Measles found in Kootenai County wastewater
Public health officials say they know measles are circulating around the Inland Northwest even though there are no reported cases.
Idaho state epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn says her agency has detected traces of the measles virus in wastewater in Kootenai County.
"We can’t tell who had the measles, whether they lived in the area or they were just passing through," she said. "We don’t know that, but we just know that this is another signal telling us that measles is here. It’s in the community and we just want to make sure that people are aware."
No one will catch the virus from the wastewater itself, she said, but it’s an indicator of the disease’s presence.
"It’s really a signal telling us it’s circulating in the community, and the risk to other people is really from other people," she told SPR News. "The measles spread from person-to-person. It isn’t really picked up generally from the environment. It’s not transmitted through animals. It is really person-to-person."
Hahn says parents preparing children for the next school year may want to consider having their children vaccinated for measles if they haven’t gotten the MMR vaccine already.
Public health officials say 95% vaccination uptake is the number they look for to ensure diseases like measles don’t spread widely.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, only about 80% of kindergarteners in Idaho completed the MMR shot series last year.
In Washington, the state-wide number was about 91%, though Spokane County’s completion rate was about 60%.
In Pend Oreille, Ferry and Stevens Counties, only about half of kindergarteners had gotten the vaccine.
Primary day arrives in WA
August 5 is the final day to return ballots in Washington’s primary elections.
Voters in Spokane County will weigh in on four ballot measures.
Countywide, voters will decide whether to approve rejoining the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Protection Area.
If the measure passes, single family residential properties would pay $15 per year for the next 20 years toward water quality protection efforts.
Spokane Valley residents will get to vote on a point-one-percent sales tax increase to help fund public safety and increase police hiring.
In Spokane County Fire Districts 8 and 13, voters have the opportunity to restore or renew the emergency medical services property tax levy to $0.50 per $1000 of assessed value.
Alongside ballot measures, voters will decide which candidates for local office will move on to the November general election.
In the City of Spokane, only one council race has enough candidates to need a primary.
Voters in northwestern Spokane’s District 3 will choose between incumbent Councilmember Zack Zappone, community assembly member Christopher Savage and entrepreneur Cody Arguelles.
In Spokane Valley, voters will narrow the fields for council positions 1 and 7.
City council positions in Cheney and Deer Park will also see the number of candidates drop after today’s votes are tallied.
A Central Valley School Board position is also on the primary ballot, as are commissioners in Fire Districts 3 and 4.
Ballots must be returned to drop boxes by 8 p.m.
Unstable cannabis revenue in OR may be a warning sign for WA
Cannabis sales tax isn’t a consistent revenue stream in Oregon.
That’s putting things like addiction treatments and housing support—which rely on that revenue—in danger.
Plenty of people thought that legalizing cannabis would alleviate a lot of financial stress, but current trends show that may not be the case.
"Cannabis tax revenue turns out as an incredibly volatile revenue stream ,and it—right now—is on the decline," Abbey Stamp, who oversees Oregon Health Authority’s Measure 110 program, said.
Measure 110 decriminalized low-level drug possession in Oregon in 2020. It also created a fund from cannabis revenue to be used for substance use services.
In 2024, Oregon recriminalized drug possession but kept the cannabis fund.
In a presentation to Washington’s Substance Use Recovery Services Advisory Committee, Stamp said revenue fluctuations are making it hard to plan for a four-year grant cycle.
Washington is also seeing a decline in cannabis revenue.
A large portion of Washington’s cannabis revenue typically funds Medicaid, which is now struggling with federal cuts, too.
In the first quarter of 2025, total cannabis sales were not quite $280 million.
That’s the lowest they’ve been since the end of 2019.
ID OBGYNS are disappearing, report shows
A new peer-reviewed study shows Idaho lost a net 35 percent of its OBGYNs after the overturn of the federal right to abortion three years ago.
Idaho lost 114 OBGYNs between the implementation of its abortion bans in 2022 and December of last year.
That’s according to a study published by a team of Idaho-based researchers.
Data suggests those changes are hitting rural communities the hardest. The study showed that 85% of OBGYNs in Idaho practice in the seven most populated counties.
In the remaining 37 counties, just 23 OBGYNs served a population of 569,000 Idahoans.
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Reporting by Doug Nadvornick, Owen Henderson, Eliza Billingham and Rachel Sun.