Today's headlines:
- Fires continue to burn the Inland Northwest. We’ll review a few of the fires that are most active.
- The Columbia Basin has suffered through several years of drought. A new report shows more is on the way.
- More on last night’s shooting at the Bite of Seattle
- And there’s a new concert venue coming to Spokane.
- Today, we’ll talk with Isaiah Paine, one of the candidates hoping to replace Mike Volz in the Washington state House of Representatives.
____________________________________________
Good news and bad news for Inland Northwest wildfire crews.
Temperatures will be in the normal range today, but wind will again be a factor.
The largest fire in Washington, the Kaiser Canyon, continues to be active and spread to the north. Authorities say they’ve used aerial drops to try to stop it from advancing. Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuations are still in effect.
That fire has burned nearly 125,000 acres.
To the east of that fire, crews are making steady progress on the Modrite fire, burning on the Colville Reservation. Officials consider the nine thousand acre fire more than 60% contained.
State officials are sending crews and equipment to a new fire in the Yakima area. The Ransier fire began yesterday afternoon in grass and brush near White Swan. It’s now burning about 500 acres and threatening homes. Level 2 and 3 evacuations are in place.
Level 1 and 2 evacuations are in place at a new fire in Okanogan County. The Sinlahekin fire near Loomis is covering about 450 acres.
__________________________________________________
A draft water supply forecast predicts that in the future, the Columbia Basin will have less water available in the summer and early fall. Courtney Flatt from Northwest Public Broadcasting reports.
Every five years, Washington’s Department of Ecology must forecast changes in water needs and supplies – and what that could mean for people and wildlife. By looking 20 years ahead, they hope to help communities plan for long-term water needs.
Sasha McLarty — a professor at Washington State University — led the research team. She says there are things that can be done to help groundwater – like having some people use surface water instead. But:
McLARTY: “Without those actions, groundwater levels are on the whole going down across Eastern Washington.”
The forecast also predicts multi-year droughts could get worse as the climate continues to change.
Public comments on the draft can be submitted through the end of the month.
______________________________________________________
Washington state is dead last in the country at adding clean energy to its electric grid. Environmentalists and construction workers are calling for reforms to make it easier to add power to the grid. John Ryan from KUOW reports.
Despite its green reputation, the Evergreen state trails all other states in the share of wind and solar power added to its grid over the past decade. That’s according to an investigation last year by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Building new transmission lines has been the main holdup.Environmental groups are calling on the state legislature to let transmission lines run in the underused land along highways.Frustrated energy developers blame state regulations and the Bonneville Power Administration. That’s the federal agency controlling most of the Northwest’s power grid.
With demand for power skyrocketing, the clean-energy bottleneck means more pollution. And, electricians who thought they’d be building climate-friendly infrastructure by now say their unemployment rate is three times the state average.
I'm John Ryan, reporting.
___________________________________________________
Three people are dead, four people are injured and one person is in custody after a shooting at Seattle Center that occurred early yesterday evening just outside the Armory building during Bite of Seattle - an event that draws thousands of people.
Earl Brewster says he's a chef and was about to start his work shift when he heard what sounded like rapid-fire gun shots.
Four people were treated for gunshot wounds at local hospitals, including a 2-year-old boy. They are all in stable condition.
Police say the individual in custody is a "young person. Another person they suspect who was involved ... fled the scene.
Speaking at a press conference last night, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said the shooting was an "unbelievable tragedy and a horrific act of violence."
Seattle police say there is no outstanding threat to the community.
______________________________________________________
Washington U.S. Senator Patty Murray is calling on ICE to release a Seattle businessman who was arrested on Thursday. Murray says Eduardo Esparza is married to an American citizen and working to become a permanent legal resident. She called on the government to fly Esparza back from his detainment in Texas to Washington so the courts here can adjudicate his case.
_________________________________
Spokane’s Shriners Event Center is getting into the music business.
The center has mostly been used to host private events such conventions and weddings.
But the facility is getting a name change and a transformation into an outdoor concert venue, says Spokane Concert Park Event Manager Craig Heimbigner.
“It’s three and half acres of land that’s just there and they've been clearing it, taking out the trees and rocks and making it so we can do concerts back there," he said.
