Featured Archives - Page 17 of 112 - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Democrats on Thursday unveiled Biden-backed legislation to overhaul the immigration system, which includes setting up a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Jemal Countess/Getty Images for UndocuBlack Net

Congressional Democrats unveiled a sweeping the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, an immigration bill that includes setting up a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.Read More

No, Texas Blackouts Weren’t Caused By Wind And Solar Energy Failure. Here’s What Really Happened

Snow covers the ground in Waco, Texas, on Feb. 17. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has blamed renewable energy sources for the blackouts that have hit the state. In fact, they were caused by a systemwide failure across all energy sources. Matthew Busch/AFP via Getty Images

The focus on windmills ignores the evident fact that — as Abbott acknowledged on local TV — every kind of power generation fell short in this storm. In fact, significantly more natural gas and coal went offline than renewables. But that doesn't suggest fossil fuels were uniquely to blame either — they were responsible for more production, so it's no surprise they were the Read More

‘I’m Safe On Mars.’ NASA’S New Rover To Scour Ancient Lake Bed For Life Signs

By NWPB News February 18, 2021

NASA's Perseverance rover and its experimental aerial drone, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, are shown in an artist's rendering. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance, a six-wheeled, SUV-size vehicle with the most sophisticated robotic astrobiology lab ever launched and an experimental aerial drone aboard, is at the heart of the Mars 2020 mission. It blasted off in July on a 293 million-mile journey. After landing, it immediately got to work, taking a photo of its "forever home."Read More

Idaho Lawmakers Unanimously Pass Bill To Make Permanent Absentee Ballot Counting Change

By NWPB News February 18, 2021

The Idaho Senate meets in the Statehouse on Feb. 18, 2021, in Boise. The Senate voted 35-0 to make permanent changes in Idaho's absentee ballot counting intended to speed up the process. CREDIT: Keith Ridler/AP

Legislation to make permanent changes in Idaho’s absentee ballot counting procedure passed the Senate on Thursday and is headed to the House. The state Senate voted 35-0 to approve the bill intended to speed absentee vote counting. It was used in the last general election and spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.Read More

Washington State Senate Passes Police Arbitration Reform Bill With Wide Bipartisan Margin

By NWPB News February 18, 2021

The Washington state Senate has overwhelmingly passed a bill to create a panel of arbitrators to review police discipline decisions and to better track law enforcement arbitration cases statewide.Read More

‘A Disaster Within A Disaster’: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Cases Are Surging In Texas

People in Houston wait in line to fill their propane tanks on Wednesday amidst widespread power outages related to the winter storm. Cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in the state have increased in recent days, with officials attributing most to the improper use of heating devices like charcoal grills and portable generators. CREDIT: Mark Felix/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Texas is seeing a surge in carbon monoxide poisonings this week, as plunging temperatures and persistent power outages send residents searching for warmth increasingly from dangerous sources.Read More

Report: American Life Expectancy Dropped By A Full Year In 1st Half Of 2020

Patrice Howard writes on white flags before planting them to remember her recently deceased father and close friends in November at "IN AMERICA How Could This Happen...," a public art installation in Washington, D.C. Led by artist Suzanne Firstenberg, volunteers planted white flags in a field to symbolize each life lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. CREDIT: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

The average U.S. life expectancy dropped by a year in the first half of 2020, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Read More

Tips, FYI And What To Know: How To Sign Up For A COVID-19 Vaccine

How do you get a COVID-19 vaccine appointment? The answer varies by state. CREDIT: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The COVID-19 vaccines are here, but if it's your turn to get vaccinated, how are you supposed to sign up? The answers vary by place, so NPR created a tool to help you understand how things work in your state and connect you with local resources. And we're sharing guiding principles and advice for navigating the process below.Read More

Easterday-Tyson Saga Shows: Counting 200K Cattle Isn’t Easy, Especially When They Might Not Exist

By Anna King February 18, 2021

The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Wallula, Washington, near Pasco. CREDIT: Anna King/N3

