Incidents of violent crime, homicides surge in Washington; Washington pays $100M fine for neglecting mental health services months earlier than expected

ABORTION

• Abortions jump 23% in WA as visiting patients reverse decade long decline (The Seattle Times)
• How the overturn of ‘Roe’ still impacts Washington abortion care (Crosscut)

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Kennewick is at the center of Washington’s $2.5B apple, cherry world this week (Tri-City Herald)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• AI’s future could be ‘open-source’ or closed. Tech giants are divided as they lobby regulators (MyNorthwest)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Washington employer groups file lawsuit on new EPA water quality standards (KNDO/KNDU)
• Clock running down on Boeing’s efforts to meet wide-ranging year-end goals (Puget Sound Business Journal)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Student murals ‘cover up’ hate on vandalized Seattle synagogue wall (The Seattle Times)

CONGRESS

• Rep. Jayapal takes backlash over Hamas-friendly comments (The Center Square)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• Supreme Court signals it will uphold a tax on foreign income and leave a wealth tax for another day (AP)
• SCOTUS reviews Washington couples’ income tax suit some say could nullify tax code (The Center Square)
• Joseph Emerson, off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot, indicted for allegedly trying to shut down plane’s engines (FOX 13)

COURTS (STATE)

• Tacoma officer acknowledges sitting on Manuel Ellis as he gasped for air (The Seattle Times)
• Man gets 122 years in prison for shooting at Pierce County deputies while fleeing arrest (The News Tribune)
• Checks to be mailed to 402K Washington homes after millions awarded for price-fixing lawsuits (KOMO TV)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• Report: Incidents of violent crime, homicides surge in Washington (MyNorthwest)
• COLUMN: Back to normal? Not for WA when it comes to crime (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

CYBERSECURITY

• Battle Ground city council meeting livestream interrupted by pornography broadcast (The Columbian)

DAMS

• Ag groups: Snake River dam deal ‘leaves farmers behind’ (Capital Press)
• Snake River dams: congressional subcommittee hearing announced (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)
• Formal relicensing process will soon begin for Rock Island Hydroelectric Project (NCW Life Channel)

DRUG CRISIS

• EDITORIAL: Embrace new ideas to triage WA’s fentanyl epidemic (The Seattle Times)

EDUCATION

• Math scores dropped globally; U.S. still trails other countries (The Seattle Times)
• Why are grades up and test scores down in Washington state? UW study examines grade inflation (KUOW Radio)
• It’s a first: 5 women now serve on North Thurston Public Schools board (The Olympian)
• Departing Tri-City school official to bring ‘valuable perspectives’ to WA Board of Education (Tri-City Herald)
• Kennewick’s Ron Mabry elected to State Board of Education (KNDO/KNDU)

ELECTIONS

• 2 King County elections to see mandatory recounts (MyNorthwest)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Farms in Western Washington evacuate during record river flooding (KUOW Radio)
• Puyallup, Nisqually, Chehalis rivers among those under threat of flooding. Here’s when and where (The Olympian)
• Snohomish County flooding breaks record, closes major roads (The Seattle Times)
• Skagit County warns residents to prepare for evacuation due to floods (The Seattle Times)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• West Coast states tell FERC to heed their climate laws (Capital Press)
• Clark Public Utilities could consider rate increase in face of $17.7 million shortfall (The Columbian)

ENVIRONMENT

• Ferndale company fined nearly $1 million for environmental violations at Cherry Point (The Bellingham Herald)

HANFORD

• Hanford’s Waste Treatment Plant churns out first container of clean test glass (NW News Network)
• Hanford’s waste treatment plant commences first clean vitrification, a major step in nuclear waste storage (KEPR TV)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Some WA hospitals bring back indoor masking with flu, RSV on the rise (The Seattle Times)
• Masks to be required again by Tacoma-area health system. Here’s what prompted change (The News Tribune)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• OPINION: EWU redefining success to help students, community achieve better futures (Shari McMahan , president of Eastern Washington University/The Spokesman-Review)

HOMELESSNESS

• Vancouver issues first report for homeless emergency declaration (The Columbian)

HOUSING

• Studies show link between food insecurity and housing instability (KUOW Radio)
• Median home price in Wenatchee surges to $539,000, but sales down (KPQ Radio)

INVASIVE SPECIES

• WA eludes invasive hornet for a second straight year (The Lewiston Tribune)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Seattle approves pilot program for gunshot detection tech (Axios – Seattle)
• SPD union chief claims ‘discrimination’ in probe into officer comments (The Seattle Times)
• Man shot and killed by Bellevue Police Tuesday night (MyNorthwest)

LEGISLATURE

• WA legislature to update $70B budget, Hawkins cautious on spending, citing national economic uncertainties (The Wenatchee World)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• King County Council forecasts dire cuts to come as it trims budget (The Seattle Times)
• King County OKs sales tax increase for ‘transformative’ cultural funding (The Seattle Times)
• No tax hikes in Spokane County’s $936.8M budget for 2024 (The Center Square)
• Everett council president pitches ban on serving in 2 elected offices (The Everett Herald)
• Vancouver raises income limits for Affordable Housing Fund homeownership projects to make benefits available to more people (The Columbian)

LONG-TERM CARE

• OPINION: WA Cares Fund webinar outlines many reasons to be leery of program (Elizabeth Hovde, Washington Policy Center/The Reflector)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

• OPINION: Importance of open government laws on display with shocking stories (Jason Mercier, vice president and director of research, Mountain States Policy Center, Inc./The Wenatchee World)

OTHER STATES

• State spending up 6.5% amid record surpluses (Pluribus News)
• Oregon governor forgives uncollected traffic fines and fees, allowing people to get their driver’s license (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Bellingham school administrators accused of failing to report student assaults resolve cases (The Bellingham Herald)

SPORTS

• OPINION: WA lawmakers will play a part in the next big shift in college sports (Gracie Gibbs, former women’s basketball player at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana/The Seattle Times)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Washington pays $100M fine for neglecting mental health services months earlier than expected (Washington State Standard)

TRANSPORTATION

• Landslide brings Amtrak Cascades’ most popular route to a halt for two days. What we know (The News Tribune)
• Lewis River Highway closed near Cougar as Southwest Washington rivers under flood warning (The Columbian)
• FAA clears adding 897 feet, realignment to Lake Chelan Airport runway; water project in design phase (The Wenatchee World)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Washington panel recommends more funding for DNA testing and forensic genealogy (Yakima Herald-Republic)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• When will the rain stop in WA? Here’s when we’ll say goodbye to the ‘atmospheric river’ (The News Tribune)
• Stillaguamish River flood breaks record after 6 inches of rain (The Everett Herald)

WILDLIFE

• Feds propose shooting one owl to save another in Pacific Northwest (The Seattle Times)