Today's headlines
- Spokane City Council passed a slew of controversial ordinances last night: they banned the sale of kratom citywide, created immigration enforcement free zones on city property, prohibited leasing private property for detention centers, and decided to start meeting on Wednesday nights starting this July.
- Newport lost $300,000 to scammers posing as the state Association of Counties.
- Washington legislators work to reconcile separate spending plans in the House and Senate.
- The Washington House considers zeroing out the Department of Natural Resources' urban forestry budget.
- More bills fall by the wayside after failing to meet another procedural deadline in Olympia.
- Idaho senators OK $130 million in cuts over bipartisan objections.
- Idaho budget writers again vote against funding tuition benefits for National Guard members.
- Historic state-tribal land management in eastern Oregon falls through after nonprofit land seller pulls out.
- Celebrations for the United States' 250th birthday get started in Olympia.
- After years with limited data, WSU says its researchers have proof of "the munchies."
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting contributed by Eliza Billingham, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Sarah Mizes-Tan, Bellamy Pailthorp, Owen Henderson, James Dawson, April Ehrlich, Doug Nadvornick and Steve Jackson.
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 Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
On today’s show… kratom, immigration enforcement, and a new meeting day: Spokane City Council took on a number of divisive measures at last night’s meeting.
And with both states facing budget shortfalls, legislators in Washington and Idaho are fighting over where and how much spending to cut.
Line items from an urban forestry program to tuition benefits for state National Guard members are on the chopping block.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
Spokane City Council passed a slew of controversial ordinances last night.
SPR’s Eliza Billingham has this rundown.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: Selling kratom will be banned in Spokane. City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale—but not the possession—of the drug that is currently unregulated by the state or feds.
Multiple councilmembers said the city wouldn’t be able to enforce regulations like age limits or concentration levels. The ban will go into effect 30 days after the mayor signs the ordinance.
Spokane will also have “immigration enforcement free zones” which prohibit federal agents from staging or setting up surveillance on city-owned property.
The city has also temporarily banned the use of private property for any detention facilities.
That ordinance is expressly aimed at prohibiting property owners from leasing to the Department of Homeland Security for the purpose of creating new detention centers.
Lastly, starting in July, Spokane City Council will meet on Wednesday nights. That will end a century-old tradition of meeting on Mondays.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
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OH: Law enforcement is investigating after scammers took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Pend Oreille County town.
SPR’s rural reporter and Murrow News Fellow Monica Carrillo-Casas has more.
MONICA CARRILLO-CASAS: Newport has lost approximately $330,000 in city funds after scammers emailed the town posing as the Association of Washington Cities, its insurer.
Town officials say there is no evidence that residents personal information was compromised.
The incident appears to be limited to the town's financial transactions.
Newport Mayor, Keith Campbell, told SPR that his team has notified law enforcement authorities about the incident which is now under active investigation.
Campbell says they are evaluating how this will affect current and future projects.
I’m Monica Carrillo-Casas reporting.
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House and Senate lawmakers in Olympia passed versions of this year's supplemental budget over the weekend.
Both plans, forged by Democrats, rely heavily on a proposed tax on high income earners... and call for heavy cuts to child care, education, and healthcare funding.
State government reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan has this report.
SARAH MIZES-TAN: "The state is facing a $2 billion deficit for this current two year budget cycle. Here's representative, Tim Ormsby, the lead budget writer for the house:
TIMM ORMSBY: "We face a lot of challenges, and they were talked about in the amendment debate on both sides, and we–we have a lot of shared values here. We just don't necessarily agree on how to get there."
SMT: And Republican Representative Joshua Penner spoke up in the final remarks, noting that this year's budget spends more than any before it:
JOSHUA PENNER: "This budget does less for more, and that scares me, and I think it reflects in the anger that I hear from my constituents." [:34]
OH: That’s Sarah Mizes-Tan, reporting.
The House proposal also makes cuts to several programs funded by Climate Commitment Act dollars.
Among them is a possible zero-ing out of the Department of Natural Resources’ Urban Forestry program.
It helps cities statewide plant and preserve more trees, to provide shade, clean the air and filter stormwater runoff.
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon acknowledges the cuts are challenging.
JOE FITZGIBBON: “You know, we have heard a lot of concern about this reduction from from DNR and from communities that benefit from the urban forestry program. So, you know, it's, that's, it's important for us to hear that feedback before we reach a final budget.”
