Capitol  Buzz

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Small Axe Farms grows Seattle-area Black agricultural community (Crosscut)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• COLUMN: The splitting of Seattle — and the Eastside, too — is accelerating (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

CANNABIS

• COLUMN: It was known for chili. Now it smells like weed. Why cannabis boomed in Nalley Valley (Matt Driscoll/The News Tribune)

CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM

• Searching for fixes to the farm fuel carveout in Washington’s climate law (Washington State Standard)
• Inslee says he wants cap-and-trade to be ‘less costly’ (Capital Press)
• Inslee promotes Climate Commitment Act while touring Wenatchee (The Wenatchee World)

CONGRESS

• Senator wants to reroute flights away from Southwest Boise, where he lives (McClatchy Washington Bureau/The Seattle Times)
• Washington U.S. Rep. calls for Oracle Cerner’s VA program closure (The Center Square)

COURTS (STATE)

• Trial to begin of 3 officers charged in Manny Ellis killing (Axios – Seattle)
• Emergency officials to monitor protests, possible threats when Tacoma police trial begins (The News Tribune)
• OPINION: Our public defender system is at the breaking point (Anita Khandelwal, director of the King County Department of Public Defense, and Girmay Zahilay, member of the Metropolitan King County Council representing District 2/The Seattle Times)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• As homicides spike, WA moms start group for parents of murdered children (The Seattle Times)
• Illegal street racing ‘flash mob’ rattles Tacoma’s North End neighborhood (KING TV)
• COLUMN: Seattle, Tacoma leaders should take notes from Spokane on crime (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

DRUG CRISIS

• Price of illicit fentanyl in WA drops to as low as 50 cents a pill (Washington State Standard)
• Marysville weighs mandatory jail time for repeated ‘public disorder (The Everett Herald)
• Family shocked after stolen car tests positive for meth, fentanyl when returned (FOX 13)

EDUCATION

• Boardmember says Seattle Public Schools upholds ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ (The Center Square)
• EDITORIAL: WA State Supreme Court strikes a blow against equity in school funding (Tri-City Herald)

ELECTIONS

• EDITORIAL: WA Legislature should give counties leeway to reduce ballot rejections (The Seattle Times)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• As WA heats up, thousands have received free ACs. But challenges remain (The Seattle Times)
• A $695K salary? Overtime pay at the Snohomish County PUD has soared (MyNorthwest)

FISH

• On Spencer Island, groups aim to balance saving salmon, recreation (The Everett Herald)

FOOD SAFETY & SECURITY

• Thurston County food safety inspectors do not regularly check for listeria. Here’s why (The Olympian)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Flu and COVID vaccines coming to Washington (Crosscut)
• New respiratory illness dashboard launches to monitor numbers across Washington (KNDO/KNDU)
• WA’s mosquito trackers are seeing a spike of West Nile virus (The Seattle Times)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• OPINION: College applications are complicated — take a breath (Carter Osborne, founder of Carter Osborne Tutoring/The Seattle Times)

HOMELESSNESS

• For people in Clark County experiencing homelessness, health care can be out of reach (The Columbian)
• Olympia’s newest tiny home village has opened. Here’s how it’s going so far (The Olympian)
• Bremerton council removes neighborhood maps from potential camping ordinance (Kitsap Sun)
• EDITORIAL: Trash at homeless camps complicated issue (The Columbian)

HOUSING

• Washington’s reworked heat pump rules get a cool reception from critics (Washington State Standard)
• Your housing horrors questions: What should WA rental agreements say about deposits, fees (The News Tribune)
• At Herald forum, experts discuss local affordable housing challenges (The Everett Herald)
• COLUMN: Skyrocketing rents puts Tacoma kids nonprofit in desperate need of help (Max Gross/MyNorthwest)
• EDITORIAL: How do we put housing within reach of everyone? (The Everett Herald)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Jaahnavi Kandula supporters meet with Seattle mayor and police chief (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle police union responds to backlash over Jaahnavi Kandula’s death (The Seattle Times)
• Thurston County Sheriff’s Office fires deputy who lied about his background before hire (The Olympian)

LGBTQ

• Family finds freedom, joy in WA after fleeing anti-trans legislation in Texas (The Seattle Times)

MEDIA

• COLUMN: How to use $500 million to rescue local news? Here’s one idea (Brier Dudley/The Seattle Times)

OTHER STATES

• After more Oregon students failed classes during the pandemic, state takes another look at ‘equity grading’ (The Oregonian)
• State trial begins to determine if new Oregon gun laws are constitutional (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Investigators find serious lapses at Oregon State Hospital after ‘dangerous’ patient’s escape (The Oregonian)
• Portland Public Schools, teachers union reach impasse, upping strike potential (The Oregonian)

PRIVACY

• Carmakers can collect — and sell — too much data about you, watchdog says (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)

REDISTRICTING

• WA Dems want court to redraw 15th Legislative District boundary (The Center Square)
• After court ruling, new Central WA legislative maps could mean shakeup in Olympia (The Seattle Times)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Is bringing back school resource officers the key to student safety in Olympia schools? (KOMO TV)
• School board to review staff, student boundary policy (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

SECURITY

• Twenty-nine people found in rail car at border in Blaine (KGMI Radio)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Washington Fish & Wildlife biologist tragically drowns during steelhead survey in Skamania County (KOMO TV)
• Developmentally disabled man kept in ‘rat-infested shack’ for 30 years awarded $9.3M (The Bellingham Herald)
• Severe neglect of disabled Whatcom County man costs taxpayers nearly $23M (The Seattle Times)
• When medical problems are mistaken for child abuse | WA doctor pushes back on questionable cases (The Seattle Times)
• Department of Energy settles with WA Department of Ecology for $1 million (The Center Square)
• OPINION: Scanners, not strip searches, are better for prisons (Kevin Light-Roth, currently incarcerated at a Washington state prison where he organizes the prison community around legislation, and a member of Empowerment Avenue, a collective for incarcerated writers and artists/The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: Cheerleading mediocrity is not good enough for WA’s education department (The Seattle Times)

TRANSPORTATION

• State commission tours I-5 Bridge, gets close-up view of span’s deficiencies (The Columbian)
• U.S. electric vehicle sales reach breakthrough pace (Bloomberg News/The Seattle Times)
• Tacoma’s Hilltop Link extension now open for Pierce County commuters (FOX 13)
• Propeller damage sidelines ferry Walla Walla serving Bremerton (Kitsap Sun)

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• ‘It’s only going to get worse’: Scientists speak to WA governor about warming climate (The Spokesman-Review)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Wildfires surge in Olympic National Park (Peninsula Daily News)
• West Thurston Fire Department battles Capitol Forest Fire (KIRO TV)
• DNR preliminary report finds human/railroad ops likely Tunnel 5 Fire cause (KIHR Radio)
• DNR sends reinforcements for Rock Quarry Fire in Central Kitsap (KIRO TV)
• Fire as medicine: Using fire to manage forests, prevent catastrophic wildfires in the Northwest (The Oregonian)

WILDLIFE

• Recreational boaters to see new rules for Southern Resident killer whales soon (FOX 13)