Today's headlines:
- New polling shows Spokane residents’ top worries continue to be public safety and homelessness. But the cost of living and taxes are catching up.
- The Spokane Police Department is getting new training in a restraining method that’s said to be safer for both officer and arrestee.
- The block on WA's new sheriff eligibility requirements will stand as a challenge to the law goes forward.
- Thousands of people in Washington and Idaho are dropping their subsidized health insurance coverage after Congress failed to renew federal tax credits.
- Idaho has received about $73 million so far from pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the country’s opioid crisis. It's looking for help from the public to decide how to spend it.
Plus, last week's Supreme Court decision regarding Louisiana's congressional maps largely clears the way for partisan gerrymandering, and several state legislatures around the country are considering drawing new maps to give whichever party is in power a further advantage in elections.
Washington's maps are drawn by a bipartisan redistricting commission each decade. State House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle) has already raised the idea of redrawing the state's maps. That proposal didn't make it out of committee back in January. But the new decision—and the redistricting push by some Republican-controlled states—might mean the effort isn't over.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Eliza Billingham, Owen Henderson and James Dawson.
Owen Henderson hosts and produces the show. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
On today’s show, Spokane area residents are becoming more concerned about the rising cost of living and higher taxes according to new survey numbers, though public safety and homelessness are still at the top of the list.
Plus, Spokane police officers will be learning a new way to restrain arrestees that doesn’t involve kneeling on someone’s back and keeps their airways open.
And while several Republican-controlled states pursue new Congressional maps to solidify their hold on the House of Representatives, some Democrats in Olympia aren’t ruling out another attempt to redraw Washington’s districts.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
Spokane residents’ top worries continue to be public safety and homelessness, but the cost of living and taxes are catching up.
KEVIN WHITE: “Two-thirds of voters believe that recent policy decisions by local government have negatively impacted the ability of small businesses to remain open and thrive.”
OH: That’s Kevin White with E-M-C Research, which conducted the survey.
White also says many residents don’t trust local governing bodies when it comes to spending tax money.
KW: “There is appetite for increased public investment in community infrastructure. About three quarters of voters do support that, but there's obviously a gulf between, you know, the generic increased support in public investment and then the actual, you know, rubber meeting the road of having to trust the plan and trust the entity that is spending those tax dollars.”
OH: This is the fourth Pulse survey commissioned by Greater Spokane in the last 18 months.
White says the results show positive trends in two of the high priority areas.
KW: “We’re down 13 points on mentions of homelessness from October of 2024. We’re down on mentions of public safety from October of 2024.”
OH: He says the respondents are also slightly more optimistic about the region’s future than they were six months ago.
White says a majority approve of the Spokane City Council’s ban on camping in public rights of way.
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The Spokane Police Department is getting new training in a restraining method that’s said to be safer for both arrester and arrestee.
SPD captain Sean Wheeler told the City Council this week the Safe Wrap system was originally created for health care workers dealing with people in mental health crises.
SEAN WHEELER: “You don't have that fight-or-flight instinct because you don't have people pressing down on you. Your airway’s open, our officers are able to see what is going on, so if someone's in medical crisis, they can immediately identify that. They can also see and they have control of the hands.”
OH: In this 2 on 1 method, one person loops their arms through someone’s bent knees, and the other crosses that person’s arms into something like a self-hug.
The restrainee ends up lying on their side.
Wheeler says this technique is much safer than the typical strategy of forcing a suspect face down on the ground with a knee on their back.
SW: “I've spent my entire life wrestling and it took me about 30 seconds of watching this. And I thought, ‘This is going to be revolutionary for police work.’”
OH: Wheeler said three SPD defensive tactics specialists will travel to California at the end of this month to get trained.
They’ll then bring the technique back to Spokane and incorporate it in officer training.
Police officers in Bellevue and Auburn are already using the Safe Wrap method.
It’s also endorsed by the New York and Los Angeles police departments.
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The block on Washington’s stricter sheriff requirements will stand as a challenge to the new law plays out.
A Washington Supreme Court commissioner this week declined to pause a lower court’s ruling that put a hold on the new law before sheriff candidates started filing to run for office this week.
The hold came in response to a lawsuit from four northeastern Washington sheriffs.
They argue the legislature overstepped its authority by regulating who can run for sheriff—and by creating a path for the state to remove sheriffs that don’t meet the new eligibility requirements.
The state Attorney General’s Office says it will continue to defend the law’s constitutionality.
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Washington and Idaho residents are dropping their subsidized health insurance coverage after Congress failed to renew enhanced premium tax credits.
Your Health Idaho reports about five thousand fewer people enrolled through the state exchange compared to last year.
Director Pat Kelly says thousands of people bought policies when they thought Congress would extend the credits.
