Today's headlines:
- Washington U.S. Senator Patty Murray was in Spokane Thursday to talk about where Spokane and the state go from here when it comes to wildfire prevention.
- Spokane developer Walt Worthy opens his wallet to help wildfire survivors.
- A Deer Park veterinarian says the smoke in the air is not only harmful to the lungs of people, but also their pets.
Jordy Jones talks with Jonathan Van Ness from the Queer Eye series. He’s doing a stand-up comedy routine in Spokane tomorrow night.
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Senator Patty Murray was in Spokane on Thursday. She met with first responders and local leaders to discuss the response to the Spokane Complex fires.
Murray said that in the future, she’s worried that there will not be enough firefighters to battle blazes like the Spokane Complex fire. Prevention will be a big part of the federal response to the many wildfires we’ve seen over the last several years.
SEN. PATTY MURRAY: Obviously, we have to be doing everything we can, learn as much as we can. I’m worried about a number of the federal resources that have gone away from scientific research that will help give us that knowledge. So, fighting for that is going to be a critical part of it.
The senator also toured the CHAS Learning Institute on Iron Bridge Way before sitting down for a roundtable discussion. Murray helped secure funds from Congress for the 15.4 million-dollar building, which opened in 2024.
While there, she talked to Devon Traylor, a learning and development specialist at CHAS who lost his home in the fires. He also volunteered to put together hygiene bags with his family at the shelter and helped direct people to resources at Shadle Park High School.
MURRAY: And in all of this you turned around and volunteered to help?
DEVON TRAYLOR: Yeah, because I’m a person. I like to serve people. I like to help others. And even in my time of need, I’m like, I’m okay. There’s people worse off than I am.
Sen. Murray says she will be involved with the recovery from these fires for quite a while.
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Spokane developer Walt Worthy is delivering an economic boost to wildfire survivors. The man known for renovating the Davenport Hotel has established a grant fund for anyone who lost a home to the Spokane Complex Fires.
Homeowners and renters can apply to receive a one-time, $10,000 award from the Karen Worthy Memorial Wildfire Grant program. The fund is named in honor of Worthy’s late wife. It’s administered by Innovia Foundation and the Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group.
Terri Cooper is with the recovery group. She says all applicants need to do is show that fires destroyed their primary residences — or rendered them a total loss.
TERRI COOPER: There is no income requirement. There's no need to prove you've received anything from your insurance company, or FEMA, or the government, or how much did you get from Red Cross, or anyone else. None of that is going to come into play.
Jim Frank founded the Greenstone Corporation, which developed the grant website. He says the process of rebuilding a home can be long and difficult.
JIM FRANK: Walt understood all that, and in the name of his wife, wanted this money to go out quickly, and he wanted it to go out fairly.
Innovia CEO Shelly O’Quinn says that there are no restrictions on the grants’ use. She estimates that almost 700 households could qualify for the money.
Applications are open at karenworthywildfiregrant.com. The deadline is Oct. 18. O’Quinn says her goal is to vet applicants and award grants by Nov. 1.
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The state of Washington is accepting large-scale donations for fire victims in eastern Washington. Governor Bob Ferguson says his office is coordinating with the Department of Commerce and the Emergency Operations Center. They’re taking big shipments of basic household items such as dishes, blankets and personal hygiene supplies. They’re also accepting donations of non-perishable food. The state is urging people who want to contribute to first visit the Commerce Department website.
The donations will be dispersed to people in the six counties and three tribal nations that are mentioned in the governor’s disaster declaration. Those counties are Spokane, Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan, Chelan and Yakima. The three tribes are the Spokanes, the Colvilles and the Yakamas.
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The poor air quality due to this summer’s fires poses a health threat to area pets.
The Deer Park Veterinary Clinic has reported an increase of pet emergency visits this summer. Regular visits related to breathing problems are up by at least 25%, the clinic says.
Both dogs and cats are coming in for treatment related to increased particulate in the air. Symptoms for cats include coughing, congestion, and trying to hide. Dogs will show panting or labored breathing.
Dr. Cassandra Goode is a vet with the Deer Park clinic.
DR. CASSANDRA GOODE: You know, more frequently cats are having to come in for asthma management. Some animals have to be put on inhalers because the smoke and air quality has been so poor they’re having a really hard time breathing.
Goode says treatment with steroids is usually effective, as it reduces inflammation. If an infection takes advantage of a compromised airway, vets use antibiotics. In extreme cases they have had to perform a tracheotomy.
If air conditions deteriorate to high particulate levels, Goode advises owners to keep pets indoors.
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A Spokane chest surgeon is urging people to consider getting screened for lung cancer.
Dr. Alexi Matousek from Sacred Heart Medical Center uses a state-of-the-art robot to detect tiny lesions that could turn into lung cancer.
