It’s a 240-member band not 56!

In the haunting absence of the 56-member Washington band in the stands, the musical counterparts dug right in when members expressed the desire to act in the face of adversity – even for their biggest rivals.

Newsweek: COUGARS MARCHING BAND PERFORMS HUSKY FIGHT SONG IN RIVAL BAND’S ABSENCE

One bus of six buses overturned; that individual bus had 56 passengers. The full group, with color guard, cheer squad and staff numbers about 320, according to online reports. This item is from Newsweek, a perennial source of fake news reports with the Orwellian name “News” week.

Then this nonsense:

The 280-mile trip from Seattle to Spokane cuts through the Wenatchee National Forest and has some narrow stretches of highway, which turned slippery following a day of steady rain on Thanksgiving.

ESPN: Washington State marching band pays tribute to University of Washington band with fight song

The bus took the Interstate 90 route – a full Interstate highway. The bus did not take the alternate route, two lane Highway 2.

I have personally driven both routes dozens and dozens of times through all seasons. The bus was on a major interstate freeway not a “narrow” stretch. It was snowing at the time – see photo – the road was covered in packed snow and ice. The area where the crash occurred is in the flat lands of the Columbia Basin, fifty miles east of the eastern edge of the Wenatchee National Forest.

The media does not bother to cross check easily verifiable facts. Chances are most news reports contain significant factual errors – yet this is how the public’s opinion is shaped. These mistakes occur so often that is unclear that anyone in journalism cares.