WA ferry workers bear brunt of delayed, angry passengers; WA utilities prepare public for possible power shutdowns to prevent wildfires

AGRICULTURE

• Herbicide resistance initiative hiring new researchers to battle weeds (Capital Press)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Boeing kicks off airshow with $12 billion in deals in first day (Bloomberg/The Spokesman-Review)
• Seattle-area sandwich chain to close 10 stores, citing rising labor costs (MyNorthwest)

CORRECTIONS & JAILS

• State department transfer of 43 young men from juvenile to adult jails was unlawful, lawyers say (KING TV)
• Grant Co. Jail project moving quickly (Columbia Basin Herald)

COURTS (STATE)

• Wreck with police caused her death, lawsuit contended. Now Tacoma will pay $2 million (The News Tribune)

CYBERSECURITY

• Crowdstrike blames bug for letting bad data slip through, leading to global tech outage (AP)

DRUG CRISIS

• Kitsap gets share of $47.5 million from Kroger opioid settlement (Kitsap Sun)
• OPINION: Housing must come first when healing from addiction (Derrick Belgarde, executive director of Chief Seattle Club/The Seattle Times)

ELECTIONS

• Some folks in Pierce County haven’t received their voters’ pamphlets yet. Here’s why (The News Tribune)
• OPINION: Washington launches public-awareness campaign to curb misinformation about voting by mail (Washington Office of the Secretary of State/The Bellingham Herald)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• WA utilities prepare public for possible power shutdowns to prevent wildfires (The Center Square)

ENVIRONMENT

• U.S. and Canada update 60-year-old Columbia River Treaty (Cascade PBS)
• Intalco Aluminum agrees to $5.25 million penalty for hazardous pollution violations at Ferndale (The Bellingham Herald)
• Local projects underway to assist and restore aquatic habitat (KXRO Radio)

FISH

• There’s a new top fish of the Columbia River — and it doesn’t mind the warm water (The Seattle Times)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Providence Everett launches early breast cancer detection program (The Everett Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Want cheaper prescriptions? Start bargaining (Bloomberg Opinion/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

HOMELESSNESS

• Spokane City Council declines resolution supporting enforcing homeless camping law (The Center Square)
• Tiny home village operators seek land to build new units amid pushback over new site location (The Bellingham Herald)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• ‘Defund is dead’: Seattle leaders say it’s time to hire more police (KUOW Radio)
• Interim Chief Sue Rahr talks progress, obstacles after 60 days leading Seattle Police Department (KING TV)
• SPD interim chief calls for hiring process changes as staffing woes continue (The Center Square)
• COLUMN: Hey, Seattle and King County — you need to talk (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Spokane County nationally recognized for its Teen Text Line: ‘You’ll get the help you need if it’s within our ability’ (The Spokesman-Review)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon has nearly as many fires burning as Washington, Idaho and California combined (The Oregonian)
• Woman exits Oregon prison 21 months late after state corrections agency ‘really screwed up’ (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Turning empty offices into apartments could help solve Portland’s housing crisis. Here’s why it’s not happening (The Columbian)

PARKS

• Shorter camping stay limits in WA state parks to begin in August (Washington State Standard)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Former Monroe High teacher charged with sexual misconduct (The Everett Herald)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Meta takes down thousands of Facebook accounts running sextortion scams from Nigeria (AP)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Washington AGO tasked with investigating $42 million tort claim filed against it (The Center Square)
• State agency will take over investigations into police use of deadly force investigations in Clark County (The Columbian)
• What is WA state’s Office of Independent Investigations, anyway? (KONA Radio)

TAXES

• Less than half of WA families who qualify for new tax credit are applying (The Center Square)

TRANSPORTATION

• WA ferry workers bear brunt of delayed, angry passengers (The Seattle Times)
• The world’s first fully hydrogen-powered ferry just launched. It was built in Bellingham (The Bellingham Herald)
• Focused on road deaths, King County may equip fleet with speed limiterstrans (The Seattle Times)

WATER

• With looming earthquake threat, Everett breaks ground on $80M reservoirs (The Everett Herald)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Washington’s wildfire season ramps up (Axios – Seattle)
• Unhealthy air in Tri-Cities, I-84 closes as wildfires burn in WA and OR (Tri-City Herald)
• Firefighters dealing with multiple wildfires in Yakima Valley; U.S. 12 closed in both directions (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Emergency evacuation center opens for Black Canyon Fire in Yakima County (KAPP/KVEW)
• Multiple large wildfires in the North Cascades put nearby residents on alert (KOMO TV)
• Wildfires burn nearly 10,000 acres on Colville Reservation (The Spokesman-Review)