Above: The Hanford Nuclear Reservation, circa 2019. (Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP)

Sometimes it seems as if we’re all living under a dark cloud. The political situation, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and, most recently, the wind storm that killed two people and left tens of thousands Inland Northwest residents without power – all of this makes you wonder just how much more can go wrong.

It’s not as if this region hasn’t faced a number of crises, both natural – such as the wind storm of 2015, for example – and human-made.

One of the latter examples will be the subject of an Auntie’s Bookstore-sponsored event, which will be held at 7 tonight, when former Spokesman-Review journalist Karen Dorn Steele interviews Trisha Pritikin, author of the nonfiction book “The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices From the Fight for Atomic Justice.”

Pritikin’s book tells the story of the plaintiffs in what became known as the Hanford Downwinder case – which, simply stated, was a lawsuit brought on the behalf of people affected over the years by the radiation emanating downwind from the Hanford nuclear facility located on the Columbia River.

Joining Dorn Steele and Pritikin will be two of the plaintiffs mentioned in the book, Tom Baillie and Bob McCormick.

To register, click here.