Huge spike in costs to help salmon could derail WA transportation budget; Online schooling for Washington’s youngest students is on the rise

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Easterday lawsuits against Tyson dismissed. Massive ‘ghost cattle’ fraud comes to a close (Tri-City Herald)
• State officials, nonprofits step up efforts in Mabton after new well strikes out (Yakima Herald-Republic)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• Microsoft hires Sam Altman and OpenAI’s new CEO vows to investigate his firing (AP)
• ‘Please regulate AI:’ Artists push for U.S. copyright reforms but tech industry says not so fast (MyNorthwest)
• Amazon lays off hundreds in its Alexa division as it plows resources into AI (AP)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Why Americans feel gloomy about the economy despite falling inflation and low unemployment (AP)
• WA’s payroll employment, jobless rates both increased in October, ESD says (The Center Square)
• Downtown Seattle’s retail recovery — or lack thereof — by the numbers (The Seattle Times)
• Amazon forced drivers to work at dangerously fast pace, WA regulator says (The Seattle Times)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Facing financial ruin as costs soar for elder care (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
• Another suspicious package with powder sent to Seattle synagogue (The Seattle Times)
• Protesters block Space Needle, demanding cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war (The Seattle Times)

CONGRESS

• Push renewed for online child safety bill despite setbacks (CQ-Roll Call/The Columbian)
• Sen. Bernie Sanders says ‘We must stand’ with Providence Everett nurses (The Everett Herald)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• Supreme Court ethics code doesn’t satisfy Democratic appetite for legislation (CQ-Roll Call/The Columbian)

COURTS (STATE)

• 2nd juror in Tacoma police trial falls ill. Judge postpones proceedings (The News Tribune)
• State ordered to pay $3M in Monroe sex abuse lawsuit (The Everett Herald)
• Jury picked for trial of 3 accused of killing 4 Careaga family members in 2017 (Kitsap Sun)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• Seattle ties record for homicides set in the 1990s (KUOW Radio)
• Clark County retailers add security measures to combat rise in thefts — and they are starting to see success (The Columbian)
• 2 dead following standoff in East Bremerton in which shots were fired (Kitsap Sun)
• Man arrested in connection with disappearance of Thurston County couple (MyNorthwest)

CYBERSECURITY

• Clark County says October security breach was a cyberattack; no indication personal data was stolen (The Columbian)

DRUG CRISIS

• China vows to crack down on fentanyl chemicals. The impact is unclear (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)
• Meth: The other drug on the streets, and how its becoming more dangerous (MyNorthwest)

EDUCATION

• Online schooling for Washington’s youngest students is on the rise (Washington State Standard)
• Students, parents and teachers plead for OSD to keep schools open (The Olympian)

ELECTIONS

• Officials stock up on overdose antidote naloxone after fentanyl-laced letters disrupt vote counting (KING TV)
• How Seattle’s democracy vouchers are working (Axios – Seattle)
• Snohomish County funds Spanish voters’ pamphlets, but not ballots — yet (The Everett Herald)
• Former Washington state House candidate faces felony voter fraud charges (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• King Tide season is back, here’s how to prepare (MyNorthwest)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• What the flush? The culprits clogging King County sewers (The Seattle Times)
• Pacific Power seeks public comment on proposed rate increases (KONA Radio)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE

• New Social Security report shows growing overpayment problem tops $23B (KFF Health News/The Seattle Times)
• OPINION: Restore net neutrality, crucial to democracy (Michael Copps, former FCC commissioner and chairman/The Seattle Times)

FISH

• WDFW refuses to close fisheries despite Quinault Nation citing ‘alarmingly low returns’ of salmon (KIRO TV)
• Fish habitat projects in the Yakima Basin receive funding boost from Bureau of Reclamation (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Federal Columbia Caucus reports on salmon to Gorge Commission (KLCK Radio)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Samaritan, Premera reach one-year agreement (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Local health care workers frustrated by slow negotiations with MultiCare Yakima Memorial (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Respiratory illnesses are keeping MultiCare Yakima Memorial’s Emergency Department at capacity (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• EDITORIAL: Can MultiCare fulfill its ambitious ER plan? (Yakima Herald-Republic)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Washington, Washington State agree to five-year extension of Apple Cup (FOX 13)

HOMELESSNESS

• City of Burien threatens potential legal action against church for homeless encampment (FOX 13)

HOUSING

• Vancouver, Washougal, Camas, Battle Ground get money for middle housing (The Columbian)
• Rent hikes, strict rules: Puyallup mobile home community feels taken advantage of (FOX 13)
• Should granny flats be used as short-term rentals? This city wrestles with pros, cons (The News Tribune)
• OPINION: We must help Thurston tenants without driving local landlords out of business (Anna Schlecht, retired from the City of Olympia/The Olympian)

