The number of people seeking jobless benefits shot up again last week, as 6.6 million more of the unemployed filed first-time claims. Much of the economy has shut down, leaving millions out of work.Read More
A large disturbance Wednesday evening at the Monroe Correctional Complex was likely triggered by rising tensions over COVID-19, according to the Washington Department of Corrections. So far, six inmates at the facility have tested positive for the virus.Read More
The new rules apply only to workers in critical infrastructure jobs, a broadly defined group that includes employees in fields from health care to financial services.Read More
The Spokane facility joins the two state-run homes for veterans in Oregon, both of which have dealt with the disease caused by coronavirus. The veterans home in Lebanon in Oregon’s Willamette Valley reported 19 positive cases and three deaths.Read More
More countries are imposing export restrictions on essential medical materials, to try to keep domestically produced goods — like masks, gloves and ventilators — available for domestic needs. Read More
The ventilators will be delivered to the national stockpile by August. The contract, worth nearly $500 million, is the first ventilator order placed using the Defense Production Act.Read More
The pandemic is keeping cars parked, which means fewer crashes — and big savings for auto insurers. Allstate, American Family Insurance and Geico have decided to return that extra cash to customers. Read More
To date, 22 Western State Hospital (WSH) staff have tested positive for the virus. That number has more than quadrupled in two weeks. In addition, six patients have tested positive and one elderly patient has died. Claudio said with each additional positive case, her fear rises. Read More
The music of this quintessential Nashville songwriter and lifelong independent spirit makes room for the wide range of emotions that careen through people as they stumble and dance through life.Read More
When the coronavirus outlook got scary and hairy in mid-March, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee recruited an outsider to join his crisis management team. He convinced a retired vice admiral to temporarily move cross-country to serve as Washington state's COVID-19 hospital "czar."Read More
The coronavirus pandemic continues to make its presence known in all facets of daily life, including agriculture. That extends to some supply and demand economics lessons for Northwest apple and potato growers.Read More
An overblown immune response could be killing a portion of the sick, and some doctors think that new treatments being tested could help at least some of those patients.Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a terrible toll on the world's economy, with lockdown measures now affecting the livelihood of almost 2.7 billion workers, according to a new report.Read More
Idaho has one of the highest coronavirus rates in the nation, according to a state epidemiologist. But infection rates can vary widely from county to county. And Idaho’s daily case reports fluctuate too.Read More
A prisoner at the Monroe Correctional Complex has tested positive for COVID-19, making him the first incarcerated individual in a Washington prison known to have contracted the virus.Read More
Will the current lull in activity make a difference in the air we breathe or the future of climate change?Read More
Michelle Bennett couldn’t hold her mother’s hand in those final moments, 10 days after Carolann Christine Gann tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Bennett couldn’t even go through her mother’s belongings as she prepared to bury her. So two people in protective gear did what she couldn't.Read More
Dire shortages of vital medical equipment in the Strategic National Stockpile that are now hampering the coronavirus response trace back to the budget wars of the Obama years, when congressional Republicans elected on the Tea Party wave forced the White House to accept sweeping cuts to federal spending.Read More
The risk that COVID-19 could get into a prison is high, as is the potential for it to spread quickly because of tight spaces, shared quarters and dense populations. Adding to the danger is the fact Washington prisons – with nearly 17,000 inmates -- are at 100 percent of capacity. Read More
Americans across the political spectrum have been forced to rethink the government’s role in protecting workers and supervising the economy, as more people confront a public health crisis that has exposed major gaps in the social safety net.Read More
Some rules aren’t meant to be broken. Rules like Washington’s public lands closures. Enforcement officers have still noted crowded parking lots places such as at the Ahtanam State Forest in Yakima County.Read More
The Trump administration announced Friday that the CDC is now recommending people consider wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. Mayors in New York City and Los Angeles have already offered similar advice to citizens.Read More
"I feel violated," Jason Hargrove said, in a widely shared video complaining of selfish behavior during the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly two weeks later, the Detroit driver is dead of the disease.Read More
Spring work starts up, ready or not. And Northwest growers are scrambling to figure out how to work around the global coronavirus pandemic and still bring in the coming harvest. Read More
In anticipation of state revenues cratering because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday vetoed more than $200 million of new spending from the supplemental budget passed by state lawmakers last month.Read More
Many people can ride the disease out at home, but doctors are getting a better idea of who should seek medical attention and when.Read More
