Baumgartner joins GOP colleagues in supporting rescissions bill
Eastern Washington’s Congressman joined all but two of his Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives in voting to pull back money appropriated by Congress for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA05) said any media that gets federal money needs to present all viewpoints, and he argued that public media falls short.
"Any American can have free speech in their views about any number of political things, but when you’re a steward of the public trust and running an entity that all Americans are funding, you need to have ideological balance and more diversity," he told SPR News. "It’s important that public radio and public television keep that in mind too."
Baumgartner also said this measure aligns with his desire to cut spending.
"I certainly appreciate public radio and public television, and I’m a consumer myself," he said. "But at a time that America is spending $7 trillion on the back of $5 trillion in revenue and that we have a 20% budget deficit, $37 trillion in debt, we just have to look at spending prioritization."
Washington U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell—both Democrats—have criticized the rescissions package.
They say public media stations that rely heavily on federal funding may be forced to go dark.
The House approved the $9-billion rescission measure shortly before a deadline late Thursday night. The bill now goes to President Trump for his signature.
Spokane to get a tiny home village this fall
People trying to get out of homelessness in Spokane might be able to move into a new tiny home.
Waters Meet Foundation, previously known as Empire Health, plans to build 30 individual tiny homes behind the Ascenda sober living facility on Sunset Boulevard this fall.
“In a tiny home village you still have the ability to create a real sense of community but also you have a door that you can lock behind you," Waters Meet Executive Director Zeke Smith said. "That kind of combination, I think, has been really effective for helping people move from being homeless into more independent living, but also integrating into broader community, which is one of the things that we know is important to people who are homeless and also something that they often feel like they're missing.”
Smith said this is a new way the city is trying to provide more transitional housing in a way that works for everyone.
"We haven't had anything like a tiny home village in Spokane. They do have them in other places like Walla Walla. Missoula has one as well," he told SPR News. "So we both know that they work in our weather climate, but also they have been effective as a part of a homeless continuum of services in that similar political climate as well."
It’s a cheaper project because the foundation already owns the land.
Plus, it bought the tiny homes with encampment resolution funds from the state Department of Commerce that were about to go unused.
Waters Meet bought products from two different manufacturers to pilot which homes stand up to Spokane’s climate the best.
Smith hopes the village will be ready for residents by October.
STA names Otterstrom as CEO pick
Karl Otterstrom will be the next Chief Executive Officer of Spokane Transit Authority.
After months of secrecy, hours of discussion and public outcry about its process, the STA board unanimously voted yesterday [THURS] to enter into contract negotiations with the candidate many considered to be one of the obvious picks.
Otterstrom is a Spokane native and has worked for the STA since 2009.
He has served as an interim CEO with Brandon Rapez-Betty since January.
The STA announced that Otterstrom was the sole candidate for the position in late June after rumors circulated for almost a month.
The STA board’s special meeting Thursday took more than two hours of executive session before deciding to move forward with Otterstrom.
The final contract will still need approval from the board.
State education officals face lay offs after federal funding freeze
Washington state education officials are preparing to lay off staff—unless millions of dollars are released by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Trump administration paused billions bound for schools across the country at the end of June, including about 137 million dollars for Washington state.
The federal funds are budgeted to help with a wide array of education programs including services that help students who are learning English or whose parents are migrant workers.
Tennille Jeffries-Simmons, chief of staff for the state superintendent, said this could have a long lasting effect on the agency, even if the federal funding is eventually unfrozen.
“When people lose their jobs and they are highly qualified, and there are deep experts here, they find employment elsewhere," she told KNKX public radio. "And so let’s say we get the funds released in six to eight months, will our workforce be as well prepared as it is right now.”
Jeffries-Simmons said many of these staff have valuable experience working in school districts and working with populations where trust is key.
Plus, she said these cuts will affect dozens of highly skilled workers.
"They’re experts in English learners gaining mastery over the English language, or they are experts in school districts who know how to build and carry out after school programming," she said.
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown has joined other state AGs in suing the Trump administration to release the federal education funding.
Trump administration ends suicide, crisis line for LGBTQ+ youth
The federal government has ended a specialized crisis lifeline for LGBTQ+ youth, three years after it started.
Now, that option will no longer be available. It was run through the 988 crisis response lifeline available across the country.
In Washington state, the Department of Health reports the specialized lifeline received an average of 830 calls, 270 texts, and more than 220 chats each month.
National data shows queer youth are about four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers.
The Trevor Project will continue to provide specialized crisis support.
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Reporting by Doug Nadvornick, Eliza Billingham, Mitch Borden and Rachel Sun.