Head Start providers struggle to comply with new immigration restrictions
Across Washington state, students are currently enrolling in preschool and early childhood education programs ahead of the upcoming school year.
Earlier this month, the Trump Administration announced it’s restricting Head Start programs from serving undocumented immigrants.
Washington state education officials are working to figure out how to comply while continuing to enroll eligible students for the upcoming school year.
Trump’s new immigration restrictions on Head Start may already be causing immigrant families in Washington to avoid enrolling their kids in preschool and early childhood education programs.
Joel Ryan leads the nonprofit Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP, which advocates for federal and state funded education programs that serve low income families.
He called the new restrictions "cruel" and said drop in enrollment among immigrant families could result in Head Start programs losing funding affecting all students.
“You also are likely to see non immigrant families hurt as well because that program won’t have the resources it needs to pay a teacher and to make sure a classroom can stay open," Ryan said.
He told KNKX public radio Head Start providers aren’t prepared to check the immigration status of their students.
“There’s not clear guidance from the Office of Head Start and the Department of Health and Human Services, so that’s already causing confusion with providers," Ryan said. "Second of all, the Head Start Program does not want to be in the position where they are in the position of doing the job of ICE."
The Washington State Association of Head Start as well as the state of Washington have filed lawsuits to block the Trump Administration's new restrictions.
WA considers factory-built housing to address shortage
Lawmakers in Olympia are reconsidering how factory-built housing could streamline and speed up new housing construction.
"So really we are talking about breaking new ground and proposing the first comprehensive approach for scaling home production between 60 and 120% area median income," said Consultant Kris Hermanns while presenting to the Senate Housing Committee Thursday. "It is systems-based with a prioritization of using off-site construction, and it's built specifically to grow the engagement and collaboration between the public and private sectors."
“Off-site construction” means homes or parts of homes that are built in indoor, controlled settings like factories.
They’re then delivered to the living site and can be set up in a matter of days or weeks.
Off-site homes need new collaboration between private financing, zoning, manufacturers and policy makers, Hermann said.
Hermanns added that re-approved designs could make permitting a whole lot faster.
The housing committee expressed an interest in making it easier to develop off-site homes.
Kettle River salmon sighting causes celebration among Colville Tribal officials
Colville Tribal officials are hailing the discovery of a Chinook salmon in British Columbia’s Kettle River as another sign of success of their salmon reintroduction program.
It’s been decades since a Chinook was last seen upstream from Coulee Dam in the Kettle River.
"It’s significant because Grand Coulee Dam cut off salmon from going to the ocean and back since 1941, so for over 80 years, salmon haven’t been in the Kettle river," Casey Baldwin, a salmon reintroduction manager for the Colville Tribes, said.
He told SPR News the program has released more than 160,000 juvenile fish per year since 2017, including about 25,000 at Kettle Falls.
These fish have been tracked making their way down the Columbia River system to the ocean, and many have managed to survive passing through the Grand Coulee Dam turbines.
While this Chinook salmon was not examined specifically by fish biologists, Baldwin said it’s very likely the result of the release program.
"And in 2025, we have the first returning wild-born salmon from the reintroduction effort that’s currently swimming through the Columbia river back up to Chief Joseph dam," he said.
According to Baldwin, the wild fish has a special identifying tag and has made it successfully past Bonneville, the Dalles, McNary and Priest Rapids Dams.
If the fish can make it as far as Chief Joseph Dam, the hope is that it can be captured and trucked upstream to a tributary above Grand Coulee.
Kaiser pauses some gender-affirming surgeries
Kaiser Permanente is suspending gender-affirming surgical care for patients younger than 19.
The "pause" on surgeries is effective August 29th. The health system says they'll keep offering all other gender-affirming treatments.
Kaiser issued a national statement indicating the move was prompted by scrutiny under the Trump administration.
President Trump issued an executive order in January that threatens to cut federal funding to hospitals providing gender-affirming care to people under 19. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services followed up with inquiries to hospitals.
On July 9, the Department of Justice opened investigations and issued subpoenas to doctors and clinics.
Seattle Children's Hospital halted gender-affirming surgeries in February after Trump's order, canceling scheduled procedures for several transgender minors.
Washington is leading a multi-state lawsuit over Trump's order to cut funding for providers of gender-affirming care.
Firefighting will get harder without restored funding, says Upthegrove
Fire officials in Washington say today could be challenging if the National Weather Service forecast for gusty winds is accurate.
On the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge, about 900 firefighters are working in steep, rocky terrain to stop the Burdoin Fire near the town of Lyle.
Gov. Bob Ferguson and Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove visited Thursday.
Upthegrove credited the fire’s slow pace to prevention work that has been done there the last few years. But, he says the legislature cut wildfire-related funding this year.
"We’re going to be ok this year with wildfire response," he said during a press conference in White Salmon Thursday. "But due to some painful cuts from the state legislature, if next year’s supplemental budget does not restore some of that funding, we’re going to see more fires like this. And they’re going to be larger, and they’re going to cost the taxpayers a lot more money in the back end."
The Burdoin Fire has charred more than 11,000 acres and is considered 13% contained as of Friday morning.
In northeast Washington, the Hope Fire in Stevens County is now about three-quarters contained. Crews are dousing hot spots and improving their fire lines.
The Lake Spokane Fire in southern Stevens County is about 16% contained.
- - -
Reporting by Mitch Borden, Eliza Billingham, Steve Jackson, Jennifer Wing and Doug Nadvornick.