Heat, gusty winds could raise fire danger on Tuesday and Wednesday
Fire officials are worried this could be a difficult week with high temperatures and brisk winds, especially Tuesday and Wednesday.
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for Tuesday for much of eastern and central Washington. High temperatures are projected to be in the 90s and low 100s. It has also issued a fire weather watch for eastern Washington for Tuesday and Wednesday. Gusty winds up to 30 to 40 miles an hour are expected both days.
The fire danger is already high. On Sunday, crews battled a fire that began mid-afternoon in part of Riverside State Park on the west side of the river. The Department of Natural Resources says firefighters managed to stop the Aubrey Fire from advancing. Officials estimate it at 50 acres. Level 2 evacuations, get ready to go, are still in place for people who live on Indian Bluff Road, West Rim Lane and Equestrian Lane.
Meanwhile, crews battling the Siegel fire that began last week in southern Spokane County have nearly fully contained it. It has burned about 700 acres.
Survey indicates influx of queer people to Washington, researcher says
After eight months of collecting data, results from Washington’s very first LGBTQ+ survey are out.
Researchers surveyed over 7,000 members of the queer community living in Washington state, with respondents from every county, on topics from access to health care to experiences with discrimination to opinions on state LGBTQ+ resources.
More than three-quarters of respondents say they’ve benefited from state policies and protections for queer people, and 96% say they think the state policies have improved the general public’s attitude toward the LGBTQ+ community.
"If you look at how long people have lived in the state, a good amount was a long time," Co-lead researcher Crystallee Crain said. "And then there's also a very good amount that was one to five years, which tells us that people are coming to Washington to be safe."
Crain cautioned against drawing conclusions outside of Washington state, however. She told SPR News the state’s protections for queer people likely affected some parts of the data, like income levels.
"It was pretty even across the board, which I found interesting knowing the national trends for 2SLGBTQIA folks," Crain said. "The way that the survey study reads, most of us are not in poverty, and that felt not like a national representation."
The report didn’t just pat the state on the back. Crain and the research team compiled a list of suggested policy improvements for Washington.
"One of the policies prescriptions that I developed from the findings was there should be no municipality or elected governing board that can make identity-based restrictions," she said. "So you can't ban Black books, you can't ban LGBTQ books if that's the case, right?”
Another suggestions was mandatory training for healthcare providers on LGBTQ-specific issues to improve access to care.
Responses varied greatly by age when it came to experience of discrimination in health care settings.
Nearly 80% of adolescents say they experienced medical discrimination, compared to 60 percent of adults age 18-64, and only 35% of adults ages 65 and older.
Many youth cited difficulty accessing gender-affirming care and insurance barriers.
Part of that split among generations may have to do with the recent rise in anti-transgender rhetoric, Crain said.
"The backlash from the community where they were emboldened then to start petitioning at school boards and start going to clinics and talking about how they shouldn't validate this beautiful trans girl for this sports team? That stuff wasn't happening 15 years ago," she told SPR News.
Other recommendations include simplifying processes for changing gender markers and legal names on identification documents, the creation of programs that ensure equal employment opportunities and promote LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship, and better integration of LGBTQ+ studies into educational curricula.
You can read the full report here.
Hate crimes reporting now active in Spokane County
A hate crimes hotline was created by the Washington state legislature last year. It's available on a pilot basis in three counties, Spokane, King and Clark. The program's staff will specialize in finding local, culturally-competent support who can help the victim report the crime to law enforcement.
Washington has been one of the top five states for reported hate crimes since 2018.
Reports from 2023, which are the most recent data, reveal that the highest number of reported hate crimes in Washington and in Spokane are those against the LGBTQ+ community. The Black and Jewish communities also faced significant numbers of hate crimes.
A third of all incidents happened at the victim’s home. Seventy-six victims were under 18 years old.
People can call 1-855-225-1010 to report suspected hate crimes. Anyone in the state can also go to the state Attorney General’s website to report hate crimes.
New study released on history of Native boarding schools in Washington
The attorney general’s office has now identified 27 indigenous boarding schools that have operated in Washington state. That’s at least ten more than previous state and federal investigations.
The number doesn’t include hospitals or asylums that may have been used to separate Native youth from their families.
Those facilities are also listed in the preliminary report from the Washington State Truth and Healing Tribal Advisory Committee. The St. Ignatius Hospital in Colfax was included in the list of medical facilities that may have ties to forcibly assimilating Native children.
These are just initial findings, and the committee’s work is only beginning. It plans to continue investigating if and how the state supported these schools and recommend how Washington can address the harm done to Tribes through cultural eradication.
Colville housing project opens ahead of schedule
Catholic Charities has opened a new 72-unit housing project in Colville, about three months sooner than expected.
Alex Reynolds, the vice president of housing outcomes for Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington, says construction moved quickly. That meant the nonprofit was able to receive the building early and put it to use right away.
“There were 23 people, 11 of whom are children, who are actually going to be homeless due to the expiration of their hotel vouchers," Reynolds says. But now, they'll be able to move into the Dominican Sisters Haven permanent supportive housing
Despite the early start, Reynolds says the organization will wait to do a grand opening of the project until September.
Detained immigrants sent from Tacoma to Alaska are on the move again
Last month, nearly three dozen immigrants held at an ICE facility in Tacoma were sent to an Alaskan jail where they were held for around three weeks.
This drew criticism and questions from immigrant advocates and congressional lawmakers. Now the remaining immigrants that were being kept in Alaska have been moved again.
Most of those that were still being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex are believed to have been sent back to the Tacoma facility earlier this week, according to the ACLU of Alaska.
Cindy Woods from the ACLU says the immigrants faced a lot of challenges while being detained at the Alaska jail, including being pepper sprayed at one point.
She says this has been difficult for everyone involved.
“The amount of frustration that it has caused to state officials, to ICE officials, to the families and loved ones detained and to the detainees themselves who have been subject to cruel treatment," she said.
The ACLU of Alaska is demanding the state no longer take custody of ICE detainees longer than 72 hours, unless it improves the conditions they are held in.
ICE has not yet responded to a request for comment on the situation.
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Reporting contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Owen Henderson, Eliza Billingham, Monica Carrillo-Casas and Mitch Borden.