Senate passes CR despite 'no' votes from both WA senators
Washington’s U.S. senators both voted against a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown on Friday.
The bill wound up passing after Democratic leaders and a handful of members voted with the Republican majority.
Sen. Patty Murray denounced the so-called continuing resolution, or CR, as a blank check to President Trump and his ally, Elon Musk.
"What Republicans are doing here is ceding more discretion to two billionaires to decide what does and doesn't get funded in their states. It is a power-grab CR," Murray said in a speech on the Senate floor.
Republicans wrote the continuing resolution without any input from Democrats — something Murray said she’s never seen in her more than 30 years in Congress.
Murray is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She broke with her party’s leader, Chuck Schumer, on whether to back the bill.
WSU, UW under scrutiny from DOE
Two universities in Washington state are among the more than 50 schools under investigation by the federal Education Department.
Officials say they are investigating racial discrimination.
The federal Department of Education said the University of Washington and Washington State University have violated students’ civil rights, saying they used race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.
In a memo published Friday, the department called out the schools’ partnership with a program called “The Ph.D. Project”, which helps historically underrepresented students get their doctorate degree.
But the Education Department said the program quote “limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”
This follows a broader push from the Trump administration to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which the administration says discriminates against white and Asian American students.
A spokesperson for the University of Washington told KUOW public radio the school will cooperate with the investigation.
WA food banks aim to increase nutritious options in their stores
Many food banks in Washington are working to improve the quality of the product they bring into their facilities.
The American Heart Association and the Washington Food Coalition recently surveyed about 60 pantries around the state and found some have developed nutrition policies. Those serve as guides as the pantries solicit food donations.
Elena O’Callahan from the Heart Association said a large percentage of people who rely heavily on food banks suffer from chronic health issues and the quality of diet often contributes to that statistic.
"When we think about the foods that are often available or traditionally available through pantries, they may be more of the types of foods that are highly processed or have some of those elements that aren’t necessarily as helpful when we think about managing and preventing chronic diseases," she told SPR News.
O’Callahan said pantries that develop nutrition policies are improving the quality of the food they distribute.
They’re also finding more foods that their customers from other cultures are familiar with.
UW researchers work to fight antibiotic resistance
Hospitals may one day have a new tool to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
It's because of the work of a University of Washington biomedical engineering lab.
Dr. Valerie Daggett said her team has found a way to synthesize amino acids — the building blocks of proteins — to help destroy the structure of harmful bacteria.
Daggett said this makes bacteria more responsive to antibiotics.
"If we can hit them early and prevent those structural scaffolds from forming, those fibrals, then it breaks up the biofilms, and it makes them more porous, in a sense," she told KNKX public radio. "And so they’re no longer resistant to the antibiotics."
Daggett's lab is working on a process to coat medical gauze with the materials.
She said this could protect wound sites and areas where devices like catheters and respirators are attached, preventing them from being infected by harmful bacteria.
All of this is still in the early stages. Before it can be used on people, it needs to be tested on animals.
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Reporting by Gabe Spitzer, Noel Gasca, Doug Nadvornick and Lisa Brooks.