Today's headlines:
- The chief executive of East Adams Rural Healthcare says its no longer in imminent danger of closing. But the Ritzville hospital will require cuts to jobs and services after its administration allegedly committed massive fraud.
- Spokane Regional Health District is looking for a new administrative officer. But its board is having a hard time agreeing on much of anything.
- Washington lawmakers want to protect children from artificially intelligent chatbots.
- Further budget cuts to Idaho’s public defense system could leave the state exposed to another lawsuit.
- KSPS PBS, which covers one of the largest designated market areas in the country, has a new president: Skylar Reep.
And a Virginia-based lobby group is trying to change Idaho state funding for WWAMI, its longest-running medical education program. The group Do No Harm wants to make sure the Idaho educators adopt policies against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Northwest Public Broadcasting's Rachel Sun talks to Idaho doctors who say the program is already following state laws.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Eliza Billingham, Nate Sanford, James Dawson, Owen Henderson and Rachel Sun.
Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Owen Henderson hosts and produces the show.
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TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Friday, February 20, 2026.
On today’s show, an eastern Washington hospital is no longer at imminent risk of closure after massive fraud, but it’s not out of the woods yet.
And the top public defender in Idaho says the state’s budget cuts could result in his office getting sued again.
Plus, funding for a program that aims to address Idaho’s worst-in-the-nation number of physicians per capita is under attack—from a group in Virginia.
The lobby group wants to require the program to adopt policies against diversity, equity and inclusion.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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Ritzville’s hospital is recovering from massive fraud, allegedly committed by a former administrator.
The chief executive of East Adams Rural Healthcare says the system is in better shape and no longer in immediate danger of closing, but it’s not yet fully healthy.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick reports.
DOUG NADVORNICK: Mark Nida says Ritzville hospital administrators have a multi-pronged plan for bringing the county’s facility back to solvency.
The hospital cut its workforce by 15 people and plans to chop another 10 or 15 positions. It is working with its creditors on payment plans.
And it put two ballot measures before Adams County voters this month. One would fund its emergency management system; the other would help with operations.
The E-M-S measure is on its way to victory. The other is losing by a single vote.
East Adams has also asked the state to change its status to a rural emergency hospital. It would reduce its offerings to emergency care and a handful of other services, such as a lab and walk-in clinic.
Nida says that will help the hospital sustain its operations and continue to serve the community.
I’m Doug Nadvornick reporting.
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OH: The Spokane Regional Health District is searching for a new administrative officer after asking its previous leader to resign.
It doesn’t seem to be going well.
The board voted yesterday to extend the search after completing its first round of finalist interviews with no clear frontrunner.
The health board is growing—and having a hard time agreeing on pretty much anything.
It currently has eight members, chaired by Spokane City Councilmember Michael Cathcart.
At yesterday’s meeting, they couldn’t even agree on a replacement for a longserving community representative who just stepped down.
MICHAEL CATHCART: “OK, so four to four? Alright, familiar territory.
OH: After repeated split votes, they finally decided 5 to 3 to let the Spokane County Commissioners choose their ninth member.
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Washington lawmakers are concerned about artificial intelligence proliferating unchecked.
KNKX Murrow News Fellow Nate Sanford has more on how they’re trying to rein in AI.
NATE SANFORD: Lawmakers are advancing legislation to regulate AI companion chatbots.
Governor Bob Ferguson said, as a parent, he’s worried about children’s mental health and listed the proposal as a top priority for the session.
The new regulations would require developers to include stronger suicide prevention protocols and give users regular reminders that they aren’t talking to a real human.
Representative Lisa Callan is a sponsor.
During a House floor speech, she highlighted stories of young people who died by suicide after interacting with chatbots.
LISA CALLAN: “If we take action on this legislation and put these guardrails in place, we’re going to save lives, reduce harm before it even starts.”
NS: Several other pieces of AI legislation are also moving forward. One would limit AI surveillance on students in public schools.
Another would require developers to make it easier to detect when video, images or audio were created by AI.
Nate Sanford, reporting.
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OH: Further budget cuts to Idaho’s public defense system could leave it exposed to another lawsuit, according to its top attorney.
James Dawson reports.
