Mayor Haley to take temporary leave
Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley is stepping aside for the moment, citing an unnamed medical concern.
"I am currently experiencing a health issue and will be taking a short medical leave to focus on my recovery," she wrote in a statement Monday evening. "I'm feeling optimistic about my progress and look forward to returning to my role as your Mayor soon."
The mayor said her deputy, Tim Hattenburg, will fulfill her duties in her absence.
Workforce training program to offer professional development for caretakers
A pilot apprenticeship program for direct support professionals, or DSPs, may soon help more people develop workforce skills for caring for people with disabilities.
Lewis-Clark State College will run the apprenticeship. Doug Cruthirds, the director of Workforce Training at LCSC said DSPs often face burnout and high turnover rates. That’s something program organizers hope to address.
"A lot of people say they leave their jobs within the first year because they don't feel like they're adequately trained," Cruthirds said.
DSPs say they face a lack of professional recognition, and pay scales comparable to many fast food or retail jobs, often with fewer benefits.
Cruthirds said the college received more than a dozen letters of support from agencies across the state that offer DSP services.
The apprenticeship will work with organizations across Idaho that employ DSPs. Hannah Liedkie is president and CEO of Opportunities Unlimited, a Lewiston organization that provides DSP support.
She told NWPB that right now, DSPs in Idaho don’t have formal training programs.
"Journeymen, electricians, pipe fitters, all these people, they do apprenticeships. Very skilled people in their industry," Liedkie said, but she said for DSPs, it’s a different story.
"They don't get to do that," she told NWPB.
The pilot program will be funded for two years by a roughly $250,000 grant.
Spokane to consider ordinance to boost local hiring for construction
Construction jobs in Spokane could become more stable and lucrative.
A proposed city ordinance would increase local hiring and job benefits if it passes this July.
Brittany Gilbrech is an electrician. She started working with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers when she was 22 years old.
By the time she was 23, she was caring for her disabled mother and a newborn infant. She was also able to buy her first home in Hillyard.
"This career has given me opportunity, my family stability, food, and a roof over our heads," she said. "It's given me the ability to spend my money locally at Hillyard businesses where I live."
Local trades workers and Spokane City Council members want stories like Gilbrech’s to be more common.
With the help of Spokane Alliance — a group of faith, labor and grassroots organizations — City Council member Paul Dillon is introducing an ordinance he calls “Public Dollars for Public Benefit.”
The proposal would require contractors for city-funded projects to try to hire at least 20% of their workforce from priority groups.
That could be residents of economically distressed zip codes, local apprenticeship program graduates, or previously incarcerated or unhoused people.
It would also encourage community worker agreements that include things like full-family health care and retirement plans.
Dillon said the goal is that Spokanites stay in the city, earning and spending more money at home.
Overall, local union leaders like Tony Edwards of Carpenters Local 59 say it would increase wage transparency and accountability for contractors.
"A big part of what we do is investigate contractors who take advantage of the lack of enforcement of prevailing wage laws in Washington State," Edwards said. "We've investigated many contractors that take advantage of the lack of oversight in the construction industry.
"These cheating contractors bring a workforce from outside Spokane who are unfamiliar with the area's standard wages."
The proposed ordinance is set for a first reading on July 14 and a final vote is expected July 21.
DOJ sues WA over clergy reporting law
The federal government is suing Washington state over a new law that some Catholic priests refuse to follow.
A law that would go into effect July 1 requires Catholic priests to report sexual abuse – even if that information is learned during confession, a typically confidential sacrament.
"Our clergy are prepared to go to jail before breaking the seal of confession," said Yakima’s bishop Joseph Tyson while responding to the law’s passage in May.
A new lawsuit President Trump’s civil rights division filed calls the law “anti-Catholic.”
At least six other states have similar laws. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson, a lifelong Catholic himself, said in a statement, "It is disappointing, but not surprising, to see the DOJ seek to shield and protect child abusers."
Drought declarations mount in WA
Weather conditions in the Spokane area have been drier than normal for the last few months.
Since March 23, the city has only received about half the normal amount of precipitation.
Average temperatures are also about two degrees higher than normal.
Washington state deputy climatologist Karin Bumbaco said that’s the general trend her office has seen across much of the Northwest.
"Precipitation is, however, consistent across the region — really less than half of what we would expect to see in these two months have fallen through large areas of Washington and Oregon and southern Idaho," she said.
The National Weather Service Spokane office shows that the region has received about 16 inches of rain since October 1. That’s actually ahead of the average amount of precipitation: 14.75 inches.
However, the amount that has fallen since January 1 is about two inches below normal.
Currently the state Department of Ecology has declared drought conditions for watersheds in 11 Washington counties, including much of Okanogan and Ferry Counties.
Trump admin to end "roadless rule"
The Trump administration says it’s ditching a landmark conservation rule that prevented logging and roadbuilding on about 58 million acres of federal forest and wildlands.
About two million of those acres are in Washington state, and more than nine million acres of roadless land are in Idaho.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, who oversees the Forest Service, made the announcement yesterday, saying the rule restricted fire prevention and logging.
The move has been applauded by many Republican state leaders and industry groups.
Many of them say President Bill Clinton usurped power from Congress when he made the rule at the end of his term.
Still, the rule has withstood more than a dozen legal challenges over the decades.
Environmental groups say they’ll sue the administration if it follows through with revoking the rule.
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Reporting by Owen Henderson, Rachel Sun, Eliza Billingham, Steve Jackson and Scott Greenstone.