High gas prices fuel talk of anti-gouging measures, cap-and-trade tweaks; Escalating student violence in schools sparks concern, demand for action across Washington state

ABORTION

• Abortions rise in WA as Idaho travel ban challenged (The Seattle Times)

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Yakima Valley orchard owners settle lawsuit and will pay $500,000 in back wages (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Light Headed: In parts of the Northwest, roll open a head of wheat and there’s not much in it (NW News Network)
• Skagit County irrigators hope for drought declaration, soon (Capital Press)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Seattle council committee hears pleas of small business groups (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• FTC appeals judge’s ruling that would allow Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard takeover (AP/MyNorthwest)
• OPINION: Higher costs and less freedom vs. lower prices and more freedom (Jeff Terpening, has worked in many different jobs and has lived in Spokane since 1985, and Derek Roybal, works as an Anesthesiologist at Sacred Heart Hospital. Both are active members of UFCW 3000, the state’s largest union/The Spokesman-Review)
• COLUMN: Subsidies only work sometimes, but they’re not going away (Jon Talton/The Seattle Times)

CANNABIS

• Unionization efforts are underway to support workers’ rights in Washington’s cannabis industry (The Inlander)

CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM

• High gas prices fuel talk of anti-gouging measures, cap-and-trade tweaks (Washington State Standard)
• WA gas prices top nation as lawmakers take aim at oil industry profits (The Seattle Times)
• New Yorkers look to Washington for advice on cap-and-trade (Washington State Standard)
• Dent, Warnick, Schoesler sign letter to Ecology with plan on how to end nation’s highest gas prices in WA (Source One News)
• Energy, energy prices focus of town hall discussion (Columbia Basin Herald)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• OPINION: ‘The calls are coming from inside the house’ in U.S. Supreme Court (Marc Johnson, served as press secretary and chief of staff to the late former Idaho Gov. Cecil D. Andrus/The Lewiston Tribune)

COURTS (STATE)

• Raising awareness for new Washington domestic violence laws (KIRO TV)
• Low-income survivors face uphill battle (Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

CRIME

• Local law enforcement officials say more officers would help deal with climbing crime rate (KONP Radio)
• BLOG: WASPC’s Strachan: “Crime has decreased in some parts of the United States but overall crime in Washington has continued to rise.” (Shift)

EDUCATION

• Quincy School District files lawsuit against social media companies (The Wenatchee World)

ELECTIONS

• Funds offered to help counties improve election security (KEPR TV)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Spokane ambulance workers announce strike date, AMR issues warnings and possible legal action for previous pickets (KREM TV)

ENVIRONMENT

• New committee will advise on key plan for future of Northwest forests, adapting to climate change (Oregon Capitol Chronicle/The Columbian)
• Podcast | Solving the world’s plastics problem (Crosscut)

FISH

• OPINION: Washington state needs to OK an agreement to co-manage fish hatcheries with the Tribes (Lisa Wilson is a member of Lummi Indian Business Council and vice chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission/The News Tribune)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Healthcare crisis declared in Kitsap County over costs, access (MyNorthwest)
• UW Medicine reports history making heart-liver transplant for Bellingham woman (MyNorthwest)
• EDITORIAL Public health initiatives worthy investments (The Columbian)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• New class of UW medical students awarded stethoscopes in annual tradition (The Spokesman-Review)
• Muckleshoot Tribal College honors first education doctoral grads (Crosscut)
• Moon shot — CWU participates in NASA sponsored program to support STEM students (Daily Record)

HOMELESSNESS

• Swimming pool at illegal Seattle encampment will stay until state finds housing for residents (KOMO TV)
• More controversy over big Pierce County homeless village as zoning decision challenged (The News Tribune)
• The effort to create a South Kitsap tiny home village is likely coming to an end (Kitsap Sun)