Just how do you miss 200,000 phantom cattle over several years? That’s what some people in the Columbia Basin cattle-feeding industry are wondering in an ongoing saga between Tyson Fresh Meats and Easterday Ranches.Read More

Millions In Texas Under Boil-Water Notices, And Without Power, Because Of Winter Storm

City of Richardson worker Kaleb Love breaks ice on a frozen fountain Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Richardson, Texas. Temperatures dropped into the single digits as snow shut down air travel and grocery stores. CREDIT: AP Photo/LM Otero

The warnings not to consume water out of the tap began in many places as early as Monday, but as of Wednesday night many municipalities had expanded those orders as the state grapples with the ongoing weather, energy and water crises that have placed unprecedented strain on the state's entire power grid.Read More

Idaho Lawmakers Get Closer To Stripping Governor Of Some Emergency Powers

By NWPB News February 17, 2021

File photo. Idaho Senate gathers in the Statehouse in Boise on January 15, 2021. A Senate panel of lawmakers has approved a constitutional amendment allowing the part-time Idaho Legislature to call itself into a special session. The panel also on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, approved companion legislation that would create the legal process to make that happen. CREDIT: Keith Ridler/AP

The legislation stems from lawmaker dissatisfaction with a temporary lockdown and other restrictions that Republican Gov. Brad Little put in place last March to reduce coronavirus infections and deaths. The Republican-dominated Legislature had adjourned for the year by then and was powerless to do anything.Read More

Millions Still Without Power As Winter Storm Wallops Texas

A man walks his dog downtown after a snowstorm this week in Fort Worth, Texas. The winter storm has brought historic cold weather and power outages to more than two dozen states, with a mix of freezing temperatures and precipitation. Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Heavy snowfall, ice storms and bitter temperatures continue to put an enormous strain on the state's power grid. This as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages roughly 75% of the Texas power grid, announced Wednesday morning that some 600,000 households had power restored overnight.Read More

Gone Fishin’: Northwest States Catch Lots More Angling And Hunting License Sales During Pandemic

By Tom Banse February 17, 2021

Fishing and hunting license sales jumped in 2020 as people took to the woods and water due to the pandemic. CREDIT: Bureau of Land Management - TINYURL.COM/Y9GLWUYQ

Fishing and hunting license sales jumped in 2020 across the Pacific Northwest as more people flocked to outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total license purchases rose even though part of last spring was crimped by stay-home orders and in some states by the suspension of non-resident permits.Read More

5 Things Every Family Should Know About Paying For College

Book cover - The Price you pay for College by Ron Lieber

For many families, paying for college is one of the biggest financial decisions they'll make. College tuition is the highest it's ever been — and the financial aid process is anything but clear. American journalist Ron Lieber's new book, The Price You Pay for College aims to take the black box of college financials and, "turn it lighter and lighter shades of gray."Read More

In New Song, Black Violin Focuses On The Light As They’re ‘Not Supposed To’ Play Violin

The Fort Lauderdale duo Black Violin wrote "Time to Shine" after reflecting on what happened last year and ringing in the new one. Mark Clennon/Courtesy of the artist

Race and challenging assumptions about race is central to what Black Violin does: Outside of playing for fun or for creative expression, Marcus finds it particularly satisfying to disarm people who don't expect him to be a violin scholar. "The number-one reason I play violin," he says, "is because I'm not 'supposed to.' "Read More

Why Bill Gates Is Investing Big Time In Farmland Across Washington And The Country

By NWPB News February 17, 2021

File photo. Washington state's richest residents, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, would pay a wealth tax on certain financial assets worth more than $1 billion under a 2021 proposed bill whose sponsor says she is seeking a fair and equitable tax code. Under the bill, starting Jan. 1, 2022, for taxes due in 2023, a 1% tax would be levied not on income, but on "extraordinary" assets ranging from cash, publicly traded options, futures contracts, and stocks and bonds. CREDIT: Elains Thompson/AP

