Today's headlines:
- Wildfires are starting less often in the western U.S. But they burn more land when they do, new research shows.
- WA-based institute brings dozens of collaborators together to find answers about degenerative brain diseases.
- National homeless rates are dropping, but numbers in Oregon and north Idaho saw increases in 2025.
- Idaho lawmakers approve ballot language for two constitutional amendments: Making marijuana legalization only a legislative power and making English the state's official language.
- Spokane’s police chief is worried his department doesn’t have enough female officers.
- Seattle hotel workers consider striking for more protection from immigration enforcement ahead of World Cup.
Plus, Washington leads the nation in progressive policies for the transition to renewable energy. It also ranks dead last in clean energy growth.
Faced with a backlog of projects, lawmakers and energy developers are searching for new ways to move forward. One place they’re looking for answers? Texas.
We hear from members of the delegation that visited the Lonestar State.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Owen Henderson, Gabriel Spitzer, Eliza Billingham, Gustavo Sagrero and Bellamy Pailthorp.
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 Friday, June 5, 2026.
On today’s show, wildfires are burning more land than they used to in western states—but new research shows fewer are igniting each year overall.
And a Washington institute is leading a major new research project designed to answer one of the toughest questions in medicine: How do we tackle degenerative brain diseases?
Plus, Washington ranks last in the country for renewable energy growth.
So it’s looking to another state for clues about how to quickly develop new sources of clean energy: Texas.
We hear from officials who visited the Lonestar State last month to learn how it became a leader in fast-tracking energy projects
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
Wildfires are getting bigger and burning more ground in the American West—but fewer are igniting overall, according to new research.
Scientists found that between 1992 and 2020, the annual number of recorded fires in western states fell by about a third.
But the annual area burned grew by 40%.
Researchers say fewer fires means prevention and mitigation efforts are working.
But they say the hotter, drier conditions caused by climate change mean when fires do start, they grow faster and burn more land.
Researchers found that naturally occurring fires, like ones caused by lightning strikes, occurred at roughly the same times of year.
But the start date for human-caused fires has shifted 12 days earlier.
Researchers say that’s thanks to the same climate change-driven hotter, drier conditions.
The paper was published this spring in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
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The Washington-based Allen Institute is pouring big money into a new research initiative.
It’s designed to speed up progress in treating brain diseases like Parkinson’s, ALS and Alzheimer’s.
KUOW’s Gabriel Spitzer has more.
GABRIEL SPITZER: Scientists have made huge leaps in the last few decades in understanding diseases of the brain.
But the Allen Institute's Ed Lein says that hasn’t always led to actual treatments and cures.
LEIN: "Despite huge advances in studying the brain, translating those discoveries into therapies has proven to be extraordinarily difficult. Just to give an example, 98% of Alzheimer's drug candidates fail in clinical trials. This is frustratingly, agonizingly slow progress."
GS: Lein is leading a new initiative, called the Brain Health Accelerator. It aims to create resources for solving those hard problems and share them openly with other scientists.
The project is built on $400 million dollars from the Institute and some big Seattle-area funders, including the Bezos family.
I'm Gabriel Spitzer reporting.
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OH: The number of Americans experiencing homelessness dropped by 3% nationwide last year, according to the latest federal report.
But not every northwestern state saw the same decline.
The Department of Housing and Development’s numbers show Oregon had one of the biggest increases in the country, going from less than 23,000 to more than 27,000 unhoused people. That’s a 19% jump.
Oregon officials say their state is just better at collecting data than others, arguing the comparison isn’t fair.
Washington and Idaho both counted roughly the same number both years: Less than 32,000 for Washington and about 2,700 for Idaho.
However, state data shows Idaho’s distribution of unhoused people changed.
The five northernmost counties saw their portion of the unhoused population almost triple, going from three percent to nine percent of the total.
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Idaho lawmakers have finalized the wording for two proposed amendments to the state constitution that they’ll put to voters this fall.
One would give the legislature—and only the legislature—the power to legalize marijuana and other narcotics.
The other would make English the state’s official language.
Only a simple majority of voters will need to approve the measures in November to amend Idaho’s constitution.
The marijuana legalization powers amendment may sit alongside a measure brought by Idaho citizens that would legalize medical cannabis.
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Spokane’s police chief says he’s worried his department doesn’t have enough women.
SPD has 185 male officers but only 31 female officers.
Chief Kevin Hall told City Council this week that there’s a widespread cultural misconception about who makes a good police officer.