DR. ALEXI MATOUSEK: You can feel a breast lump, you can get some blood in your stool, and clue in that you have a problem. Lung cancer will not give you any warnings, unless they're in imaging. Imaging is the only way to find it. In fact, we find 80%, because people don't get screened, we find 80% of the lung cancer we treat on imaging that was done for other reasons.
Matousek says people who have their lung cancer caught early have much higher chances of long-term survival.
He and University of Washington medical student Christian Held are working together to promote early screening. You can hear more about their work during this week’s Inland Journal. You can stream that program at spokanepublicradio.org. Or listen to it on the radio tomorrow at 2:30 on SPR News.
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Jonathan Van Ness is bringing his “Hot and Healed” comedy tour to Spokane on Saturday. Van Ness has starred on the Netflix series “Queer Eye.” He has hosted podcasts, written his memoir and other books and been an activist on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.
SPR’s Jordy Jones spoke with Van Ness about the message he’s bringing to Spokane.
JORDY JONES: Jonathan Van Ness, thanks for sitting down with Spokane Public Radio. Tell us about Hot and Healed.
JONATHAN VAN NESS: Hot and Healed is really like — it's giving hot and healed, both like healing and great heels, so it's both. We're doing a little play on words. But this show is really — it kind of gets us from the election of 2024 to now.
My first special came out in 2024, and that was called Fun. And that got us up to the election, and I was a really hopeful queen leading up to that. And I think post the election, I think creating spaces that are very queer affirming and feel like a queer safe space is harder to come by. And so I think that's really what my mission with this tour is, is to create a celebration of queer joy.
I think also sometimes we think of joy and positivity as, like, not sitting with disappointment or not sitting with things that we have fallen short on or didn't go how we thought that they were going to go. So the show, I'm also owning that stuff, too.
There's been a lot in my career that's happened in the last three years, pretty publicly, and I'm talking about a lot of that. So it's giving healing, it's giving messy, but there's so much joy and healing and speaking our truth to power. And that's really what the show is about.
JONES: Talk to us about, you know, getting to this point in your life where you can be so honest and forthright with who you are. Was that how it was growing up?
VAN NESS: I always joke with my agents that I could be an actor if they have a gay accent, but I'm not. I'm not a great actor.
I kind of wear my heart on my sleeve in real life. And so I think, and whether that gets me in trouble or not, that — it has. If anything, I think being in the public eye so much can almost make you lose yourself in some ways because you are so exposed to, like, feedback from anyone on the internet. Bosses, you know, executives, like — there's just so much feedback.
And I think that's part of why I love stand-up so much. To connect with an audience in the moment, take an idea that I had, put it into writing, and then perform that where it's like, that is just me. It's a place where I get to be me without being afraid of like, what's someone going to say? What's someone going to do? Is this going to offend someone? Or is this going to not be far enough left for someone? And so it's fun to just like — I think that's really why I feel so much heart in comedy, because you can just be you. I can just be me on that stage.
So I joke about this, but it's true for the inner eight-year-old that got maliciously cut from their local community theater production of The Wizard of Oz. It's — that inner eight-year-old really loves that I'm selling these shows out. Okay. 'Cause you missed out on the best eight-year-old Cowardly Lion you could have ever had, QCC.
JONES: I feel like a lot of Spokane loves you and knows you from Queer Eye. How good does it feel to have, you know, be so loved on a show, but then also step out on your own and be so loved as well?
VAN NESS: Oh my God. Is that what's happening?
Well, I do think the Pacific Northwest and I, we do have like a similar — I think we have, like, the same social justice sensitivity.
Queer Eye, even outside of our — Queer Eye was already such huge shoes to fill. And I think one challenge that I've had in my comedy career is that people might see Queer Eye and judge me in three seconds and think they know what they're going to get and how I'm going to be. I say in my first book, Over the Top, who you see on Queer Eye is who I am.
And there is so much more. I think that you would be pleasantly surprised at how, like my comedy is not family. It's like — it is if you're over 18. But it's — but it's very, like, it's unapologetically queer.
Really, I think Hot and Healed is — really, I'm really getting into the performance of gender. That's what a lot of this comedy is about, is just how wild the binary is and how wild all of us are reacting to it. Like, we are all just fighting for our lives from the rigidity of this binary and not even realizing that we're doing it.
So I think that for the people that do come to my show, that means so much to me, that they are willing to take that chance. That outfit that you felt would like just turn too many heads, that you're just like nervous to wear — wear that outfit. Live your life, show the skin, wear the glitter, take the bag.
JONES: We are so thankful that you sat down with me. So thank you so, so much.
VAN NESS: Thank you for having me. I've come from like a journalist family. Thank you.
That’s Jonathan Van Ness, who is bringing his “Hot and Healed” comedy tour to the Bing Crosby Theater on Saturday.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Lisa Leinberger, Audrey Nelson, Jordy Jones and Doug Nadvornick, today’s host and producer.
Web support is provided by Anna Gyure Havlek and Audrey Nelson.
Thanks for listening. This is SPR News.