The year was 1918 – the last time a pandemic reached Spokane. A century has passed, and the Inland Northwest and the world are once again contending with quarantine and the powerful role public health officials can play in times of outbreak.Read More
As coronavirus pandemic shutters small businesses across the Northwest, business owners are bracing for a wave of insurance denials. That’s because insurers have been telling businesses that coronavirus losses don’t count.Read More
This time frame is longer than the estimate that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin gave when he negotiated the program for cash payments with congressional leaders. Read More
The patriarch of the famous musical Marsalis family, Ellis Marsalis was not only a performer but a teacher, a mentor and a coach.Read More
FEMA, the state Department of Health and the Yakima Health District announced this week that the former Astria Hospital would reopen as an alternate care site for patients not afflicted with COVID-19.Read More
Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier after a highly critical letter he wrote to his superiors went public.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that the original 'stay-at-home' order would be extended until at least May 5. There were no additional restrictions or other measure put in place beyond what's already been implemented.Read More
A state legislator in North Idaho is using her official government newsletter to urge constituents to defy Gov. Brad Little’s order to stay home in face of the coronavirus pandemic. Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican who represents the Blanchard area, sent the newsletter Thursday morning. It was titled, in part, “the virus that tried to kill the Constitution.”Read More
"People don't know what's going on here. Now they will," the engineer allegedly told a California Highway Patrol officer who apprehended him immediately after the incident.Read More
As cases of the coronavirus have skyrocketed, there's new thinking about the benefits that masks could offer in slowing the spread. The CDC says it is now reviewing its policy and may be considering a recommendation to encourage broader use.Read More
The Trump administration's strategy for ending the current wave of coronavirus infections relies on a model that appears to count on several important assumptions. We look at why that matters.Read More
Some see government bans on large public gatherings as attacks on religious freedom when they are applied to houses of worship.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee is calling on businesses across Washington state to help produce critical medical supplies, such as N95 masks, face shields, and testing supplies. Also, Idaho will go ahead with a May 19 primary -- but switch to an all-vote-by-mail system, like Washington and Oregon already have.Read More
What's behind the "14 days of self-quarantine" guidance after exposure to someone with COVID-19 or after travel from a place with a high number of cases? Think of yourself as a potential incubator.Read More
A near real time map of 2020 census self-response rates shows that 42% of Washington state and Idaho households at known addresses have completed the census as of April 1. The rate is 40.5% for Oregon, compared to the national average of 38% to date.Read More
Umatilla County is home to two large state prisons, which hold more than 3,500 inmates between them. The petitions are a last resort for inmates who need things like medical equipment and procedures that have been denied.Read More
When the governor declared a state of emergency in late February, that allowed for the use of the National Guard. So far the state’s citizen soldiers have played a limited role in supporting the battle against coronavirus. But Inslee’s chief of staff David Postman said Tuesday that may soon change. He says they won’t be playing a law enforcement role or controlling traffic.Read More
According to Dr. Deborah Birx, the best computer models predict that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 during the coming months, even if the country continues the strict social distancing measures that most states have adopted. Relaxing those restrictions would send the toll much higher.Read More
First responders in Moscow, Idaho will soon have access to more respirators, face shields and gowns. And in Washington’s Yakima Valley, a shuttered former hospital may soon be reopened by the state with the cooperation of its bankrupt owner to continue hospital service.Read More
The governor outlined a three-tier law enforcement response system for violations of the order, which could amount to a gross misdemeanor. A first offense would result in a warning. But consequences thereafter would become more serious.Read More
Rent is due this week. But with stay-home orders in both Washington and Idaho, shuttered businesses and a troubled economy, some people wonder if they’ll get evicted if they don’t pay. In Washington, a moratorium on evictions gives protection to renters hit hard by the COVID outbreak. Idaho has no such moratorium, but a recent court order may protect them.Read More
The federal government is throwing $2 trillion at the coronavirus problem. Banks and other lenders are doing things to assist people on top of that. Here's your survival kit for how to get the help that's available and be in the best financial shape possible as you weather this storm.Read More
Trump had initially announced 15-day guidelines and said they would be reevaluated. The 15-day period was set to end Monday.Read More
"Case fatality rates have been very confusing," says Dr. Steven Lawrence, an infectious disease expert. Here's why.Read More