KEVIN HALL: “There’s this sort of urban myth that you have to be this big, burly, strong person to be a police officer when in fact some of the best police officers I've ever met and worked with are very small-statured females… This is not about brute strength. This is about critical decision making skills and communication.”
OH: Hall says he’s looking at more targeted recruitment from groups like teachers and social workers.
This issue affects police across the country, Hall says. Even the most successful departments see their percentage of female officers plateau at around 30%.
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With the World Cup about a week away, hotel workers near Seattle’s Lumen Field plan to vote today on a possible strike.
The workers want protections from immigration enforcement, among other contract demands
KUOW’s Gustavo Sagrero reports.
GUSTAVO SAGRERO: Some Hotel workers in downtown Seattle are on edge with plans for ICE’s presence to help with security during the world cup.
At the Embassy Suites at Pioneer Square workers are bringing this broader issue about immigration enforcement to their contract negotiations.
Stefan Moritz is with the union representing the workers. They want management to tell them if ICE or DHS agents are on hotel property.
STEFAN MORITZ: “It's the responsibility of the community and of employers, um, to keep folks as safe as possible and stand with them as, as they're struggling, you know, with the climate and the government crackdown on immigrants right now.”
GS: The union also wants more healthcare coverage, raises, and a return to pre-pandemic staffing levels.
Hilton, the hotel’s parent company, has not responded to requests for comment.
During Seattle’s World Cup, Seattle officials say federal partners have told them there are no planned civil enforcement operations.
I’m Gustavo Sagrero reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: Washington state leads the nation in progressive policies for the transition to renewable energy.
It also ranks dead last in clean energy growth.
Faced with a backlog of projects, lawmakers and energy developers are searching for new ways to move forward.
One place they’re looking for answers? Texas.
Last month, 45 people representing Washington businesses and governmental agencies went on a study mission to see how that state is getting it done.
KNKX environment reporter Bellamy Pailthorp has the story.
BELLAMY PAILTHORP: A Washington think tank called “Clean & Prosperous” has organized climate policy study tours for the past 6 years. They’ve gone to places where they could build partnerships and learn about new technologies.
The first five all dealt with carbon markets, so they went to places like the EU, California and Quebec. This year, they changed tack, says Communications Director Kelsey Nylan, because of Washington’s clean energy backlog.
KELSEY NYLAN: “So we went to the clean energy growth leader, and that's Texas.”
BP: She says this travel group was more engaged and curious than any she had seen so far.
KN: “I mean, there were multiple briefings where we had to politely ask our folks to stop asking questions to let the briefer even get through the first… like five slides of their deck.”
BP: Nylan says over the past 20 years Washington has seen negative three percent growth in renewable energy. At the same time, Texas has become the leader—even surpassing California in solar power and battery storage and wind.
Partly that’s because Texas is a huge state with lots of hot sun and windy open spaces. There are also policy differences that can’t be replicated.
Notably, Texas has an independent electrical grid operator that’s not federally regulated. But maybe the biggest difference, Nylan says, is cultural.
KN: “Texas has a very pro-development, pro-building kind of culture, and to be frank, I don't think we have that in Washington state. Often it feels like our processes are set up to identify where we can say no. In Texas, it's all about ‘How can we say yes?’”
BP: The tour visited development sites showcasing not just wind and solar power, but also geothermal, hydrogen and nuclear. One way Texas is saying “yes” to all this is by developing energy in economically depressed areas where the projects funnel local property taxes back into the community.
Washington state representative Beth Doglio, a Democrat from Olympia chairs the house energy and environment committee. She says the tour was “eye opening” because Texans are able to build things so fast.
BETH DOGLIO: "Soup to nuts for a particular project that we were looking at, 12 months, 12 months, they started talking about it. 12 months later, it was saving taxpayer dollars and doing it with renewable energy… That is not possible in the state of Washington at this time, and we need to figure out how to make it possible."
BP: Doglio says for her the main takeaway from this tour is that Washington needs to simplify its permitting processes.
She says too many clean energy projects are stopped here by people who don’t want them in their own backyards, especially right now in regards to several battery storage projects that could make solar and wind energy developments viable.
As she looks forward to the next legislative session, Doglio says “we have to stop dragging our heels” while still making sure to protect the environment.
I’m Bellamy Pailthorp reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Gabriel Spitzer, Eliza Billingham, Gustavo Sagrero, Bellamy Pailthorp and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening, and have a good weekend. We’ll be back in your feeds on Monday.
It’s SPR.
