Today's headlines:
- At least one person has died and 15 houses have been lost in the Upriver Fire.
- Wildfires could cause more issues for farmworkers this year, labor advocates say.
- State and federal tax cuts are helping Idaho's top-earning families the most, while some low-income households have actually seen their taxes go up.
- Spokane Valley is considering banning the possession of fireworks within city limits.
Plus, transgender girls playing on girls sports teams has become a political lightning rod, both nationally and in Washington state.
Alongside a lawsuit challenging the state’s policy of allowing students to play on teams that best align with their gender identities, a ballot measure to reverse that policy and require confirmation of any student athlete’s birth sex has qualified for the November ballot.
Our Olympia correspondent, Sarah Mizes-Tan, joins us to break down how such a policy change would work.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Owen Henderson, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Eliza Billingham and Sarah Mizes-Tan.
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, June 18, 2026.
On today’s show, though some evacuation orders have relaxed, officials now say at least one person has died and at least 15 houses have been lost as the Upriver Fire continues to burn east of Spokane.
And a new report finds the past eight years of state and federal tax cuts have helped Idaho’s top earning families the most, while many low-income families are actually paying more in taxes.
Plus, transgender girls playing on girls sports teams has become a political lightning rod, both nationally and in Washington state.
Alongside a lawsuit challenging the state’s policy of allowing students to play on teams that best align with their gender identities, a ballot measure to reverse that policy and require confirmation of any student athlete’s birth sex has qualified for the November ballot.
Our Olympia correspondent, Sarah Mizes-Tan, joins us to break down how such a policy change would work.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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Officials now report at least one person has died and fifteen houses have been lost as the Upriver Fire continues to burn near Beacon Hill.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office says deputies Tuesday conducted a welfare check on a resident who had refused to evacuate but got no response.
When investigators returned to the home yesterday, they found what appeared to be human remains inside the burned-out residence.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources says the Upriver Fire is now about 220 acres and still about 10% contained.
Some evacuation orders are loosening as crews continue to strengthen the fire perimeter.
Spokane County Fire District 9 officials say the areas closest to the fire remain at Level 3, and residents should continue to stay away.
North Radium Lane and areas between Bigelow Gulch Road, Upriver Drive and North Center Road have been downgraded to Level 2.
Fire officials say residents in that zone may return home but should be prepared to leave again if conditions change.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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Wildfires have come in hot and early this season—and farm labor advocates say it will only get worse for agricultural workers.
Renson Miranda is field services director at the Worker and Farmer Labor Association.
He says while no major delays have happened yet for cherry and blueberry picking, they may be more likely next month.
Miranda says things that can cause slowdowns include sending workers to the fields earlier than usual to beat the heat and smoky air quality or having farmworkers pick at night instead.
RENSON MIRANDA: “We don't like to, but we have to do what we got to do. The fruit can't wait too long out in the orchard. It ripens up too quick.”
OH: Miranda says his organization contracts with more than 100 farms in Washington state.
He says the association is putting up tents to help shade farmworkers and providing jugs to refill their water bottles as the summer heat increases.
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Recent state and federal income tax cuts have benefited Idaho’s highest income households the most, while some low-income families are actually paying more.
That’s the finding of a new report from the non-partisan Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy.
Gem State households have gotten four and a half billion dollars in annual state and federal income tax cuts since 2018.
The report finds about half of the benefits from those cuts went to households with the top five percent of income—those making at least $290,000 dollars a year.
And the top one percent—families making about 770,000 a year or more—saw the biggest share of the rewards.
Meanwhile, the lowest 20% of earners—households getting about 29,000 or less per year—have actually ended up paying almost 100 dollars more in taxes each year, on average.
The report says policymakers should weigh the trade-offs between cutting taxes and maintaining revenue for things like schools and healthcare so low- and middle-income families don’t end up bearing those costs.
Many Idaho Republican lawmakers say the tax cuts are necessary to ensure constituents aren’t overly burdened.
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Spokane Valley is considering banning the possession of fireworks in city limits.
SPR’s Eliza Billingham reports.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: Setting off fireworks is illegal in Spokane Valley. But having fireworks isn’t.
Police say that makes it difficult for them to enforce current firework laws, since they typically arrive after fireworks have already gone off.
That’s why some officials proposed changing city code to prohibit the possession of fireworks in the Valley.
At their Tuesday night meeting, council members expressed general interest. But Mayor Pam Haley was concerned about how intense the punishments were.
PAM HALEY: “I kind of have a problem with someone who has fireworks getting a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail or somebody who has a few more fireworks getting a $5,000 fine or also imprisonment up to a year. It seems like it's more strict than it would be if you were, I don't know, smoking fentanyl out on the sidewalk, which seems a little weird to me.”
EB: Councilmember Jessica Yaeger wanted to narrow the types of fireworks prohibited…
JESSICA YAEGER: “...because I don't think sparklers are what we're going after here.”
EB: Staff will update the proposal before bringing it back to council for a first reading. Per state law, it would take a year for any firework code amendments to go into effect.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
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OH: A high school wrestler is suing the state of Washington over its policy that allows students to play on sports teams that align with their gender identities.
Joining us now to talk about that lawsuit and explain how it could affect an ongoing effort to ban transgender girls from girls sports is our state government reporter, Sarah Mizes-Tan. Welcome, Sarah.
SARAH MIZES-TAN: Thanks for having me.
OH: So let's start with the recent lawsuit filed by a high school wrestler in Puyallup. But first, a note to listeners. The details of the lawsuit are sensitive and might not be appropriate for younger listeners. Sarah, tell us more about why a high school wrestler is suing the state.
