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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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The multi-millionaire founder of the Coeur d’Alene Resort, Duane Hagadone, died at age 88 Saturday in his winter home in Palm Desert, California, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.
A $6.3 billion capital budget unanimously passed the Legislature with money for projects at colleges in Eastern Washington, Spokane’s fish hatchery, a statewide expansion of broadband access and new housing projects. The capital budget – which funds construction projects across the state – includes projects throughout Spokane and Eastern Washington. Spokane Falls Community College, Washington State University and Eastern Washington University can all expect some funds.
The systematic killing and deportation of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 20th century was “genocide,” the United States formally declared on Saturday, as President Joe Biden used that precise word after the White House had avoided it for decades for fear of alienating ally Turkey. Turkey reacted with furor, with the foreign minister saying his country “will not be given lessons on our history from anyone.” A grateful Armenia said it appreciated Biden’s “principled position” as a step toward “the restoration of truth and historical justice.”
The International Space Station’s population swelled to 11 on Saturday with the jubilant arrival of SpaceX’s third crew capsule in less than a year. It’s the biggest crowd up there in more than a decade. All of the astronauts – representing the U.S., Russia, Japan and France – managed to squeeze into camera view for a congratulatory call from the leaders of their space agencies.
Victor Guevara knows people his age have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in many countries. His own relatives in Houston have been inoculated. But the 72-year-old Honduran lawyer, like so many others in his country, is still waiting. And increasingly, he is wondering why the United States is not doing more to help, particularly as the American vaccine supply begins to outpace demand and doses that have been approved for use elsewhere in the world, but not in the U.S., sit idle.
The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income. Reactor No. 4 at the power plant 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of the capital Kyiv exploded and caught fire deep in the night on April 26, 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky.
The coronavirus pandemic brought powwow season largely to a screeching halt last year. Some powwows canceled their annual events; others went online only. Some held virtual competitions and cultural events from afar, but left most of the food and art vendors and daily workers sitting on the sidelines. And powwow season this year will not return to normal either, even with vaccines rolling out and restrictions being lifted in some states.
House and Senate Democrats on Saturday released a final two-year $59 billion state budget plan, just one day before the Legislature is set to conclude its session. In addition to state funds, the budget also uses billions of federal dollars in spending on areas hit hardest by the pandemic, ranging from learning loss in schools and child care grants to rental assistance. The compromise budget is very similar to initial proposals released last month by both chambers. The budget still includes a new capital gains tax on profits from the sales of stocks and bonds and other assets that awaits a final vote in both chambers.
ans on chokeholds, neck restraints and military equipment. Limits on police dogs and vehicle pursuits. Restrictions on using tear gas during public riots. All of these could soon become a reality for law enforcement agencies, if a bill passed by the Legislature on Friday is signed by Gov. Jay Inslee.
Possessing illegal drugs would more likely send offenders to treatment than to jail under legislation approved this weekend. ... The proposal makes possession a simple misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days behind bars, a $1,000 fine or both. It also focuses on treatment, by increasing funding for community-based recovery programs and giving offenders two chances before the misdemeanor charge. For the first two offenses, those possessing drugs would be diverted to treatment instead of jail.
State spending in the next two years will help Washington recover from the pandemic, assist schools with reopening, expand public health services and improve the state’s wildfire fighting capabilities, if a Democratic budget proposal released Saturday wins final approval.Using one-time federal money, draining the state’s “rainy day fund” and implementing a new capital gains tax, Democrats’ plan spends $59.2 billion over the next two years and uses $10 billion in federal stimulus funds.
Belarus’ authoritarian leader says he will change the law on presidential succession so that power in the Eastern European nation will be transferred if he dies to the national security council where his son plays a prominent role.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing the country to limit the number of Russians employed at embassies of countries determined to be unfriendly, or to ban their employment entirely. The measure, announced by the Kremlin on Friday, comes amid a flurry of expulsions of Russian diplomats from the United States and European countries and Moscow’s retaliatory expulsions.
A spokesperson for the Xinjiang region called accusations of genocide “counter to the facts” as China came under more pressure this week over its treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group in the remote border area. The British Parliament approved a nonbinding motion Thursday that said China’s policies amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch appealed to the U.N. earlier in the week to investigate the allegations of crimes against humanity.
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