Today's headlines:
- Voter repeal effort against WA’s "millionaires' tax" launches following failed lawsuit.
- WA officials continue to sound alarms over low snowpack and plan information-gathering town halls.
- Open seats in eastern WA attract many Independent candidates.
- Walla Walla Community College looks for business partners to stave off closing its Clarkston campus as staffing cuts loom.
- Seattle officials are training business leaders to look for signs of human trafficking ahead of the World Cup.
Plus, putting on a school musical comes with plenty of challenges, let alone if your school district doesn’t have a formal choir program.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick has a preview of one Methow Valley theater group’s upcoming presentation of a show that follows women working as telephone operators in World War I.
- - -
SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Sarah Mizes-Tan, Deborah Wang, Natalie Akane Newcombe, Eliza Billingham, Owen Henderson, Rachel Sun, Anna Marie Yanny and Doug Nadvornick.
Owen Henderson hosts and produces the show.
TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Monday, May 11, 2026.
On today’s show, Washington voters may decide whether to repeal the state’s new so-called “millionaires’ tax” this November. That’s if an effort backed by tax skeptics gains traction this spring.
And Evergreen state officials continue to ring the alarm about impending effects of drought. The latest numbers show Washington’s snowpack now at about a quarter of its usual levels
Plus, putting on a school musical comes with plenty of challenges, let alone if your school district doesn’t have a formal choir program.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick has a preview of one Methow Valley theater group’s upcoming presentation of a show that follows women working as telephone operators in World War I.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
One of the conservative-backed efforts to repeal Washington state’s “millionaires’ tax” is now underway.
State Government reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan has more.
SARAH MIZES-TAN: The political action group Let’s Go Washington has announced they’ll be gathering signatures for an initiative to repeal the new tax. CEO Brian Heywood says he believes this year is the right time to put the question to voters.
BRIAN HEYWOOD: “Like all income taxes everywhere in the history of the world, it doesn’t stop at who they initially sell it to. They’re trying to sell this sort of envy, ‘Hey these guys deserve to get hit,’ and as soon as those guys don’t give enough money, they’re coming for everybody else. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen here in Washington state.”
SMT: Democrats passed the tax on the state’s highest earners earlier this year. Republicans and other critics of the tax say it could expand to lower income brackets in the future.
If Let’s Go Washington gets enough signatures, voters could see the repeal issue on their ballots this November. Polling shows strong support for the millionaires’ tax.
In Olympia, I’m Sarah Mizes-Tan.
— — —
OH: The state of Washington is seeing a faster than expected decline in its already low snow levels.
The snowpack is now at 27% of normal, down from 50% a month ago.
Caroline Mellor is the drought lead for the Department of Ecology.
CAROLINE MELLOR: “We have seen very hot days and more of them. And so that has le- and so this hotter weather has led to the snowpack that we did have melting off a lot faster than it normally does.”
OH: Mellor says the rapid and early mountain melt-off could have an impact on wild salmon, which need a steady supply of cold water.
Farmers east of the Cascades are also likely to see restrictions on irrigation water later this summer, as snowpack in the Yakima basin is only 7% of normal.
Washington issued a statewide drought declaration last month, opening up about $3 million in emergency funding for drought relief programs.
The state is also putting together a report with recommendations on how Washington can secure a sustainable water supply amid climate change.
This is the fourth year in a row the state has been in a drought.
Ecology Department Director Casey Sixkiller says climate change is throwing the state’s water supply out of balance.
CASEY SIXKILLER: “For generations, we've built our life around snowpack, counting on it to refill rivers and reservoirs that supply water across our state. Unfortunately, that system is becoming less reliable.”
OH: State officials are hosting round tables with tribal, farming, and fishing communities throughout the summer to get new ideas on how to deal with the problem.
Officials are expected to announce their findings at the end of the year.
— — —
A flurry of Eastern Washington candidates threw their hats in the political ring before Friday’s filing deadline.
Four open seats attracted almost thirty candidates—including a number of people running as Independents.
Eleven people are running to replace U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse in the 4th Congressional District.
Six are Republicans; one is a Democrat; and the rest filed as Independents, with no party preference, and—in one case—a candidate marked their party as “Cascade.”
A dozen people are challenging Eastern Washington Republican Rep. Michael Baumgartner for his seat.
Seven are Democrats. Five are Independents.
State Rep. Timm Ormsby is not seeking re-election in Spokane’s 3rd legislative district, which is now fielding 4 candidates—three Democrats and one Republican.
And residents in legislative district 6 will get not one but two new state representatives.
Four Republicans and two Democrats are running to take Mike Volz’s previous seat. He is running to retain his seat as Spokane County treasurer.
And one Republican, one Democrat, and one Independent are vying to replace outgoing Rep. Jenny Graham.
As Washington runs open primaries, the top two candidates will proceed to November’s general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Washington’s primary is August 4.
— — —
Leaders at Walla Walla Community College say they’re looking for community partners to help keep workforce training programs at their Clarkston campus.
