Capitol  Buzz

ABORTION

• Local abortion providers expect surge in service requests from out-of-state residents (KOMO TV)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Inflation weighs on back-to-school buying for many families (AP)
• Downtown Seattle Amazon Go store temporarily closes over safety concerns (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Seattle will no longer require hazard pay for grocery workers (KUOW Radio)
• Alaska Airlines sued for discrimination, civil rights violations (KNWN Radio)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• ‘If Daybreak goes away, youth are going to die’: Daybreak team speaks out after DOH files notice of intent to suspend their license (KHQ TV)

CORONAVIRUS

• Will I qualify for the new COVID vaccine when its released next month? (KNWN Radio)

CRIME

• Number of shootings in Seattle on pace to break record (The Center Square)
• New report tracks which WA counties send the most people to prison (Crosscut)
• Federal resources could be coming to Seattle to encourage victims to report hate crimes (KING TV)
• Police arrest suspect accused of shooting at Lynnwood officer (The Everett Herald)

DAMS

• OPINION: Fate of Northwest salmon could could hinge on investments (Les Welch, Pacific Region Associate Director for National Wildlife Federation/Puget Sound Business Journal)

EDUCATION

• School district claims math can be ‘oppressive,’ insists kids recognize testing inequality (KOMO TV)
• COLUMN: We may need a miracle (Sue Lani Madsen/The Spokesman-Review)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• 3.2-magnitude earthquake hits near Enumclaw (FOX 13)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• State panel to host information meeting, hearing on Wautoma Solar Project on SR 24 (Yakima Herald-Republic)

FISH

• How a federal agency is contributing to salmon’s decline in the Northwest (OPB)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Curious how many monkeypox cases are in WA? This interactive map shows the latest numbers (The News Tribune)
• Seattle residents driving to Canada for vaccine as local monkeypox cases are doubling weekly (KIRO TV)
• First monkeypox infection found in Whatcom County (KGMI Radio)
• 70 deaths, many wasted human organs blamed on U.S. transplant system errors (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• WSU College of Medicine to expand conditional acceptance program to enroll more Native students (The Spokesman-Review)
• Senior living community, WSU Vancouver team up to benefit residents, students (The Columbian)

HOMELESSNESS

• City to clear homeless encampment in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood (KOMO TV)
• Planned site for new Tacoma homeless shelter angers, frustrates neighborhood residents (KOMO TV)
• COLUMN: Seattle residents, business fight homelessness, upsetting activists and media (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

HOUSING

• WA tenants need to work 72 hours a week at minimum wage to afford rent (The Seattle Times)
• Number of Wenatchee-area homes for sale rises, as does the median price (NCW Life Channel)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• ‘Totally unacceptable’: Mayor Woodward says about second officer injured by gunfire this summer (KHQ TV)
• Former Pierce sheriff who left ‘heck of a legacy’ has died. He led the agency for 4 years (The News Tribune)
• Communities across the Yakima Valley celebrate National Night Out with police (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• EDITORIAL: Voters have stepped up to meet evident need (The Columbian)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Seattle City Council names its first Indigenous Advisory Council (KUOW Radio)
• Seattle permanently issues 15% cap on food-delivery fees (MyNorthwest)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Judge rules against Navy in Growler jet fleet lawsuit (AP)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

• Lakewood violated records law in case of police killing of ‘antifascist.’ Here’s the cost (The News Tribune)

OTHER STATES

• Brown declares conflagration for wildfire in north-central Oregon (Capital Press)
• Poultry debate: Large chicken farms raise concerns in rural Oregon (Capital Press)

TRANSPORTATION

• Tri-Cities Airport is looking to add direct service to world’s 2nd busiest airport (Tri-City Herald)
• San Juan ferry crew rescues two people from sinking boat (KGMI Radio)
• EDITORIAL: Seattle’s new transportation director will have to hit the ground running (The Seattle Times)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Multiple wildfires burning in Eastern Washington (FOX 13)
• Vantage Highway Fire update – firefighters expect progress Thursday (KPQ Radio)
• Fire near Williams Lake south of Cheney balloons to 3,200 acres as evacuations ordered (The Spokesman-Review)
• OPINION: Fewer firefighters due to mandate should make us hot under the collar (Elizabeth Hovde, Washington Policy Center/The Chronicle)