Washington raises $2B in first year of carbon pollution auctions

Washington’s backlog of about 10,000 sexual-assault test kits has been cleared, eight years after the state began targeted efforts to analyze old evidence that had been collected but never processed, Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office announced this week.

As a result of testing thousands of kits and uploading the data to a national DNA database known as CODIS, defendants have been charged in 21 cases, all dating from 2015 to 2022, Ferguson’s office announced. 

Prior to a 2015 law that set clear deadlines for handling and processing rape test kits, some law enforcement agencies didn’t have a consistent system for processing them, in some cases storing untested evidence for more than a decade. According to Ferguson’s office, some kits found during efforts to clear the backlog dated back to the 1980s.

About 1,000 tested kits still need to be processed and uploaded to CODIS, a process that should be completed by the end of the year, according to Ferguson’s office.

Other steps that the state has taken to clear the cases include a tracking system for the test kits, funding for testing in private labs and the completion of a new Washington State Patrol crime lab in Vancouver.

Sexual-assault kits contain tools used by medical professionals to collect and preserve physical evidence for later DNA testing during the investigation. The evidence could be blood, semen, saliva or other biological traces. The kit also includes procedures for packaging the evidence and preserving the chain of custody as it gets processed.

King County voters deciding how to vote on the proposed property tax increases on the Nov. 7 ballot can use an online tool to estimate the potential financial impact of that choice.

King County Assessor John Wilson offers his Taxpayer Transparency Tool for the sake of government transparency.

“Taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going, and what each proposed property tax levy will cost them,” he said in a news release Monday when the 2023 election tool was released. “Property taxes keep going up. We need to make sure the public understands why.”

The tool is designed to help property owners in Kirkland, Maple Valley, Seattle, Enumclaw, Fife and Kent, plus those who live within the boundaries of the Skykomish School District; the King County FIre Protection District 27 in Fall City; Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue; the Valley Regional Fire Authority covering Auburn, Algona and Pacific; and the Si View Metropolitan Park District in North Bend.

King County has offered the Tax Transparency Tool since 2018. It was developed by a software company called Spatialest, which focuses on property assessment data analysis.

The tax increase estimates offered by the tool are likely not accurate for the life of any levy, as those numbers usually change during the life of the tax.

Starting this week, voters in the 4th Congressional District in Central Washington will see radio ads in Spanish and English explaining how Democratic Party values align with voters’ beliefs in a region where conservative candidates have generally dominated. 

The ads are part of a $350,000, 14-month public awareness campaign from Rural Americans United. Doug White, a fourth-generation farmer and Democrat from Yakima, formed the organization and developed the group’s strategy based on what he learned during his unsuccessful run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, who was elected to a fourth term in 2022.  

The marketing campaign will feature 20,000 English and Spanish radio spots on a variety of issues, including public education, healthcare access, improving roads and other infrastructure, job creation, immigration reform, unions and supporting veterans. 

In a news release announcing the campaign, White contends there are more Democratic-leaning voters in the region than election results let on, but that those voters haven’t received messaging that would compel them to vote for Democratic candidates. 

“On the campaign trail, I learned that 80 percent of the Central Washington population has never heard a positive Democratic message,” White claimed. “Worse yet, younger generations are being constantly bombarded with one-sided far-right rhetoric.”

Rural Americans United has several goals for the 2024 election: increase votes for Democratic candidates by 11% percent, shift more independent voters, and increase Latinx voter turnout by 7%. 

The group also wants to double the number of active Democrats in Central Washington, create revenue opportunities for the party and attract more Democratic candidates.

The 4th District has not elected a Democrat to Congress since Gov. Jay Inslee won a single term in 1992. Inslee lost that seat to Republican Doc Hastings but continued his political career by relocating to Western Washington. Hastings served in Congress for two decades before retiring in 2015.

This story, originally published on Oct. 19, 2023, was recently revised to correct the amount of the 14-month public awareness campaign. It was $350,000, not $330,000. 

The Pacific Northwest is among seven regions picked to receive federal money to become hydrogen industrial hubs.

The Northwest venture — the public/private Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association involving Washington, Oregon and Montana — could receive up to $1 billion in federal dollars. The exact amount and parameters still have to be negotiated.

“The projects in this hub will support thousands of new jobs in Washington and the Northwest, while slashing emission in sectors such as heavy transportation, maritime, agriculture and industrial operations,” said Gov. Jay Inslee in a written statement.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced seven regional winners Friday chosen from 33 finalist proposals. Five of the winners are in Texas or further east. California is the only other winner west of Texas.

The Pacific Northwest coalition believes it can meet a DOE target of producing 50 to 100 metric tons of hydrogen fuel daily. Under this program, each hub is required to provide matching funds to make up at least 50% of the total costs.

