Colton Rasanen has been a staff writer at the Inlander since 2023. He mainly covers education in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area and also regularly contributes to the Arts & Culture section. His work has delved into the
history of school namesakes, detailed the dedication of volunteers who
oversee long-term care facilities, explored the language of the cosmos on
Pi Day and where
newcomers to the Inland Northwest are coming from. He's also written about various dance performances, theatrical productions and local artists.
Colton grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from Western Washington University’s journalism program in 2020. During his tenure at Western, he worked as the managing editor of the school’s weekly newspaper
The Western Front, and as the editor-in-chief of the school’s quarterly magazine
Klipsun. After college, Colton trekked to the rural Midwest where he worked as a reporter and then as the managing editor of the
Wahpeton Daily News and
News Monitor until he moved to the Inland Northwest.