Hate crimes reporting hotline will be tested in Spokane
A new hotline for reporting hate crimes will be tested in Spokane, King and Clark counties next year.
The Washington Attorney General’s office says the service will direct victims to law enforcement or the appropriate resources and collect state-wide data on hate crimes and bias incidents.
"Spokane has a history and continuously has incidents of hate crimes," Spokane City Council member Zack Zappone. "Most recently and most publicly, we've seen it with the hate crimes associated with the LGBTQ community. But the LGBTQ community is not alone. We have had in the last year hate crimes with the Black community and Islam [sic] community and Jewish community. And so this is definitely a needed resource.”
Zappone was one of the advocates for Spokane to be a test location for the hotline.
“The big goal is to have a single location where we can track what types of hate crimes are happening, where are they happening, and then how can we deploy resources to try to change those numbers,” Zappone told SPR News.
The project is still in its early stages, but the A.G.’s office is recruiting a committee to help design the hotline’s operations and provide advice on outreach and delivery of services.
The Attorney General’s office says it aims to roll the service out across Washington in 2027.
Avista implements fire season changes for its power customers
Citing the Inland Northwest’s dry season and increasing wildfire risk, Avista Utilities said it would change some of its practices to reduce the chances of sparking a fire.
One change, called Fire Safety Mode, lasts through the summer. Ordinarily, when there’s a fault on a power line, the lines are programmed to try several times to clear the fault and restore service. Under Fire Safety Mode, the line remains dead until human workers can go out and examine it for themselves. They would also ensure the line isn’t touching anything flammable before restoring power. The safety mode means power failures may take longer to resolve, Avista said, but reduces the chance of inadvertently starting a fire.
The second change is called Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS. Unlike Fire Safety Mode, which lasts the entire season, PSPS would be invoked for specific instances when low humidity and strong wind raise the possibility of wildfire. Under PSPS, Avista would turn off the power in certain places to avoid igniting a fire. PSPS would be used only in extreme circumstances, the company said, and power would be restored once the immediate danger subsides.
Avista furnishes electrical power to most of Spokane County, Coeur d’Alene and nearby communities, and select other parts of eastern Washington and north Idaho, from the Canadian border to Grangeville.
Washington transportation committee hears about West Plains traffic challenges
The three cities on Spokane’s West Plains have significant transportation challenges during this time of rapid growth. Leaders from the cities shared their stories Wednesday with members of Washington’s Transportation Commission.
In 1998, the voters of Cheney approved a tax on their electric and natural gas service. The money funded a residential streets and sidewalk program.
City Administrator Mark Shuller told the commission that the program was so successful that voters overwhelmingly approved it again in 2012. Next year it will be up for renewal.
“When our current residential street tax sunsets, we’re going to have to have a serious conversation. That’s probably going to start this year with the community about the value of the program and maybe some opportunities to increase that support a little bit," he said.
Shuller says that’s because money spent on traffic infrastructure doesn’t go as far as it used to. “We’re trying our best to maintain our streets at this level, but the challenge is getting harder and harder.”
Airway Heights and Medical Lake are having their own growing pains when it comes to providing adequate streets. Bill White, a transportation consultant for Airway Heights says the city has identified about $100 million in street improvement projects.
The transportation commission will hear more about transportation challenges on the West Plains Thursday morning in Cheney.
Federal payments help defray local costs where property taxes are barred
Local governments aren’t allowed to levy property taxes on land owned by the federal government. But they often have to furnish services to those lands, such as roads, school districts and police and fire response. So each year, the federal government sends money to states and counties to help make up for the absence of property tax revenues.
This year, the Department of the Interior is sending $29.7 million to Washington and $41.1 million to Idaho.
Counties receive their share based on how much land the federal government owns, the county’s population and revenue-sharing payments. Okanogan County and Pend Oreille County, where there are thousands of acres of National Forest land, will get $3.3 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Places that have less federal land, such as Spokane County, will see smaller checks ($6,900 for Spokane this year).
The pattern is largely the same in Idaho. Bonner and Boundary counties, home to portions of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, will each get more than a million dollars. Kootenai will receive about $791,000.
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Reporting was contributed by Owen Henderson, Doug Nadvornick and Brandon Hollingsworth.