Northwest News

Here Is What’s In Congress’ COVID-19 Relief Package

By NPR News
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speak Sunday following a press conference on Capitol Hill after Republicans and Democrats finally came to an agreement on the coronavirus relief bill. CREDIT: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Congress plans to pass on Monday a bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill after intense negotiations over its final details. Leaders of both parties are lauding the agreement, claiming victory for provisions they were able to get in — and keep out. The measure includes up to a $600 relief check for many Americans as well as an assortment of aid for small businesses Read More

Don’t ‘Lose Yourself’ Or Miss Your ‘One Shot’ To Comment On Review Of Washington’s Eightmile Dam

By Courtney Flatt
Eightmile Dam, shown here in May 2018, was in need of emergency repairs at the time. Now a plan - and the environmental review - for a permanent fix is underway, with public comments due in February 2021. Courtesy of WA Dept. of Ecology
Fans of rapper Eminem, whose movie "8 Mile" featured his hit song “Lose Yourself” might note, as the song’s lyrics do, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” Now, the public has an opportunity to comment on the environmental review of the aging Eightmile Dam in central Washington's Alpine Lakes Wilderness.Read More

Rural Idaho District Under Pressure To Stay Open, But School Board Refuses To Mandate Masks

By NPR News
Elementary school teacher Sariah Pearson contracted COVID-19, suffering a fever and other symptoms for close to six weeks. CREDIT: Kirk Siegler/NPR
Case numbers have shot up lately in rural America, which skews older and tends to have huge inequality gaps in health care. But there's still resistance in places such as Bruneau, Idaho, which has a population of 500. Here, there's also a pervasive sense in the community that kids need to be physically in classrooms for their education and well-being yet stiff opposition 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

Jay Inslee Urges Washington Schools To Consider Bringing Back More Students

By Doug Nadvornick
Washington Governor Jay Inslee is encouraging schools in low and moderate spread counties to send more students back to school. CREDIT: TVW screenshot
“There really is relatively small additional risk if you have good safety and health protocols," the governor said Wednesday. "We see it as our task to make sure that when our students go back, when our educators go back that we follow these sound practices of health and safety protocols to keep people safe. When we do that, we now have both that scientific data I’ve just Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 9 – Part 1: Comedy Writer Ted Tremper On Finding Humor In Tragedy

By McKayla Fox
Photo of Ted Tremper, a guest on Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella
In part one of this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," comedy writer Ted Tremper talks about growing up in the Northwest as the overweight-funny kid. He says his mom's untimely death while he was in college shaped much of his outlook on life and his career. Tremper has written for "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,"" I Love You, America" with Sarah Silverman, Read More

He ‘Left This World In Such Agony’: Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID Surge

By Anna King
Ken Roberts, left, with his step-sister Debbie Roberts and her husband Steve Kinzie at a Christmas gathering at the Tonasket care facility in 2018. Courtesy of Debbie Roberts
Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about Read More

As Washington COVID Cases Surge, A Chief Medical Officer Prepares Hospitals For The Worst

By Austin Jenkins
At Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, non-urgent surgeries are being cancelled and nurses who don't normally work with patients are being prepared to return to the front lines. The actions come as COVID-19 cases continue to spike.
“Unfortunately, I think within the next week it’s going to be a significant rise in COVID-19,” said Dr. Kevin Caserta, the chief medical officer for Providence SW Washington. Already, the two hospitals Caserta oversees, St. Peter and Providence Centralia, have seen a near doubling of COVID patients over the past six to eight weeks – from roughly 25 to nearly 50 today.Read More

COVID First Hit Long-Term Care In Puget Sound Region. Now It’s Hitting Home In Rural Areas

By Scott Leadingham
Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., prepares to give a daily briefing to reporters on Wednesday. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP
Some of the hardest hit places have been long-term care facilities in rural areas like Tonasket in Okanogan County, and in central Washington. At least three care facilities in Grant County have reported outbreaks and deaths since a large wedding near Ritzville last month attended by some care facility staff who later tested positive for COVID-19. But a definitive Read More

Cascadia High-Speed Rail: Will It Finally Happen Or Is It ‘Time To Kill This Thing’?

By Tom Banse
Acela II passes through Halethorpe, MD on its way to Washington DC for the first Amtrak has full rights to this image. New Acela 21 in Testing
A new government report on high speed rail in the Pacific Northwest recommends that Oregon, Washington and British Columbia formalize their interest in a Cascadia bullet train by creating an independent body to plan and eventually build it. But a critic associated with a conservative think tank responded that the region should take heed of California's high speed rail woes Read More
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