Jerry Cornfield joined the Standard after 20 years covering Olympia statehouse news for The Everett Herald. Earlier in his career, he worked for daily and weekly papers in Santa Barbara, California. Aspen Ford is a politics reporter at the Standard. She has reported on criminal justice, the environment and labor. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2024 with a master’s degree in investigative journalism. Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.