Murray continues to urge resumption of federal spending
Washington Senator and Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray is continuing to raise the alarm about withheld and delayed funding after President Trump’s brief spending freeze last week.
She said the funding should have been released once the Office of Management Budget rescinded their memo last week.
"Trump is still holding up road projects that make our streets safer for our pedestrians, for our cyclists, for our drivers," Murray said on a call with reporters Wednesday. "Safe street projects in Richland, critical safety barriers in Spokane are just a few of the examples."
Murray said because the money was set aside by Congress, it’s not within the president’s power to stop that money from being spent.
And she argued the administration’s actions have created a lot of uncertainty on the ground, especially for organizations that serve marginalized populations.
“I keep hearing these words from Trump about DEI and all this. Well, these are people in our communities," Murray said. "These are residents in our community, and people are very confused on the ground about what the heck they're targeting."
"Any funding stream that impacts minority communities or disability communities or low-income communities, is that just kicked out now because they have decided that's who they're going after?"
She was joined on the call by Casey Sixkiller, who leads the Washington Department of Ecology.
“Ecology has 22 active grants for NOAA and EPA. While NOAA grants have been restored, 13 EPA grants remain frozen, impacting $53 million in federal funding," he said. "$35 million has already been awarded and dispersed but is now inaccessible to our agency. Another $18 million has been awarded but not yet dispersed. This funding freeze isn't just numbers on a page, it means projects that are vital to our state are stalled.”
He said the lack of funding isn’t just a threat to people’s jobs. It’s also stopping his department from working on highly polluted clean-up sites.
"These funds put boots on the ground. They clean up our environment, and they protect our families," Sixkiller said. "Holding them up is not just a bureaucratic issue, it is a direct threat to public health, economic growth, and environmental justice."
Multiple federal judges have paused Trump’s order to freeze spending and one ordered the administration to release the funding earlier this week.
The White House has so far vowed to continue its efforts to review federal funding to ensure all spending is in line with the president’s priorities.
Education subsidies go to ID House floor
Idaho House lawmakers will get a chance to debate whether taxpayer money should subsidize private school tuition.
The $50 million proposal approved by the House Revenue and Taxation Committee would allow parents to apply for a refundable tax credit to cover several kinds of education expenses.
House Majority Leader Jason Monks said families need more options, comparing Idaho’s existing school choice landscape to only being able to pick out lunch from the Taco Bell menu.
"And that’s okay. I’m not saying they’re bad. I’m just saying that that’s the choice that you get. I’d like to expand that choice," he said. "Sometimes it’s okay to go to McDonalds or KFC or wherever you like to go.”
The bill passed out of committee by a single vote Wednesday.
Supporters have said repeatedly the bill would not take money away from public schools.
"The public education budget would remain constant, unchanged, whether we pass this legislation or not," Republican Rep. David Cannon said.
Several Republicans opposed it, saying the proposal contains no accountability or oversight or that it conflicts with their political philosophies.
"This is redistribution of wealth. This is a government subsidy," Republican Rep. Britt Raybould said.
Cannon said the majority of emails the committee received opposed the bill. That aligns with Boise State University’s most recent statewide survey, which shows 53% of Idahoans oppose private school subsidies compared to 38% who support them.
It now goes to the House floor and could be considered later this week.
Local wolf management debated in House hearing in Olympia
Two northeast Washington legislators hope to convince their colleagues to let wolves be managed differently in different parts of the state.
Republican Representatives Andrew Engell and Hunter Abell have introduced what they call complementary bills. Abell’s legislation would allow more local — and less restrictive — management in areas where wolves are more plentiful.
“It’s really an effort to have a bill that reflects the reality on the ground, which is that wolves are fully recovered throughout the Seventh District in northeastern Washington and to try and reflect that reality through legislation," he said at a Wednesday hearing in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
Engell’s bill would require the state manage wolves in a way that’s consistent with a state report issued last year. That report recommends the Fish and Wildlife Commission change the gray wolf’s classification from ‘endangered’ to ‘sensitive.’
Local officials from several northeast counties and the Colville Confederated Tribes support the bills. Representatives from environmental and animal rights organizations, including Dan Paul from the Humane Society of the U.S. do not.
“Washington’s wolf population remains fragile. The number of successful breeding pairs actually decreased last year and the current population distribution does not meet the minimum objectives for downlisting set by our state’s gray wolf conservation and management plan," he said.
Paul and other opponents want the state to continue managing wolves using one unified state plan.
Inspection finds record number of invasive mussels
A watercraft inspection station along I-90 at Liberty Lake discovered a large amount of invasive wildlife on two tugboats being hauled from Michigan. The boats were bound for the Washington coast.
Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said it was the largest discovery of invasive Quagga and Zebra mussels found coming in to the state.
"Most boats that we end up finding fouling on have something in a crack or a crevice, that’s what our watercraft inspection stations are looking for. So they maybe remove a handful of mussels. And when you consider we had 21 gallons that’s quite a bit more," the department's Amber Brooks said.
She said workers spent several hours removing and then cleaning the hull of the boats before they were allowed to proceed to their destination.
The mussels pose a threat in many ways.
"They have a tendency to clog pipes. They take over shores. They will cause habitat destruction, posing these catastrophic impacts on threatened and endangered species like salmon and steelhead," Brooks said.
So far, none of the mussels have made it into Washington waters.
WA Dems aim to alter 'Parents' Bill of Rights' initiative
The Washington Senate has passed a bill changing part of an initiative sometimes referred to as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
When the original initiative passed last year, Democrats said it would need changes to clarify language and align it with existing state and federal law.
Now the Senate Democrats say they’re attempting to do that, while Republicans are arguing the bill would roll back a decision made by the voters.
"This bill is a slap in the face of the 454,000 Washingtonians who signed the petition sheets allowing the parental rights initiative to be sent to the Legislature last year," said 9th District Republican Senator Mark Schoesler in a statement.
On part of the senate bill, passed yesterday on party lines, would remove parts of the initiative the requirement that schools notify parents when medical services are being offered or provided to children.
Supporters say keeping the initiative’s language would create a more difficult environment to seek resources for LGBTQ+ students, students who have survived sexual assault and students who seek reproductive care.
A different bill establishing the rights of students is already working its way through the state House.
SRHD confirms first pertussis death in more than a decade
The Spokane Regional Health District has confirmed the first Washington death from pertussis, or whooping cough, since 2011.
The child was a Spokane County resident and under the age of five.
The death occurred in November of last year but was just announced by the Health District in a statement Wednesday.
The child had received some of the vaccine series for pertussis but had not had all of the doses.
Pertussis cases rose precipitously in Washington last year, well above epidemic levels.
Cases are especially common among adolescents and young children.
As of the end of 2024, the most recent data available, Spokane County had the second highest overall number of infections at 297.
The Health District recommends making sure you and your family members are up to date on vaccinations, as well as frequent hand-washing.
- - -
Reporting contributed by Owen Henderson, James Dawson, Doug Nadvornick and Steve Jackson.