Today's headlines:
- Federal education officials investigate Cheney for letting students play on sports teams that align with their gender identities, not sex assigned at birth.
- A draft audit shows most Idaho higher education institutions are complying with state anti-DEI efforts.
- Washington state is falling behind on renewable energy growth despite efforts to lead on climate policy.
- Washington legislators are set to consider a bill requiring more active wolf monitoring in the state's northeastern counties.
- Pomeroy gives a defunct funeral home new life as a much-needed child care center.
- Spokane will play host to Seattle's soccer teams while they're displaced by the FIFA World Cup.
- One of the victims in a Portland immigration enforcement shooting has been indicted.
And SPR's Doug Nadvornick interviews Spokane-area Sen. Jeff Holy about his views on police masks, immigration enforcement and other proposed bills this session.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting contributed by Noel Gasca, James Dawson, Bellamy Pailthorp, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Eliza Billingham, Owen Henderson and Doug Nadvornick.
The show is hosted and produced by Owen Henderson.
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TRANSCRIPT:
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OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s January 15, 2026.
On today’s show, as the Trump administration and Republican party continue their crusades against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across various sectors, we’ll hear about state and federal investigations into Inland Northwest schools.
And Washington leads the nation in many ways when it comes to climate policy. But a new report shows that the Evergreen State ranked dead last in 2025 for renewable energy growth.
Plus, a conversation with Cheney state Senator Jeff Holy, the top Republican on the Law and Justice Committee.
That group is set to vote today on a measure that would prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing masks while interacting with the public in most circumstances.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights says it’s investigating Cheney Public Schools and three other Washington districts for Title IX violations.
The office alleges that the districts maintain policies or practices that discriminate on the basis of sex by allowing students to participate in sports based on their gender identity—not sex assigned at birth.
And it says those policies put the safety and equal opportunities of women in educational programs and activities at risk.
A spokesperson for Cheney Public Schools says the district is aware of the investigation and plans to cooperate.
The office is investigating a total of 18 educational entities nationwide.
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Idaho’s universities largely comply with state laws passed over the last few years banning diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in government.
That’s according to an audit obtained by our partners at Boise State Public Radio.
James Dawson reports.
JAMES DAWSON: According to the audit, none of Idaho’s four-year colleges used DEI principles in their admissions, nor did state funds pay for such activities. Auditors found no potential violations by Lewis-Clark State College.
University of Idaho had three education courses flagged. The school’s president, Scott Green, says he’s since asked for compliance waivers from the state board of education for two classes related to an optional certificate, but says the other course is required for national accreditation.
Green says references to diversity in the faculty handbook are outdated and are being revised. Another was approved by student government.
Auditors cited two Boise State offices as possibly being related to DEI. Interim President Jeremiah Shinn says their websites are outdated and no longer reflect the work they do. He says those programs are open to everyone.
And ISU had three job postings that included DEI requirements, which President Robert Wagner says have been removed and will not be applicable in the future.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
OH: You can find more information from the audit on our website, Spokane Public Radio dot org.
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Despite leading the nation in climate policy, Washington State has fallen behind in renewable energy growth.
A new report from two non-profits shows more than 250 projects worth tens of billions of dollars stuck in the clean energy pipeline.
KNKX environment reporter Bellamy Pailthorp has the story.
BELLAMY PAILTHORP: The report tallies up Washington’s clean energy backlog and finds $149-billion-worth of economic activity and 24 Gigawatts of energy capacity “trapped” behind bureaucratic delays. The projects are all over the state and should bring hundreds of thousands of jobs with them.
CASEY SIXKILLER: “We are incredibly motivated to prove that we can get things built in this state. And I think the report highlights that there's huge opportunity.”
BP: Casey Sixkiller directs the state Department of Ecology. He says Governor Ferguson has given clear direction on these issues.
CS: “Find ways for us to move faster, without sacrificing our values, without negatively impacting the environment, while also growing the economy.”
BP: Sixkiller says the state needs to find more of a customer service approach to permitting. It also needs to create new avenues for approving transmission lines.
I'm Bellamy Pailthorp, reporting.
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OH: In a rural southeastern Washington town, families are driving 30 minutes for childcare. But a community led effort is changing that.
SPR’s rural affairs reporter and Murrow News Fellow Monica Carrillo-Casas has more.
MONICA CARRILLO-CASAS: Alesia Ruchert, childcare navigator for nonprofit Pomeroy Community Connection, says Pomeroy’s only childcare center survived the COVID-19 pandemic.
Soon after, it closed due to less need.
ALESIA RUCHERT: “The number of enrolled at the childcare facility were now at school age. There were not enough young children needing childcare coming in to fill the void of the kids that had moved on to elementary school.”
MCC: Now, recent Garfield County Child Care Needs Assessments show a renewed need in the area.
In last year’s report, it says 87% of people in their household had to take time off of work due to childcare challenges. Twenty-seven percent reported quitting their jobs.
Because of this, Ruchert says the nonprofit has been working with the community for the last two years, gathering funds and input from parents to create a new center.
AR: “We are right around the $200,000 mark, and all of those funds have been put into capacity building as we prepare to create a space for the families in the community to bring your children.”
MCC: Ruchert says they have also received a donated building that once was a funeral home.
