Today's headlines:
- More than 200 new WA laws take effect today.
- ID sets new restrictions to prevent New World screwworm infestations.
- Fans watch Egypt's national team practice in Spokane.
- Lumen Field prepares to host its first World Cup game.
- ID officials squabble over America250 spending.
Plus, Spokane’s Safe and Healthy Taskforce today is set to put out its recommendations for taking on public health and criminal justice challenges.
The proposal may recommend the county ask the public for money to build new correctional facilities. Voters said no to a jail ballot measure in 2023.
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick reports on people who are doing their homework in anticipation of another ballot proposal.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Owen Henderson, Eliza Billingham, Emil Moffat, James Dawson 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 Thursday, June 11, 2026.
On today’s show, as the US Supreme Court steadily weakens the federal Voting Rights Act, Washington lawmakers have enhanced the state’s version.
And the first World Cup game in Seattle—Egypt versus Belgium—is just days away. We visit the Pharaohs as they practice at Gonzaga University ahead of the game.
Plus, Spokane’s Safe and Healthy Taskforce today is set to put out its recommendations for taking on public health and criminal justice challenges.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
More than 200 new state laws take effect in Washington today.
Two measures strengthen the state’s version of the Voting Rights act.
One bars local governments from changing election policies or practices in a way that could end up overly burdening the ability of members of a protected class to participate in elections, like moving ballot box locations.
The other forces jurisdictions with histories of voting discrimination to get the OK from the state attorney general before changing their voting systems.
That used to be included in the federal Voting Rights Act before a 2013 Supreme Court ruling.
Pretending to be a law enforcement officer is now punishable as a gross misdemeanor.
Gov. Bob Ferguson asked the legislature for the new law in response to rising reports of people pretending to be immigration enforcement officers.
Washington gamblers can now bet on college sports played by in-state teams—but only at tribal casinos.
Betting on individual athletes from in-state schools is still banned.
And the law also makes it a gross misdemeanor to threaten referees, coaches or players because of a bet.
Anyone convicted for such a threat would be banned from future sports gambling.
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Idaho is restricting which animals can enter the state after new cases of the New World screwworm were found in Texas and New Mexico.
The state Agriculture Department yesterday began requiring a veterinary inspection certificate for all warm-blooded animals at most five days before coming to Idaho from any state with screwworm infestations.
The parasite’s larvae burrow into and feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals—posing a serious threat to Idaho’s livestock industry.
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Egypt’s World Cup team hosted an open training session at Gonzaga University yesterday.
SPR’s Eliza Billingham was there and has more on what it meant to fans.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: Spokane is Egypt’s base camp as long as the national team competes in the World Cup.
After touring downtown Spokane on Tuesday afternoon, the team let about five hundred fans watch them train for a couple hours starting around noon on Wednesday.
The lucky attendees had been randomly selected from a lottery run by the city of Spokane.
Seattleite Omar Mazhar said he and his friends put all their family member’s names in that lottery.
OMAR MAZHAR: “We've been like scouting the entire time. We knew that they were going to be here and we wanted any opportunity to come see them.”
EB: Mazhar said seeing the team in Spokane, especially its star player Mo Salah, was a dream come true.
OM: “It's crazy. There's no like, I don't think there's an explanation for it. It's wild. It's crazy. It's crazy to see him up close because we've been watching him our entire lives on television. So it's just…”
EB: Hamza Elmatwally, who also traveled from Seattle, was wearing an Egyptian flag and a Salah jersey.
HAMZA ELMATWALLY: “He really, he brought respect to our nation, I think. He put us on the map. He made us known…He's a legend in soccer. Nobody's ever put up the numbers, not even Messi or Ronaldo. They haven't put up the numbers like Salah has in the past nine years and he's just going to go down as a legend in the game.”
EB: Egypt will play two group stage games in Seattle, one against Belgium and one against Iran.
Mazhar and Elmatwally said they’ll be at both.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
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OH: Crews continue to make final preparations at Seattle’s Lumen Field ahead of the first World Cup match there—scheduled for noon Monday.
Anthony Malandra leads FIFA's Seattle venue operations.
He says gates will open three hours before each match, which should help ease wait times at security lines.
ANTHONY MALANDRA: “We design our security system so that everyone can get in even in that last hour. But we encourage everyone to show up early, because we've designed a really great, unique stadium experience for them.”
OH: During the World Cup, Lumen Field will be called Seattle Stadium.
A fan experience zone will be set up inside the gates on the north end of the venue.
Forecasts show temperatures in the upper 80s for Monday's first match.
FIFA has amended its stadium policy to allow fans to bring in one 20-ounce, soft plastic, sealed water bottle from outside.
No hard-plastic reusable bottles will be allowed in.There will be hydration stations located inside the stadium.
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Tempers are boiling over as Idaho elected officials try to finalize the state’s celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary next month in Boise.