Heimbigner says the park will hold about three thousand people.
He says the format will be much like the Festival at Sandpoint. Customers can either rent or bring their own chairs and a small amount of food. They can also buy from food trucks at the site.
The first show on August 15 will feature the 1980’s and 90’s groups Men at Work and Toad the Wet Sprocket, and the Japanese band Shonen Knife.
Heimbigner hopes the site can eventually bring in events such as blues and bluegrass festivals.
_______________________________________________________
Taxes are among the leading issues in Spokane’s legislative issues and we discussed them recently with Isaiah Paine, a candidate for the state House of Representatives in the Sixth Legislative District. Paine is a Republican. He’s also the public affairs and strategy officer for the Spokane Home Builders Association.
I asked Paine whether he thinks it’s time to reassess Washington’s tax system.
Isaiah Paine: I think it's an interesting conversation, but that's not the conversation happening. We're not talking about re-evaluating because if we did, then it would be a revenue neutral move, right? We would swap this tax for that tax. That is not the conversation happening in Olympia. The conversation in Olympia has been, how can we get more and more and more for the government to spend, right?
So I would say that that's not really a fair characterization of the argument, right? And if that is the position, then it's not being made in good faith.
I think there could be room to have conversations. For example, our tax structure on businesses is extremely high. We had two of the largest tax increases in state history, first with the income tax. That does apply to everyone. You just currently get an exemption. But we know from even Democrat legislators who have said, well, we've lowered it before, so you maybe shouldn't trust that, right? And then the year before, we had an abundance of additional taxes on business services. We had the largest tax increase on B&O, on the billing and occupation tax for businesses in Washington State.
So this isn't about how do we restructure and rebalance. It has been, how can the government get more and more and more? And fundamentally, I just don't think that's the approach. More money spent on a problem doesn't always equate, and our state hasn't equated to actually solving the problems.
What we need is real accountability. What we need is to have legislation that passes where we say, here's the goal, here's the measurement, and oh, by the way, we're going to hold ourselves accountable to it, right? We're going to put a sunset clause on it that says, hey, we're going to go and reevaluate this and make sure that it's doing what we've claimed it's going to do. That's not happening.
And I think we have to look no further than the Climate Commitment Act, right? We've spent a whole lot of money. We're taking a whole lot more tax out of the gas tax. And when we ask, what has this done? What has it accomplished? Well, we don't really know. What do you mean we don't know? Well, we know how much money we've given out to different entities. Okay, but what has that gotten us? There's no one even looking at it, right? So I think that's a big miss. That's something that we owe to people is to make sure that our government is doing the things that we've said we're going to do.
That's not been the case enough and, in part, that's because we're, again, we're way out of balance. We've had one party in significant control for a number of years and I think when that happens, you kind of have this drift where we aren't holding ourselves accountable.
DN: So let's talk about leadership. If you end up in Olympia, you will have, you will have bills you want to work on and things you want to work on. How do you get people to go your way? And yeah, and get you to vote there, get them to vote your way?
IP: Well, it is about relationships, right, building relationships with with people across the spectrum and I've done some about housing policy.
I also work significantly on the natural gas issue. And in fact, there was a statewide initiative that everyone's probably aware of, or most people that's still in the court system right now. But I actually worked on with folks from both sides. I worked on something here locally in the city of Spokane, even as a precursor to that.
I think when we have good ideas and we are able to ask the question, does it benefit our community? And what ways does it impact it? And are there unforeseen negative consequences of that that we need to be aware of? And when you can see that clearly and present that argument and be reasonable and pragmatic in it and really focus on the function of government, you know, there are people who will have ideological views on it. But for the most part, you can get agreement on these kinds of issues and we're really willing to have those conversations. I've proven over my experience that I'm able to do that.
Isaiah Paine is a Republican, one of six candidates in a race for a Washington state House seat in the Sixth District.
_____________________________________
SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting was contributed by Courtney Flatt, John Ryan, Mitch Borden, Jennifer Wing, Steve Jackson and Doug Nadvornick.
Doug Nadvornick hosts and produces the show.
Web support is provided by Anna Gyure Havlek.
