsonReader Staff The dais was noticeably sparse at the Oct. 20 candidates’ forum at Sandpoint High School as half of the invited candidates declined to...
Death row meals
What would you eat if it was your last meal on Earth? By Ben OlsonReader Staff What a person eats often says a lot about them, but what if they only had one meal...
Wind through a million needles
By Ben OlsonReader Staff Last week, the transition into fall was complete when I lit the first fire in our woodstove at home. After sitting idle for months, this hunk of inert metal came...
Synth-folk duo Babes in Canyon to play The Hive
By Ben OlsonReader Staff Babes in Canyon is a vibe. Blending synth-folk, moody pop, club beats and soaring vocal harmonies, the songwriter duo of Nathan and Sophia Hamer captures that broody Pacific Northwest feeling....
A vision for the future
Community Resource EnVision Center explores a bold new option for bringing the community together By Ben OlsonReader Staff Katie Begalke has a vision and it’s one that aligns perfectly with her work as the...
Origins of a misnomer
By Ben OlsonReader Staff I’ve written several times in these pages about the strange proclivity Sandpointians have of saying “Third Street Pier” instead of the actual name, “Third Avenue Pier.” Like using the grammatically...
POAC kicks off Performing Arts Season with Luca Stricagnoli concert
By Ben OlsonReader Staff The Pend Oreille Arts Council recently announced the lineup for its 2026 Performing Arts Season. The monthslong series kicks off with a special concert with acoustic rock innovator and fingerstyle...
