Editorial Policy

stray rain is an independent news publication operated by the Rapid Capability Office, a student-run collective at The Evergreen State College. We cover governance, institutional decision-making, and public policy in Olympia, Thurston County, and The Evergreen State College.

What we publish

Analysis of public meetings, legislative records, institutional budgets, and policy decisions. Every claim is sourced from public record. We do not publish rumors, anonymous tips, or unverifiable information.

Independence

stray rain has no advertisers, no donors, no editorial board, and no institutional affiliations beyond its operation through a student collective. We do not accept payment for coverage. We do not coordinate coverage with any government body, institution, or political organization.

Sourcing

All posts cite their sources. Primary sources (official government websites, legislative records, institutional publications) are preferred over secondary reporting. When we reference news reporting, we link to the original article. Every post includes a computational receipt disclosing how many sources were cross-referenced and the estimated processing cost.

Corrections

If we publish something that is factually incorrect, we correct it. Corrections are noted at the top of the affected post with the date of correction and a description of what changed. We do not silently edit published content. If you believe we’ve published an error, leave a comment on the post or contact us.

Methodology

stray rain uses AI-powered synthesis to cross-reference public documents, meeting transcripts, and institutional records at a scale that would be impractical for a single human analyst. The system reads public agendas, legislative records, budget documents, accreditation reports, and news coverage simultaneously, surfacing connections across governing bodies that operate in silos. This methodology is disclosed because transparency about how we work is as important as transparency about what we find.

Legal basis

All coverage is based on information obtained through legal means: attendance at open public meetings (protected under Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act, RCW 42.30), public records, published government documents, and news reporting. stray rain asserts news media status under Washington’s Shield Law (RCW 5.68) as an entity regularly engaged in the gathering and dissemination of news to the public.

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This policy is effective March 17, 2026 and applies to all content published on strayrain.io.