Analysis: The Showdown Between Idaho Lawmakers And Governor That Could Define 2021 Session

By NWPB News
Senators watch Gov. Brad Little’s 2021 State of the State address from the floor of the Senate chambers. Because of COVID-19 precautions, Little delivered the address remotely instead of in the traditional joint gathering of the House and Senate chambers. CREDIT: Nik Streng/ Idaho EdNews
With at least 11 pieces of legislation already in the pipeline — all addressing some aspect of Little’s coronavirus response, and the Legislature’s role during an emergency — this issue is a long way from settled. And it could be a fascinating, defining debate of the 2021 session. Separation of powers, once the stuff of a “Schoolhouse Rock” segment, is all a bit more real Read More

With Worries Of Armed Protests, Inauguration Day At Washington State Capitol Was Quiet

By NWPB News
John Hess holding a sign describing President Joe Biden as a “traitor” and a “thief," as he stands outside a barricade set up by state troopers at the Washington state Capitol building, Jan. 20, 2021. CREDIT: Melissa Santos/Crosscut
Washington National Guard troops were on site to guard against any repeat of the violence and disruption seen Jan. 6. While security forces were less visible than they have been in recent days, a spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol said they were still there protecting the seat of the Washington state government. He declined to share more information, but said the Read More

In Opening Legislative Session, Idaho Governor Calls For Reversing Budget Cuts, More Teacher Pay

By NWPB News
Senators watch Gov. Brad Little’s 2021 State of the State address from the floor of the Senate chambers. Because of COVID-19 precautions, Little delivered the address remotely instead of in the traditional joint gathering of the House and Senate chambers. CREDIT: Nik Streng/ Idaho EdNews
Idaho Gov. Brad Little called for reversing budget holdbacks, increasing teacher pay, cutting taxes and fighting the coronavirus virus pandemic during a historic, remote State of the State address Monday. In conjunction with the 30-minute speech, Little unveiled a budget proposal that would increase K-12 general fund spending beyond $2 billion for the first time in Idaho Read More

Washington Governor Unveils New Business Reopening Plan, Moving To More Regional Approach

By NWPB News
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021 a new regional approach to economic reopening, getting away from the previous four-phase county-by-county approach from 2020. CREDIT: TVW
On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a phased reopening plan for restaurants and gyms, that is not set entirely by a county-by-county approach, as before. In Phase 2, restaurants and gyms can resume indoor dining/activities at 25% capacity. But in order to qualify to move there, four metrics will have to be trending downward including a 10% reduction in COVID case rates, Read More

Timber Tax Cuts Cost Rural Northwest Towns Billions. Polluted Water Drove Up The Price

By NWPB News
An aerial view of clear-cuts near the south fork of Gordon Creek, one of two water sources for Corbett, Oregon. CREDIT: Google Earth
In rainy Oregon, communities tap a network of streams and creeks to supply millions of residents with cold, clean water. The problem is that the land surrounding drinking water streams is, in many cases, owned not by the towns or the residents who drink the water, but by private timber companies that are now logging more intensively than ever, cutting trees on a more rapid Read More

Despite What The Logging Industry Says, Cutting Down Trees Isn’t Stopping Catastrophic Wildfires

By NWPB News
Oregon State University researcher Chris Dunn next to a Douglas fir, which burned in Oregon’s September 2020 fires and was later cut down by fire crews who considered it a safety hazard. CREDIT: Jes Burns/OPB
In the decades since government restrictions reduced logging on federal lands, the timber industry has promoted the idea that private lands are less prone to wildfires, saying that forests thick with trees fuel bigger, more destructive blazes. But an analysis by OPB and ProPublica shows last month’s fires burned as intensely on private forests with large-scale logging Read More

Past As Prologue: Remembering A Pasco Civil Rights Protest And Discrimination That Built Tri-Cities

By NWPB News
Black man in the middle of whites in line at grocery store.
By 1950, 20% of Pasco’s approximately 10,000 residents were Black, almost all living in slum conditions. Few lived in the new atomic community of Richland and none in “lily-white” Kennewick -- a fact of which Kennewick city leaders and police at the time were proud. Not only was housing segregated, but Black residents were forced to endure broad discrimination in Read More

In Rural Idaho, Their Young Son Nearly Died From COVID Complications. Now They Urge Masks

By NWPB News
Cooper Wuthrich rests as he lays on a bed at the truck stop his family partly owns Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Montpelier, Idaho. Shortly after Thanksgiving, Wuthrich, 12, became one of hundreds of children in the U.S. diagnosed with a rare COVID-19 complication that landed him in an emergency room three hours away from his tiny hometown in a secluded Idaho valley. The boy's parents say he nearly died and their terrifying experience shows why people should wear masks in a conservative state where pushback can be fierce. CREDIT: Rick Bowmer
Shortly after Thanksgiving, the boy from a secluded valley in Idaho became one of hundreds of children in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with a rare, extreme immune response to COVID-19 called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Cooper Wuthrich’s fever spiked as his joints and organs became inflamed, including his heart, putting his life at risk, his father said.Read More

COVID Cases At Washington’s Largest Psychiatric Hospital Top 200, As Staff Will Be Laid Off

By NWPB News
File photo. As coronavirus cases top 200 in Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital, officials are implementing new procedures to try to get it under control. Making matters worse, the economic downturn that resulted from the pandemic, and the loss of revenues needed to run state government, is forcing the Department of Health and Human Services to make budget cuts, including layoffs. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP
COVID-19 has hit at least 158 hospital workers since March, which takes them off the schedule and means a lot of overtime for the workers left on the wards. At least 64 patients have tested positive and one has died. Making matters worse, the economic downturn that resulted from the pandemic, and the loss of revenues needed to run state government s forcing the Department Read More
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