She says the donation was made in honor of former Pomeroy resident, Donna Bartlow, who spent much of her life serving local kids before she passed away from breast cancer 27 years ago.
The project is set to open in 2027.
I’m Monica Carrillo-Casas reporting.
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OH: A Washington legislative group is set to consider a bill on wolf management in the state’s northeastern counties.
The state Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing Monday afternoon on a measure to more actively monitor wolf populations—and their effects on prey like deer and elk.
Addy Republican Senator Shelly Short’s bill would require the state Fish and Wildlife Department to step in if wolves bring down local deer and elk populations by a quarter or more.
Last year, the legislature passed a bill to continue funding a wildlife specialist position in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties to monitor wolf predation and provide non-lethal countermeasures.
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ONE Spokane Stadium will host Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign matches this spring.
SPR’s Eliza Billingham reports
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: The FIFA Men’s World Cup is booting the westside teams from their home turf at Lumen Field, so the soccer clubs are coming to Eastern Washington instead.
The Sounders will play their Round of 16 match of the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup at ONE Spokane Stadium on March 18.
That will be against either the Vancouver Whitecaps or Costa Rica’s CS Cartaginés.
The Reign will play certain regular season matches in Spokane. Those dates and opponents will be announced in the coming weeks.
Season ticket holders for Spokane’s Velocity and Zephyr clubs will get access to tickets before the general public.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
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OH: A federal grand jury has indicted the man who allegedly fled a U-S Border Patrol traffic stop in Portland before being shot by federal law enforcement.
The man pleaded not guilty in court yesterday to charges of aggravated assault on a federal employee with a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property.
He’s currently being held in federal custody, and a criminal trial is set for March.
The other shooting victim has been charged in Texas with illegally crossing the US border. She’s being held at the immigration detention facility in Tacoma.
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Today, the Washington Senate Law and Justice Committee will vote on a bill that would ban police officers from wearing masks while dealing with the public.
The bill would apply to officers at the local, state and federal levels. State law already requires cops to display outside identification.
Cheney Senator Jeff Holy, a retired officer, is the lead Republican on the committee.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick talked with him about this bill and others like it that his committee will consider this year.
JEFF HOLY: I understand exactly what the issue is here and what the attraction is and what the sense of propriety is.
Yet, at the same time, when I was working back in the early ’90s, and especially in a cover unit, we would change cars, used cars out on the local lots, and put out of state expired plates on the cars, because we were literally embedding in groups.
It's like Mad Magazine where you have spy versus spy. And everybody's constantly trying to find a database or an advantage or an identity and protect their interests. I understand that.
Now, in the last several years, with every phone having a camera and databases widely available, which is another bill we'll end up dealing with, with automatic license plate readers that I'm co-sponsoring, addressing sort of the same lane of thought that there's a balance here.
When you have police officers that are doxxed at home or their families are harassed or there's a—there's a consequence sometimes for attempting to gain information on officers, and I understand why they've done this over a period of time.
Yet at the same time, we've talked to WACOPS, the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, we've talked to Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs here and all of them in committee were pretty darn clear.
Yeah, this is a great window dressing piece. It's not going to affect us at all because we don't do that. That's against policy to do that here. If there is an issue, if the issue arises, I understand that this would address it.
Yet at the same time, everybody in law enforcement and I retired 20 years ago. If a problem does arise on this, I think we've addressed it in advance.
But, like a lot of bills out there, sometimes we respond to things in the media, for example, that play well on a national level and an attempt to maybe be prophylactic or prevent something from happening.
The other side of the equation might say you're a solution looking for a problem in Washington state.
So this is just kind of a one of those bills that I understand what motivates it. It makes perfect sense.
And yet I don't think the problem exists, according to all the testimony that we had in committee on this.
DOUG NADVORNICK: So what was your visceral reaction when you saw the latest video regarding the shooting of the young woman in Minnesota?
JH: First of all, I wasn't there and I hate to armchair quarterback anybody that's involved in these kind of situations, because I'm standing in the shoes of the guy that was there.
I know better to make a comment from watching media that already has a perspective or a context they want to bring to the issue.
I don't want to make judgment calls on these things.
DN: So I'm not a big social media guy, but I did see like a two minute video from a sheriff in Michigan and he sat in his car…
SHERIFF: This is what breaks down the trust of law enforcement across the board. Everybody pays a price for what you just saw. That’s why public trust is so important. We’ve been preaching this and saying this. When you have the authority over people and it is used as a weapon and not a tool, it hurts all of us.
DN: How do you feel about that?
JH: Oh, you just accurately described the court of social opinion. You have. And that's exactly what he's speaking to here. You have to have total candor, total clarity, total transparency in these investigations.
Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of cops absolutely just go to their job. They do the right thing. They try to make the right decision in difficult circumstances.
You have the 1% out there, like in everything, on the street, as a police officer.
You've got 5% of the people that are frequent fliers out there that create 90 percent of your workload.
If you transpose that as assembly, you've got about 1% of the police officers out there because they tend to the media and the social backlash here.
He's right. We need to address these issues, remove them and maintain faith, you know, you know, in the police department.
OH: That’s Cheney state Senator Jeff Holy, speaking with SPR’s Doug Nadvornick.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Noel Gasca, James Dawson, Bellamy Pailthorp, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Eliza Billingham, Doug Nadvornick and me, Owen Henderson. I’m also the host and producer.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
