WA public lands commissioner says no wildfire program cuts are ahead — for now
State Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said he is operating on the assumption that $100-million dollars in stalled federal funds will eventually come through.
The money is for wildfire prevention and response.
Commissioner Upthegrove said the Department of Natural Resources has about $200 million in federal grants in its budget, from the US Forest Service. And a huge chunk — about half — remains inaccessible
"It funds wildfire preparedness, mitigation, post fire recovery activities, as well as other forest health work," Upthegrove told KNKX public radio.
The situation has been chaotic and distressing for the past week, he said. But he remains optimistic for now "because blocking funding that's been appropriated by Congress is unconstitutional, illegal and in contempt of a federal judge."
Other agencies such as the Department of Ecology have seen some of their stalled funds freed up. And Upthegrove said the state of Oregon was in the same boat with its forest health funds last week, then got them all in. So far, he’s not making any big cuts to programs.
National Grange head warns trade wars will hurt American ag most
Many farmers are waiting anxiously to see whether tariffs against Mexico and Canada will be carried out and how retaliatory actions would trickle down to their individual operations.
The president of the National Grange, an agricultural advocacy group, told SPR News she’s encouraged that the president delayed his proposed tariffs for 30 days.
But Christine Hamp, who is based in Spokane, is anxious about what will happen if the new taxes are imposed.
Hamp has urged the sides to go to the bargaining table and develop agreements that will avoid hurting both producers and consumers.
"We know that higher prices and fewer jobs and less trade affect every one of us. It’s not just the farmers, but it’s the consumers and it’s the business folks and it’s everybody that’s affected," she said.
Hamp also said she looks forward to meeting and working with Brooke Rollins, who is likely to be confirmed by the Senate this week to be the new Secretary of Agriculture.
"Her and I have a few things in common with small town, farm girl upbringing, 4-H membership, those sorts of things," Hamp told SPR News. So we’ll reach out and say hello, say welcome and look for opportunities that we can help her in making sure that the needs and the issues of rural America are addressed.”
Rollins is president of the America First Policy Institute.
ID House passes immigration enforcement bill
Idaho House Republicans want the state to enforce U.S. immigration laws under a new bill passed yesterday.
The proposal would give law enforcement the discretion to charge immigrants who’ve entered the country illegally with a misdemeanor if they’re detained, investigated or convicted of a separate crime.
Republican Rep. Bruce Skaug [SKAWG] says his bill doesn’t encourage racial profiling.
"This isn’t going after people that don’t look like us or don’t speak our language. This is going after people who are involved potentially or possibly or probably in crimes," he said.
The first violation of the illegal immigration proposal would be a misdemeanor, with subsequent violations considered felonies. Those convicted for the new crime would be deported
The bill is modeled after a Texas law that’s currently on hold while a federal appeals court weighs its constitutionality. State senators will take up the issue next.
Spokane pursues language accessibility through new council policies
The city of Spokane will start improving its policies to recruit multilingual applicants for city positions under an ordinance passed at Monday night’s city council meeting.
The measure lays out the start of a plan that includes advertising and direct outreach to multilingual communities.
At the meeting, Councilmembers Lili Navarrete and Michael Cathcart emphasized the importance of equal access to city services for all residents, pointing out that Vietnamese, Spanish and Marshallese are among the most commonly spoken languages in Spokane.
The city also debuted a new language access tool at this council meeting.
Council members and attendees could wear earpieces to get live translation between English and Spanish from a translator in the room.
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Reporting contributed by Bellamy Pailthorp, Doug Nadvornick, James Dawson and Owen Henderson.