Seattle’s technology billionaires are many things: innovators, visionaries, philanthropists and some less polite descriptors, depending on whom you ask. But thanks to some scrupulous digging by industry journal The Land Report, which tracks land ownership across the country, we now know that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has another feather in his multi hyphenated career Read More

How Would GOP Budget If They Controlled Olympia? A Pair Of Spending Blueprints Offers Clues

By Austin Jenkins February 16, 2021

The Washington state capitol building in Olympia. CREDIT: Austin Jenkins/N3

As majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature lay the groundwork for tax increases to fund the next two-year budget, minority Republicans are jumping out ahead by releasing their own tax-averse budget blueprints.Read More

Korean American TikTok Chefs Share Quarantine Recipes For Lunar New Year

Mandus (top), imitation crab jeon (center right), tteokguk (bottom left) Courtesy of Jessica Woo

Lunar New Year hits differently this year. It's an annual holiday celebrated on a bedrock of bringing families, across the country and overseas, together for home-cooked meals and lots of catching up.Read More

Secretary Of State Blinken: ‘No Doubt’ U.S. Diplomacy ‘Tarnished By Recent Events’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington last month. CREDIT: Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in office three weeks. He arrives at a challenging time: the U.S. must figure out how to deal with China, Russia and Iran, the coronavirus pandemic rages on, and the State Department must rise from the morale slump it suffered during the Trump administration.Read More

Virologist: WHO Team Found No ‘Credible Link’ Between Wuhan Labs, COVID-19

Marion Koopmans was part of a WHO team that traveled to Wuhan to investigate the start of the coronavirus pandemic. She tells NPR that the Wuhan seafood market was "not the whole story." Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images

The WHO team's main public conclusion so far is that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan. The scientists think the virus most likely started in bats, then jumped to other animals, then to humans.Read More

Should Civics Have A More Prominent Place In Washington Schools?

By Doug Nadvornick February 16, 2021

Advocates for police accountability and racial justice rallied on the steps of the Washington Capitol in June 2020. Now the Washington Legislature is taking up those issues as it welcomes a record number of lawmakers of color. CREDIT: Austin Jenkins/N3

This is the first academic year when districts in Washington are required to teach a stand-alone civics education course, not just something embedded in existing social studies classes. It’s the result of a bill approved by legislators three years ago.Read More

Idaho Congressman Hopes Politics Align In Proposal To Remove Snake River Dams In Washington

By NWPB News February 16, 2021

In this May 15, 2019 the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River is seen from the air near Colfax, Wash. In early 2021, Republican Congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed removing four hydroelectric dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington as part of a sweeping plan to save salmon populations and provide aid to farmers and others. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren

This month, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho issued a bold plan that called for removing those same dams to save the salmon. In between those two acts were decades of litigation that show no sign of ending and $17 billion worth of improvements to the dams that did little to help fish.Read More

New Theory Suggests Dinosaur-Killing Impact Came From Edge Of Solar System

A skeleton of an Allosaurus on display at Drouot auction house in Paris in October. A new theory says the dinosaurs were killed by a comet fragment that originally came from the edge of the solar system. CREDIT: Thibault Camus/AP

For decades, the prevailing theory about the extinction of the dinosaurs was that an asteroid from the belt between Mars and Jupiter slammed into the planet, causing cataclysmic devastation that wiped out most life on the planet.Read More

Why Opening Restaurants Is Exactly What The Coronavirus Wants Us To Do

By NWPB News February 15, 2021

A sign at the El Sarape restaurant advertises outdoor seating, Jan. 5, 2021, in Olympia, Wash., as indoor dining was prohibited statewide due the the governor's coronavirus safety measures. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP

To justify their reopening decisions, governors point to falling case counts. “We make decisions based on facts,” Cuomo said. “New York City numbers are down.” But epidemiologists and public health experts say a crucial factor is missing from these calculations: the threat of new viral variants. One coronavirus variant, which originated in the United Kingdom and is now Read More

After Weeks Of Being Offline, Parler Finds A New Web Host

By NPR News February 15, 2021

Far-right-friendly social media site Parler limped back to life on Monday with a new Web host, retooled community guidelines and a promise that content inciting violence will be removed.Read More

