WA cuts funds to nonprofit that helps foster youth
A former Washington State lawmaker is criticizing the current Legislature for excluding $7 million for a foster youth program from the state budget.
Reuven Carlyle served in both chambers of the legislature between 2009 and 2023. He helped secure the first and then subsequent state investments to the nonprofit Treehouse.
The organization works with foster youth and their teachers, counselors and social workers to help the students navigate issues at school and prepare for what happens after graduation.
Carlyle said Treehouse uses state money to bring in millions of private dollars.
"And so it's an absolute outrage that the legislature pulled back from not only the fiduciary obligation to foster youth but to walk away from a two for one private sector match," he told partner station KNKX.
“Several of our programs will remain statewide, but with reduced eligibility or reduced investment, and we will have to scale back some services,” Treehouse CEO Dawn Rains said.
Rains said she anticipates only being able to serve about half the foster students Treehouse served in the previous year.
About seven in 10 foster youth who stick with Treehouse for at least two years graduate high school. Only about half of foster youth in Washington who don’t go through the program graduate.
Treehouse has received state funding for more than a decade. The cut represents about a third of the organization's budget.
Officials with Treehouse say they will likely lay off employees and significantly reduce the number of foster students the organization serves over the next school year.
WA, OR sue to regain EV funding
Washington state may have missed the boat on federal funding for electric vehicles.
Seventeen states including Washington and Oregon are suing the Trump Administration to un-freeze a national fund for electric charging stations.
States including Colorado and Ohio have already installed chargers using the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure fund, known as NEVI. Other states like Oregon have chargers planned or under construction.
"There are no NEVI chargers planned for Washington State," said Scott Case, who runs an electric-vehicle data firm called Recurrent.
"Washington State didn't move quickly enough to kind of get the cash from the federal government," he said.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown says the state stands to lose $55 million for future projects that have been frozen illegally.
The Congressionally mandated funding aims to support vehicle charging in places that don’t already have lots of chargers.
President Trump froze the fund his first day in office.
WA primary candidate lists take shape
The list of candidates for Washington’s August primary is all but set. The deadline to file to run was Friday, and the deadline to withdraw from the race is this afternoon at 5:00 p.m.
In Spokane County, 160 candidates have thrown their hats in the ring for 112 offices. All three Spokane City Council races will be contested.
Both Sarah Dixit and Justin Reed are attempting to unseat Northeast District Councilmember Jonathan Bingle.
In the South district, Alejandro Barrientos and Kate Telis are running to replace departing Councilmember Lili Navarrete.
And in the Northwest district, Councilmember Zack Zappone is challenged by Christopher Savage and Cody Arguelles.
Only one of the four Spokane school board incumbents running for reelection has an opponent: Jessica Anundson is challenging sitting board member Hilary Kozel.
Spokane County Treasurer Mike Volz, who was appointed earlier this year, is unopposed as he runs for the chance to serve the last two years of his term.
New research could make smoke exposure testing easier
Washington State University researchers have developed a test strip and a smartphone-based reader that can give accurate readings on how much smoke a person has been exposed to during wildfire season.
Until now, there hasn’t been a way to get real-time data on exactly how much smoke a person has been exposed to at any given moment. Current estimates of personal exposure are based on air quality sensors and meteorological data.
The new system uses an inexpensive paper test strip that can read a person’s urine, researcher Annie Du said. That is sensitive enough to provide a reading of how much smoke they have been exposed to.
She told SPR News this works even before a person starts showing signs of severe smoke exposure.
"Your body does not produce any symptoms, maybe you don’t know. But however, it’s already exposed," Du said. "This can be detected by our sensor."
Once a person reports their results using a smartphone reader and app, researchers can determine exactly where smoke levels are most hazardous and identify the chemicals present in different neighborhoods using the phone’s location.
The new system has been tested in laboratory conditions, but this summer, researchers say they plan to test the sensor strips with firefighters in wildfire conditions.
Chiefs and Velocity see weekend wins, while Zephyr manages to tie
The Spokane Chiefs have moved a step closer to playing for the North American junior hockey championship.
The Chiefs beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-2 Sunday night in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
The Western Hockey League championship series is now tied one game apiece.
The Tigers took the initial lead, punching in a goal just 55 seconds into the game.
But the Chiefs answered by scoring four times in a five-minute stretch of the first period to take a lead they never relinquished. Berkly Catton led the team with two goals.
Medicine Hat had won the series’ first game on Friday.
Game Three of the best-of-seven series will be played tomorrow night at the Spokane Arena.
The winner will represent the Western Hockey League in the Memorial Cup tournament later this month in Quebec.
In baseball, the Spokane Indians beat the Vancouver Canadians 4 to 3 yesterday during an extra inning after a walk-off hit by second baseman Braylen Wimmer brought in the tie-breaking run.
The Seattle Mariners, however, lost yesterday to the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-1. That finishes a three-game sweep by the Blue Jays.
For soccer fans, the Spokane Zephyr managed to eke out a 2-2 draw after a late second-half comeback against Brooklyn FC on Saturday.
On the same day, the Spokane men’s team, the Velocity, narrowly won their game against the South Georgia Tormenta with a penalty kick, 1-0.
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Reporting by Freddy Monares, John Ryan, Doug Nadvornick, Steve Jackson and Owen Henderson.