Inslee signs bill to combat graffiti in Washington with innovative pilot program; 2024 Legislative Review: Southwest Washington lawmakers tout session’s successes

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• WA cherry growers will be able to tap emergency loans after last year’s tough season (Washington State Standard)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Washington unemployment rate rises for 5th month in a row (MyNorthwest)
• As Seattle lost 10K Amazon employees, the company added corporate workers in Bellevue (KUOW Radio)

CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM

• WA’s carbon market may partner with California and Quebec (The Seattle Times)
• Amid WA repeal threat, CA and Quebec support looking into carbon market linkage (The Center Square)
• Sen. Joe Nguyen discusses the Climate Commitment Act and gas prices (KVI Radio)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• New memorial means ‘everything’ to survivors, 10 years after Oso slide (The Everett Herald)
• A brief timeline of the Oso mudslide (The Everett Herald)
• Ten years after Oso landslide, a new memorial is a gathering place for remembrance (KUOW Radio)
• OPINION: Don’t let lawmakers put Washington skydiving centers out of business (Jessie Farrington, co-owner of Skydive Kapowsin in Mason County/The Bellingham Herald)
• COLUMN: Life expectancy in WA counties varies by as much as 11 years (Gene Balk/The Seattle Times)

CONGRESS

• Congressional leaders sell $1.2 trillion spending package to members before shutdown deadline (AP)
• EDITORIAL: Congress fails to do its job on annual budget (The Columbian)

CORRECTIONS & JAILS

• Dead inmate’s family sues Franklin County. She was in distress for days and got no help (Tri-City Herald)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• EDITORIAL: Bad medical advice should not count as free speech (The Seattle Times)

COURTS (STATE)

• WA Supreme Court: Passing the bar no longer required to be a lawyer (The Center Square)
• More work for less pay: Spokane County prosecutors, public defender’s office struggling to recruit, retain attorneys (The Spokesman-Review)
• Medical debt collection company ordered to pay over $800k for violating Washington state law (KNDO/KNDU)

DRUG CRISIS

• Inslee signs fentanyl bill sending money to WA tribes hit by opioids (The Seattle Times)
• New laws aim to prevent youth opioid overdoses in Washington (Axios – Seattle)
• Inslee signs laws to combat opioid ‘scourge’ while settlement funds head to Whatcom County (KGMI Radio/My Bellingham Now)
• NARCAN will soon be available to all Washington school districts (KREM TV)
• Spokane City Council to vote on asking Inslee to declare state of emergency over opioid crisis (KREM TV)
• Clark County and Vancouver receive millions from opioid litigations (The Columbian)
• Yakima County Jail fighting ‘war’ against fentanyl (KNDO/KNDU)
• COLUMN: I witnessed a homeless man overdose and it highlights Seattle failures (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

EDUCATION

• Inslee signs controversial LGBTQ school curriculum bill into law (The Center Square)
• Why would one of Tacoma’s largest elementary schools lose its vice principal to cuts? (The News Tribune)
• Student protestors at Priest River Jr. High won’t be disciplined (KXLY TV)

ELECTIONS

• Washington State Rep. Jenny Graham explains no vote on election worker protections bill (KHQ TV)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Parts of Tacoma, Olympia susceptible to tsunamis. New regulations aim to make them safer (The Olympian)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Schweitzer opposes natural gas ban (The Lewiston Tribune)
• Group opposes Whitman County wind farm idea (Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE

• EPA issues new auto rules aimed at cutting carbon emissions, boosting electric vehicles and hybrids (AP)

FISH

• OPINION: If we can come together to save salmon, so can you (Willie Frank III, chairman of the Nisqually Tribe, and Ron Garner, president of the Puget Sound Anglers State Board/The Seattle Times)

FOOD SAFETY & SECURITY

• A new law requires all eggs sold in Washington to be cage-free — is it driving up egg prices? (The Inlander)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Care providers for developmentally disabled people come up short pushing for more pay (Washington State Standard)
• Strike at Deaconess and Valley Hospitals? Service and tech workers mull labor action amid stalled contract negotiations (The Spokesman-Review)
• Colfax hospital will keep its birthing center (The Lewiston Tribune)
• Hospital officials in Colfax vote to keep birthing center open and work to be in compliance with Washington’s abortion law (KQQQ Radio)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Saint Martin’s alerts faculty to possible job and program cuts as it faces financial crisis (The Olympian)

HOMELESSNESS

• Affordable housing for priced-out Bainbridge workers coming to Bethany Lutheran Church (MyNorthwest)
• COLUMN: One big reason the regional strategy on homelessness is struggling (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

HOUSING

• Following new state law, Vancouver will create rules to allow duplexes, fourplexes in any neighborhood (The Columbian)
• Dozens rally outside City Hall for tenant rights, but some landlords think they go too far (The Olympian)
• Surging home prices prolong Seattle’s ‘bidding wars’ era (MyNorthwest)
• Community members push for stronger renter protections in Tukwila (KING TV)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• NCW law enforcement officials react to police pursuit reversal (The Wenatchee World)

LEGISLATURE

• 2024 Legislative Review: Southwest Washington lawmakers tout session’s successes (The Columbian)
• Key takeaways from the 2024 WA legislative session (Crosscut)
• Meet the WA Republican lawmaker who ‘sounds like a Democrat’ (Washington State Standard)
• Blending education and technology a goal for Wellman (Washington State Journal/Columbia Basin Herald)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• State audit finds bookkeeper misappropriated funds from Yakima-area drainage districts (Yakima Herald-Republic)

MEDIA

• OPINION: A view from Oregon: How do we keep local journalism alive? (Kari Borgen, publisher of The Astorian/The Seattle Times)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon officials roll back tolling projects, but keep their options open (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Portland police want a new specialized team to respond to violent protests, citing 2020 (KREM TV)

REDISTRICTING

• COLUMN: Trust erodes one case at a time (Sue Lani Madsen/The Spokesman-Review)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Garfield High parents, students demand more security after shooting (The Seattle Times)
• Garfield High School parents hold rally surrounding gun violence (MyNorthwest)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Dr. Bob Lutz resigns from Washington Department of Health (KREM TV)
• OPINION: Want to remember Jay Inslee’s 12 years as governor? Look at the side of WA freeways (Bill Bryant, served on the Seattle Port Commission from 2008-16/The News Tribune)

TECHNOLOGY

• Apple has kept an illegal monopoly over smartphones in US, Justice Department says in antitrust suit (AP)
• COLUMN: ShotSpotter: Why waste money we don’t have on technology that doesn’t work? (Marcus Harrison Green/The Seattle Times)

TRANSPORTATION

• Inslee signs bill to combat graffiti in Washington with innovative pilot program (KOMO TV)
• New program will test graffiti-obliterating drones along Washington highways (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Governor signs 19th District lawmaker’s bill to study electric vehicle battery fires (The Chronicle)
• EDITORIAL: A distant train whistle offers a faint hope (Yakima Herald-Republic)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• New report shows how drought impacted WA, helps agencies plan for future (KING TV)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Fire risk rising after record spring warmth (KXLY TV)

WILDLIFE

• New alert system aims to reduce the number of whales hit by vessels (KNKX Radio)