Today's headlines:
- Immigration judges in Washington begin "mega hearings" to reduce case backlog.
- DOJ threatens Washington election officials with criminal prosecution if noncitizens vote.
- Washington GOP state senators ask governor for special legislative session to address gas prices.
- Spokane Conservation District asks County Commissioners to increase landowners' yearly fee.
- Central and eastern Washington continue to face critical fire weather.
Plus, we continue our series of conversations with candidates hoping to represent Spokane in the state House of Representatives. Today, SPR's Doug Nadvornick speaks with Democrat and governor’s office liaison Luc Jasmin III.
- - -
SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Gustavo Sagrero, Owen Henderson 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 Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
On today’s show, immigration judges in Washington this week started so-called “mega hearings” for dozens of kids at a time.
Plus, a group of Washington Senate Republicans want to go back to Olympia soon to address the high price of gas.
And we continue our series of conversations with candidates hoping to represent Spokane in the state House of Representatives. Today, it’s Democrat and governor’s office liaison Luc Jasmin III.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
Over the coming days, hundreds of children will be passing through Seattle’s immigration court—one of just two such courts in Washington.
It’s the start of a new way the federal government says it’s trying to process a backlog of cases.
KUOW’s Gustavo Sagrero explains.
GUSTAVO SAGRERO: It’s not new for children who are in the U.S. alone, without parents, to face deportation. What’s recently changed is the scale and speed of these immigration cases. Some hearings that were set years out are being moved up, and soon.
What that looks like in Seattle’s immigration court this week is larger groups of children being called in for their first hearings. Sometimes they come with a parent, a guardian, an attorney or even alone.
One judge saw 106 cases on Tuesday. More than thirty kids didn’t show up and were ordered deported.
Attorneys say more days were recently added to process juvenile cases.
Federal officials say these so-called mega hearings are a way to quickly remove cases without merit. But attorneys worry it’ll become harder for kids and their guardians to stay on top of their cases.
I'm Gustavo Sagrero reporting.
— — —
OH: The Department of Justice says it will criminally prosecute Washington election officials if they don’t prevent noncitizens from voting this year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter to state officials yesterday they could be held liable if they knowingly keep noncitizens on voter rolls or help noncitizens get or cast ballots.
There’s no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in Washington.
DOJ is already suing the Evergreen State over officials’ refusal to turn over protected voter information, including partial social security numbers.
— — —
A group of Washington Republicans is asking Governor Bob Ferguson to call the legislature into a special session.
The nine state senators want to pause two state taxes on fuel.
Those taxes pay for measures that reduce Washington’s carbon footprint.
The Republicans are skeptical about the measures’ effectiveness and complain the taxes add about 60 cents to the price of a gallon of gas.
Spokane Valley Sen. Leonard Christian says drivers need some relief.
LEONARD CHRISTIAN: “I believe the smart thing we can do right now is let's pause these at this point, get through the summer, and then I'd love to come back in our legislative session and have a serious discussion about repealing them at that point.”
OH: Christian says Republicans had hoped the governor would act when prices were at their peak. But even now, he says, suspending the taxes would help.
LC: “I think it is just now that you're seeing the rest of the nation come down pretty significantly and we're not following suit nearly as fast as the rest of the nation, for some reason.”
OH: Christian is proposing at least a 90-day pause on the taxes.
The senators say their request does not pertain to the state’s regular gas tax, which funds about 40% of the transportation budget.
The ask came just before more conflict between the U.S. and Iran caused another jump in oil prices
Washington’s current statewide average gas price of $5.00 a gallon is the second highest in the nation.
The governor hasn’t responded publicly to the request.
— — —
Spokane County Commissioners will soon look for public input on a proposal to increase the yearly fee paid by landowners.
Right now, Spokane County property owners pay a flat, $10 fee per parcel each year.
That money goes to the Spokane Conservation District to help protect farms, forests, watersheds and other natural areas in the county—or restore them after floods, fires and other disasters.
State lawmakers last year raised the maximum rate from $10 to $25.
SCD is asking commissioners to bump the county’s fee to $15.
Conservation District Director Vicki Dalton told commissioners yesterday it’s money well spent.
VICKI DALTON: “Look at what we're bringing back into the community in terms of the investment that is spent here. And that's fencing material. That's equipment that's being purchased at seed and fertilizer, and those are jobs. Those are contractors that are being hired to do this work as well. So it's a huge impact for the dollars that are being spent.”
