Inslee proposes improvements for WA juvenile rehab centers
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wants state lawmakers to approve money to reduce overcrowding at the state’s juvenile rehabilitation centers.
In a press conference Monday, the governor said the state will lease a building to accept juvenile offenders who live in the over-capacity Green Hill School in Chehalis.
The building in Aberdeen is owned by the Department of Correction, but it would be staffed by juvenile justice personnel and would have no substantive connection to the DOC. Inslee also said the Department of Children, Youth and Families would launch a new leadership program and enhance vocational assistance to aid detainees in finding a new place in society upon their release.
“This is going to be important for everybody at Green Hill, including the ones who stay at Green Hill, because it will increase their security. It will reduce the prospect of violence in their facility,” Inslee said.
Green Hill’s reported population of 233 (as of October 25) is far above the recommended safe capacity of 180. The number of young people referred to Green Hill has increased 24 percent since 2023, Inslee said.
Creating more space to house juvenile residents is only a short-term solution, Inslee said.
“I want folks to understand this is not the one-and-done deal. There will be increasing demands on the juvenile justice system after this is accomplished. This will not solve the entire long-term problem of the system,” the governor said.
Inslee cautioned that the proposals announced Monday will have a “budgetary impact,” but how large is not yet known.
He noted that it will be up to his successor, governor-elect Bob Ferguson, to help tackle the complex factors that lead to juvenile crime. Likely steps include hiring more police officers and addressing mental health resources in schools and communities.
Little makes predictions for Idaho’s relationship with Trump administration
Idaho Governor Brad Little says he believes his state will have a better working relationship with the new Trump administration.
“There’s so many things that we have to do in Idaho that the federal government can slow down or stop and that will not be as big a problem as it was previously,” Little said during a Monday virtual town hall meeting.
Little said he believes Trump’s stated policy to deport undocumented workers will focus on people who break the law. Little thinks there will be efforts to protect people who come to Idaho to work in agriculture.
“We know who they are. They come in. They come in under a program where they have to go home. They have to pay their taxes. If they don’t have a job, they have to go back. We know who they are,” Little said. “If I had to guess, there will be a big push on that going forward.”
As for Idaho’s 2025 legislative session, Little said he will introduce a new initiative to improve the state’s foster care system.
Hispanic advocacy group ramps up efforts ahead of inauguration
A nonprofit organization that serves Hispanic residents in eastern Washington is dialing up its advocacy efforts with Donald Trump’s second presidency less than two months away.
Jennyfer Mesa, the executive director of Latinos en Spokane, said her organization has noticed anti-immigration policies coming from both Republicans and Democrats and wanted to be ready regardless of who won the election.
“I think we need to definitely inform and organize within our community," Mesa told SPR News. "None of the rights that we have today were created just because they were given to us. We had to fight for them, and that comes from everything from worker rights to housing rights to human rights to our health.”
Last week, Luis Cortes, an immigration attorney based in Seattle, gave a presentation at Gonzaga University about the uncertain future for the DACA, also known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Cortes, who argued for DACA before the Supreme Court in 2019, has also been working on community organizing across the state of Washington to ensure DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants know where they can get resources and support.
Building industry group threatens legal action over pace of code changes
The Washington State Building Codes Council is moving toward reviewing current rules to comply with a voter initiative approved this month. But the future of the initiative itself remains unclear.
Initiative 2066 overturned state and local laws that bar or restrict the use of natural gas in heating and plumbing systems. Environmental groups have pledged to sue to invalidate the measure.
The Washington State Standard reports the council, caught in the uncertainty, decided to review existing codes and gather recommendations for what needs to change if I-2066 survives the legal challenge.
The council’s more cautious route angered the Building Industry Association of Washington, which believes the codes should be changed immediately. It has threatened to sue if the codes council doesn’t update energy codes by early December.
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Reporting was contributed by Brandon Hollingsworth, Doug Nadvornick, Monica Carrillo-Casas and Jerry Cornfield.