Today's headlines:
- Fires are burning all over the Inland Northwest. We’ll have a rundown.
- Those fires have given Spokane especially the same level of air quality that has plagued Midwestern and Canadian cities this week.
- Washington state economists say the World Cup may have given the economy a boost.
- We talk with Trent Maier, a Liberty Lake cider manufacturer, who is running for the state legislature.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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Spokane has joined the list of U.S. and Canadian cities with impaired air.
As of early Friday morning, Spokane’s air quality is in the very unhealthy range. It’s also borderline unhealthy in the Palouse, near Lewiston and the Tri-Cities, where several fires are burning, and up near the Colville Reservation, where three significant fires are burning.
Fires are concentrated in several areas in the Inland Northwest: near the Colville Indian Reservation, in southeast Washington and north Idaho's Boundary County.
Near the Colville Indian Reservation, the Kaiser Canyon fire is threatening homes and structures near south of Nespelem in Okanogan County. The fire has roughly doubled in size since yesterday afternoon to more than 2,200 acres. It’s threatening homes and the town. Level 2 and 3 evacuations are in place. The state is sending four small firefighting teams.
Also on the Colville Reservation in Okanogan County, the Kartar Creek fire is burning nearly 300 acres. Nearby is the Plum fire burning in northern Lincoln County. It is burning about 140 acres.
In southeast Washington, several fires are burning in northern Franklin and Columbia counties, including two near the town of Kahlotus. The Devils Canyon and Wallace Walker fires are collectively burning about 1,500 acres in grass and wheat fields. Homes and other infrastructure are threatening and Level 2 evacuations are in effect.
The Lyons Ferry fire near the Snake River is estimated at 3,000 acres and growing. It is burning near the confluence of Adams, Whitman and Franklin counties. Watch Duty reports that fire is moving to the east. Planes and helicopters are dropping water on it. Level 3 evacuations are in effect.
The Neff Jones fire in Franklin County has grown to 1,500 acres and is expanding. Homes, crops and a Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery are threatened. Level 2 evacuations are in effect, as homes, crops and the fishery are threatened by this fire as well.
The largest fire in eastern Washington is burning about 12,000 acres in Adams County. It’s called the Royal Lake fire and is burning in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge west of Othello. It began yesterday and has quickly spread. We haven’t heard of any evacuation orders there.
There’s also the pair of fires burning in Boundary County in north Idaho, Level 2 and 3 evacuation orders are in place for the Turner Hill fire. It’s burning about 600 acres. Planes and ground crews are working to stop its spread.
Also in Boundary County, the Upper Smith fire continues to burn in steep terrain. The size of that fire is about 600 acres.
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New Washington unemployment figures for June were relatively flat.
But, the overall number only tells part of the story.
KNKX's Lisa Brooks reports economists are tracking a potential World Cup boost.
The May and June 5-point-2 percent unemployment rates cover all categories--from construction to hospitality to healthcare and beyond.
Total numbers have been steady since the start of the year.
But, Washington Employment Security Department Chief Labor Economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman says there was interesting growth in jobs--especially in bars and restaurants.
Anneliese Vance-Sherman: "We did see that build-up in May. I think that was one of the contributing factors to that really strong jobs growth that we saw in May. We saw that continue into June, especially in the Seattle area."
She says they're waiting for more data from counties and other sectors they monitor.
And, she doesn't consider growth to be a trend until they have three definitive months of data.
BUT, we know many bars and restaurants were jammed with world cup fans, all needing service from workers, and all spending money.
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Today is the final day for county elections offices in Washington to mail ballots for the August 4 primary election. You may already have received yours. Voters will decide state legislative races as well as county-level races, initiatives and various special taxing district measures.
If you’re not yet a registered voter, you can get signed up until Election Day. Monday, July 27 is the final day for online or mail-in voter registration. After that, you can go to county elections officers or voting centers.
Ballots must be postmarked by August 4 or delivered to voter drop boxes or county elections offices by 8 pm on Election Day.
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The owner of the Liberty Lake company Trailbreaker Cider hopes to add state legislator to his resume. Trent Maier is running as a Republican for the Fourth District state House seat that Suzanne Schmidt is vacating.
Maier thinks Washington is in an interesting place in terms of its politics and he wants to help to shape that.
DN: What are you trying to accomplish in becoming a state legislator?
Trent Maier: So I really think that what I bring to the table as a legislator is a leadership ability, and a leadership in conversation is something I consider myself good at. And I have maybe a skill that's limited in our society at having hard conversations respectfully and with my philosophy, specifically around finances.
I think that the next two years in our state are going to be a huge inflection point for how we get along and how we constructively solve what is an ongoing budget issue.
Without even getting into the politics of it, I just think we need to maybe think differently about how we are spending money and the reason I feel that way is sort of my perspective as a business owner, sort of from the very bottom-up view at how our tax system works.
Everybody moves here because we have no income tax, right? But we're starting to talk about changing that. And I really feel like over the course of two years, we should have comprehensive conversations about that.
One of my early goals is to just sort of stick my nose in, maybe to try to support the idea of more comprehensive conversation.
DN: Do you think it's possible to have that conversation in Washington?
TM: Yeah, I know. That's what everybody says, right? And that's, you know, somebody said to me, Trent, this is what I love about campaigning, you can dream, and when you get there, you're faced with a reality. And, you know, when people ask me if that would be the hardest thing I would ever have done, I don't know if it would have been, if it would be. So that tells me it's possible.
I think a lot of our legislators, I think, don't necessarily have great connective tissue to real businesses and boots on the ground elements. I think that they're often told a lot of things, they're told a lot of stories, but I don't think they've, a lot of these folks that we talk about, you know, the theoretical Dems or, you know, they're going to be my colleagues. And I've never, you know, what I tell my employees and what I would tell myself is that it's nobody else's responsibility to get along with your colleagues at work. It's your responsibility.
And so I expect myself to be able to figure out how to do that. And especially when you disagree on things. And so I do think it's possible and I get that sounds a little aspirational, but I think the politics of this state is changing and I think that there are people frustrated on both sides of the aisle.
I cannot express enough how much I think it's important to represent the middle 60, 80%, right? Start with the middle 20% then move your way outward. And that's kind of a strategy I've had in my life, not just with politics, but with when I see a project I'm working on as an engineer, I had a tendency of getting handed projects that were underwater. What I mean by that is often either financially or oftentimes it's a team of people not getting along or a customer experience that's not going well and these are problems that everyday business people, you know, and anybody who's working solves, right?
And I think it's our job as humans to do that and I don't think that's too elevated for anybody to ignore. And I do think that it's with that spirit that I go into this with.
Trent Maier is one of four Republican candidates running for the Fourth District state House seat now held by Suzanne Schmidt. Schmidt is leaving that office to serve on the Spokane County Commission.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Kyrsten Weber, Lisa Brooks and Doug Nadvornick.
Doug Nadvornick hosts and produces the show.
