Federal money aims to help repair Spokane County wildfire damage
Spokane County is getting $44 million to help people recover from the 2023 Oregon Road and Gray wildfires.
U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s office said the money comes from the disaster relief bill President Biden signed into law last month. Murray is the vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She said Spokane County’s share is part of nearly $12 billion set aside for communities in 24 states and territories.
The Spokane-area fires burned hundreds of homes and outbuildings. According to Murray’s office, they caused the most property damage of any wildfire in state history. Some people have rebuilt. Others are still in temporary quarters and working on their next steps.
Each of the five Spokane County commissioners thanked Murray for her work on behalf of fire victims. Spokesperson Pat Bell told SPR News the board hasn’t yet discussed how to spend the money, but that federal guidelines allow it to pay for a range of needs, from restoring infrastructure to creating new housing.
Idaho Republicans aim to make voter initiative approval more difficult
Future ballot initiatives and referendums in Idaho would need to pass with 60% support from voters under a new bill introduced Wednesday.
Republican Rep. Bruce Skaug said out-of-state money is tainting what should be grassroots campaigns Idahoans use to create new laws.
“The initiative process is broken,” Skaug said. “This is one way to level the playing field a little bit.”
The recent open primaries and ranked choice voting initiative took in 80% of its campaign money from out-of-state donors.
Since the initiative process was put into the state constitution, only 55% of the 38 qualified ballot issues have passed. The new 60% threshold would’ve cut the number of successful initiatives and referendums in half.
Democratic Rep. Todd Achilles said supporters of the bill need to offer more evidence to prove there’s a problem with the process.
“We’re putting a 60% threshold on citizens, on Idaho citizens, when we as legislators only have a 50% threshold, so I think we have to justify that more clearly,” Achilles said.
The bill could receive a public hearing as early as this week.
Conservative lawmakers question Little’s budget proposal
The influential Idaho Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee combed through Gov. Little’s budget recommendations this week, and not all members were pleased by what they saw.
The second-term Republican governor called for $150 million in new spending on public schools, and he proposed $100 million in tax relief. Lori Wolff, administrator for the Division of Financial Management, parsed the governor’s agenda Tuesday and answered questions from JFAC members.
Idaho Ed News reported hardline committee conservatives signaled that they plan to push for tighter spending and more significant tax relief. Rep. Josh Tanner said Little’s spending plan seems “bullish,” and he asked why the governor called for “such a low tax cut versus spending.”
“Why isn’t that a reverse?” said Tanner, R-Eagle. “Why aren’t we looking at more of a $400 million tax relief and $100 million of new spending?”
Little likely wouldn’t agree that $100 million is a “small number,” Wolff responded, and she pointed to $4.6 billion in tax relief already provided under the governor’s administration. Little is “very supportive” of additional relief while also balancing necessary spending on services, she said.
“Not only do Idahoans expect to have money back in their pocket, they expect the government to operate and to take care of the things that we need to take care of.”
On Monday, House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, called for a tax cut three times greater than Little’s proposal.
The Legislature’s Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee will provide JFAC with a recommended revenue target in the coming weeks. The committee meets today.
Spokane's scattered site shelter model begins to roll out
A new medically-supported respite facility for those facing homelessness is opening next week at Westminster United Church of Christ in downtown Spokane.
“Being a part of the solution along with these other partners is a mission critical for our church,” Westminster United Church of Christ moderator Kelly Cox, said in a statement.
It’s a partnership between the city, Jewels Helping Hands, Providence and Empire Health Foundation as part of the city’s scattered site response model to homelessness.
“I’m very excited about the opening of this medical respite facility,” said Councilmember Lili Navarrete in a statement from the city. “This is exactly what the scattered site model intended: specialized facilities to serve various individuals with specific needs. The Westminster Respite site will provide a much-needed service in our city, and I’m proud to host it in District 2.”
According to the city's statement, this 30-bed site won’t be a walk-in shelter, doesn’t have outdoor areas for people to congregate, and won’t be used for surge capacity.
“As we’ve added scattered sites to the shelter system, we’ve recognized the need to provide a space that can support people in need of additional medical support,” Zeke Smith, President of Empire Health Foundation, said. “We are grateful for our partners who have come together to serve this population, and we are confident that we can create a safe and supportive environment for our neighbors in need and the surrounding community.”
Per the city’s press release, all people receiving care at this site will be referred through the Providence Community Clinic and be subject to a background check.
WA ag officials declare Northern Giant Hornets officially eradicated
The enormous hornets, which originate in Asia, were first found in the U.S. in western Washington in late 2019. Officials were concerned because the hornets attacked domestic honey bee hives, and had a history of going after people in Asia.
The state agriculture department’s Sten-Erik Spichiger says the agency set up traps to catch a live hornet about five years ago. They used high-tech federal equipment to track the first trapped hornet back to its nest.
“And this led to almost immediate results,” he told SPR News. “We were able to follow a hornet that we tagged with a radio tracking device through the forest to an elder tree that had the first nest in Washington state inside of it.”
Ag officials say the public played a key role in the eradication by calling in sightings and allowing a thousand traps to be set all over rural Whatcom County, where the hornets were located.
Four nests were destroyed, the last being found in 2021. Since then, no Northern Giant Hornets have turned up in traps.
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Reporting was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, James Dawson, Ryan Suppe and Kevin Richert, Owen Henderson, and Steve Jackson.