HOUSING

• “Golden handcuffs” lock up Seattle’s housing supply (Axios – Seattle)
• Leavenworth City Council to explore adding property tax exemption program (The Wenatchee World)
• COLUMN: Rich renters: Seattle ranks third highest for renter income (Gene Balk/The Seattle Times)

INVASIVE SPECIES

• Remember ‘murder hornets’? So far so good in Whatcom County, state ag department says (The Bellingham Herald)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Spokane police complete review of nearly all backlogged sexual assault kits (KREM TV)
• There are multiple victims in criminal case against fired deputy, investigators believe (The Bellingham Herald)
• Family of man shot, killed by Clark County deputies in 2020 asks for new investigation (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Sheriff’s Office: Lewis County jail inmate dies in custody Wednesday evening (The Chronicle)
• COLUMN: Seattle Times leads charge in transparent anti-police hit piece (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• King County to pay $10M to cyclist paralyzed in bollard crash (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle Councilmember Sawant stresses passage of rent control bills before her final term ends (MyNorthwest)
• Coalition calls on Spokane County to improve language access (Spokane Public Radio)
• Johnnie Perkins resigns as Spokane City Administrator amid sexual harassment investigation (The Spokesman-Review)
• Clark County workers could see pay raise of up to 15% (The Columbian)
• Franklin County’s civil service commission resigned last month. This happened next (Tri-City Herald)
• Aberdeen adopts mobile home rent rule (The Daily World)
• EDITORIAL: Preserving ethical vigilance: Protecting whistleblowers’ vital contributions (The Chronicle)

LONG-TERM CARE

• OPINION: WA’s long-term care plan is a national first and a win for residents (Silvia Gonzalez, Women Without Borders Lead Coordinator for Casa Latina, and Ai-jen Poo, president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and executive director of Caring Across Generations/The Seattle Times)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon set to become the first state to collect race, ethnicity data from tax filers (KOMO TV)
• Oregon’s landmark Death with Dignity law now extends to patients who come from other states (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Streamlined estate tax relief for Oregon farms becomes law (The Oregonian)
• Oregon wolf compensation program gets $1 million but no policy changes (Capital Press)
• Review panel faults boarding school for Washington teen’s death (FOX 13)
• Lawmakers, regulators step in as Hard Mtn Dew disrupts alcohol distribution (Pluribus News)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Escalating student violence in schools sparks concern, demand for action across Washington state (KOMO TV)

SPORTS

• EDITORIAL: Way to go, Seattle! Keep All-Star Week momentum going (The Seattle Times)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Western State Hospital renovations have an unlikely resident in mind: bats (KING TV)
• Washington, Royal Oaks to go before state’s high court in dispute over fees, taxes (The Columbian)

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

• Alcohol consumption surged during the pandemic — and deaths followed (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)
• Overdose-stopping Narcan to be distributed to Yakima businesses and offices (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Lynnwood police see an alarming rise in the use of the drug ‘tranq’ (KIRO TV)
• Fentanyl crisis in Grant County (Columbia Basin Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Tri-Cities was off Newhouse’s radar. It needs to be a priority in drug recovery plan (Tri-City Herald)

TRANSPORTATION

• WSDOT picks the community’s choice for I-90 and US 395 North Spokane Corridor connection (KREM TV)
• “Huge step forward” for I-5 bridge connecting Washington and Oregon (Axios – Seattle)
• Interstate 5 Bridge project seeks $500M grant (The Columbian)
• Plan for ‘monster’ road closures in and around Seattle (The Seattle Times)
• Highway 14 reopens after Tunnel Five Fire (The Columbian)
• Sound Transit eyes late summer start for $283M Hilltop light rail extension (Puget Sound Business Journal)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Campfires to be banned on DNR land in Southeast Washington starting July 14 (KREM TV)
• Baird Springs fire in mop up, other fires continue to cause problems in WA (Columbia Basin Herald)

WILDLIFE

• The cougar whisperer (The Lewiston Tribune)