While there are many ways to produce hydrogen fuel, this federal venture is interested in “green hydrogen,” created using water and sources of electricity like solar, wind or hydropower. The carbon footprint from this production process can be close to zero.

According to a 2020 Department of Energy report, the U.S. already produces upward of 10 million metric tons of hydrogen annually, but most of this is made using a method that involves natural gas. Only about 1% comes from the non-carbon-emitting “electrolysis” process that yields green hydrogen.

Projects already under in Washington include Fortescue Future Industries of East Perth, Australia, which is planning to build a green hydrogen production facility on the site of a closed coal mine next to the TransAlta coal-fired power plant in Centralia in Lewis County. The only one in Washington, TransAlta's coal-fired plant is scheduled to close in 2025.

The ports of Tacoma and Seattle are brainstorming developing fuel production facilities.

The Douglas County Public Utility District in Central Washington is building a complex along the Columbia River to produce hydrogen. That plant is on track to begin operating in 2024.

Several companies are planning to test hydrogen aircraft near Moses Lake.

The National Association of Realtors is spending big to back candidates in Seattle and Spokane this election cycle.

According to an Oct. 6 filing with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, NAR spent $225,781 in support of Seattle City Council candidates and $150,779 on Spokane City Council and mayoral candidates in the general election. NAR spent an additional $282,745 in Spokane during the primary, according to a July 7 filing.  

In Seattle, the Association spent $61,324 in support of Tanya Woo, District 2; $54,425 for Joy Hollingsworth, District 3; $57,404 for Maritza Rivera, District 4; and $52,628 for Bob Kettle, District 7. The money paid for direct mail, phone banking and online advertising in support of the candidates.

In Spokane, NAR spent $99,008 in support of mayoral candidate Nadine Woodward during the primary and another $4,165 for the general election so far. In the races for Spokane City Council, the group has spent $13,256 on Michael Cathcart (District 1) in the general and $66,574 on Earl Moore (District 3); $184,672 on Kim Plese (City Council President); and $65,847 on Katey Treloar (District 2) in the primary and general.

Crosscut reached out to the National Association of Realtors for comment on their investments in Seattle and Spokane elections and will update this story if they respond.

Chicago-based NAR is the country’s largest real estate industry trade association with more than 1.5 million members. The Association recently made national headlines when several of the country’s largest real estate brokerages, including Seattle-based Redfin, announced they were leaving the organization in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against its leadership and two antitrust class-action lawsuits.

Former Seattle Seahawks players Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman are opening a new soul-food restaurant and sports bar in Bellevue’s Lincoln Square this week.  

“I love food,” said Chancellor, a longtime safety for the Seahawks. “But the reason I wanted to start a restaurant was years ago I did a barbecue back home in Norfolk, Virginia. I served thousands of people free food and brought the community together and I wanted to stop as much violence as I could. But it was always over food. I love soul food, it’s always been in my heart.” 

The new restaurant is called Legion, a nod to the Legion of Boom (the team’s legendary defensive backfield, which included both Sherman and Chancellor) and serves “upscale soul food.” Chancellor hand-picked Legion’s chef, Reginald Jacob Howell, after eating his cooking at the popular restaurant En Rama in Tacoma.

On the menu are classics like fried chicken and country-fried catfish, and more inventive dishes like a gumbo burger, which includes a shrimp patty, a chicken andouille patty, Holy Trinity rice, herb crab meat, charred pickled okra and roux ketchup.  

This isn’t Sherman’s first taste of the restaurant world; he owned two Wing Stop franchises in Seattle. 

Legion soft-opens tonight, Oct. 3, at 5 p.m. with a limited menu. The full dinner menu will be unveiled on Friday, Oct. 13.  

Legion, located at 700 Bellevue Way N.E., took over the Pearl Seafood and Oyster Bar space, which closed in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.  

The Spokane Public Library, in partnership with the Spokane NAACP and Thin Air Community Radio, hosts a mayoral and City Council president forum tonight from 6-8 p.m. at the downtown location, 906 W. Main Ave. 

Listen to the Candidate Forum & Town Hall on Thin Air Community Radio, a nonprofit radio station in Spokane, at 88.1 and 92.3FM, or streaming at KYRS.org. The livestream can also be found here, courtesy of Thin Air Community Radio. 

If interested in attending in person, registration is required. 

Nonpartisan incumbent Nadine Woodward faces former Democratic state Sen. Lisa Brown in the mayoral race. Current Spokane City Councilmember Betty Wilkerson will participate in tonight’s City Council president forum. Competitor Kim Plese will not be in attendance. 