A committee of legislators and statewide elected officials yesterday approved spending $10,000 to fund on-site paramedics, buy water for the public and pay a higher rate for one musical artist.
Treasurer Julie Ellsworth called the request a blank check.
She asked Secretary of State Phil McGrane if this money is being used for a different purpose that’s not been approved by the committee.
McGrane says the question is offensive.
PHIL McGRANE: “It’s dedicated to the capital celebration for America250. A blank check implies that it can be used for anything and everything and that there’s no strings attached. This is dedicated funding. Our office is working very hard to make sure this is a successful event despite your best efforts.”
OH: In a later interview, Ellsworth said she doesn’t suspect any financial mismanagement.
But she says more work could be done to get these costs reduced or provided for free.
The America250 advisory council still has more than $40,000 in reserves after these purchases.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
Today, a group of Spokane community leaders will reveal what they call their “road map for safer and healthier communities.”
The proposal may recommend the county ask the public for money to build new correctional facilities.
Voters said no to a jail ballot measure in 2023. So how do they feel about it now?
SPR’s Doug Nadvornick reports on people who are doing their homework in anticipation of another ballot proposal.
DOUG NADVORNICK: In a conference room at the Spokane County Jail, Jail Chief Donald Hooper and Lieutenant Aaron Anderton are greeting members of a tour group.
The entourage includes the president of Visit Spokane, the co-owner of several restaurants, a prominent retired realtor and a city councilmember.
They’re here for a first-hand look at this 40-year-old facility that’s showing its age. It’s not only a place where people eat and sleep and spend hours of time in their cells, it’s also a medical clinic that cares for hundreds of people.
And, says Hooper, it’s a place with a metaphorical revolving door. Lots of people come and go, nearly 50 a day.
DONALD HOOPER: “Every day. Christmas, New Years, Fourth of July, Mother’s Day. And it’s morning, noon and night. Just the scope…how do you arrange services for 49 people? There are not enough service providers in the community.”
DN: Some inmates were arrested for offenses committed in downtown Spokane.
The talk turns to the public’s frustrations about people who openly use drugs and camp near downtown streets, alleys and businesses.
Robin Bernhart is the managing partner and co-owner of Landmark Restaurants, which owns Frank’s Diner and The Onion.
ROBIN BERNHART: “When City Council said there’s no taking anybody to jail without services, that exploded the problem downtown—I mean, absolutely exploded it—from people everywhere, trash everywhere, paraphernalia everywhere, feces everywhere. All of it, everywhere. It was like a war zone downtown when you would arrive in the morning. You would never know what you’re dealing with.”
DN: That was one of the main scenarios that led to the creation of the Safe and Healthy Task Force that will announce its recommendations on Thursday.
Most or all of the members of this tour group are not part of the task force, but they are people with the ability to influence others when it comes to a ballot measure.
Hooper and Anderton take the group upstairs to the various units, where the most serious offenders live or where people with medical needs stay, when out of the blue…
[SCREAM]
Officers say this is not an unusual occurrence in a place with people with mental health issues.
The group also toured the 70-year-old Geiger Correctional Facility, a former military base-turned-minimum security facility on the West Plains. It stopped by the county’s Human Services Stabilization center near the jail.
Victoria Neumiller from Pioneer Health Services says people with addictions are triaged and cared for.
VICTORIA NEUMILLER: “What we do is, after the first 24 or 48 hours, then they are prescribed suboxone and they can get on this… shot while they’re here, which is a long-acting form of that.”
DN: After the tours, Robin Bernhart says she was impressed by the dedication of the people who work in the jail and the stabilization center.
She hopes that the task force recommendations will address not only the incarceration side, but the human services challenges too.
RB: “I do think that we have a health problem here. And watching what I see here today, I think that my impression of what I thought somebody in jail was versus what somebody in jail is has changed from the perspective of mental health. I don't think anybody chooses this. They don't choose this. They don't choose ‘I'm just going to be a jackass one day and I'm going to end up in jail and then I'm going to get out.’”
When asked for a moment of the tours that stood out, Councilwoman Kate Telis remembered the woman in the jail and her blood-curdling scream.
KATE TELIS: “It was, quite honestly, scary, but also really sad for me because it just showed the level of mental health crisis we have in our community. Those people need so much more than a jail.”
DN: She hopes the community dialogue that will follow the task force recommendation will take into account the complexity of the issue.
KT: “I think sometimes the jail conversation becomes, ‘Oh, I’m against a jail because I don’t want more jail beds’ or ‘Oh, I’m for a jail because I do want more jail beds’ and I think it’s so much more than that.”
DN: The task force will announce its recommendations Thursday at 1 at CHAS Health.
I’m Doug Nadvornick reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Eliza Billingham, Emil Moffat, James Dawson, Doug Nadvornick and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