Right now, three-quarters of the district’s budget comes from grants—and recent clashes between state and federal officials mean that money isn’t always accessible.
KOHL LeROY: “The Community Wildfire Defense Grant, a huge source of funding for our ability to prevent and mitigate fires in advance of wildfire season—those dollars have been tied up for some time now.”
Kohl LeRoy is the Conservation District public affairs specialist.
KL: “Our rates and charges, our ability to apply for grants, leverage local funding, allows us to work even in the absence of our partners at the state level and our partners at the federal level, when those two aren't seeing eye to eye.”
SCD will take public comments on the proposal at the Conservation District in two weeks.
And LeRoy told SPR he’s now working with the commissioners to schedule a final public hearing on the fee increase before the board makes its decision.
— — —
Much of central and eastern Washington continues to face critical fire weather today.
With strong winds and low humidity in the forecast, the National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for the area from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today.
Regions facing increased fire danger include the Methow and Okanogan Valleys, Colville Reservation, Northeast Washington Foothills, Spokane Area, Columbia Basin, Palouse and Snake River.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
This week, SPR is bringing you conversations with the four candidates in a state House race in Washington’s Third Legislative District.
Three are Democrats, one is Republican Natalie Poulson, whom we’ll hear from on Friday.
Today, we meet Democrat Luc Jasmin the Third, Governor Bob Ferguson’s representative in eastern Washington. He spoke with SPR’s Doug Nadvornick.
LUC JASMIN: Main reason why I'm running is because I know what it's like. I know what it's like to worry about paying for housing and having housing. I know what it's like to worry about my job and if I'm getting paid what I deserve in order to provide for my family.
So I have two parents who are seniors and they're on fixed income and I'm continually trying to support them navigating their health care, navigating transportation. So you know, I'm in the thick of it. I have two teenage daughters that are—that I'm constantly thinking about their future.
And so when I talk to folks, what I'm realizing is that's really what they want. They want folks who understand their everyday lives, helping make policy that can support folks and that's what I am looking to bring because I'm rooted in community.
Everything I've done has been community focused and I think my biggest strength is listening. Like I'm not the expert, but I know community is. We have so many wonderful people who know their stuff and and I take pride in listening, bringing people together and getting things done.
DOUG NADVORNICK: The legislature has been talking about what should our tax system look like? Do we need to review our tax system to make it more fair for this group or for that group? There was a millionaire's tax quote-unquote approved by the legislature. How do you fall on that one and kind of having this larger discussion about Washington's tax system?
LJ: Yeah, I supported the millionaire's tax. I worked on the millionaire's tax with legislators and look, I think we all can agree that we need to balance our tax code in Washington state. Even folks who might not necessarily agree with the millionaire's tax, they know we need to work on our tax code.
What I hear a lot of times is the analogy of a house, right? And folks are like, well, you know when I have my house budget, I just cut expenses. It's like, no you don't. You look at what's important. You look at what you're going to make sure that you have funds go to, right? Because there's non-negotiables even in your house. There's non-negotiables that you have to pay, right? And then a lot of times too, what are you doing? You're looking at ways to advance, to maybe make more money because maybe the job that you're in doesn't pay enough, right?
So when folks are talking about, ‘Oh, well, we just need to cut, we need to stop spending.’ It's like, listen, we grew by a million people in 10 years. That's a million people that have come to our state. We are one of the fastest growing states in the United States of America. And what that means is more wear and tear on our infrastructure, right? That means that's more kids in our schools. That's more folks that need care, health care in our state.
So what we need to do in my opinion is, one, we need to work on workforce development. We need to get more pathways for folks to be able to earn more funds. We need to fund education.
Again, that helps folks get into a good place to really be productive members of society and contribute back to our state. So yes, we need to work on our tax code, but we also need to put our money in things that are going to prioritize and support our growing state.
OH: That’s Luc Jasmin III, a Democrat who hopes to succeed Timm Ormsby as a representative for Spokane’s Third District in the state House, speaking with SPR’s Doug Nadvornick.
We should note that Jasmin’s nonprofit consulting group provides payroll services to Spokane Public Radio.
Tomorrow, we’ll hear from Pam Kohlmeier, another Democrat.
The top two finishers in the August primary will advance to the November election, regardless of party.
Find all our interviews with the candidates at Spokane Public Radio dot org.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Gustavo Sagrero, Doug Nadvornick and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