Study: Warmer Weather Will Increase Flooding In Columbia River Basin This Century

By Monica Samayoa February 15, 2021

The Columbia River west of the Gorge as it heads toward Portland and out to the Pacific Ocean. (Credit: Amelia Templeton / OPB)

Warmer winter weather, more rainfall and less snow will contribute to significantly increased flooding in the Columbia River Basin this century due to climate change, new research says.Read More

President Biden Is Reopening ACA Enrollment. See If You’re Eligible To Sign Up Or Switch Plans

By NPR News February 15, 2021

In January, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to open up the federal health insurance marketplace for three months starting Monday so uninsured people can buy a plan and those who want to change their marketplace coverage can do so.Read More

Analysis: Idaho Lands Ahead Of The National Curve In The School Reopening Debate

By NWPB News February 15, 2021

The Moscow School District decided earlier in March to close schools after its spring break, after Idaho Gov. Brad Little declined a statewide closure. CREDIT: Architect21c at the English Wikipedia / GFDL gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

Plenty of factors have brought Idaho’s larger districts closer to reopening. But none are unique to Idaho. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they wanted to see K-12 students back in the classroom, at least part-time, according to a statewide Boise State University survey released last month. For Republican respondents and parents of K-12 kids, those numbers skewed Read More

On The Back-End Of Winter, Washington Snowpack Is Generally Normal, With Idaho A Mixed Bag

Ahead of the Presidents Day weekend, which saw snow across the region, the Cascade and North Idaho snowpack was generally around normal. Courtesy of NRCS

With about a month left in winter, Washington’s mountain snowpack is close to or above normal levels. Idaho’s situation is a mixed bag.Read More

All Washington Counties Can Advance To Phase 2 Reopening As State Fixes Hospital Data

Sign on restaurant door in Spokane saying when it will reopen from covid closure with multiple dates crossed out and finally saying "who knows"

The south-central region of Washington's 8-region area for coronavirus restrictions can immediately reopen. That news came Sunday from the state Department of Health. It means the counties encompassing Walla Walla, the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Ellensburg can advance to Phase 2.Read More

Author Leah Johnson On Being Young, Black, Queer And In Love

By NPR News February 14, 2021

The cover of You Should See Me In A Crown.

Johnson says she wrote You Should See Me in a Crown for her readers, yes, but also for herself: "I wanted to remind myself that it is possible to be Black and queer and from where you're from, and still get all the best things out of life."Read More

‘It’s Going To Be Hard’: A New West Point Leader On Confronting Extremism In Military

By NPR News February 14, 2021

Brig. Gen. Mark Quander will assume a new leadership post at West Point this spring or summer. One challenge will be to confront extremism in the ranks of the military. CREDIT: Lynda Yezzi/U.S. Army

Brig. Gen. Mark Quander is taking a new leadership role at the prestigious military school of West Point at a time that the spotlight has returned to the problem of extremism in the military.Read More

After Speaking Out, Washington Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler Heads Toward Clash With Her Own Party

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler on Election Night in Vancouver, Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler thrust herself into the national spotlight on Friday when the Washington Republican came out with a stunning account of Donald Trump's actions on the day of the Capitol insurrection. In a statement put out on the eve of the vote in Trump's Senate impeachment trial, Herrera Beutler said that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told her that in a Read More

Why A Musician Breathed New Life Into A 17,000-Year-Old Conch Shell Horn

By NPR News February 14, 2021

An artist's rendition of the conch of Marsoulas being played in a cave where it was found by researchers in the early 20th Century. CREDIT: G. Tosello

A horn made from a conch shell over 17,000 years ago has blasted out musical notes for the first time in millennia. Archaeologists originally found the seashell in 1931, in a French cave that contains prehistoric wall paintings. They speculated that the cave's past occupants had used the shell as a ceremonial cup for shared drinks, and that a hole in its tip was just Read More

Hundreds Of Thousands Without Power As Snow And Ice Storms Blanket The Northwest