Matt Driscoll
Tacoma News Tribune
Tacoma, WA, United States
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Past articles by Matt:
Puyallup’s plan to send its homeless to Tacoma is as backward and misguided as it sounds
Puyallup plans to spend $65,000 to send the homeless to a Salvation Army shelter in Tacoma. Police will offer rides to those interested. → Read More
Deportation flight another sad chapter in lives of Cambodian refugees who fled to America
An ICE deportation flight carrying Cambodian refugees departed Monday, carrying immigrants back to a country from which they fled genocide and civil war. It was part of a Trump administration policy. → Read More
Are recycling drop-off sites teeming with ‘trouble-seeking humans’? TNT columnist investigates
A proposal to eliminate curbside glass recycling in Tacoma angered at least one reader. The News Tribune’s Matt Driscoll responds to this, and concerns about homelessness in Puyallup → Read More
Puyallup’s pointless attacks on homeless resource center results in another predictable loss
Puyallup was forced to repeal a law targeting New Hope Resource Center, burdening it with a slew of onerous requirements. It’s the latest in growing list of embarrassing losses for the city → Read More
St. Joseph nurses ready to strike: ‘There’s a lot at stake,’ including patient safety
Nurses at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma are preparing to strike, citing patient safety as their top concern. Contract negotiations have toiled for 10 months without a resolution. → Read More
Clean up your junk or else: Pierce County beefs up its chronic nuisance response
In 2017 the Pierce County Council passed an ordinance to address chronic nuisance properties. This week, the council added new regulations intended to strengthen the county’s ability to crack down. → Read More
Unearthed 1969 essays show Tacoma kids hoped for a future better than the one they got
More than 130 recently discovered essays written by students from Tacoma’s Jason Lee Middle School in 1969 highlight how far the country has come in 50 years, and how far we have yet to go. → Read More
Starving students? TNT columnist pushes back on a tired, romanticized trope
News Tribune columnist Matt Driscoll responds to readers in ‘You rip, I respond” every month. In May, he talks about homelessness and food insecurity at UW Tacoma and Nate Bowling’s decision to leave Tacoma. → Read More
‘I had never seen my dad cry:’ Deported Cambodians bewildered by country they never knew
When immigrants deported under Trump and ICE policies arrive in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, the nonprofit Khmer Vulnerability Aid Organization helps refugees acclimate to a new unfamiliar country. → Read More
Her son was ‘The Little Tacoma Boy.’ Now, she wants to revisit sex offender laws she helped pass
Thirty years ago Monday was the day Ryan Hade was attacked by 39-year-old Earl Kenneth Shriner, already a repeat sexual offender. His mother, Helen Harlow, would go on to help shape Washington’s sexual assault laws. Now, Harlow wants get back at it. → Read More
Fear grips immigrants who fled here to escape genocide – ‘They’re going to try to deport me’
Cambodian refugees have been targeted for past crimes as the Trump administration and ICE increase deportations and limit asylum. Thousands immigrated fleeing war and genocide under the Khmer Rouge. → Read More
UW study finds many students at Tacoma campus struggle to pay rent, don't get enough to eat
The preliminary results — while perhaps not surprising to University of Washington Tacoma professors like Christine Stevens — were sobering. → Read More
UW study finds many students at Tacoma campus struggle to pay rent, don’t get enough to eat
A University of Washington study highlights housing and food insecurity across three campuses. For UW Tacoma, the results were the worst. Students struggle to pay rent, and many don’t have enough food. → Read More
Notorious Tacoma motel shut down again. The city needs to take bold action this time
In April, Tacoma police executed a search warrant related to drugs at the Morgan Motel on Pacific Avenue. Now, the city wants the motel plagued with prostitution and crime to stay closed for at least a year. → Read More
‘This is Ellie’s legacy.’ With nonprofit, mother turns grieving into giving back
In 2013, Sarah Walton’s daughter, Ellie, was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. Over the four years that followed, the little girl’s fight captured the hearts of many. Now, after Ellie’s death, her mother wants to give back.. → Read More
Residents demand common-sense changes for pedestrians near the Tacoma Mall. They have a point
Last week, a group of Tacoma Mall neighborhood residents gathered along South 38th. It was all part of an effort to raise awareness about just how dangerous and unwelcoming it is to be a pedestrian or bicyclist in the area. They aim to inspire changes – soon. → Read More
James Forman Jr. will talk mass incarceration in Tacoma
James Forman Jr., the author of “Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America”, believes ending mass incarceration will require action on a local level. He’s speaking in Tacoma this week. → Read More
Fircrest man turns spilled coffee into art. Now he wants that art to help the homeless
Fircrest’s Jon Norquist has been turning spilled coffee into art since 2012. Now, he has launched Art 2 End Homelessness, which he hopes will raise millions for family homeless shelter across the United States. → Read More
Two of Tacoma’s top educators are leaving. The reasons why should serve as a warning
Two of Tacoma’s top educators, Nate Bowling and Hope Teague-Bowling, are leaving Lincoln High School and Tacoma. The reasons why, including frustrations over the U.S. education system, should serve as a warning. → Read More
Surprise president pick baffles many at PLU. Forthright answers are needed from regents
For a number of Pacific Lutheran University students and faculty, a lack of transparency has raised legitimate questions about the surprise announcement of Allan Belton as the university’s new president. → Read More