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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
A day after Washington agriculture officials held a training session with their cohorts from Oregon, the Oregon crew tracked an Asian giant hornet to the first nest of the invasive species found this year. The discovery Thursday follows the first sighting last week when a homeowner captured an image of an Asian giant hornet, also known as a murder hornet, attacking a paper wasp nest at a home near Blaine, Washington.
Memo to the freedom-loving patriots burning with rage about the tyranny of mask mandates in schools: I have some truly excellent news regarding your liberty. Your freedoms are intact. Your self-sovereignty is whole. You are simply facing a series of choices about whether to be a minimally good human being right now, and while no one would dream of constraining those choices, it’s true that they come paired with consequences. So, if you are dead set against your child wearing a mask to school to help control the spread of a deadly virus that is now filling hospitals, infecting more and more children, and killing the unvaccinated – new peaks achieved largely due to people burning with your selfsame rage – you will be thrilled to learn that among your choices is one that will allow you to educate your children, sort of, while not enduring the unbearable tragedy of mask coercion. Home school.
A man under suspicion for driving while impaired drove a dump truck into two buildings and several cars in east Spokane late Friday morning, injuring seven people. McGavin Medrain, 48, was identified by police on Friday afternoon as the driver of the truck. He was listed as booked into the Spokane County Jail, and police said they were pursuing charges of vehicular assault against Medrain, who is from Idaho. ... The crash at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Freya Street was reported about 11:50 a.m. Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said the crash involved six vehicles, and confirmed seven people were transported from the scene. Others involved, including the shop’s baristas, remained at the scene, dazed and some covered in fiberglass insulation pulverized by the impact.
A flash flood warning is in effect through Saturday for portions of Washington, posing concerns for containment of the Ford-Corkscrew fire in Stevens County. The Ford-Corkscrew fire slightly grew on Friday to 15,019 acres but showed signs of slowing, with the same 14% containment as Thursday. The fire showed moderate fire behavior Thursday due to the impacts of heavy smoke and increased cloudiness. Torching and spotting continued with active fire spread overnight, according to a news release from the team fighting the fire. Evacuations remained for the towns of Ford, Clayton, Tum Tum, and Springdale.
Close to 80% of voters in Spokane overwhelmingly approved a law to make the city’s multimillion-dollar contract negotiations with powerful labor unions open to public observation – an attempt to promote trust, honesty and transparency in our government. In response, labor unions threatened a “barroom brawl in the streets.” Now, a Spokane judge has sided with them. Last week, Spokane Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel threw out the popular voter-approved law.
After about three months of freedom from masks for vaccinated people, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Wednesday vaccinated people must join those unvaccinated in wearing masks when indoors. The mandate follows a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the state. Washington reached an all-time high for hospitalizations due to COVID-19 this week.
As Congress gears up to investigate how the Taliban swiftly took control of Afghanistan and caught the Biden administration off guard, Northwest lawmakers are set to play key oversight roles. Rep. Adam Smith, a Bellevue Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview his panel will hold a classified briefing with Pentagon officials on Tuesday, when the House returns early from its summer recess to deal with pending legislation. Smith said he fundamentally agreed with President Joe Biden’s statement on Wednesday that there was no way for the United States to end its two-decade military presence in Afghanistan “without chaos ensuing,” but he said his committee will press the Department of Defense on what its intelligence told officials, what they missed and how they plan to move forward.
Reports of targeted killings in areas overrun by the Taliban mounted Friday, fueling fears that they will return Afghanistan to the repressive rule they imposed when they were last in power, even as they urged imams to push a message of unity at Friday’s prayers. Terrified that the new de facto rulers would commit such abuses and despairing for their country’s future, thousands have raced to Kabul’s airport and border crossings following the Taliban’s stunning blitz through Afghanistan. Others have taken to the streets to protest the takeover – acts of defiance that Taliban fighters have violently suppressed.
Tom T. Hall, the singer-songwriter who composed “Harper Valley PTA” and sang about life’s simple joys as country music’s consummate blue collar bard, has died. He was 85. His son, Dean Hall, confirmed the musician’s death Friday at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. Known as “The Storyteller” for his unadorned yet incisive lyrics, Hall composed hundreds of songs [including "Spokane Motel Blues"].
