Washington unveils five-year plan to ease record-high homelessness; Navy fighter jet crashes near Mount Rainier; 2 crew members missing

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• What’s behind the widening gender wage gap in the US? (AP)
• Hotel workers to protest ‘resort fee ripoff’ (FOX 13)
• Troubled Boeing signals it may raise up to $25 billion to shore up finances (AP)
• Machinists push Boeing to bargain as month-old strike endures (The Seattle Times)
• Warehouse construction is booming in Pierce County. New real estate report shows how much (The News Tribune)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• As Ellensburg grows, the town’s best hiking area tries to keep pace (The Seattle Times)

CORRECTIONS & JAILS

• Yakima County jail officer accused of using police database to stalk wife (Yakima Herald-Republic)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• City of Tacoma has directed millions to preventing youth violence. Is it working? (The News Tribune)
• Police investigate vandalism of Marcus Whitman statue (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

EDUCATION

• ‘Terrible for everyone’: Emotions run high at Shoreline School District meeting about possible closure (KING TV)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Experts, researchers prepare for Pacific Northwest tsunami: ‘You don’t know when this is going to happen’ (KING TV)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Bonneville Power Administration unveils plans for $3B in grid upgrades (Washington State Standard)
• Amazon, Google make dueling nuclear investments to power data centers with clean energy (AP)
• Amazon’s big plans for small modular nuclear reactors in Eastern WA and beyond (Tri-City Herald)

ENVIRONMENT

• Photo frenzy at WA’s Mt. Rainier raises alarm over environmental damage (FOX 13)

FOOD SAFETY & SECURITY

• Here’s the list of WA stores with meat products recalled for listeria (The Seattle Times)

HANFORD

• Work to finally start under disputed $45B contract for radioactive waste cleanup in WA (Tri-City Herald)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Millions of aging Americans are facing dementia by themselves (KFF Health News/Washington State Standard)
• How new flu, RSV vaccines could help protect more kids this year (KUOW Radio)
• New children’s hospital in Tacoma to open in 2026 (KING TV)
• OPINION: The real reason health care costs are so high (Dr. Roger Stark, visiting fellow with Mountain States Policy Center/Capital Press)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• How effective are UW’s new task forces in addressing anti-Semitism and Islamophobia? (KOMO TV)
• Lawsuit claims UW School of Medicine’s BIPOC Physicians Directory is racist (KIRO TV)
• Western Washington University dean who was arrested on campus will not be charged (The Bellingham Herald)
• Central board of trustees set to approve budget, increase tuition at quarterly meeting (Daily Record)

HOMELESSNESS

• Washington unveils five-year plan to ease record-high homelessness (Cascade PBS)
• WA program to clear roadside encampments needs more money to keep going (Washington State Standard)
• King County clears Burien encampment, connects 55 people to services (KOMO TV)
• Rod’s House ready to open Hope Center in Yakima to serve youth facing homelessness (Yakima Herald-Republic)

HOUSING

• Seattle starter homes require six-figure salary (Axios – Seattle)
• As housing crisis ravages Washington, a state agency says it needs $1.2 billion to address the problem (The Spokesman-Review)
• Landlord advocacy group plans to sue Spokane over new registration ordinance (KHQ TV)
• Edmonds celebrates opening of $30M affordable housing development (The Everett Herald)

INVASIVE SPECIES

• Are invasive northern giant hornets still in Washington state? (The Center Square)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• State patrol’s face of the Tri-Cities leaves behind legacy of safety. ‘Good luck Trooper’ (Tri-City Herald)
• Spokane County Sheriff’s Office cites overtime, vacancies in ask for more funding (The Center Square)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Chelan County’s new law punishes drivers for using parking lots to get around traffic (KIRO TV)
• Vancouver looks at cuts to police, fire, roads and community services to close $43M budget deficit (The Columbian)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Navy fighter jet crashes near Mount Rainier; 2 crew members missing (The Seattle Times)
• Two Navy crew members missing after aircraft crashed east of Mount Rainier (MyNorthwest)
• Hundreds of troops kicked out under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ get upgraded to honorable discharges (AP)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

• State patrol pays $58K in attorney’s public records lawsuit (NCW Life Channel)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon leaders approve ‘precedent setting’ plan to put state forest in a carbon market (Oregon Capital Chronicle/Washington State Standard)
• Anti-hunger advocates say 2025 could be the year for free meals for all Oregon students (The Oregonian)
• Portland police chief pledges to bring force to staffing level not seen in over 2 decades (The Oregonian)
• 2 Portland-area counties are suing Oregon over money to fight addiction (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Idaho will begin using deep veins as backup for lethal injection executions, officials say (AP)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Teen arrested in social media bomb threat at Heritage High School (The Columbian)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Washington State Department of Corrections: License plate shortage should end soon (The Center Square)

TRANSPORTATION

• Quick repair of WA ferry returns two-boat service to Bainbridge (The Seattle Times)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• With $32B in aid, Native Americans push against history of neglect (The Seattle Times)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• Puget Sound residents share tips for making it through the ‘big dark’ (KNKX Radio)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Pacific Power attributes recent Walla Walla outages to wildfire prevention settings, birds (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

WILDLIFEGrowths, lumps seen on some deer in Washington (FOX 13)