New study brings home the danger of fentanyl for WA residents; Fixing Washington’s ‘broken’ transportation funding system

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Southwest Washington viticultural area clears hurdle (The Columbian)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• U.S. economy accelerated to a strong 4.9% rate last quarter as consumers shrugged off Fed rate hikes (AP)
• What’s behind the fall of Seattle unicorn Convoy (Axios – Seattle)
• OPINION: Lawsuits over Washington’s new pay transparency law highlights flaws in how it was enacted (Kris Johnson President of Association of WA Business/Kitsap Sun)

CONGRESS

• Mike Johnson elected speaker of the House after being nominated by McMorris Rodgers (The Spokesman-Review)
• Mike Johnson, a staunch Louisiana conservative, is elected House speaker as GOP moves past chaos (AP)

CORONAVIRUS

• A strike force led by local U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref is working to uncover millions of dollars in COVID pandemic relief fraud (The Inlander)

COURTS (STATE)

• Cardiologist testifies police restraint of Manuel Ellis led to his death in their custody (The News Tribune)
• Spokane doctor used his own sperm in fertility care, lawsuit alleges (The Seattle Times)
• Tri-Cities rapist faces life in prison after jury finds him guilty of rare 3rd strike (Tri-City Herald)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• Washington lawmaker vows to fix law that’s failing to help victims of child sex trafficking (Investigatewest/Washington State Standard)

DRUG CRISIS

• New study brings home the danger of fentanyl for WA residents (Crosscut)

EDUCATION

• Are 4-day school weeks better or worse for students? Here’s what the research says (KOMO TV)
• Behind the effort to save Pierce County’s historic Parkland School (KNKX Radio)
• Puyallup church ends lease of K-6 school that would play teams with transgender athletes (The News Tribune)
• Katherine Thomas to remain after taking Wenatchee School Board to task for being ‘politicized and petty’ (The Wenatchee World)

ELECTIONS

• Trial date set in voting rights lawsuit against Yakima County over Latino signatures (Yakima Herald-Republic)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Congress considering hydropower expansion in Washington state (KPQ Radio)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE

• White House wants $56 billion from Congress for disaster relief, child care and high-speed internet (AP)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• DOH urges blood donations as Washington blood supply runs ‘dangerously low’ (KIRO TV)
• Providence nurses fight for better rights after more than 600 quit in last 18 months (MyNorthwest)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• These are the most expensive colleges in Washington — and the price is going up (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Hundreds of students participate in anti-Israel rally at UW (MyNorthwest)

HOMELESSNESS

• ‘A big change:’ Homeless alliance shows new transitional shelter (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

HOUSING

• Seattle outreach program offers a lifeline: Turning dilapidated RVs into permanent homes (KOMO TV)
• COLUMN: Creating an ecosystem for Black homeownership in WA (Michael Brown, the civic architect at Civic Commons/The Seattle Times)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Spokane sheriff wants more scrutiny of use-of-force incidents (The Center Square)
• Sheriff tells Spokane Valley City Council policy change is underway after beating of man in park, saying his office ‘has to uphold public trust’ (The Spokesman-Review)
• Everett unveils ‘Officer Dan Rocha Way” (FOX 13)

LEGISLATURE

• OPINION: We’re lucky to have deep thinkers in Olympia and Washington, D.C. (John McCrosky, former Lewis County Sheriff/The Chronicle)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Snohomish County joins King in mandating stores to accept cash (The Seattle Times)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Seattle launches pilot program to tackle mental health calls (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle launches mental health pilot program to aid non-emergency policing (The Center Square)
• Chelan County behavior health unit seen as model in Washington (KPQ Radio)
• Afraid of losing their wings, pilots may not seek mental health care (KING TV)
• Lawmakers blame Inslee’s ‘broken promise’ for delays on behavioral health treatment facility in Chehalis (The Chronicle)

OTHER STATES

• What we know about the mass shooting in Maine so far (AP)
• Reports show more Oregon students on track to graduate, but attendance, college advancement are down (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Labor union aims to bring back Oregon ban on self-serve gas (The Oregonian)

PARKS

• New Washington state parks website is up and running (KPQ Radio)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• ‘Swatting’ threats put dozens of WA schools on lockdown last spring; FBI investigating nationwide hoax calls (FOX 13)
• Seattle students robbed in 14 incidents since September, police say (The Seattle Times)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• EDITORIAL: Washington, other states wise to scrutinize Meta (The Columbian)

TRANSPORTATION

• Fixing Washington’s ‘broken’ transportation funding system (The Center Square)
• Washington fine-tunes its options for boosting electric vehicle sales (Washington State Standard)
• States make it cheaper to buy an EV, more expensive to own one (Pluribus News)
• These are Tacoma’s five most dangerous roads, according to local law injury attorneys (The News Tribune)
• Inslee checks in on Skagit County’s electric ferry project (Skagit Valley Herald)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• Forecast says El Niño will be strong this winter. Here’s what it means for WA weather (The News Tribune)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• WA lands chief: State just had one of its ‘most challenging’ fire seasons ever (Washington State Standard)
• This year was one of Washington’s ‘most challenging’ fire seasons yet, according to lands chief (The Spokesman-Review)

WILDLIFE

• Groups seek changes to Washington’s cougar, black bear hunting rules (The Spokesman-Review)