Petition filed to recall Spokane Co. Commissioner Al French
A coalition of clean water advocates wants to launch a recall election against longtime Spokane County Commissioner Al French over his handling of water contamination on the West Plains.
The petition, filed by Mary Ellen Benham on behalf of the Clean Water Accountability Coalition, alleges French failed to act after he learned of PFAS groundwater pollution in and near Airway Heights seven years ago. The document claims French used his positions as county commissioner and Spokane International Airport board member to keep news of the contamination quiet and delay investigations.
SPR News contacted French’s campaign for reaction. In a July Spokesman-Review interview, French denied intentionally obscuring PFAS information and said the airport board is “aggressively trying to deal with [PFAS].”
Under Washington law, county prosecutor Larry Haskell’s office will draft ballot language. That gets forwarded to a superior court judge, who will determine whether the petition’s allegations meet legal standards to proceed. Then the groups asking for the recall have to collect signatures from 25 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the most recent general election in which French ran.
Knoll Lowney, an attorney representing the Coalition, told SPR News it is unlikely all those steps can be completed before November’s general election. He called the petition “a non-partisan attempt at accountability” and said it would likely come up in early 2025, assuming all criteria are met and that French is re-elected.
PFAS is a collective term for a family of chemicals used in firefighting foam at Spokane International Airport and Fairchild Air Force Base for many years. PFAS substances, which have been linked to some health issues, are called “forever chemicals” because they take a long time to break down.
PFAS contamination on the West Plains is a major issue in French’s re-election bid. French and Democratic challenger Molly Marshall have each put forth proposals to deal with PFAS in water. Marshall is calling for a countywide fund that would pay for water, filtration and testing; for the Spokane County to join a lawsuit against PFAS manufacturers; and secure federal and state funding for remediation. French wants to build new infrastructure to draw water from the Spokane River.
Spokane Public Schools to decide cell phone policy
The proposal would prohibit all students from using their phones during classroom time. High school students would have access during lunch and passing periods. Middle and grade school students would have to tuck their devices away from the time they get to school until the time they leave.
There are exceptions. For example, students are allowed to be in contact with medical professionals if they have a condition that needs to be managed.
SPS Superintendent Adam Swinyard said the ban is not meant to be punitive. It’s a tool to help schools and parents work together to teach students about appropriate technology boundaries.
“As working adults and anywhere in any adult setting, there’s a time and a place and we want to teach kids that there’s a time and a place to have their device, again, just taking them is not going to get us where we need to go,” Swinyard said.
Public response to the new policy has been overwhelmingly positive, according to the superintendent.
“It really transcends a variety of different beliefs, values, political associations. There’s just very broad acknowledgement that kids are on screens way too much and it’s not healthy,” Swinyard said.
The new rules, he said, are part of a process of helping the district and families develop healthy technology boundaries for children.
Sea-Tac Airport still dealing with problems from apparent cyberattack
Seattle Tacoma International Airport is scrambling to get its computer systems up and running following a suspected weekend cyberattack that interrupted some of the airport’s operations.
The disruption fouled the airport’s baggage sorting system, phone and wi-fi services, and flight information screens, according to the Associated Press.
Airport spokesperson Perry Cooper said the most-affected travelers were those on airlines with relatively few flights in and out of Sea-Tac.
“Frontier, Spirit, Sun Country and the international airlines are especially affected,” Cooper told KUOW public radio. “These are some of our folks that are using our common-use check-in counters and our kiosks, and also the common-use gates that we have.”
Cooper said travelers scheduled fly through or to Seattle on the affected airlines should print out boarding passes or use airline phone apps to display their tickets.
The Transportation Security Administration said the outage is not affecting its computers. Passengers were making it through security lines at typical rates.
Sea-Tac is still investigating the cause of the attack. Airport authorities had no estimate on when affected systems would be up and running.
La Niña could influence INW winter weather
A handful of large-scale phenomena shape weather in the Inland Northwest. One of the more influential is La Niña, a pool of cool water in the southern Pacific Ocean. Long-range forecasts are beginning to hint that La Niña will make an appearance this winter.
The winter of 2023 and ’24 was an El Niño winter, which tends to be milder and drier than average.
This winter may be a different story. National Weather Service meteorologist Robin Fox says computer models suggest La Niña may develop this fall and stick around through the winter. And that could mean a different complexion for the end of the year and the beginning of 2025.
“The typical La Niña pattern has a stronger polar jet stream,” Fox said. “It can be variable, but coming more from the north, that would bring in more in the way of storm systems for the Pacific Northwest with a better chance of wetter and somewhat cooler conditions for the region.”
To be clear, these early hints are not a guaranteed forecast. They do not tell us exactly what the weather will be like this winter, offering only general clues. And Fox says the models aren’t sure how strong La Niña might be. This year could be a borderline event, which means a weak La Niña.
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Reporting was contributed by Brandon Hollingsworth, Doug Nadvornick and Rob Wood.