Former state lawmaker named to Spokane airport board
Former Spokane State Senator and Washington Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig is getting a new job: He’s joining the Spokane Airport Board.
The Spokane City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve Mayor Lisa Brown’s appointment.
Billig’s term begins immediately and runs until Jan. 6, 2028.
The board is responsible for planning, financing, constructing and operating the Spokane International Airport, Felts Field Airport and the Airport Business Park.
During his time in the legislature, Billig worked on a bipartisan bill that incentivized the purchase and manufacturing of jet biofuels and spent more than a decade as part of the alternative jet fuels work group.
Spokane settles one suit over 2022 police killing
The fiancée of a man shot and killed by Spokane Police is getting half a million dollars from the city of Spokane in a wrongful death settlement.
Police shot Robert Bradley at his home in 2022 while they were attempting to serve a court order relating to a dispute with a neighbor and they say Bradley pulled out a handgun.
The city council approved the settlement last night, five to two, with Councilmembers Michael Cathcart and Jonathan Bingle voting against.
The city recently settled another wrongful death suit for another 2022 police shooting. The city paid the family of David Novak $4 million after police killed him just 17 days after Bradley.
The $500,000 settlement is just one of the legal disputes surrounding Bradley's death.
Bradley’s children are also suing the city and have not accepted a settlement. Their suit is currently in federal court with a trial scheduled for Nov. 12.
In annual State of the State, Idaho’s governor touts education spending
In his message to lawmakers Monday, Idaho Gov. Brad Little said education spending is up since he took office, and he is proposing $50 million new dollars this year to develop more education options for families.
“Any school choice measure I would consider must be done the Idaho way,” Little said. “That means it is fair, responsible, transparent, and accountable. It must prioritize the families that need it most, and it must not take away funds from public schools.”
One of the governor's proposals calls for spending $50 million on school vouchers, which subsidize tuition at private and charter schools.
In a statement after the address, the president of the Idaho Education Association, Layne McInelly, called the policy "unfortunate and disappointing."
"It’s difficult to understand why spending any amount on subsidizing private education for the wealthy is better than enriching existing career technical education programs or improving mental health resources for all students," McInelly said in a statement.
He did praise the governor's commitment to supporting voucher programs that are "fair, responsible, transparent and accountable" but contends that "no voucher programs enacted nationwide to date or introduced and debated in the Idaho Legislature have been held to such high standards."
Little also pledged to work with legislators to find more money for rural school districts struggling to improve their facilities.
The governor’s spending proposal also includes $100 million in tax relief, even though he acknowledges the state’s budget is tighter than it has been in recent years.
The Republican also heaped praise on Donald Trump, who will re-assume the presidency later this month.
Little said the Trump administration likes what Idaho is doing when it comes to reducing government regulation.
“President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency is already looking to Idaho for the blueprint on how to cut red tape, stimulate economic growth and streamline government,” he said. “Idaho stands ready to partner with the Trump administration because, let’s face it Idaho was DOGE before DOGE was cool.”
Little pledged to work with the Trump administration to transform the way federal lands in Idaho are managed. He also said Idaho would continue to send state troopers to the southern border to apprehend criminals and drugs coming from Mexico.
Ferguson files suit against T-Mobile for data breach
Bob Ferguson will be sworn in as Washington’s 24th governor next week. But while he still has some time left as state attorney general, Ferguson is filing suit against T-Mobile.
Ferguson argues the cell phone provider failed to adequately secure the personal information of more than 2,000,000 Washington customers, leading to a large data breach in 2021.
T-Mobile allegedly knew about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in its systems and didn’t do enough to address them, according to a press release from Ferguson’s office.
Ferguson’s suit also contends T-Mobile failed to fully notify its affected customers about what had happened. In the case of more than 183,000 Washingtonians whose Social Security numbers were exposed, Ferguson’s office said, the company provided no information.
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, seeks civil penalties and restitution for the affected T-Mobile users.
New voter pamphlet rules go into effect in Washington
A new law that took effect at the beginning of the year increases the penalties for Washington candidates who publish campaign materials that look similar to official state voter guides. It was co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Volz (R-Cheney).
"There were people running around doing the fake-looking voter pamphlets, which is one of the issues on it, which I agree is problematic. Doing a copy-and-paste without any disclosures on it with campaign material is not a good thing," he said.
The maximum penalty for distributing deceptive campaign materials is now $10,000.
The new law also requires county auditors to choose people within their jurisdictions to write pro-and-con statements for local ballot measures. It’s a response to recent campaigns in Washington when outside authors were allowed to write ‘against’ statements when no one local stepped forward.
NW fruit growers wary of Trump tariff pledges
Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on imported goods has caught the attention of the Northwest agriculture industry.
“There’s always worry about how trade disputes might result in retaliation against agricultural products,” said John DeVaney, President of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association.
DeVaney told SPR News one-third of the Washington pear crop is usually sent to Canada, Mexico and Asia – all places targeted by Trump’s tariff threat. But he also said pear growers recognize it might be time to realign some trade agreements.
“We’ve seen a lot of canned pear from overseas coming into the U.S. at a deeply discounted rate when we don’t have reciprocal access into some of those foreign markets,” DeVaney said.
80% of the nation’s pears are grown in Washington.
DeVaney said growers of all fruits will see how and to what extent the tariff threat develops as the year unfolds.
- - -
Reporting was contributed by Owen Henderson, Doug Nadvornick, Brandon Hollingsworth and Tom Lee.