Capitol Buzz

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• 2018 looks to be good for tree fruit (Washington Ag Network/KONA Radio)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Management shake-up at Alaska Air will bring layoffs (The Seattle Times)
• Small businesses eligible for drought assistance (Gorge Radio-KIHR)

CONGRESS & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

• Senate confirms 15 more judges, wrapping up a GOP priority (AP/The Seattle Times)
• Social Security checks will grow in 2019 as inflation rises (The Seattle Times)
• Congress approves bill requiring tribal village to be built along Columbia River (Yakima Herald)
• OPINION: Washington lawmakers should repeal medical device tax (Richard Fabian is president and chief operating officer of SonoSite. Joe Robinson is senior vice president, Health Systems Solutions of Philips North America/Puget Sound Business Journal)

COURTS, CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT

• It’s devastating! Family members react to death of capital punishment in Washington state (KCPQ TV)
• ‘He got away with murder’ – Family of corrections officer reacts to court ruling on death penalty (MyNorthwest)
• Death penalty ruling anguishes Spokane Valley mother who lost daughter in 1996 attacks (The Spokesman-Review)
• ‘Disappointed,’ says father of murdered 12-year-old girl on death penalty ruling (KOMO-TV)
• Family of murder victim reacts after court rules death penalty violates Constitution (KING TV)
• Death penalty struck down by Washington Supreme Court, taking 8 men off death row (The Seattle Times)
• State Supreme Court strikes down death penalty, converts sentences to life in prison (The News Tribune)
• List of inmates whose sentences are changed from death row to life in prison (The Seattle Times)
• Bellingham teen-killer’s death sentence commuted due to state Supreme Court ruling (The Bellingham Herald)
• Court ruling on death penalty could end the long debate in Olympia over capital punishment (The Seattle Times)
• The study that killed the death penalty in Washington (Crosscut)
• State Supreme Court calls a ‘timeout’ for Washington Bar Association to review its rules (The Seattle Times)
• Lookout in Camille Love shooting sees 50-plus years shaved off his original sentence (The News Tribune)
• U.S. Marshals complete 3-month operation against gang-violence in Wash.; 263 arrests made (Seattle P-I)
• Multi-agency operation takes gang members off the streets (KOMO-TV)
• These 8 areas of King County have 95% of the shootings (KING TV)
• Courthouse security training included an element of realism: gunfire (Kitsap Sun)
• Jury awards $4.9 million to man fired after losing vocal chords to cancer (KOMO-TV)
• Witness: Lakewood cop arrested for DUI told her not to call police after he crashed his car (The News Tribune)
• Officer body cameras not on Walla Walla Police’s agenda (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• OPINION: A message for survivors: We hear you and support you (Mary Ellen Stone, executive director of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center/The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: WA’s death penalty can’t be justified until we fix the system (Knute Berger/Crosscut)
• COLUMN: Death penalty ruling is proof Supreme Court has been bought off (Dori Monson/MyNorthwest)
• EDITORIAL: The end of the death penalty is a proud day for Washington (The Seattle Times)

DAMS

• Snake River dams drive wedge between farmers and orca champions (KCPQ TV)

EDUCATION & SCHOOL SAFETY

• Local students work to end bullying for National Bullying Prevention Month (KOMO-TV)
• Citing technological mishap, state will again seek to delay hearing for Freeman shooting suspect Caleb Sharpe (The Spokesman-Review)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Natural gas shortage is over, Puget Sound Energy says (The Everett Herald)
• Washington could see gas shortage after British Columbia pipeline explosion (Northwest Public Broadcasting)
• Turn up the heat and take long showers, but pipeline rupture still may raise gas prices (The Bellingham Herald)
• Committee to finalize recommendations for proposed Longview coal terminal (The Daily News)

ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES & PARKS

• Can these super oysters survive our screwed-up oceans? (Crosscut)

HANFORD

• Officials weigh costs of filling in Hanford tanks, with eye on Columbia River impact (Northwest Public Broadcasting)

HEALTH CARE

• Sixth child paralyzed with symptoms of rare disease, concern growing (KOMO-TV)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• UW Board of Regents to reject some of city’s conditions for campus growth plan (The Seattle Times)

HOMELESSNESS

• King County will open west wing of downtown Seattle jail as shelter (The Seattle Times)

HOUSING

• Hoping for Seattle-area rents to get cheap? Don’t hold your breath (The Seattle Times)
• TCC uses former Tiki Apartments to expand housing help for students (KOMO-TV)
• OPINION: Unique deal means redemption for vilified landlord, housing for TCC students who need help (Matt Driscoll/The News Tribune)
• COLUMN: Slowing real estate might let us catch our breath — or knock the wind out of us (Jon Talton/The Seattle Times)

IMMIGRATION

• Immigration enforcer ICE is opening new offices in Lakewood (The News Tribune)

LEGISLATURE

• OPINION: Elected women ‘join Joe in calling for a complete and fair process’ (Nancy Backus, mayor of Auburn; Dana Ralph, mayor of Kent; Leanne Guier, mayor of Pacific; Margaret Harto, Covington City Council member; Toni Troutner, Kent City Council member; and Sens. Ann Rivers, Randi Becker, Shelly Short and Judy Warnick/The Seattle Times)

MARIJUANA

• Kitsap in line for $500,000 in marijuana tax (Kitsap Sun)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Still wondering why his wife died in Bremerton military hospital, former officer takes his case to Supreme Court (The Seattle Times)
• Petition filed for Supreme Court review of Naval Hospital Bremerton nurse wrongful death suit (Kitsap Sun)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

•  Funding for local public records technology awarded (KXRO Radio)

OPIOIDS

• Opioid epidemic affecting half of Washington’s child care cases (MyNorthwest)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon wildfire costs hit record high of $514 million in 2018 (AP/The Oregonian)
• Oregon claws back $13 million for inflated solar tax credits (The Oregonian)

POLITICS

CONGRESS

• Former regional TV news exec seeks 4th District Congressional seat (KIT Radio)
• Democrats try to flip Washington district for the first time (AP/KOMO-TV)
• Lisa Brown: From legislator to educator to serious contender for Congress (The Spokesman-Review)
• From Kettle Falls to the Capitol, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers used conservative bona fides to rise through ranks (The Spokesman-Review)

ELECTIONS

• State officials watching Whitman County voter registration closely ahead of November midterms (The Spokesman-Review)

LEGISLATURE

Sasha Bentley (D) seeks open seat in the 14th District (KIT Radio)
Chris Corry (R) seeks open seat in the 14th District (KIT Radio)
15th Legislative District, Position 1: Bruce Chandler vs. Jack McEntire (Yakima Herald)
First-time candidates face off for state House seat (Skagit Valley Herald)
State rep candidates tackle issues at Rotary forum (The Wenatchee World)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• State building still closed as crews continue to disinfect and replace carpet after sewage backup (The Olympian)

TAXES

• EDITORIAL: Capital gains tax won’t fly as way to fund state schools (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

TRANSPORTATION

• Construction frenzy: The low Highway 520 bid is $30 million more than expected (The Seattle Times)
• Washington State Ferries looks for billions to replace old boats (KCPQ TV)
• Transportation Benefit District board wants to hear from Thurston County residents (iFiberOneNewsRadio-KMAS)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Additional $55 million sought to fight fires in Washington state (Yakima Herald)
• ‘Historic’ wildfire funding request goes to Washington Legislature (Northwest Public Broadcasting)

WILDLIFE

• Washington’s first-ever moose census (Crosscut)