More than 24 thousand have dropped them since enrolling because that didn’t happen.
PAT KELLY: “Affordability concerns really permeated all of the decisions that we saw Idahoans make. One example of that is we saw bronze plans grow by nine percentage points, with that being driven by people moving from silver and gold.”
OH: In Washington, exchange officials report nearly 40-thousand fewer people are covered this year.
They say it’s the largest decrease since the state’s marketplace opened.
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Idaho officials are looking for public input on how the state should prioritize spending opioid settlement funds for the upcoming fiscal year.
James Dawson reports.
JAMES DAWSON: Past priorities have included prevention programs, treatment and recovery, along with workforce development.
Ross Edmunds, who co-chairs the Idaho Behavioral Health Council, says a ruling from the state attorney general’s office requires them to only use the funds for opioid-related projects.
ROSS EDMUNDS: “There certainly have been requests for programming that is across substance use disorders…but we’ve really tried to limit this and say this is specifically and focused exclusively on opioids.”
JD: Idaho has received about $73 million so far from pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the country’s opioid crisis. State and local governments each receive 40% of those funds, while public health districts are given the remaining 20%.
Residents have until June 5th to submit their feedback to the council. Edmunds says the group hopes to vote on recommendations later that month.
State legislators will have the final say on how to spend the money during the upcoming session next January.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: Last week's Supreme Court decision regarding Louisiana's congressional maps largely clears the way for partisan gerrymandering, and several state legislatures around the country are considering drawing new maps to give whichever party is in power a further advantage in elections.
Washington's maps are drawn by a bipartisan redistricting commission each decade. But some Washington Democratic legislators have already raised the idea of redrawing the state's maps. That proposal didn't make it out of committee back in January. But the new decision—and the redistricting push by some Republican-controlled states—might mean the effort isn't over.
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, who represents West Seattle, led that effort. I spoke with him by phone yesterday, and as you'll hear, our connection wasn't the best. But you should still be able to understand him.
Here's that conversation.
At the start of this year and well before this ruling, but while there were still conversations happening in other parts of the country, you and a handful of Democrats in the state House introduced a potential constitutional amendment that would allow Washington to redraw its maps in the middle of a decade under certain conditions. How would that have worked?
JOE FITZGIBBON: Yeah, so the amendment that I proposed would allow the Washington legislature to redraw our congressional map mid-decade if another state chooses to redraw their maps mid-decade, as Texas, Florida, and others have done.
Now, with the U.S. Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, we're seeing even more states—Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama—now adding themselves to the list of states that want to redraw maps to eliminate Democratic districts around the country.
I think that's dangerous, and I think that Washington voters deserve a chance to consider whether we should join California and Virginia in fighting that against this undemocratic trend.
OH: So that amendment didn't advance out of the legislature this past session, but will you bring it back? Do you think there would be more support for that plan now than last time, both in the legislature and among state voters?
JF: I do think that Washington voters would support it. Our constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both the state House and the state Senate in order to propose a constitutional amendment to the voters.
And realistically, we know that no Republican in our legislature is going to vote for changing our redistricting process because they only want to see legislative redistricting in states that are controlled by Republicans.
The question of whether or not we could be successful in presenting this amendment to the voters, I think, depends on legislative elections this November and whether Democrats pick up enough seats in the state House and the state Senate to be able to present that constitutional amendment to the voters.
So I introduced it this last session just to show that we were thinking about it and that we had options, but that those options would hinge on whether or not, you know, on how legislative elections go in Washington this fall.
I think we would have support for it for the voters, and I think it will, again, be up to the voters whether or not there's a legislative majority next session in 2027 that would be willing to support putting this question to the voters.
OH: Now, let's just say this constitutional amendment passes. Right now, Washington has just two congressional districts that are represented by Republicans, Districts 4 and 5. They comprise most of Central and Eastern Washington. There's another very, very tightly contested district, District 3. Is it even viable to redo the maps to fully draw out Republicans, or would that put safe Democratic districts at risk?
JF: Yeah, I think that the real decision will be before, you know, assuming this constitutional amendment passes, would be before the legislature in the future. I think what I think would make sense would be to have at least a competitive district, likely not a safe Democratic district, but a competitive district in Eastern Washington that unites communities like Spokane and Yakima and Pullman and Walla Walla and parts of the cities that have been hit really hard by Donald Trump's policies.
And I think a congressional district that unites many of the more urban communities in Eastern Washington would be competitive and would give voters in those communities, you know, a chance to really consider how well they're being served by their current representation.
OH: Representative Fitzgibbon, thanks for your time this morning.
JF: My pleasure. Thank you, Owen.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Eliza Billingham, James Dawson and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
