Today's headlines:
- The federal government is eliminating limits on certain toxic chemicals. Washington state officials say that should not stop efforts to reduce contamination on Spokane’s West Plains.
- Nearly a quarter of Washington business owners surveyed are considering leaving the state.
- Despite some far-right wins, moderates gained seats overall in Idaho's legislative primaries.
- A new Idaho law forces cities to eliminate any restriction on short-term rentals. Sandpoint officials are dragging their feet on complying.
- Sandpoint City Council defers kratom sale ban after public opposition.
- Spokane Zephyr to shutter after two seasons.
Plus, voters in Kellogg approved a school maintenance levy this week. Just six months ago, though, they said no to an identical proposal. SPR’s Doug Nadvornick talked with Superintendent Lance Pearson about what changed and where the money will go.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting contributed by Steve Jackson, Anna Marie Yanny, James Dawson, Eliza Billingham and Doug Nadvornick.
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 Thursday, May 21, 2026.
On today’s show, Washington environmental officials say federal moves to eliminate limits on some drinking water contaminants won’t hinder their efforts to reduce PFAS in West Plains wells.
And many Inland Northwest towns and cities are banning the sale of kratom. But Sandpoint’s city council last night opted to table a similar proposal.
Plus, voters in Kellogg shot down a school funding levy in November. But the same ballot measure passed during Tuesday’s elections. We’ll hear from the district’s superintendent about what changed and where the money will go.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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The federal government has moved to eliminate limits on certain chemicals in drinking water.
Washington state officials say that should not have an impact on efforts to track down and reduce contamination on Spokane’s West Plains.
SPR’s Steve Jackson reports.
STEVE JACKSON: The Trump administration announced this week it is moving to rescind limits on certain chemicals found in drinking water that have been linked to cancer and other serious health problems.
The chemicals include PFAS, a compound in firefighting foam that was once used at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport. PFAS is now in water wells on Spokane’s West Plains.
Jeremy Schmidt, the Washington Department of Ecology’s airport clean-up site manager, says the federal move will have no effect on his agency’s PFAS investigation.
He says the state has its own standards, called Maximum Contaminant Levels, or “MCLs.”
JEREMY SCHMIDT: “Our state Board of Health and Washington Board of Health placed these state MCLs into state rule, which made it law, in case EPA decided to ever rescind their PFAS drinking water MCLs.”
SJ: Tests show more than 200 private wells on the West Plains have PFAS levels that exceed the maximum contaminant levels.
I’m Steve Jackson reporting.
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OH: A recent survey of about 400 employers in Washington finds that nearly 1 in 4 are considering moving their business out of state.
The survey was conducted by the Association of Washington Business.
Morgan Irwin with the association says the recently passed tax on income over a million dollars is a driving factor for the desire to relocate.
IRWIN: “After they passed the income tax, that number went from 45 to 55% of employers in Washington state.”
OH: Irwin, a former Republican state representative, says the survey also found many of those employers are thinking about changing their personal residence.
MI: “The number one concern among employers is taxation. It’s not even close; 72% put that as their number one issue.”
OH: Most of the survey's respondents are small businesses that employ 50 people or fewer.
The so-called “millionaires’ tax” does give tax breaks to small businesses.
One reduces or eliminates the state's business and occupation tax, depending on the size of the operation.
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Moderate Republicans made slight gains in the Idaho legislature after primary challengers took out some of the most vocal members of the far-right contingent.
James Dawson reports.
JAMES DAWSON: On Tuesday night, Idaho’s so-called Gang of Eight became the Gang of Three after more moderate Republicans ousted five of their members in the primary.
The far-right took back a seat here and there, like Scott Herndon reclaiming his spot in the Senate over Jim Woodward. But overall, the Senate moved one step closer to the center.
It might not sound like much, but Boise State Political Science Professor Jaclyn Kettler says that slight shift could make a difference.
JACLYN KETTLER: “One vote can matter a lot in terms of whether legislation is going to move forward out of committee, whether it succeeds on the floor. We had a few really close votes this past session.”
JD: In the House, traditional Republicans reclaimed three seats overall. That moderating force could also increase if Democrats beat a handful of hardliners in GOP-favored districts.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
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OH: Sandpoint leaders are dragging their feet on complying with Idaho’s new rules around short-term rentals.
The state passed House Bill 583 this year, stripping cities of the ability to regulate rentals or limit vacation property numbers.
Mayor Jeremy Grimm says he’s worried about the law’s economic fallout.
JEREMY GRIMM: “Allowing unfettered short-term rental speculators and investors to come in and buy our housing stock, displace the opportunity for a local resident or employee to live there year-round… I think this House Bill 583 was some of the worst legislation I've ever seen.”
OH: Sandpoint officials need to bring city code into compliance with state law to avoid costly litigation.
Typically, city councils would pass all three readings of amendments like this at once.
But Council President Deb Ruehle [Rule] didn’t have the stomach for that.
