Today's headlines:
- Washington state exchange healthcare premiums could increase by more than 20%... again.
- Outgoing Kootenai County GOP officials look to undercut the incoming moderate leaders.
- Death toll rises to two and the remains of nine are still unrecovered after Longview chemical rupture.
- Beavers could pose a bigger threat than mountain lions to most north Idahoans—financially, at least.
- Maybe the wine industry isn't dying because millennials and Gen Z don't want to drink wine. Maybe it's because they can't afford it.
Plus, when six World Cup games come to Seattle this summer, there’s another game fans can join in on: A thousand glass medallions are being hidden around Pierce County in a scavenger hunt meant to celebrate the World Cup.
Northwest Public Broadcasting's Lauren Gallup visits the glass artists who were commissioned to create the pieces.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, James Dawson, Erik Neumann, Eliza Billingham, Eric Bengel and Lauren Gallup.
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 28, 2026.
On today’s show, buying insurance on Washington state’s exchange might get almost a quarter more expensive next year, if companies get their way.
Plus, outgoing Kootenai County GOP officials are moving to undercut the more moderate incoming leadership.
And every year around Lunar New Year, Tacoma residents participate in a scavenger hunt of sorts for glass art. But Lauren Gallup will take us inside a glass art studio that’s preparing for another treasure hunt for this summer’s World Cup.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
People who buy health insurance on the Washington state exchange may pay an average of 22% more next year.
Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer says companies planning to offer policies next year have proposed raising premiums anywhere from about eight to nearly 30%.
PATTY KUDERER: “With the uncertainty and the volatility out of the other Washington, the failure to pass the enhanced premium tax credits into law, all of that has an impact and the insurance market is responding to that.”
OH: Kuderer says her office will analyze the requests this summer.
This fall, it will announce how much it will allow each company to increase their premiums.
PK: “There is a lot of back and forth. And there's good reason for that, because we want to make sure that the rate increase that's being requested is indeed actuarially justified. If it is not, then we are fully prepared to reduce that rate to what we feel has been actuarially justified.”
OH: Last fall, Kuderer’s office approved rates that were—on average—21% higher than the year before.
She says insurers justify their requests by citing the rising costs of claims filed by customers and consolidation within the insurance industry.
Kuderer says tens of thousands of Washingtonians dropped their insurance this year because federal subsidies for individual policies ended.
She worries that will continue next year.
— — —
The Idaho Republican Party is getting a big gift from an outgoing, far-right political leader in the panhandle.
James Dawson has more.
JAMES DAWSON: On Saturday, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee voted to give half of its bank account—about $64,000—to its counterparts at the state level.
It said in a Facebook post the money will be used to defeat a ballot initiative to restore abortion rights in Idaho.
As first reported by the Coeur d’Alene Press, the gift comes after moderates made big gains in last week’s precinct elections, including toppling Chairman Brent Regan.
Boise State Political Science Professor Jaclyn Kettler says these sorts of things happen across the country from time to time.
JACLYN KETTLER: “Current officeholders or leadership will kind of take actions potentially to reduce the power or possible influence of those that may come after them.”
JD: In addition to cutting its bank account in half, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee also voted to close some of its social media accounts, which Kettler says could limit the reach of new members.
The committee is set to vote on its new leadership tonight [THUR] in Coeur d’Alene.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
— — —
OH: Two people are now confirmed dead after a chemical release at a Southwest Washington paper mill.
As OPB's Erik Neumann reports, work began yesterday [WED] to recover the remains of those who are unaccounted for.
ERIK NEUMANN: In addition to the two confirmed fatalities, nine employees are still officially unaccounted for at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill in Longview, Washington.
On Wednesday afternoon, Washington state Governor Bob Ferguson described the scope of the disaster.
FERGUSON: “We’re bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history. When you have a tragedy of that scale, the impacts on individuals, on families, and on communities is profound.”
EN: The incident happened Tuesday morning during a shift change when a large tank of caustic chemicals ruptured. Investigators are trying to understand the specific cause.
Emergency responders say some of those chemicals did wind up in the Columbia River next to the mill. They’re warning people to stay out of nearby waterways.
I'm Erik Neumann reporting.
— — —
OH: For most North Idaho residents, beavers could pose a bigger threat than mountain lions—financially, at least.
SPR’s Eliza Billingham reports.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: Shane Robinson trapped four mountain lions in Bonner County last year.
Robinson is a wildlife services specialist for the United States Department of Agriculture.
He went before Bonner County Commissioners this week asking them to re-up their yearly five-thousand-dollar contribution to the USDA’s wildlife service program.
With funding from the north Idaho counties he serves, he typically focuses on protecting farmers and ranchers from predators.
But Bonner County Commissioner Asia Williams wondered if protecting a few people’s private property is the best way to spend taxpayer money.
ASIA WILLIAMS: “As budgets go into crisis mode, because federal funding dries up on a certain level—whether people like it or not, programs like yours are where I can pull my money back.”
