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Today's Headlines: October 28, 2024

Federal authorities say election officials are ready to detect threats

Federal cybersecurity officials are reassuring the public that next month’s election will be safe from outside interference.

During a recent briefing with Northwest reporters, Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said there will inevitably be disruptions, whether manmade or caused by nature.

But she says elections officials have built in multiple levels of security. She says the machines on which people vote are not connected to the internet and election officials in nearly all jurisdictions keep paper records of completed ballots.

“Every state runs things a little bit differently, different equipment, different processes," Easterly said.

"This decentralized and diverse nature of our election infrastructure actually creates enormous strength and resilience because it means that it’s not possible for a malicious actor to hack into our voting infrastructure in the way that you can have a material impact on the outcome of the presidential election," she said.

Easterly says people with questions about voting and security issues can find information at the websites of the National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State or at vote.gov.

Spokane police officer cleared in Walmart shooting

Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell says he won’t press charges against a Spokane police officer who shot and killed a man accused of shoplifting and assaulting an officer last December at the North Spokane Walmart.

Officer Karl Richardson was involved in trying to subdue Kerry Jones-Hilburg as the suspect left the store with stolen merchandise in his pocket. The prosecutor’s office says the investigation showed Jones-Hilburg struggled with Richardson and another officer and appeared to reach inside his coat for a gun, when Richardson fired a single shot that hit and killed the suspect.

Authorities say it was later determined the suspect’s gun was stolen, that Jones-Hilburg was a convicted felon not legally allowed to carry it and that he had meth and other drugs in his system.

Dishman Hills to thin trees for forest health

Hikers using the Dishman Hills Natural Area can expect to encounter some tree-thinning until April. The project is designed to improve forest health and reduce fire danger.

A $380,000 grant from the Department of Natural resources is helping to fund the project

Spokane County Parks natural resource specialist Dan Maus said smaller diameter trees on 190 acres are scheduled to be thinned.

"It's trees under 8 inches in diameter, and spacing them out roughly 15 feet between canopies, leaving the mature trees," he told SPR News. "And then on the trees we do leave, we will be raising the branches and pruning to about eight-foot height."

Maus said the forest will look very changed for a little while.

“It's going to look heavily impacted this next summer, and not in a bad way, but in an addressed way," he said. "And then in the next few years, it really does transform the forest into healthier ecosystem. A lot the mature trees will thrive again as the competition has been reduced.”

He said signage in the park will let hikers know which areas are being treated, so they can avoid the work.

'Harris' signs area appearing across red-leaning rural Washington... but not for Kamala

The name “Harris” is the 25th most common surname in America – the most famous might be Vice President Harris. But plenty of Republicans share her name, one of whom has experienced some confusion from voters.

When William Harris decided to run for Mason County Commissioner last year, he made his last name big on his yard signs.

William Harris is a Republican. But when Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee in August, she picked a typeface that looks a whole lot like the ones in William Harris’ garage.

William Harris is far from the only Republican with this common surname – there’s Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, North Carolina Congressional candidate Mark Harris.

William Harris had a sense of humor about it when he spoke to KUOW public radio.

"I mean, you can see the t-shirt that I'm wearing has a nice, big 'Harris.' And I would walk up to doors, and some people would open the door, and they would say, 'You got to be kidding me. We're Republicans'," he said. "I walked up to another house. Lady walked up open arms, going, 'Thank God, I've been waiting for you.' And then she stopped and said, ‘Who's William?'"

It’s actually helped him connect with Democrats he hopes will vote for him, Harris said.

Mason County’s Harris is running on local issues like planning for affordable growth and dealing with homelessness and mental illness.

Unlike the other Republican Harrises, he does NOT talk about Vice President Harris' politics.

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Reporting contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Steve Jackson and Scott Greenstone.