IMMIGRATION

• Immigrant detainees resort to hunger strikes in protest of conditions at Tacoma facility (Washington State Standard)
• After detention, this organization welcomes and guides immigrants (KNKX Radio)

INVASIVE SPECIES

• Invasive European Green Crab found at Salt Creek recreation area (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)

LAND USE & PROPERTY RIGHTS

• Old-growth trees live another day as controversial Bellingham townhome development hits pause (The Bellingham Herald)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Yakima Valley police agencies work to find fresh recruits amid statewide decline (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• New Milton-Freewater Police Department delayed until spring 2024 (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

LEGISLATURE

• Judge rules WA lawmakers can withhold documents via ‘legislative privilege’ (The Seattle Times)
• Judge rules WA state lawmakers hold ‘privilege’ to withhold documents from public (The Spokesman-Review)
• Thurston County judge ruled that Washington lawmakers have control releasing relative documents to the public (KHQ TV)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Washington counties wrestle with weighted voting (The Center Square)
• City Council amended Seattle’s $7.8B budget. Here’s what’s changing (Crosscut)
• In Everett, right turns on red go under the microscope (The Everett Herald)
• Lacey residents ask city for help with HOA board, accusing it of being ‘out of control’ (The Olympian)
• Crime, drugs take center stage at Moses Lake council meeting (Columbia Basin Herald)

MEDIA

• As KAOS turns 50, the community radio station is bouncing back from pandemic (The Olympian)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Should Seattle expand involuntary commitment for mental health and addiction? (KUOW Radio)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law faces growing pushback amid fentanyl crisis (AP)
• Oregon is placing foster children in unlicensed short-term rental homes and paying millions to do so (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Multnomah County mental health leaders agree some patients need involuntary treatment — but where? (The Oregonian)

PARKS

• EDITORIAL: Keep listening to residents’ concerns to improve Seattle parks (The Seattle Times)

POLITICS

NATIONAL

• Rosalynn Carter, outspoken former first lady, dies at 96 (AP)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Hilltop Heritage students voice safety concerns following lockdowns prompted by ‘Kia Boyz’ (KING TV)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• OPINION: Facebook is censoring anti-Hamas, pro-Israel commentary (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Washington state to pay nearly $17 million settlement to victims abused at Pend Oreille County group home (KING TV)

TAXES

• Washington state’s new capital gains tax has raked in nearly $890M so far (The Center Square)

TRANSPORTATION

• Potential toll hike for I-405 and SR 167 could come as early as February 2024, WSDOT says (KOMO TV)
• Safety advocates call for changes to ‘Seattle’s most dangerous corridor’ (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle’s new Marion Street Pedestrian Bridge opens, old WSF walkway set to come down (Kitsap Sun)
• Big Tri-City overpass project just got more expensive. Extra $3M ‘heartburn’ for council (Tri-City Herald)
• This new dial-a-ride transit service in Puyallup will bring you places that buses don’t (The News Tribune)
• More worries arise over Vantage Bridge project (Daily Record)
• OPINION: McChord Airfield is no place for a civilian airport (Dave Zeeck is the former publisher and president of The News Tribune in Tacoma, The Olympian and The Bellingham Herald/The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: A bullet train to B.C.? Here’s why it’s worth considering (The Seattle Times)

TRANSPORTATION BUDGET

• Huge spike in costs to help salmon could derail WA transportation budget (The Seattle Times)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Makah Tribe may soon exercise right to hunt gray whales off WA coast (The Seattle Times)
• Federal agency recommends allowing Makah whale hunt (KNKX Radio)
• Native American Heritage Month: Lummi Nation glass artist shares journey as entrepreneur (KING TV)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• Climate change is hastening the demise of Pacific Northwest forests (KOMO TV)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Gray and Oregon Road fires were among the most destructive in Washington history (The Spokesman-Review)
• ‘It was just raining fire’: The day the Gray fire changed a town forever (The Spokesman-Review)
• ‘Here for the long haul’: How the Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group formed to help residents after the Gray, Oregon Road fires (The Spokesman-Review)
• ‘I don’t want to die in this’: Three months later, residents reflect on the Elk fire’s destruction (The Spokesman-Review)

WILDLIFE

• Pacific Northwest livestock organizations unite to protest grizzly bear plan (KPQ Radio)
• Rep. Newhouse responds to criticism from North Cascades grizzly plan supporters (KAPP/KVEW)
• USFWS proposes shooting 400K invasive barred owls to save spotted owl (Capital Press)
• Western gray squirrels uplisted to endangered status due to Pacific Northwest habitat loss (KOMO TV)