JAMES DAWSON: The Idaho Supreme Court is currently reviewing a case against the state public defender’s office brought by the ACLU of Idaho. It says in 2024, the state left clients waiting for days or weeks in jail without an attorney, violating their constitutional rights.
Since then, Idaho’s chief public defender, Eric Fredericksen, says he’s hired more full-time staff and is contracting with outside lawyers.
On Wednesday, he told the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee that further budget cuts would mean fewer outside attorneys to lower staff caseload.
ERIC FREDERICKSEN: “What that overflow does is it reduces the workload of our attorneys, and as everybody in this room knows, one of the big issues in the lawsuit is workload.”
JD: JFAC already cut more than $100 million from next year’s budget, though Republican leaders say the committee could restore some funding later this session.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
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OH: There’s a new leader at Spokane’s PBS station.
KSPS PBS has officially named Skylar Reep as president after his stint as interim general manager in the wake of Gary Stokes’ retirement last August.
The station serves a huge swath of the Northwest, from central Washington to Western Montana and all the way up into southern British Columbia and much of Alberta.
Reep has been with KSPS for nearly a decade, most recently as its development director.
He says he is committed to keeping the station focused on “trusted information, early childhood education, and civil dialogue.”
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
A Virginia-based lobby group is trying to change state funding for Idaho’s longest-running medical education program.
The group wants to make it contingent on adopting policies against diversity, equity and inclusion.
But educators who run the program say they already follow state law.
N-W-P-B’s Rachel Sun reports.
RACHEL SUN: Idaho has the lowest number of physicians per capita in the country. For decades, one program has helped train students to practice in the state: The University of Washington’s WWAMI medical education program.
WWAMI stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho and focuses on bringing doctors to rural, western states.
Since 1972, hundreds of doctors have graduated from WWAMI’s Idaho program, more than half of whom stayed to practice in the state.
One of those doctors is Robert McFarland. He practiced medicine for about 35 years in Coeur d’Alene.
ROBERT McFARLAND: “ The goal is to train students who will return to Idaho, and who will serve where there is need in Idaho. And it's been very successful at that.”
RS: A Virginia-based lobby group, “Do No Harm” is seeking to make the program’s state funding contingent on adopting anti-D-E-I policies—that stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.
RM: “ I don't know how an organization based in Virginia is qualified to talk about Idaho values, but I've lived my whole life here. I was born in Idaho, and one of the chief values that I recognize is that we look out for our neighbors and we do try to help people who are down on their luck. And it would be counter to Idaho values and certainly not the right thing if we didn't do that.”
RS: Dr. Frank Batcha is the Assistant Clinical dean for the Idaho WWAMI program. He says there's nothing in the program, from classes to admission selections, that could be considered D-E-I, based on what this group is lobbying against.
FRANK BATCHA: “ Some of their, their ‘whereases’ is in this resolution are just blatantly erroneous.”
RS: Idaho WWAMI students spend their first two years training in-state before continuing their education in Washington state.
Batcha says then, they have the option to take elective courses on subjects like abortion and gender-affirming care. But those classes are not required, they’re not taught in Idaho, and they aren’t paid for by state funds.
FB: “ We don't have any electives here in Idaho that would train or require our students to do anything that would violate Idaho law.”
RS: Abortion is illegal in Idaho. And gender-affirming care is illegal in the state for minors.
McFarland, who served on Idaho’s WWAMI admissions committee, says he’s not sure how the program could be more compliant with Idaho laws. But he says he worries if the state adopts the resolution it could have a chilling effect on accepting well-qualified applicants.
He says if a student happens to be part of a minority group, or have interest in caring for underserved populations, admissions committees shouldn’t have to worry their selection will be perceived as D-E-I.
RM: “ So, if we admit a student who states that she wants to return to Idaho and included in her practice that group of people, that doesn't mean that we're biased toward the minority group.”
RS: So far, no legislators have attached their names to the resolution.
A lawmaker would have to get involved to have the legislature formally consider it.
In Moscow, Idaho, I’m Rachel Sun.
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OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Eliza Billingham, Nate Sanford, James Dawson, Rachel Sun and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also the host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening. We’ll be back in your feed on Monday.
It’s SPR.