EB: Commissioners were more interested in funding the program for the sake of trapping beavers.
Beavers can threaten critical road infrastructure by damming culverts.
Commissioners said trapping a few beavers is far less expensive than fixing rural roads.
Whether to fund the wildlife program is just one of the conversations commissioners will have during their budget deliberations this summer.
Bonner County’s fiscal year starts October 1.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
— — —
OH: Younger generations are rejecting wine—or at least, that’s a prevailing narrative.
As Northwest Public Broadcasting’s Erick Bengel reports, industry professionals and Walla Walla Community College students say the picture is more complicated.
ERIC BENGEL: Millennials and Gen Z-ers have become a kind of scapegoat for the wine industry. They drink less wine than baby boomers did. And the industry is seeing a downturn right now.
One takeaway from a recent panel discussion at the college? Martin Fujishin, the wine program’s director, put it this way:
MARTIN FUJISHIN: “Going back as far as we can remember, people have always said, ‘Oh, well, it’s this next generation that’s the problem. And, really, the issue, as we saw today, is not necessarily a question of desire to be the next generation of wine drinkers. It’s a question of financial ability.”
EB: The panel talk was the first in a four-part series on wine industry topics. The college is presenting them with the nonprofit Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance.
In Walla Walla, I’m Erick Bengel.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: Tacoma is known for its glass art scene. Artists there are crafting hand-stamped medallions ahead of the World Cup.
And they're hiding them around the area for spectators to search for.
Northwest Public Broadcasting’s Lauren Gallup reports.
LEAH MORGAN: “ You wanna help me stamp into the hot glass? What do you think? He's holding my soccer ball. I mean... Low five? Yes. Nice. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Perfect.”
LG: Leah Morgan is helping one Tacoma family of four create some glass art.
Anthony Remick walks the family through the process.
ANTHONY REMICK: “ Put on some cool little safety sleeves, and we're gonna throw on some safety glasses also real quick.”
TURNER: “Give me your arm, buddy.”
JACK: “Why do I have to wear safety glasses?”
LG: It’s a great hands-on experience for the kids. And, it’s also part of a larger project to make one thousand glass medallions. Those pieces will be hidden around the city when the World Cup.
Glass is a big deal in Tacoma. For Morgan, glass—
LM: “... feels like it's at the heart of the art community in the Northwest.”
LG: The artists are creating colorful, flat, stamped glass discs with a custom design.
These medallions will be hidden at special places throughout the Pierce County area before each of the games.
Morgan says they have been finding ways to get the community involved in the creative process.
LM: “It gives them an opportunity to have this experience with, like, hot glass and, uh, yeah, something that not many people get the chance to do.”
LG: Remick shows how it’s done. First, he has to gather the glass from the hot furnace.
[FURNACE OPENING]
He reaches into where the molten hot glass is melted.
AR: “We kinda just ladle it up on the pipe like so, and we get one little gather right there. We gotta let it cool down. We go for a double dip, 'cause we want a good mass of glass on there. Okay. It sounds like Star Wars, huh?”
LG: Then, he heats the glass in the ovens.
AR: “ This is where I'm just getting it, like, like soupy hot, soupy hot, 'cause we want it really, like, almost like liquid.”
Remick dips the hot glass in something called frit. These are tiny pieces of glass that melt into the bigger piece and color it.
[FRIT GATHERING, SNIP AND TORCH]
Then, he cuts the hot glass off the end of the pipe. He torches it to get rid of the mark from trimming it. Then, he drops it onto the metal table, where the kids stamp the World Cup design into it.
AR: “We're gonna line up, and we're just gonna press it right down, and we're gonna push, push, push. Wow. And you see how we're rolling it around. That's so smooth. You go ahead and push.”
LG: Morgan designed the stamps. In the center, there’s a soccer ball.
Below the soccer ball is the word “Tacoma” in English and above—
LM: “It's the Puyallup Tribe's word for Tacoma up here on top… I've been practicing, but I can't guarantee that I'm doing it justice. But the word is caləɫali.”
LG: According to the Puyallup Tribe, it translates to “place of lake,” a place name used for the city of Tacoma.
Morgan says it was special for her to include the language of the Puyallup people on the medallions. The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is the first Indigenous sovereign nation to host World Cup events.
Together at the table, Remick helps the kids stamp another piece.
AR: “Okay. Double power. Push, push, push, push. I want to see your arms shaking. Wow. Arms shaking. And then we're gonna spin it around a little bit, kind of give it a little wiggle jiggle. Wiggle jiggle, and then it'll come right on of, just like that. Oh, there you go.”
LG: These two have just joined dozens of Tacomans helping to get ready for the World Cup.
Before I leave the studio, Morgan and Remick help me create a piece of glass art, too.
[GLASS ART CREATION SOUNDS]
In Tacoma, I’m Lauren Gallup.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, James Dawson, Erik Neumann, Eliza Billingham, Eric Bengal and Lauren Gallup.
I’m Owen Henderson, your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
