WA traffic deaths fall from 33-year high but remain elevated
The summer travel season unofficially began this week, and Washington state officials have released their annual report on traffic fatalities.
The Traffic Safety Commission says 731 people were killed in accidents during 2024.
Mark McKechnie, a spokesperson for the commission, said that’s down from more than 809 the year before.
"2023 was the highest number of fatalities we’d seen in Washington since 1990, so it was a 33-year high," he said.
The 2024 total is still nearly 200 more deaths than were recorded before the COVID pandemic, in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
McKechnie told SPR News the number of people killed while speeding and driving impaired continues to increase, as does the number of drivers killed as a result of distracted driving, though he said that increase was smaller.
The commission noted decreases in the number of people who were killed while not wearing seatbelts.
"There’s a subset of people who are reluctant or resistant to buckle up and maybe more people are buckling up recently with more messages about traffic safety," McKechnie said.
The commission said some of the credit for the lower traffic fatality numbers goes to increased traffic enforcement efforts at both the state and local levels and attempts by cities statewide to calm traffic.
Coho salmon could suffer from proposed cuts to USGS
About 1,200 scientists work in the biological arm of the United States Geological Survey, known as the Ecosystems Mission Area.
President Trump’s budget would likely eliminate their work nationwide, if passed as proposed – including some that’s crucial to saving salmon/
Five years ago, University of Washington professor Ed Kolodziej identified 6PPD-quinone, a chemical in runoff from roads that kills coho salmon almost instantly. It comes from tires.
"These types of chemicals, these tire chemicals, are throughout our environment," he said. "They're in our bodies.”
He’s been working with the USGS biologists and their lab to find a safe replacement for 6PPD.
"And it does matter when you have a team of capable, experienced people with unique capabilities to figure out the implications of that, the risks of that, and how to fix that, and the USGS is just a critical part of that team," he told KNKX public radio.
They’ve narrowed the search to 7 replacement chemicals. U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland, a Democrat from Tacoma, is asking the Trump administration to reconsider dismantling this division.
Laid-off federal workers to get one more webinar before ESD shifts focus
Washington state agencies and workforce organizations are reaching out today to help federal workers who have lost their jobs.
They’re sponsoring the third in a series of statewide webinars that target that group.
The agencies will share details about health care options, how to apply for unemployment, and which support and retraining programs are available.
Donna Mac, the rapid response manager for the Department of Employment Security, said the first two events were well attended.
She told SPR News many participants are trying to find clarity about their job circumstances.
"It’s been a tricky population to serve for that very reason. They’re laid off. They’re not laid off. Their agency goes to court and they’re rehired," Mack said. "And so it is a moving target to serve these federal workers."
This will be the last statewide webinar for federal workers, though she said workers can still get help at their local state workforce offices.
Mack said her agency is pivoting to a new focus.
"Our rapid response system is busy right now," she said. "It’s at capacity with layoffs not only of government workers but large layoffs in private industry. We’re really working to focus our resources."
Unemployed federal employees, or anyone else who has lost a job, can register for this morning’s seminar at the Washington Employment Security Department website.
NW hydropower forecasted to increase in 2025 after wet winter
Hydropower generation in the Northwest is expected in increase this year after a relative low in 2024.
That’s according to a new forecast from the U-S Energy Information Administration.
This year, hydropower is expected to increase by about 17% compared to last year.
That’s a boost but still leaves the overall generation number 4% below the 10-year average.
The administration’s forecast cites an above average amount of precipitation in eastern Washington, Oregon and northern California over the winter and this spring.
Washington, Oregon and California have about half of the country’s hydropower generation capacity.
Check your insurance before wildfire season intensifies says OIC
The Washington state Insurance Commissioner’s office is urging homeowners to look at their insurance coverage as wildfire season begins.
Aaron VanTuyl, a spokesperson with the OIC, told SPR News it’s a good idea to have a conversation with your insurance broker about what it would take to rebuild your home from scratch.
"Make sure you have enough coverage to cover replacing your home, not just buying a new home, not just the value of your home, but actually replacing it," he said. "Especially in the event of a wildfire, that’s going to be everything. It will burn — in a particularly brutal wildfire, it will burn it all the way down to the foundation."
VanTuyl said other costs to consider are the removal of debris from your property and the expense of living somewhere else while your home is being rebuilt.
After the Oregon Road and Gray Fires in Spokane, he said many homeowners found out they had to wait almost two years for their new homes to be constructed.
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Reporting by Doug Nadvornick, Bellamy Pailthorp, Owen Henderson and Steve Jackson.