SCOTUS homelessness decisions’ impacts in Washington could be unique; As WA emergency rooms overflow, here’s one possible fix

ABORTION

• WA considers next steps with abortion pill stockpile after Supreme Court ruling (The Seattle Times)
• Abortion groups say tech companies suppress posts and accounts (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)

AGRICULTURE

• OPINION: As Farm Bill talks continue, look to Washington’s contributions to food production, safety and security (Wendy Powers, Ph.D., Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of Washington State University’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, and Derek Sandison, director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture/The Spokesman-Review)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• In pricey Seattle, many older adults eligible for retirement keep working (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle strip club becomes first in WA to serve alcohol in decades (The Seattle Times)
• As Boeing looks to buy a key 737 supplier, a whistleblower says the problems run deep (KUOW Radio)
• Hidden costs, delays crush hopeful food truck owners in Snohomish County (The Everett Herald)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• What is Juneteenth? (KING TV)
• Juneteenth: What is it; what to know about the holiday that celebrates slavery’s end (KIRO TV)

CONGRESS

• Former Spokane Congressman George Nethercutt, who gained national fame by defeating House speaker, dies at 79 (The Spokesman-Review)

CORRECTIONS & JAILS

• County audit details grim conditions at Capitol Hill youth jail (Cascade PBS)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• SCOTUS homelessness decisions’ impacts in Washington could be unique (The Seattle Times)
• The Supreme Court overturned the federal bump stock ban. What does that mean for Washington state? (KUOW Radio)

COURTS (STATE)

• EDITORIAL: Public defender shortage is a WA crisis that requires local and state action (Tri-City Herald)

DAMS

• Federal and state agencies initiate lower Snake River study, public input wanted (KWHT/KTEL/KWVN – Elkhorn Media)
• Quinault Nation files petition seeking removal of the Skookumchuck Dam (The Chronicle)

DRUG CRISIS

• Drug overdoses surge in some states: 5 takeaways on numbers that ‘are people’s lives,’ expert says (FOX 13)
• ‘It is possible to recover’: Mother regains custody of her child after on Reunification Day (KING TV)

EDUCATION

• 2024 grad thrived, grew to know herself during pandemic (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle school to say goodbye to cell phones in the fall (MyNorthwest)
• Are extracurriculars the key to fighting skipping, isolation and phone addiction in kids? Spokane Public Schools hopes so (The Spokesman-Review)
• Puyallup schools won’t say what jobs they cut to tackle deficit. Here’s what we found out (The News Tribune)
• ‘Equal isn’t always best’: Pasco adopts new high school boundaries (The Center Square)

ELECTIONS

• Presidential election a prime target for foreign disinformation, intelligence officials say (AP)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Rapid response: Vancouver Fire Department launches leave-behind Narcan program (The Columbian)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Thousands in Whatcom Co. vulnerable to shutoff as PSE resumes disconnection for past due bills (The Bellingham Herald)

ENVIRONMENT

• EDITORIAL: WA leaders must confront new risks as Canada oil surges in Salish Sea (The Seattle Times)

HANFORD

• Former top official with ‘most important, difficult job’ at Hanford nuclear site dies (Tri-City Herald)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• As WA emergency rooms overflow, here’s one possible fix (The Seattle Times)
• Some hawking stem cells say they can treat almost anything. They can’t (AP)
• Clark County sees 60 cases of whooping cough; most are among the unvaccinated (The Columbian)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Clark College faculty expressed concerns over campus safety before May stabbing (The Columbian)

HOMELESSNESS

• Columbia River Mental Health program fills medical gap, reaches out to homeless (The Columbian)
• ‘That’s not for me.’ Tri-Cities graduate overcomes homelessness to attend college (Tri-City Herald)
• Edmonds funds embedded social worker, for now, after contract ends (The Everett Herald)
• Wenatchee adopts new laws around homelessness (NCW Life Channel)

HOUSING

• As building grows in Kitsap, county aims for more city density (Kitsap Sun)

INSURANCE

• Is your driving being secretly scored? (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Law enforcement prioritizing safety after pursuit restrictions lift (Columbia Basin Herald)
• The Spotlight: Dashcam video shows police chase down accused killer, kidnapper (FOX 13)
• Family: ‘Manic episode’ preceded trooper shooting man on I-5 near Everett (The Everett Herald)
• Auburn officer accused of ‘tombstone’ tactics in rare murder trial (The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Seattle Police Department recruiting DACA recipients to be cops (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

LGBTQ+

• After LGBTQ resolution failed, this Pierce County school board meeting got heated (The News Tribune)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Spokane leaders highlight wins, challenges facing downtown (The Spokesman-Review)

MENTAL HEALTH

• ‘A move in the right direction’: Students, community react to Seattle mayor’s youth mental health plan (KING TV)
• Seattle mayor announces $10 million mental health investment strategy (The Center Square)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs held its first community-based grant award ceremony (KIRO TV)

OTHER STATES

• As Supreme Court ponders homelessness case from Oregon, ‘hostile’ design flies under radar: The Conversation (The Oregonian)
• Oregon gun control Measure 114: Harney County judge turned legal standards ‘on their head,’ state argues (The Oregonian)
• Oregon Department of Corrections ends practice of charging prisoners for medical devices (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• ‘You can’t tell me what’s up in these hills’: Skeptics and believers gather in Metaline Falls for annual Bigfoot Festival (The Spokesman-Review)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Violence prevention programs in school are one way to keep kids safe, experts say (The Seattle Times)
• King County prosecutors have notified schools of 69 felony gun charges against students (KUOW Radio)
• A middle schooler in Bellingham was allegedly attacked because he is black (KIRO TV)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Surgeon general asks Congress to require warning labels for social media, like those on cigarettes (AP)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Audit: 11 Washington agencies potentially mishandled $1.17 billion in COVID aid (The Center Square)

TRANSPORTATION

• Washington is the safest state for motorcyclists by this measure, according to new study (The Bellingham Herald)
• Auditor raises red flags in Metro’s push to electrify bus fleet by 2035 (The Seattle Times)
• OPINION: Let international shipyards compete for WA ferries (Eric Osnes, has worked in the U.S. and international maritime industry/The Seattle Times)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Car crashes take deadly toll on Native Americans in Washington state (KUOW Radio)

WATER

• Roza Irrigation District facing dire drought conditions this summer (The Center Square)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Crews make progress on fires near Zillah and Wapato; evacuation level lowered (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• State resource mobilization issued for fires in Wapato, Zillah (KNDO/KNDU)
• Pioneer Fire more than doubles in size over weekend – 3,811 acres (KPQ Radio)
• ‘It really helped’: How a new state law aided firefighters in Whitman County  (KHQ TV)