Additional debates and forums currently planned for Spokane elections will continue through October. Confirmed events include:

• The Gonzaga University Climate Change Forum will be held on campus at Cataldo Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. All candidates for city office in Spokane have been invited to this event. Currently, Brown has accepted and Woodward has declined to participate.
• The Rotary Club of Spokane will host a debate for City Council president candidates on Thursday, Oct. 5 from noon to 1 p.m. in partnership with KXLY.
• The Spokesman-Review will host Spokane mayoral and City Council president debates on Oct. 11 at Gonzaga University. City Council president candidates will take the stage at the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m., followed by mayoral candidates at 7 p.m.
• KSPS, Spokane’s local PBS station, will hold City Council debates. Candidates for District 1 will debate on Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to noon, with candidates from District 2 debating later that day from 2-4 p.m. Northwest Spokane candidates will debate Tuesday, Oct. 17 from 6:30-8 p.m., and Council president candidates will debate Wednesday, Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to noon.
• KHQ and Greater Spokane Inc. will jointly host a mayoral debate on Oct. 17. KREM will host a mayoral debate on Oct. 26.

Amid a rising number of drug overdoses locally and nationwide, 13 Washington counties are participating in a new Department of Health dashboard tracking unintentional overdose deaths. 

The 13 participating counties account for about 88% of statewide overdose deaths. The Department of Health plans to add more counties, with a goal to include data from the entire state. The currently participating counties are: Clallam, Clark, Grays Harbor, Island, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Spokane, Thurston, Whatcom and Yakima.

The Unintentional Drug Overdose Data dashboard presents the data by demographics, including age, race and ethnicity, industry, gender and other categories; as well as which drug categories are involved and the circumstances in which the overdose occurred. 

The state says the data, collected through the CDC’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS), use information from coroner and medical examiner reports, toxicology, autopsy and a prescription-drug monitoring program. The oldest data from Washington’s unintentional deaths dashboard are from 2019.

This state previously made some data available in April on the Opioid and Drug Overdose Data Dashboard. That dashboard shows all overdose deaths, hospitalizations and EMS responses, sortable by residence, age, gender and race/ethnicity, for every county in Washington.

The dashboard is being launched as the state and advocates work to stop the rising rate of drug use and overdoses, including pushing for greater addiction recovery resources and making naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, more available in public places and schools. 

The Spokane City Council has formally denounced Mayor Nadine Woodward’s appearance at an August event with former state legislator Matt Shea and traveling Christian nationalist pastor Sean Feucht.

The resolution, passed on a vote of 4-3 Monday, says in part: “Spokane City Council formally denounces Mayor Nadine Woodward for her actions that associated her with an alleged domestic terrorist, former Representative Matt Shea, who has participated in the planning of taking arms up against the United States of America, and denounces her preplanned attendance that associates her with known anti-LGBTQ extremist, Sean Feucht, and hateful rhetoric.”

Both Shea and Feucht lead movements that couch their right-wing political views in evangelical Christianity. 

When Shea was in the state House of Representatives, his own caucus, the Washington Republican Caucus, expelled him in 2020 after an investigation accused him of helping to plan the 2016 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, as well as participating in two other armed conflicts against the U.S. government and recruiting militia members. Shea opted not to run for reelection that year and now runs a Christian-based organization that encourages evangelicals to get involved in politics.

Feucht, a musician and megachurch leader from California, tours the U.S. with his Christian revival events, including Let Us Worship, which started as a state-by-state protest against COVID-19 restrictions, and continues today. After accusations of being a Christian nationalist – a person who calls for laws and government to be based on evangelical Christian beliefs – Feucht has embraced the term.

Woodward joined Shea onstage at Feucht’s Aug. 20 Let Us Worship event in Spokane, where Shea led a prayer over her and others running for office this year, according to news organization Range Media. After the event, Woodward denied knowing that Shea would be there and denounced his politics.

The federal government is restarting its free COVID-19 home test distribution program, as federal and local health officials get ready for “respiratory virus season.”

Starting Sept. 25, each household will be able to order four tests from the reopened COVIDTests.gov, which also has information on how to check for extended expiration dates on test kits that people might already have at home. 

The restarting of the federal testing program comes as Washington, along with the rest of the United States, sees a slight increase in people testing positive for COVID-19 in the past few months – though at much lower levels than in the previous two fall seasons.

It also comes just after FDA approval of the latest COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which are expected to reach clinics and pharmacies in Washington over the next few weeks.

Washington health officials last week encouraged residents to get updated vaccines, and said that they expect that getting a shot for COVID-19 will be an annual habit similar to the influenza vaccine.

Health officials also encouraged frequent hand-washing and to consider wearing masks to help stem the spread of viral infections during the “respiratory virus season” – the fall and winter months when COVID, influenza (also known as flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are at risk of increased spread. 

The Washington State Department of Health has also launched a Respiratory Illness Data Dashboard, so people can keep track of those three viral infections.