President Joe Biden pledged firmly on Friday to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan – and all Afghans who aided the war effort, too – as officials confirmed that U..S. military helicopters were flying into Taliban-held Kabul to scoop up would-be evacuees. But Biden’s promises, and the limited U.S. helicopter sorties beyond the concrete barriers ringing the Kabul airport, came as thousands more Americans and others seeking to escape the Taliban struggled to get past crushing crowds, Taliban airport checkpoints and sometimes-insurmountable U.S. bureaucracy.
People infected with COVID-19 were captured in a photo this week lying on the floor in pain while waiting for antibody infusions at a treatment site set up in a Jacksonville, Florida, library. The image has become a vivid illustration of the huge demand for the once-neglected COVID-19 drugs in the states hit hardest by a summer surge of infections in the unvaccinated being driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
While many large companies across the U.S. have announced that COVID-19 vaccines will be required for their employees to return to work in-person, there is one state where such requirements are banned: Montana. Under a new law passed by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year, requiring vaccines as a condition for employment is deemed “discrimination” and a violation of the state’s human rights laws.
The U.S. government on Friday extended a ban on nonessential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of COVID-19 despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction. U.S. border communities that are dependent on shoppers from Mexico and Canada and their political representatives have urged the Biden administration to lift the ban. In addition, Canada recently began letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens enter the country. But the Department of Homeland Security said in a tweet Friday that the restrictions on nonessential travel were still needed to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and the delta variant. It extended the ban until at least Sept. 21.
President Joe Biden’s administration is sticking by the decision under former President Donald Trump to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. But a top federal wildlife official on Friday told The Associated Press there is growing concern over aggressive wolf hunting seasons adopted for the predators in the western Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for state workers comes at a time when the state ferry system is experiencing a severe staffing shortage. KUOW reports that in an Aug. 13 notice, Washington State Ferries Chief of Staff Nicole McIntosh said there were “an unprecedented 91 relief requests yesterday.”
It’s been more than two decades since a leaking gas pipeline in Whatcom Falls Park resulted in a deadly explosion. But the incident is still serving as a potent lesson for the federal government. Federal policymakers and regulators toured the site of the explosion on Thursday, Aug. 19, led by representatives from Bellingham’s Pipeline Safety Trust, which was formed in the aftermath of the 1999 disaster. The group included U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, whose congressional district includes Bellingham, and Tristan Brown, acting administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. ,,, On June 10, 1999, a series of human mistakes and mechanical errors led about 237,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline to leak out of an underground pipeline operated by Olympic Pipe Line Co., according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting. The gas seeped into Whatcom Creek and ignited around 5 p.m., turning the water body into a snaking channel of flames. The disaster killed two 10-year-old boys playing by the creek and an 18-year-old man. The fire burned for five days, scorching trees and killing any wildlife in its path. The disaster cost more than $187 million.
Gov. Jay Inslee’s rollout of a sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate is drawing fire from a major state employees union and leaving unanswered questions, including whether workers fired for noncompliance can collect unemployment benefits. Inslee last week ordered state employees and health care workers to get vaccinated by Oct. 18 or face termination. On Wednesday, he expanded the requirement to include K-12 and higher education employees. In imposing one of the nation’s strictest and most far-reaching mandates, Inslee said the state would bargain in good faith over the requirements with unions representing affected state employees. But the 45,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) is accusing the Inslee administration of breaking that commitment – and failing to provide needed details about how the mandate will affect the state workforce.
What appeared to be around 1,000 protesters gathered in downtown Spokane on Friday to protest Gov. Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates for state health care and education workers. ... The protesters gathered outside of the Spokane Regional Health District before marching across the Monroe Street Bridge. They eventually ended up at Spokane City Hall, as chants of “freedom, not coercion” rang through the streets of downtown.
A major state employees union is criticizing Gov. Jay Inslee’s implementation of a broad COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Inslee last week ordered state employees and health care workers to get vaccinated by Oct. 18 or face termination. On Wednesday, he expanded the requirement to include K-12 and higher education employees. The Seattle Times reported Inslee said the state would bargain in good faith over the requirements with unions representing affected state employees. But the 45,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) says the Inslee administration is breaking that commitment – and failing to provide needed details about how the mandate will affect the state workforce.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office said this spring that 10 months of her missing text messages could be attributed to an “unknown technology issue.” However, internal emails appear to show officials had already known for months why the texts were gone and when they disappeared, the Seattle Times reported. And City Attorney Pete Holmes says the initial explanation from Durkan’s office was misleading.
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