Northwest Mask Wars And Pandemics: Nothing New For Washington As Politics Of 1918 Return

By NWPB News
Volunteers wearing gauze masks at a street kitchen in Cincinnati serve food to children of families afflicted by the flu pandemic in the winter of 1918-1919.
In 1918 Walla Walla, the chief of police, refused to enforce a state mask mandate. He pointed out that he was going to meet heavy resistance and, anyway, that he had no authority to carry out a state directive, only city ordinances. Still, he also openly defied the instructions of the city’s health officer, J.E. Vanderpool, to follow the state health officer’s guidance.Read More

Across Washington, People Show Up Big In Smaller Cities And Towns To Support Black Lives Matter

By NWPB News
Fran Cuhtahlatah stands in protest at the corner of North Main Street and West Fifth Avenue in Ellensburg, Kittitas County, June 14, 2020. While other local residents have protested recently, Cuhtahlatah has been out quietly protesting in the community for the past three years. CREDIT: Matt M. McKnight/Crosscut
Small, mostly white rural towns across Washington are standing up in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests. Although dwarfed by comparison with the thousands protesting in places like Seattle and Portland, the people standing up against racism in smaller numbers do not think their message should be dismissed or watered down because they aren’t big enough to make Read More

UPDATE: At Least 34 COVID-19 Cases At Ellensburg Food Plant Pauses Kittitas County’s Reopening Plan

By NWPB News
Kittitas County paused its application to reopen some businesses early after positive COVID-19 case at food processer Twin City Foods in Ellensburg. CREDIT: Google Maps - July 2012
Health officials in Kittitas County have found at least one new positive case of COVID-19: a worker at a Twin City Foods processing plant in Ellensburg. The news came Friday after more than three weeks of no new confirmed cases. That plus the county’s low population made Kittitas County eligible to lift social distancing measures earlier than other parts of the state.Read More
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