How much has Washington state spent on housing in the past decade?; UW protesters start taking down encampment as deadline looms

AGRICULTURE

• ‘It’s leveling off:’ Fewer foreign guest workers in Yakima County in 2024 (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Stemilt Growers to appeal $76,000 safety fine in worker’s death (Capital Press)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Electrician strike in Puget Sound region stretches beyond five weeks (Washington State Standard)
• Costco price hike: Popular items see unexpected jumps in cost (FOX 13)
• Everett-built 767 gets a 5-year reprieve from climate rules (The Seattle Times)
• For Boeing MAX crash victim’s mom, years of despair, and then, last week, hope (The Seattle Times)
• Prominent Seattle lobbying firm exits bankruptcy, cuts CEO’s pay (The Seattle Times)

CENSUS

• Progress or problem? Seattle’s population keeps growing, but the growth has slowed (MyNorthwest)
• COLUMN: We’re No. 13? That’s fine, Seattle wasn’t good at being No. 1 (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Four years after his daughter was killed, a Washington man continues to fight for custody of his granddaughter (KING TV)

COURTS (STATE)

• Prosecutors: Auburn officer charged with murder ignored training, killed unnecessarily (The Seattle Times)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• ‘It’s getting worse’: More than 50 windows smashed in Tacoma’s ‘Antique Row’ (MyNorthwest)
• Weaponizing music? Some Tacoma stores are blasting tunes to deter loitering, camping (The News Tribune)

CYBERSECURITY

• Richland hit by data breach involving city, 911 emergency services (Tri-City Herald)

EDUCATION

• This Pierce County school district to lay off 60 teachers, staff amid budget issues (The News Tribune)
• Sequim schools looking at options with budget struggles (The Daily News)
• Refugees find a new home in majority-immigrant Des Moines school (Cascade PBS)
• OPINION: Seattle school closures: Plan won’t fix budget; board should reject it (Ben Gitenstein, SPS parent and was a candidate for the Seattle School Board in 2023/The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: Dear SPS, to fix Seattle’s schools crisis, turn to your community (The Seattle Times)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Options narrowed for safeguarding Lower Green River Valley from flooding (The Center Square)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Construction on solar power project near Moxee is ahead of schedule (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• COLUMN: The Pacific Northwest needs more electricity now, not less (Marvin Dugger/The Lewiston Tribune)

FISH

• Northwest tribes, feds dive into work on salmon revival in upper Columbia River (Oregon Capital Chronicle/The Columbian)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Premera Blue Cross members could lose access to MultiCare facilities in two weeks (The Center Square)
• EDITORIAL: Navigating WA healthcare services is hard when you have complex needs (The Daily News)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• UW protesters start taking down encampment as deadline looms (The Seattle Times)
• What to know about the agreement between UW and encampment organizers (The Seattle Times)
• WWU ‘ghost course’ whistleblower wins nearly $3M in lawsuit (The Seattle Times)

HOMELESSNESS

• Burien poised to kill King County-funded shelter project (The Seattle Times)
• Yakima Council discusses new Camp Hope lease and code enforcement (Yakima Herald-Republic)

HOUSING

• How much has Washington state spent on housing in the past decade? (Washington State Standard)
• High interest rates are hitting poorer Americans the hardest (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
• College seniors wary of homeownership amid soaring prices, rising mortgage rates (KOMO TV)
• How a major real estate settlement could affect homebuying in Seattle (Axios – Seattle)
• Residents of Seattle low-income high-rise go a week without elevators (The Seattle Times)
• A big impact on Spokane’s housing shortage could come in a tiny form (The Spokesman-Review)
• Grant, Adams counties need more housing, Department of Commerce says (Columbia Basin Herald)
• $160K unpaid taxes, vandalism plague developer whose micro-apartments eased rental woes (Tri-City Herald)

LAND USE & PROPERTY RIGHTS

• Yakima River Canyon parcels now under federal protection, new rec areas open (Daily Record)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• U.S. Justice Dept. awards Spokane police $120K as its share of forfeited home sale (The Center Square)

LEGISLATURE

• Pierce County lawmaker under fire a second time for conduct at state Legislature (The News Tribune)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• King County Recorder’s Office mishandled millions, audit reveals financial flaws (KOMO TV)
• Seattle’s government surplus is a cut-rate gold mine for resellers (The Seattle Times)
• Vandalism of Pride mural prompts Spokane officials to condemn hate at press conference (The Center Square)
• Catherine Ushka’s death leaves void on Tacoma City Council. These rules dictate how it’s filled (The News Tribune)
• Elected officials to get 10% pay bump, or more, in Snohomish County (The Everett Herald)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Washougal plans to build new veterans memorial, including space to properly dispose of flags (The Columbian)

OTHER STATES

• Utility watchdog calls to cap Oregon rate hikes as energy bills continue to rise (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• OPINION: Foster kids are left out of the reproductive health care system (Megan Wills Kullnat, a pediatrician in Redmond and a foster parent/The Seattle Times)

TAXES

• Clark County’s taxable retail sales rose 1.69% in Q3 outpacing state’s other metro areas (The Columbian)

TRANSPORTATION

• On I-5 in Everett, traffic nightmare is reminder we’re ‘very vulnerable’ (The Everett Herald)
• Why doesn’t WSDOT shift traffic to the other Narrows Bridge during emergency repairs? (Gateway News/The News Tribune)
• EV rebates won’t ‘move the needle significantly’ on carbon emissions (The Center Square)
• Washington State Ferries prepare for busy summer season, still facing shortage of boats (KING TV)
• How can Washington build a sustainable state ferries system? (KNKX Radio)
• New hydrogen, electric buses get trial run in Snohomish County (The Everett Herald)
• Why was Sea-Tac Airport so busy Sunday? Will it get worse? (MyNorthwest)
• Missing plane near Snoqualmie Pass prompts multi-agency search (KING TV)
• Plane makes emergency landing on North Spokane Corridor, then takes off from highway (The Spokesman-Review)
• EDITORIAL: No tolls before date to begin bridge construction (The Columbian)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Washington is 2nd in the U.S. for missing and murdered Indigenous women; have recent efforts made headway? (The Columbian)