OH: If the urban forestry program is cut, DNR says the state would also lose more than $5 million dollars in federal grants that require local support.
The senate proposal leaves urban forestry intact.
The two chambers are expected to present the governor with their completed budget next week Wednesday.
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After another legislative deadline yesterday in Olympia, more bills are likely dead for the year.
The Washington Board of Natural Resources won’t be expanding. The bill to add tribal representation to the group that decides on state logging sales and land management policies passed the Senate but didn’t make it out of a House committee.
A pair of bills backed by the state insurance commissioner that deal with property insurance and wildfires also burned out in the House.
One would’ve barred insurers from using wildfire risk as a disqualifying factor for properties if they met standards for fire preparedness.
The other would’ve required insurers to give policy holders their wildfire risk score if it affected their coverage and forced companies to share information about their wildfire risk models with the commissioner’s office.
And a House bill to more strictly penalize drivers who ignore emergency road closures didn’t get a vote in the Senate Transportation Committee before yesterday’s cutoff.
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The Idaho Senate voted to cut the state’s current year budget by more than 130 million dollars yesterday to head off a projected budget deficit in that state.
James Dawson has the latest from Boise.
JAMES DAWSON: Republican lawmakers here typically like cutting budgets—especially in an election year.
This $131.3 million-cut includes the governor’s 3% holdbacks last year. But some say it goes too far.
Republican Sen. Treg Bernt says the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee should’ve been more strategic with their plan.
TREG BERNT “It’s easy to just add 1% onto the top and call it good. However, it’s tough to take a scalpel, dig deep and figure out which budgets really need to be cut.”
JD: JFAC members, like Republican Sen. Codi Galloway, defended the plan. She says taking a quote “very dramatic approach” is the only way to balance the budget this year.
CODI GALLOWAY: “There’s no way that you can take a scalpel, effectively, to 100 budgets with 100 people that have to agree on that.”
JD: Idaho has more than $1.5 billion in its rainy day accounts.
The bill now goes to the House.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
OH: Idaho’s budget committee has once again rejected funding a tuition benefit for state National Guard members.
It’s the second time lawmakers have voted against the program.
It gives eligible Guard members 8 thousand dollars a year for education at state universities and certain vocational programs.
JFAC voted down funding the tuition program Friday but also rejected an attempt to leave those 190 thousand dollars out of the budget.
Lawmakers on the committee say they’ll bring the issue up again later this session.
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A historic state-tribal collaboration in eastern Oregon has fallen through after a landowner withdrew from a deal to sell thousands of acres of timberland.
Oregon's wildlife department planned to buy more than 11-thousand acres near the Blue Mountains using a federal grant.
The state would have co-managed the land with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
But the Harry A. Merlo Foundation has pulled out of the sale. A spokesperson with the nonprofit declined to comment.
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America’s 250th birthday celebration is underway in Northwest communities.
Washington’s Semiquincentennial Committee held an event in Olympia yesterday where students read the Declaration of Independence.
The state’s 2025 History Teacher of the Year, Heather Miller, says the year-long celebration gives Americans a chance to study the complexities of the country’s history and founders.
HEATHER MILLER: “We can be inspired by the enduring ideals of liberty and equality articulated in the Declaration, and we can also grapple with the discomfort, frustration, or even anger at the language used in the personal views of founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson.”
OH: The state and country will continue to celebrate America’s 250th birthday throughout the year, including a five-day national commemoration July first through the fifth.
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And finally: “The munchies,” an increase in appetite after cannabis use, aren't imaginary.
That’s according to new research from Washington State University.
In the study, researchers gave test subjects various strengths of a cannabis vape or a placebo and put them in a room with a variety of food.
WSU Psychology Professor Carrie Cuttler says those who ingested cannabis definitely ate more than their placebo counterparts:
CARRIE CUTTLER: “Across the board, it ends up being a 2.5 fold increase in calorie consumption. It was about 200 calories people consumed when they were sober, in the placebo condition, and more like 500 calories in the cannabis conditions.”
OH: She says those results were the same regardless if someone had eaten earlier in the day, what their body-mass index was, or what dosage of cannabis they received.
Cuttler says having documented research could help convince some physicians to prescribe cannabis for patients who suffer from appetite loss because of conditions like HIV or treatments like chemotherapy.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Eliza Billingham, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Sarah Mizes-Tan, James Dawson, April Ehrlich, Bellamy Pailthorp, Doug Nadvornick, Steve Jackson and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also the host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