SMT: So this student claims they were unknowingly made to wrestle with a transgender athlete in December of 2025. She was 15 at the time, and she said she was sexually assaulted during the match. And she says the school did not take appropriate action after she reported it.
Her complaint names the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the Washington state superintendent of public instruction and his office, and several officials from the Puyallup school district.
OH: And what have those agencies said in response to the lawsuit?
SMT: In a statement, a spokesperson for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which is the agency that oversees all school sports that happen in high school and middle school in the state, he said the agency is aware of the complaint and does not comment on pending litigation.
In the past, the agency has said it knows fewer than 10 transgender athletes playing on school sports teams statewide. That's out of about 200,000 student athletes in the state. We weren't able to speak with state superintendent Chris Reykdal in time for this story, but he has been one of the state's loudest voices in support of trans students.
He said in the past that, quote, Washington public schools have a responsibility to provide a safe and non-discriminatory environment for all students, including transgender and gender expansive students.
OH: So this lawsuit is ultimately challenging a stance that Washington has had for about two decades now that students should be allowed to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity. But trans athletes have become this political lightning rod in both our national and statewide politics. How do you think this case will shape that conversation?
SMT: Yeah, so I think this case is certainly a polarizing one and one that is going to probably move people further into one camp or another, depending on what side they were already on. Before this lawsuit was filed, an initiative in Washington that would effectively ban transgender girls from girls sports teams had already qualified for the November ballot. The political right and some on the left point to cases like this one as evidence that trans students should not be allowed to compete in girls sports.
On a national stage, prominent athletes have said that transgender athletes are not a threat. Studies have also shown that transgender students are more likely to experience sexual assault and violence than cisgender students. And other studies have shown that trans inclusion in spaces like, say, locker rooms and bathrooms does not actually make single sex spaces less safe. So all of that for context.
OH: The November ballot initiative you mentioned was well underway before this lawsuit was filed. Tell us more about who's behind that effort and why they want to change state policy.
SMT: The measure was brought by the conservative PAC Let's Go Washington. It's backed by the hedge fund manager Brian Heywood. He believes he's seeing a rise in transgender girls participating and winning in girls sports. He wants this initiative to block trans girls from joining girls sports teams because he believes that they have a biological advantage over other girls and says it's a matter of safety and fairness.
OH: Well, what exactly would the initiative do if it was passed?
SMT: So it would essentially look to reverse the state's 2007 policy that lets kids play on sports teams that best align with their gender identity. To do that, the initiative says that students looking to participate on girls sports teams would have to get a doctor to first verify their sex at birth. Right now, students don't have to do this to play sports. So it would be a major change to school sports policy in the state.
OH: So how does someone verify their sex assigned at birth?
SMT: Yeah, so the initiative lists three options for how birth sex could be confirmed. Students could get a hormone test to measure their testosterone levels in the blood. They could also have a lab test done to check their chromosomal makeup, or a doctor can perform a physical exam to confirm birth sex, which is a fancy way of saying, as doctors have told me, that they'd look at the reproductive area for a couple seconds and then write down female or male.
OH: So there's these three test options. How reliable are they?
SMT: So, you know, I think it is absolutely worth noting that some of these methods that are being suggested in this initiative certainly are not ones that all doctors agree upon are true ways to truly confirm birth sex. I'm sure the testosterone levels might flag for a lot of folks. There have been a lot of arguments around accuracy of testosterone testing, even when it comes to Olympic-level athletes. And certainly there are varying levels of hormones, and it's very hard to necessarily have a baseline of where the delineator is between a woman's testosterone levels and what would make them a woman versus a man's testosterone levels and what would make them a man.
People who are concerned about this initiative are just cautious to mention that, you know, we're not even talking about adult athletes. We are talking about student athletes who might be still in the process of going through puberty.
These tests that are being suggested, despite the fact that their reliability is medically up for questioning, these are methods that many other states in the country are using to confirm birth sex. This initiative is not pulling anything new. It's relying on tests that they would argue are tests that students in, like, Louisiana have to go through in order to participate in girl sports.
And the testosterone and chromosome tests I mentioned are more complicated and more expensive to obtain, so a lot of folks believe that a genital exam would most likely end up being the method of verification that is most commonly used if this initiative passes.
OH: Now, kids already have to get a form filled out by a family doctor every couple of years so that they're eligible to play school sports. Are the initiative supporters suggesting that a genital check should be added to sports physicals?
SMT: Yes. Currently, a doctor does need to sign a form saying that a child is cleared to play sports whenever they want to participate in a sport, but this sports physical currently does not require a genital exam or a chromosome test or a testosterone test. It doesn't require the doctor to confirm a student's birth sex or reproductive anatomy in any way. In fact, there isn't a place for a doctor to even write down the student's birth sex or gender on the current physical form that Washington state uses.
Because the physical form is quite basic, given its purpose, which is just to ensure that students can participate in sports safely, many schools in more rural areas or with poorer students who don't regularly have access to a doctor will do these exams in quote unquote batches. So that's something like bringing in a volunteer doctor to just complete physical exams on a certain day for a large number of students to clear them to play sports.
The addition of needing to verify birth sex is a new layer of complication that multiple doctors have told me is not currently part of the process, and advocates are worried this initiative is just going to put more barriers in place for all girls interested in playing sports.
OH: Sarah Mizes-Tan is our Olympia correspondent. Thank you so much for joining us.
SMT: Of course. Thanks so much for having me.
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OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Monica Carrillo-Casas, Eliza Billingham and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
