Today's headlines:
- Sen. Patty Murray wants the U.S. Senate to extend tax breaks for health insurance purchased through state exchanges. It's not likely to succeed.
- Maternal deaths in Washington rose in 2021 and 2022, according to a new state report.
- Spokane leaders top priority this legislative session is avoiding CCA fees for the waste-to-energy facility.
- Spokane Valley might get a non-voting voice on a Spokane homelessness services board.
- The influential conservative think tank Idaho Freedom Foundation is pushing state legislators to make about $1.9 billion in cuts to remedy the state’s looming budget deficit, including axing Medicaid expansion.
- Washington says it mistakenly issued nearly 700 truck and bus drivers licenses to unqualified non-citizens over the past seven years.
- High winds and heavy rain are making for some dangerous conditions this week in the Inland Northwest. They're also raising the risk of avalanche.
And SPR’s rural affairs reporter and Murrow News Fellow Monica Carrillo-Casas brings us the story of how community members in one northeastern Washington town come together to make sure Christmas wishes comes true for low-income families.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting by Doug Nadvornick, Eilís O'Neill, Eliza Billingham, Owen Henderson and Monica Carrillo-Casas.
SPR News Today is hosted and produced by Owen Henderson.
