From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
- Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs newly disputes the federal government’s claims about noncitizens voting in Washington.
- Meta and Google have policies to reject political ads from Washington state. One judicial candidate says a political action committee has been running them anyway.
- And SPR’s Audrey Nelson has details on how housing affordability is influencing voters this election season.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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A court hearing for Aaron Farinacci, the man accused of starting the Old Trails Fire on August 1, has been moved to December 4. Farinacci was scheduled to appear in front of a judge this morning.
This is the second time his hearing has been delayed. Farinacci is also accused of four other counts of arson.
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Today is the last day for early voting in Kootenai County. If you’d like to vote in person, you can head to the Election Department in Coeur D’Alene. That location will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Then, polls will be open on election day, November 3, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
8 p.m. is also the deadline for absentee ballot returns.
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A federal judge in Massachusetts says the government can’t move ahead with plans to impose so-called “community engagement requirements” on people who receive Medicaid. Those are due to go into effect next year.
25 states sued, including Washington and Oregon. They argued changes imposed by the government will make it hard for some people to prove they’re eligible to remain on Medicaid.
Judge Richard Stearns also granted states an extra six months to change the methods by which they verify Medicaid eligibility.
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Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs continues to dispute the federal government’s claims about noncitizens voting in Washington.
In a letter dated Monday, the Department of Justice provided Hobbs with a list of about 400 people identified both as “noncitizens” and “registered to vote in Washington.” The DOJ urged Hobbs to deny ballots submitted by those people.
Hobbs responded in writing, saying the list contains citizens and inactive voters. He condemned the list in stronger language during yesterday’s press conference.
STEVE HOBBS: "I’m not gonna do anything with this list — because it’s garbage."
Hobbs says his office has worked with the DOJ on fraud cases in the past. He says there’s a legal process to address these cases — which the feds are ignoring.
During the press conference, Hobbs also confirmed that plainclothes National Guard members will work with some local election officials on election day. Spokane County declined the governor’s offer to have National Guard members present.
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Both Meta and Google have policies to reject political ads from Washington state. One judicial candidate says a political action committee has been running them anyway. KUOW’s Amy Radil has more.
Washington state has a disclosure law for campaign ads. Google and Facebook say they can’t comply, so they don’t allow the ads at all.
STEPHEN PAOLINI: “Everyone involved in politics knows that’s the case, they know it is the policy of both Meta and Google to not accept these advertisements, except in this case they are attempting to find loopholes and ways to slip through the cracks.”
That’s Stephen Paolini, a political consultant for state supreme court candidate Sean O’Donnell. He flagged ads on the platforms attacking O’Donnell and supporting his opponent Ian Birk. They were placed by the group Beware the Attack on our Courts. It’s backed by labor unions. Both Google and Meta eventually took down the ads saying they violated their policies.
Jack Sorensen is the spokesperson for the group that bought the ads. He says they didn’t do anything wrong.
JACK SORENSON: “There’s nothing illegal about running these ads. I would suspect that a candidate for Supreme Court knows that.”
He says they reported the spending on these ads to the state.
Washington’s attorney general sued Facebook to force them to comply with the disclosure law. The state supreme court upheld a record penalty against Facebook’s parent company last June.
I’m Amy Radil, reporting.
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Students at the Community School in Spokane are working to get their peers to register to vote.
They held a pre-election event Wednesday night. The evening included music, skits, prizes, food and actual candidates running for office.
The Community School is a project-based school. Social studies project facilitator David Egly says teachers pick a large project. Then, he says, the students study it in-depth and learn how to apply it to the real world.
DAVID EGLY: "So, we not only learn the content, but we also want the students to do something real, to do something that matters. I don’t want to just give them a test or have them write an essay and I grade it and we both throw it away.”
Egly wrote a couple of grants to sponsor the event. He received funds from the Bill of Rights Institution, Common Power and the League of Women Voters.
If you would like to watch a video of the night’s event, visit the Spokane Public Library’s YouTube channel.
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Ride 4 Relief is an organization that uses vehicles to attract attention to first responder wellness and suicide prevention.
The team unveiled its latest custom vehicle at the Spokane Fire Department training facility Thursday.
Jeff Shepard, the founder of Ride 4 Relief, says his goal is to eliminate the stigma surrounding first responder mental health.
JEFF SHEPARD: “I always thought that was like for military, going to war and stuff. The more I started to learn about it when I was struggling, I started to find out it’s rampant with us. Guys and gals that are in this line of work, we’re pretty prideful and you don’t want to reach out for help.”
Shepard says he’s familiar with this issue — he’s a retired Washington state police officer and firefighter, who lives with PTSD.
The Ride 4 Relief vehicle will complete a cross country tour this summer, visiting first responders across the nation.
It was built by Hurricane Motorsports in Spokane Valley.
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Students from nearly a hundred Inland Northwest elementary schools went to see the Spokane Symphony this week. For many, it was their first symphony concert. SPR’s Lisa Leinberger was there to watch.
Every year — no one’s sure how many — the Spokane Symphony invites these students to hear the musicians play. The timing is just right. Many of them are picking an instrument to play at school.
They heard selections from Elgar and Stravinsky. The symphony also played a piece they might be more familiar with: The Imperial March from Star Wars.
Music Director and Conductor James Lowe says that over two days, about 6,000 students come to see the show.
