Opioid settlement share goes to Maddie’s Place
A Spokane nursery for children born to mothers with drug addiction will receive money from Spokane County’s share of a legal settlement with opioid manufacturers.
County officials expect to receive more than $17 million dollars during the next 15 years.
This week, the county commissioners voted to direct $600,000 to Maddie’s Place, a facility in the Perry District where infants exposed to drugs in the womb can gradually detox and learn to bond with their mothers.
Shaun Cross, the executive director of Maddie’s Place, told SPR News the money will help his organization buy land next to its current building.
“That will be for expansion of the services that we’re providing,” Cross said. “We’ll be looking at a possible addition to the clinic that we currently have. We can treat up to 16 babies at a time. This would perhaps give us the ability to treat up to 24 infants at a time, something like that.”
He said it may also allow more space for temporary housing for families whose babies are patients in the clinic.
Maddie’s Place is the first recipient of the county opioid settlement money. Earlier this year, the commissioners publicly identified three other organizations they intend to fund, including the county’s center for people undergoing mental health and drug-related crises.
WA Insurance premiums to rise next year, but not as much as companies requested
Eleven companies have been cleared to sell health insurance on Washington's individual market in 2025, and premiums will rise an average of 10.7 percent, the Insurance Commissioner's office said Wednesday.
The rise is less than the 11.3 percent average increase that had been requested. Costs for specific plans will vary based on the number of people covered, the depth of coverage, whether the customer smokes, and where they live.
"I know this rate increase will hit hard for many people, especially at a time when other expenses are up," said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said in a statement.
Kreidler said the two primary drivers for the increase were more services used and higher costs for those services. His office recently submitted a report to state lawmakers containing suggestions to make health care more affordable.
"I'm hopeful the Legislature will use this data to work toward meaningful, concrete changes in our health care system. These costs will not decrease if we don't act now," Kreidler said.
The individual market is used primarily by people who don't receive health coverage through their employer. Some 259,000 Washingtonians get their health insurance through the individual market.
Boeing workers preparing for possibility of machinists strike
As Boeing machinists prepare to vote on a new contract offer from the company, the region is preparing for the possibility of a strike.
Machinists Union head Jon Holden told the Seattle Times members are not happy with the deal and he expects they will vote it down.
Leaders at SPEEA, the union that represents engineers and technical workers at Boeing, are providing guidance to their members about what to do in the event of a strike.
“We are asking everyone to wear red on Monday for Machinist Mondays,” said SPEEA spokesperson Bryan Corliss. “We've got signs for them to put in their cars or stickers to put on their jackets. And so, yeah, we are supporting them. Their success is our success.”
Union members at Boeing are required by their contracts to stay on the job if other unions strike.
Corliss said SPEEA is advising its members not to volunteer to take up any work of striking machinists, and to politely decline if pressed by managers.
SPEEA begins its own contract negotiations with Boeing in 2026.
Spokane awards tourism grants
After a multi-year hiatus, the City of Spokane is once again offering money to organizations aiming to attract visitors to the city.
The city council this week approved grants for 13 events, as the recently restarted Tourism and Cultural Investment Committee begins sending money out after years of dormancy from the pandemic and lack of members.
The grant fund accrued a large reserve during that time, said Tourism and Cultural Investment chair Zack Zappone. Now they're trying to push out more money.
“We're trying to award more, but we're also trying to be intentional of not just burning through all the funds in one year," Zappone said. "We don't want to create a bunch of new events that can't be sustained.”
Fernanda Mazcot is one of the organizers of the annual Tacos y Tequila festival, which received ten thousand dollars in grant money.
“This money was for the entertainment, so the performers. So we'll be able to bring more bands, more live bands,” Mazcot told SPR News. “We've had bands coming from California and El Paso, Texas. So that's kind of what we want to continue to do, bring more live bands.”
Tacos y Tequila is also looking at adding another staple of Chicano culture for next year’s festival, Mazcot said: a car show.
Other grant recipients this year include the Northwest Improv Fest and the Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Festival.
One of the main criteria to receive a grant is whether the event would bring people in from out of town to spend money at shops and hotels, which helps the local economy and puts money back into the fund to supply more grants, Zappone said.
This is the only set of grants for this year, but starting in 2025, he said the committee will award two rounds of money to help increase local tourism.
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Reporting was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Deb Wang and Owen Henderson.