DEA details drug trafficking crisis in western Washington; Ballot recounting by hand begins in tightest WA primary in history

AGRICULTURE

• Can this trick double the size of broccoli and other produce? It’s popular in Pierce County (The News Tribune)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• Minority Report or Robocop? Subcommittee talks AI impact to public safety (The Center Square)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Here’s what to expect from the Kroger-Albertsons trial in Oregon (KUOW Radio)
• EDITORIAL: Consider shoppers, workers in grocery merger (The Columbian)

CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM

• Washington farmers want their promised carbon-pricing exemptions (CascadePBS.org/The Columbian)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Program has been changing kids’ lives — maybe helped save one — for the past 20 years (The News Tribune)
• VIDEO: FBI investigating secretive church group with Inland NW ties (KXLY TV)

COURTS (STATE)

• Tri-Cities man charged with stealing +$300K in COVID unemployment benefits (Tri-City Herald)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• Homeowners near Yelm ‘terrorized’ by burglar prowling their community (KING TV)
• Person shot, killed on King County Metro bus in Des Moines (The Seattle Times)
• Newberry Hill project likely delayed weeks by vandalism that remains under investigation (Kitsap Sun)

CYBERSECURITY

• Possible Sea-Tac cyberattack still impacting Seattle airport travel. Here’s what to know (The Olympian)
• No timeline for when SEA Airport system will be back online after cyberattack (KHQ TV)

DRUG CRISIS

• DEA details drug trafficking crisis in western Washington (FOX 13)
• Parents, educators ‘forever changed’ as three sentenced in Ferndale child’s overdose death (The Bellingham Herald)
• New city ordinance allows judges to ban offenders from Yakima’s drug crime hotspots (KAPP/KVEW)

EDUCATION

• Schools are competing with cellphones. Here’s how they think they could win (AP)
• OSPI likely to take action concerning College Place Title IX resolution (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• All 17 Pasco elementary schools now offer dual language classes to meet booming demand (Tri-City Herald)
• Ecology: Edmonds school needs to find source of PFAS (The Everett Herald)

ELECTIONS

• Ballot recounting by hand begins in tightest WA primary in history (The Seattle Times)
• Statewide recount of Washington lands commissioner race gets underway in Spokane County (The Spokesman-Review)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Facing natural disasters, more lawmakers look to make oil companies pay for the damage (Washington State Standard)
• Energy demand from data centers growing faster than West can supply, experts say (Oregon Capital Chronicle/Washington State Standard)
• Avista’s Vermillion stepping down; Rosentrater to become first woman to lead company as CEO (The Spokesman-Review)
• EDITORIAL: Does WA state energy council have the courage to stand up to Gov. Inslee? (Tri-City Herald)

FISH

• Fishing for salmon in Pierce County this season? Keep these new state rules in mind (The News Tribune)
• OPINION: Wild sablefish is a better choice than farmed salmon (Katie Harris works for the nonprofit Eat on the Wild Side and the trade association Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association/The Seattle Times)

FOOD SAFETY & SECURITY

• WSDA, FDA removing mushroom products from stores after illnesses reported (KNDO/KNDU)

GUN RIGHTS

• Stan’s Merry Mart to end guns sales over new retailer oversight law (The Center Square)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Kadlec healthcare workers end strike, return to work (KNDO/KNDU)
• FDA approves Neffy, a nasal spray alternative to an EpiPen that does not need a needle to stop an allergic reaction (The Spokesman-Review)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Peninsula College tops in state for enrollment growth (KONP Radio)

HOMELESSNESS

• Vancouver’s future $16M homeless shelter expected to operate for 10 years (The Center Square)

HOUSING

• Seattle opened 1,750 subsidized, affordable apartments in 2023 (Cascade PBS)

INVASIVE SPECIES

• Washington spider season is here. Here’s what to know about house and garden spiders (The Bellingham Herald)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• City of Olympia agrees to pay $600,000, require police training to settle suit in shooting death (The Olympian)
• Settlement with family of man killed by Olympia police will mandate de-escalation training (Washington State Standard)
• Shooting settlement will ban Olympia police from decorating equipment (The Olympian)
• Local law enforcement agencies plan to install license plate-reading cameras (The Wenatchee World)
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to deploy body-worn cameras for law enforcement (KHQ TV)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Olympia council makes users of shrooms and other psychedelics the lowest police priority (The Olympian)
• Sunnyside Financial Manager fired amid $4 million budget shortfall (KNDO/KNDU)
• State auditor: City of Morton lost nearly $1 million over a decade (The Chronicle)
• Former small-town official accused of stealing $937K from Washington city (Washington State Standard)

OTHER STATES

• Deflection plan in Portland includes jail for people caught with drugs after 8 p.m. and on weekends (The Oregonian)
• LA to pay more than $38M for failing to make affordable housing accessible (AP/Oregon Public Broadcasting)

SPORTS

• Washingtonians to watch in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris (Axios – Seattle)

TRANSPORTATION

• Kingston-to-Seattle fast ferry service canceled until further notice (The Seattle Times)
• Link light-rail extension to Lynnwood opens August 30 (Cascade PBS)
• When to travel, not travel in WA over Labor Day weekend (FOX 13)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Western Washington tribe could get back 72 acres of old-growth forest under congressional bill (KUOW Radio)
• Secrecy and data issues impede progress on missing and murdered Indigenous people (Underscore Native News + ICT/Oregon Public Broadcasting)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• Mount Rainier gets its snow hat early as wild weather wallops much of U.S (AP/The Seattle Times)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Pioneer Fire dramatically slowing but containment levels remain unchanged (KPQ Radio)