Lizz Giordano, a Washington journalist whose work the Labor Press has republished in the last year, was one of about a dozen journalists laid off last month at Cascade PBS. Labor Press readers may remember Giordano’s investigative work covering serious safety lapses at the Vancouver construction contractor Rotschy. The most serious of several recent workplace accidents resulted in the loss of both legs by a 16-year-old worker who was unsupervised at the time. Public outcry over that accident led to changes in state law around employing minors.
Giordano was part of a non-profit newsroom called Crosscut, which was adopted by Seattle-based Cascade PBS in 2015. Cascade PBS said it was shutting down Crosscut after losing $3.5 million in funding as a result of Congress’ decision to end funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