JAMES LOWE: “When you have a piece of music that really draws them in, you feel their attention coming to the music. And you’ve not done it by force. You’ve not told them to sit down and shut up. But the music is just drawing them in. That, for me, is a really magical moment.”
Michelle Most is a fourth grade and music teacher at St. Matthew Lutheran School in Spokane.
MICHELLE MOST: "Some of them have never, ever experienced anything like an orchestra before, or even understand all the different working parts that it comes with being in an orchestra.”
The students came from 26 school districts. Many of them are taking home a memory they’ll carry with them for a long time.
I’m Lisa Leinberger, reporting.
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This year’s Capitol Christmas Tree — to be displayed on the national mall in Washington DC for the holidays — comes from Idaho.
The 76-foot-tall Engelmann spruce was chopped down Saturday outside of Weippe.
JAMES RISCH: “It is a tremendous honor for Idaho to provide this tree for the 250th celebration."
US Senator Jim Risch spoke at the harvest ceremony, noting this year’s anniversary of the country’s founding.
After a blessing by Nez Perce Tribal members, the spruce was felled using a large chainsaw and lifted onto a long wooden trailer. Jon Word, the forest supervisor of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, says the agency is getting the tree ready for its cross-country journey.
JON WORD: "It's going to take us about three weeks. We're focusing heavily on our local communities first here around north central Idaho. And then we're going over Lolo Pass into eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls, and then down to Twin Falls.”
The spruce is covered with a protective shell for the journey, but viewing windows allow people to peek at the giant branches and seed cones at whistle stop events along the way.
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With the midterm elections just a few days away, Washington voters are considering a wide range of issues. In Spokane, August’s wildfires destroyed more than 600 homes — in a region already struggling with housing cost and supply. SPR's Audrey Nelson spoke with people in Spokane County to understand how housing is playing a role in their vote.
At a housing seminar in downtown Spokane, aspiring homeowners sit at desks inside a small, white-walled classroom.
Single mother Heidi Gough wants to leave today ready to buy a home. Currently she rents an apartment for herself and her five kids.
HEIDI GOUGH: “It's not yours. It's just — I'd rather have my money going towards something that's mine.”
During election season, housing policy is nearly always on Gough’s mind. This year, she’s wary of candidates who might support raising taxes. That means she’s paying particular attention to statewide races.
HG: “I mean, just the tax rates that go up for property taxes, something that you've already paid taxes on when you made the purchase. So that's huge.”
Sitting just behind Gough is Terence Campeau. He’s on a fixed disability income, and for nearly three years, he’s bounced back and forth between friends’ homes.
During that time, he’s applied for rental assistance programs and grants.
TERENCE CAMPEAU: “I've been on the Section 8 waiting list now going on 12 years, and I'm still near the bottom of the list. So, that's been my experience, and it's just disheartening.”
Campeau’s housing situation will play into his vote next week. He thinks state officials shoulder much of the responsibility for solving the housing crisis. But there’s a local component, too.
TC: “County-wise, our politicians need to get their butts in order.”
Though Campeau hasn’t done research yet, he’ll be looking for candidates who support rental assistance programs. And — he says — ones who have compassion for his situation.
TC: “While there's a high population of homeless, a good chunk of them are just common people like you and me, not necessarily druggies or criminals or whatever. But a lot of them are just families that have fallen on hard times because of the economy.”
Michael Scally pauses for a moment outside Spokane’s Shadle Park Library.
He’s visiting the city’s remote Development Services Office. For the last month, it’s been a place where people affected by the Spokane Complex Wildfires can consult city planners about demolition, permitting and rebuilding.
Scally and his wife lost their home to the fires.
MICHAEL SCALLY: “There are some days it's been a complete struggle and complete frustration. And all you do is want to yell and scream and — but it's not — you can do that, but… It's hard.”
Scally, who’s working on rebuilding, says he appreciates how many local housing-related resources are available. But when it comes to state and federal policy, he thinks Spokane has been left in the lurch.
He wonders whether more conservative state officials could convince the federal government to release emergency money for his family and other affected homeowners.
Governor Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, submitted a request for major disaster declaration funding earlier this month. The federal government hasn’t yet released those funds.
Back at the housing seminar, Unique Wood sits in the real estate office’s kitchen, a coffee maker humming in the background.
Wood is a housing and employment specialist and a mother of two. Right now, she splits rent with her partner and brother-in-law. She says sharing rent or a mortgage with just her partner would be a strain.
Wood voted for President Trump in 2024.
UNIQUE WOOD: “I’m not proud of that. I wish I could be proud and say, Oh, I voted for him. And it’s something that I’m ashamed to say today. Because he has just done so many terrible things.”
She feels like Trump and other Republicans have betrayed renters by raising prices, making it harder for people to get by.
Now, she wants policymakers to lower prices, fund programs like Habitat for Humanity, and build affordable housing units.
UW: “I would like to see them build properties that are more lenient when it comes to credit and rental history. And yeah — just lessening those barriers for people.”
Next week, Wood plans to vote for Democrats up and down the ticket.
Like many voters, she believes that what’s happening right now isn’t working. This election is a chance to try something new.
I’m Audrey Nelson, reporting.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Audrey Nelson, KUOW’s Amy Radil, Lisa Leinberger, Doug Nadvornick, and me, Ember Braun - today’s host and producer.
Web support is provided by Anna Gyure Havlek.
Thanks for listening. This is SPR.
