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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
The U.S. trade deficit surged to a near-record high of $80.2 billion in November as exports slowed at the same time that imports jumped sharply. The November deficit was 19.3% higher than the October deficit of $67.2 billion and was just below the all-time monthly record of $81.4 billion set in September, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
French regulators on Thursday fined Google and Facebook a total of more than $226 million for not making it as easy for people to opt out of online tracking as it is for them to accept it. The CNIL data privacy watchdog said its investigations found that while the U.S. online giants gave French users a single button to immediately accept cookies, there wasn’t an equally simple way for them to decline because “several clicks are required to refuse all cookies.” Cookies are snippets of code used to target internet users for digital ads and other purposes. European governments have stricter regulations than the U.S. that require websites to ask for permission before tracking a user’s activity.
It’s the anniversary of … something, but we can’t agree on its name. There is no common narrative yet for the events of Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington D.C. If your political bias leans left, it’s labeled an insurrection and the worst attack on our democracy in history. If your political bias leans right, it was a nasty riot capping off a summer of riots. Regardless of your political lens, it was a horrible thing to watch. And President Trump missed an opportunity to be presidential when he ignored repeated pleas from family, friends and political allies to call on the mob to stand down.
U.S. Marshals are offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the capture of a man who allegedly participated in a multimillion-dollar fraud. William Oldham Mize, 60, ... has been a fugitive from justice since July 2019 when he violated his pretrial release conditions by failing to make himself available for pretrial supervision to the U.S. Probation Office and failing to contact his attorney. A federal grand jury found probable cause in 2018 to indict Mize and others on charges including mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The alleged criminal activity took place from 2013 to 2018. The plot included several accomplices, according to an indictment handed down in December 2018. One of those accomplices included Spokane developer Ron Wells, who pleaded guilty to charges and was sentenced to three years’ probation as well as more than $240,000 in fines and restitution in February 2020.
Spokane Superior Court Judge Michael Price will have several big decisions before him later this month when Caleb Sharpe is sentenced for the fatal shooting at Freeman High School in 2017. Those decisions could set off a series of appeals, even though Sharpe has admitted guilt in the shooting death of Sam Strahan and attempted murder of other students. The parties did not agree to a term of imprisonment, which means Price could hand down a sentence that could be challenged by Sharpe or prosecutors.
North Idaho College and its former president Rick MacLennan have reached a settlement agreement concerning MacLennan’s lawsuit against the institution, the college announced Thursday. MacLennan, who was fired without cause in September by the college Board of Trustees, filed the lawsuit in October alleging his termination was retaliation for complaints he made against Board Chair Todd Banducci. MacLennan has accused Banducci of aggressive, unprofessional and threatening behavior.
“We’re at our breaking point now unlike we’ve ever been,” said Dr. Nathan Schlicher, director of quality assurance at Franciscan Health System and immediate past president of the Washington State Medical Association. Schlicher said hospitals are running out of staff and space to adequately provide care to everyone. The association, along with a statewide chapter of emergency physicians, sent the governor and Department of Health a letter requesting immediate assistance to address the crisis. They asked for more incentives to long-term care facilities to take these patients.
Cannabis use appears to have an effect on how certain prescription drugs metabolize in the body – perhaps negatively – leading to toxicity or accidental overdose, local research indicates. Washington State University researchers looked at cannabinoids – tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) – along with the cannabinoids’ major metabolites in users’ blood and found that they interfered with two families of enzymes in the body that help metabolize a wide range of prescribed medications. The findings indicate that using cannabis alongside other drugs is a concern for people who regularly take prescriptions, while a majority of healthy people are likely fine, said Dr. Philip Lazarus, a WSU Spokane senior author.
A year after supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and clashed with police in a deadly attempt to overturn an election, Northwest lawmakers reflect a deep national rift over the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Democrats describe the events as an attack not only on Congress, but on the very foundations of American democracy, the culmination of weeks of false claims by Trump and his allies that the vote had been rigged. ... While many Republicans have decried the violence of Jan. 6, they have largely kept quiet as Congress marks the somber anniversary, and have continued to raise doubts about U.S. election systems.
related article:
President Joe Biden forcefully blamed Donald Trump and his supporters Thursday for holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” with election lies that sparked last year’s deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, using the anniversary of the attack to warn that America’s system of government remains under urgent threat.
Peter Bogdanovich, the ascot-wearing cinephile and director of 1970s black-and-white classics like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” has died. He was 82. Bogdanovich died early Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles, said his daughter, Antonia Bogdanovich. She said he died of natural causes.
A team of scientists is sailing to “the place in the world that’s the hardest to get to” so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica’s ice. Thirty-two scientists on Thursday are starting a more than two-month mission aboard an American research ship to investigate the crucial area where the massive but melting Thwaites glacier faces the Amundsen Sea and may eventually lose large amounts of ice because of warm water. The Florida-sized glacier has gotten the nickname the “doomsday glacier” because of how much ice it has and how much seas could rise if it all melts – more than two feet over hundreds of years.
Security forces in Kazakhstan killed dozens of protesters and 12 police officers died in an eruption of violence that saw demonstrators storm government buildings and set them on fire, authorities said Thursday. ... The demonstrations began over a near-doubling of prices for a type of vehicle fuel, but seemed to reflect wider discontent in the country, which has been under the rule of the same party since independence.
As a raging band of his supporters scaled walls, smashed windows, used flagpoles to beat police and breached the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn a free and fair election, Donald Trump’s excommunication from the Republican Party seemed a near certainty, his name tarnished beyond repair. ... But one year later, Trump is hardly a leader in exile. Instead, he is the undisputed leader of the Republican Party and a leading contender for the 2024 presidential nomination.
A deeply divided Congress is showing the world a very unsettled view from the U.S. Capitol: Rather than a national crisis that pulls the country together, the deadly riot on Jan. 6, 2021, only seems to have pushed lawmakers further apart. Some members are planning to mark the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection with a moment of silence. Others will spend the day educating Americans on the workings of democracy. And still others don’t think the deadliest domestic attack on Congress in the nation’s history needs to be remembered at all.
China has recommitted itself to completing its orbiting space station by the end of the year and says it is planning more than 40 launches for 2022, putting it roughly level with the United States. Launches would include those of two Shenzhou crewed missions, two Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and the station’s additional two modules, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday, citing a recent announcement by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation known as CASC.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday that he wants lawmakers to pass legislation making it a gross misdemeanor for elected officials and candidates to spread lies about election results.
Flush with cash, Washington state lawmakers return to Olympia next week with Democrats and Republicans disagreeing over how to spend the unexpected windfall. A revenue forecast released in November showed projected revenue collections for the 2021-2023 budget cycle are $898 million above what had been originally predicted in September. And projections for the next two-year budget cycle that ends in mid-2025 increased by more than $965 million. When the Legislature convenes Monday for a 60-day session it will be tasked with adjusting the $59 billion budget passed last year.
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