RUEHLE: “I'd like this to be read that many more times so we can express our disgust publicly.”
OH: The city council passed the update’s first reading last night 3-2.
The ordinance will have its second reading at the council’s meeting next Wednesday.
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Enough Sandpoint residents advocated for kratom that the city has decided not even to consider banning it.
Sandpoint City Council was scheduled to discuss and vote last night on a proposed ordinance that would have prohibited selling the substance.
But Council member Pam Duquette suggested postponing the decision indefinitely.
PAM DUQUETTE: “I think it's not the right time to be dealing with this…All of the emails that we got were very informative, and there's two different things. There's the leaf and the synthetic and yeah, I don't think it's a good thing for us to approach at this time.”
OH: Council member Kyle Schreiber supported the deferral, saying he believes the state will consider kratom regulations during next year’s legislative session.
Kratom is a federally unregulated substance that comes in both natural and synthetic forms.
Synthetic kratom can contain high concentrations of the compound 7-OH, which can have opioid-like effects.
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Spokane will no longer have a professional women’s soccer team.
The Spokane Zephyr announced yesterday it will not continue operating after two seasons in the Gainbridge Super League.
The Zephyr’s season ended this past weekend with the team narrowly missing the playoffs.
Club leaders did not initially give a reason for shutting down the team, but fan attendance this spring has been low.
Spokane’s men’s team, the Velocity, will continue playing in the third-tier division of the United Soccer League.
Its season started in March and will continue into the fall.
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Voters in Kellogg approved a school maintenance levy this week.
Just six months ago, though, they rejected an identical proposal.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick spoke with Superintendent Lance Pearson about what changed between now and then.
DOUG NADVORNICK: What a difference six months makes. In November, Kellogg puts a supplemental levy before voters, 48% say yes. Six months later, more than 60% say yes. What was the difference this time?
LANCE PEARSON: We got our message out. Our message in the fall got a little convoluted with some of the other messages that were out there, some of the other things that were up, some of the other levies that were on the docket, that were on the ballot. And this time, our message got out loud and clear, and our community always has been very supportive of the Kellogg School District, and they continue to show that support.
DN: So tell me about this levy. Is it different than the one you ran six months ago, or did you pare it back, or is it the same?
LP: It's the exact same. One of the messages that we had that got out to our community was, even with the passing of this levy, we're still going to have to make some budget cuts.
Idaho ranks 50th in the nation for per-pupil spending. We're below the state average, and even with this levy, we would still have some cuts that we had to make. And our community understood that and understood that we had been good stewards of the community money, and they supported us.
DN: So give me an idea how that money breaks down that you'll be collecting from the taxpayers. Assume that you've got a pie here, and you say, okay, this amount's going to salaries, this amount's going to something else.
LP: We broke it down into three areas. Student opportunities, which was approximately $700,000, and it was things like athletics, because our state doesn't fund athletics, having a foreign language teacher, full-day kindergarten, music and PE, and some advanced online courses, as well as a junior ROTC program at our high school, which is a Marine program. It's the only one in the state, and it's been in place for quite a while, over 20 years and we needed it for that.
Those were student opportunities, and we did educational programs, which was $1.1 million, and it was for teachers that were not funded for. We have 71 teachers, and we're funded for 59 and so this helps us to lower class sizes and to also give us instructional aides and instructional materials within our schools.
And then we also broke down into safe and operational schools for $1.7 [million], which was daily student transportation, nurse and janitorial services, to pay utilities bills and have at least one IT staff member extra, and those add up to $3.5 [million].
DN: A year for two years, correct?
LP: Yup. We had not increased it in about 10 years, and we increased it, I think, to the 16%. And the Consumer Price Index over that same 10-year period is well over 33%. So we felt like we were being good stewards of money, and we were saying that we absolutely needed this money.
And the fact that we still have...the harsh reality of it is that we came in today after passing a levy, and we still have some budget cuts that we need to make. Our health insurance for our employees is going to be right at a $300,000 increase this year.
DN: With the legislature having a difficult year in terms of creating its own budget, how does that trickle down to the school districts like yours, who are already as tight as you can be, and the state saying, well, maybe you have to cut a little bit more?
LP: Yeah. It is difficult. Just gas prices, diesel prices are out of the world. And, you know, when you're running sports programs and you have buses that are, you know, in North Idaho, we go great distances for our league games and when you're having to pay that money to go to games, to do sports, to do field trips that are there just for transportation on a daily basis, all this is an increased cost that nobody has accounted for and so we are fortunate that our community recognized that we need the support.
DN: Lance Pearson is the superintendent in the Kellogg School District. More than 60-percent of voters said yes this week to the district’s two-year supplement levy.
I’m Doug Nadvornick reporting.
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OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Steve Jackson, Anna Marie Yanny, James Dawson, Eliza Billingham and Doug Nadvornick.
I’m Owen Henderson, your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