Rebecca Thorpe is the college’s director of marketing and communications.
She says the goal is to share financial costs with employers who are looking to invest in workforce training.
REBECCA THORPE: “Shared partnership and shared financial responsibility… So, we're mostly targeting nursing, but there has been some talk in the community of needing welding and the electronic systems technology as well.”
OH: If those partnerships don’t pan out, the Clarkston campus will close in 2028.
The college is already planning to announce cuts to positions at both of its campuses starting this week, which would go into effect in July.
— — —
Washington will likely see a massive surge in visitors when the World Cup comes next month.
Officials say conditions are ripe for human trafficking, and they are working to prevent that from happening.
KNKX’s Anna Marie Yanny has more.
ANNA MARIE YANNY: About 750,000 people are expected to visit Seattle for the FIFA World Cup.
Those crowds will likely bring lots of business to restaurants and bars, and cause more traffic... and potentially cases of human trafficking.
All that puts a strain on first responders and front line workers, such as those working at the airport.
Sam Cho is a commissioner for the port of Seattle.
He says Port employees are receiving additional training on human trafficking ahead of the event.
That includes workers at ship terminals, like where cruises dock.
CHO: “Many of us are just not aware or don't have the muscle memory to identify it. That's why the training is important,”
AMY: Signs at the airport and ship terminals have been updated to include 8 different languages. That’s to ensure people understand their rights.
I’m Anna Marie Yanny, reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: Student actors from the Methow Valley’s Liberty Bell Drama Company will turn the clock back to World War 1 tonight.
They’ll debut their version of “Hello Girls,” a musical about women who worked as wartime telephone operators.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick reports.
[MALE SINGER: “Hello Girls. Well, what do you know, girls. Sent from the greatest-ever nation where they grow girls.”]
DOUG NADVORNICK: “Hello Girls” is set in France, 1918. It’s the final year of the “war to end all wars.” The protagonists are five women who were stationed close to the front lines. Rowan Kelley plays one of them.
ROWAN KELLEY: “They worked with switchboards to relay calls from the battlefield to headquarters and to make sure that soldiers got orders and were kept safe. And they had to speak French because the general, because we were working with the French, so they had to be able to communicate with both English-speaking people and French-speaking people.”
DN: Kelley’s co-star is Olive Frady.
OLIVE FRADY: “They eventually made their way to being on the front lines and they worked their way up to that. And it really set the foundation or just like another step in the movement for women's rights.”
[FEMALE SINGERS: “We’ve been pressed and assessed and we’ve passed every test, but we aren’t in the Army yet.”
MALE VOICE: “Helen Hill from Emmett, Idaho?”
FEMALE VOICE: “That’s me, sir!”
MALE VOICE: “Your French is surprisingly good for someone whose occupation is listed as ‘farm girl.’”
FEMALE VOICE: “I know.” [starts speaking French, fade out]]
DN: “Hello Girls” debuted off-Broadway in 2018. In the eight years since, it has become a popular production for high school troupes.
The show provides some challenges. One, according to actress Bry Romero, was finding information about the woman she plays.
BRY ROMERO: “I couldn't really research her, but I like to think of her as a collection of the girls because she's seen as feisty and very... We've got to go to war. We've got to go to the front. And so I like to see her not as only Suzanne, but as a group of women who were still similar in that way.”
DN: The students have had to make some decisions as they interpret a play set a hundred years ago. For one thing, says actor Nick Leon, how should the actors move during the dance scenes.
NICK LEON: “I have been noticing that our dancing for the show has been a little bit of, you know, a twisty turny path, just because we want to keep it in the Army fashion of kind of more stiffer movements. In other shows, you can be exaggerant and flamboyant, but in this one, you're also still, you know, a telephone operator in the Army. So how do we make that an entertaining dance, but also still give the vibe that everyone is a soldier?”
[MIXED VOICES: “Imagine our stage as the scene of a battle, as vast as the meadows of France…”]
DANA STROMBERGER: “This is a musically very complex show. And we have our five Hello Girls, sometimes singing in four-part harmonies with jazz chords.”
DN: Co-director and voice instructor Dana Stromberger:
DS: “This is a small rural school district without a formal choral music program and a lot of these kids play instruments. But they have stepped up and spent hours and hours working on their vocals and really, really meeting the challenge.”
DN: “Hello Girls” opens tonight at the Merc Playhouse in Twisp. Co-director Kelly Grayum says the production also has community support from Methow Arts and the Public School Funding Alliance.
KELLY GRAYUM: “A lot of extra arts education, for example, that the school district just can't cover. It gets picked up by this organization that helps fund that. It's pretty incredible what this community does to rally around kids and rally around the arts.”
DN: The Liberty Bell Drama Company will perform “Hello Girls” all through this week, including a Sunday closing matinee.
I’m Doug Nadvornick reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Sarah Mizes-Tan, Deborah Wang, Natalie Akane Newcomb, Eliza Billingham, Anna Marie Yanny, Doug Nadvornick and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
