Spokane City Council punts on Prop 1 replacement
After a chaotic, late night, Spokane still doesn’t have a new camping ban.
In a meeting that lasted from 6:00 Monday night to 1:00 Tuesday morning, Spokane City Council passed the new H.O.M.E Starts Here Initiative, which codifies the city’s strategy to eliminate homelessness.
They also considered a new camping ban. Councilmembers initially voted it down. But about two hours later, when most public commenters had left, they amended the proposal.
At half-past midnight, they deferred re-voting on the ban until June 30.
The new camping ban was brought forth as a substitute for the voter-approved ballot measure Proposition 1.
It would have banned camping within 1,000 feet of sensitive areas like schools and churches.
In April, the Washington Supreme Court overturned voters’ authority to make that decision. Spokane never put Prop 1 into code.
The new ban would be more permissive, repealing city code about pedestrian interference and lying on the sidewalk.
It would have allowed up to seven days’ notice before removal – unless there was an immediate danger to the environment, public property, or public health.
But after a late-night change, that seven day period was decreased to three.
Councilmember Michael Cathcart initially sponsored the ordinance but removed his support before it was read.
"This is a permissive camping policy," he said from the dais Monday. "And my concern is that we’re obviously going to attract more behavior that we don’t necessarily want to see, whether it’s downtown or in our neighborhoods.”
Council President Betsy Wilkerson said the ban wouldn’t fix the bigger problem of finding a place for homeless people to go.
Labrador, Idahoans United both claim victory in state Supreme Court abortion ballot initiative title ruling
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and the state Division of Financial Management have to change the name and fiscal impact statement for a ballot initiative that would restore abortion access in the state.
That’s the unanimous ruling from the state Supreme Court Monday.
The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for drafting long and short titles that accurately summarize what a ballot measure would do in an unbiased way.
Idahoans United for Women and Families, the group behind the initiative, sued state officials in January because they said the names Idaho gave their initiative didn’t accurately reflect the intention of the measure and the fiscal impact statement included unnecessary and prejudicial information.
Idaho’s Supreme Court largely agreed, though it allowed the state A-G’s long ballot title to stand.
Both sides claim the ruling as a win, with Labrador saying he’s “pleased the court upheld the majority” of his ballot title work and Idahoans United calling the decision is a “significant victory for fairness and transparency.”
Carbon auction prices rebound
The results are in from the latest auction of Washington’s carbon allowances under the Climate Commitment Act.
The law requires large polluters to purchase allowances for every ton of carbon they emit.
Last week’s auction raised more than 321 million dollars.
All of it is going to programs that help lower climate emissions – or help people adapt to climate change.
Tiffany Wilk Chang with the non-profit Climate Solutions said many of these things are smaller items that are showing up in communities.
"In communities like Shoreline, they distributed 100 free e-bikes, and that helps folks be less car dependent," she told KNKX public radio. "Heat pumps, subsidies, literally buying air filters to clean indoor air quality, and then people will start to see electric vehicle charging infrastructure popping up all over the place."
Larger-scale projects being funded include the conversion of Washington state ferries to hybrid-electrics and a solar-powered microgrid in Eastern Washington to serve as a backup power source during wildfires.
"We're finally seeing this 'polluters pay' mechanism work and reach our communities in a way that the law promised," Chang said.
The total dollars raised by the Climate Commitment Act to date is $3.2 billion.
Critics of the system say it’s increasing prices for gas, energy and other consumer goods in the state.
Portland Mayor warns Trump to keep troops out of the city
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has a message for the Trump administration after weekend protests: Do not send federal troops to the city.
Protests in Portland over the weekend drew tens of thousands of people downtown to demonstrate against the Trump administration’s policies and perceived overreach. Those protests saw no arrests and remained peaceful.
Smaller demonstrations outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the city saw a more violent response from federal officers.
Those officers used so-called “less lethal” weapons to repel demonstrators after some people attempted to break windows and doors at the ICE building.
The Department of Homeland Security made social media posts about the demonstration, promising to go after “violent rioters in Portland.”
Mayor Keith Wilson then issued a statement saying that Portland police had the protests under control — and the city would sue if the Trump administration tried to send in troops like it has in Los Angeles.
Starting gun goes off in Air Race Classic
Dozens of aircraft, flown by female pilots will be converging on Felts Field in Spokane later this week.
Felts Field is the final destination of a 2,500-mile air race that starts in Alabama Tuesday.
The Air Race Classic is the modern day version of a race that began in the late 1920’s, race spokesperson and pilot Emmy Dillon said.
“Now what makes 1929 so unique was that was the first time women had a chance to participate in these national air races," she told SPR News. "The women’s air derby took off in Santa Monica California and landed in Cleveland, Ohio, over the course of about eight days, and we, today, at the air race classic are the continuation of the 1929 air derby."
Dillon says each plane will carry at least two female pilots. This year there are 43 planes and 115 pilots. Many are from Washington and Idaho.
A wide mix of aircraft are participating, and because the performance level of the planes is so varied, a handicap system is used to rank the winner of the race. The planes fly daytime only, and are instructed avoid flying in clouds.
The planes are expected to start arriving on Friday at Felts field.
You can follow the progress of the race on the Air Race Classic website with a real-time map to determine when the planes will be arriving, where you can also access live radio traffic from the planes.
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Reporting by Eliza Billingham, Owen Henderson, Bellamy Pailthorp, Ryan Haas and Steve Jackson.