Washington human rights group raises alarm on immigration "enforced disappearances"
The University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights is warning that federal immigration action has crossed a new boundary, breaking international humanitarian law.
The report zeroes in on sixteen cases where people have been arrested by federal agents and held for extended periods of time without access to a lawyer. There’s a legal term for it: an enforced disappearance.
"What I'm talking about is cases where days or even weeks go by that families still don't know where their loved one is," researcher Angelina Godoy said.
She told KUOW public radio all of these cases have connections to Washington state. Some were residents here, others were deported from Tacoma’s ICE detention center.
Most are cases of people deported to third countries, some to a prison in El Salvador in violation of a federal court order.
"The level of secrecy is what's different in these cases," Godoy said.
While the federal government manages immigration enforcement, Godoy added local governments managing public airports, and prisons also play a role in alleged enforced disappearances.
Without congressional re-up, tax credit expiration will jack up health care costs, analysts say
With the coming expiration of health care tax credits, policy analysts are warning out-of-pocket premiums will increase for some Washingtonians.
The average person getting health care through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace could see costs go up by 75%, according to an analysis from Kaiser Family Foundation
People in rural communities could see even bigger increases for both individual and family plans.
While there are different options for enrollees to consider, it’s possible those will be limited, Matthew McGough, policy analyst for the research group, said.
"Switching to a Bronze plan might make sense for them," he told SPR News. "It keeps the premium a little bit lower, but they have to be prepared to pay more for health care and potentially would need to make sure that they have enough savings if a medical emergency were to happen."
The real driver of increased costs are the Trump administration’s increased tariffs, McGough said.
Under the Big Beautiful Bill, he said it's possible people will likely have additional challenges in getting Marketplace coverage at all.
Unless Congress acts to extend the tax credits, the premium subsidies will expire at the end of the year.
Taskforce debates AI guidelines for law enforcement, education
Olympia is trying to ensure that industries across Washington are interacting ethically and safely with artificial intelligence.
The new Washington Artificial Intelligence Task Force tried to pass AI ethics recommendations for law enforcement, education and health care yesterday.
The task force was created by the legislature in 2024 to convene experts and make suggestions for how to turn ethical AI practices into law.
It was able to pass initial recommendations for law enforcement at yesterday's meeting.
According to the task force’s findings, law enforcement agencies might use AI to write reports, predict where crime will happen, or identify someone.
The task force recommended that law enforcement be required to publicly disclose what AI it’s using.
It also suggested requiring a human officer to review AI generated reports.
This would help defend against “AI hallucinations”—the industry nickname for when AI creates incidents or details that didn’t actually happen.
This is "damaging if these reports containing false information are used in court," task force findings say.
Findings did also note that the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has already decided it will not accept officer reports that are created by AI.
The task force wasn’t able to agree on recommendations for education or health care. It deferred a vote until its next meeting in September.
The task force must submit its first report by the end of this year, and final recommendations by July 1, 2026.
Bonner County measles case confirmed
Idaho has confirmed a third case of measles, this one in Bonner County.
The state Department of Health and Welfare says there isn’t a known link between this new case in an unvaccinated child and the case found in Kootenai County.
“Without any link between these two confirmed cases in north Idaho or travel outside of their communities, it’s reasonable to suspect that there is more measles circulating,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn in a statement. “As we’ve seen with other states around the nation, cases can begin to multiply quickly.”
Measles symptoms typically appear seven to 14 days after exposure and include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and a distinctive rash.
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 measles, mumps and rubella shot series last year.
In Washington, the state-wide number was about 91%, though Spokane County’s completion rate was about 60%.
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Reporting by Gustavo Sagrero, Monica Carrillo Casas, Eliza Billingham and Owen Henderson.