Court blocks ballot measure to close WA rural library district

Several Washington state agencies were affected by Friday’s global technology disruption.

An outage at the Employment Security Department has been fixed, but the agency warned that some unemployment benefit payments might be delayed.

The Secretary of State’s Corporations & Charities Divisions suffered some technical problems, but was back online by 1 p.m. Phone, chat and in-person services were expected to resume on Monday. The outage did not delay the mailing of primary election ballots, which were mostly mailed by local election offices before the disruption. 

The problem was related to a Thursday software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to computers running Microsoft Windows. The computer issues widely impacted hospitals, airlines, government agencies and businesses. 

“CrowdStrike said the issue with the update has been identified and a fix has been sent to customers. This is a software issue and is not related to a cyberattack. State agencies in Washington are using the new software fix provided by CrowdStrike and restoring impacted computer systems,” said a news release from Washington Technology Solutions, which handles information technology for the state government.

Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Washington hospitals and clinics reported computer problems, and closed some clinics and non-emergency operations. 

Ballots for the Aug. 6 primary election are being mailed to more than 4.8 million registered voters across Washington today.

Citizens have until July 29 to register online via VoteWA.gov or can register and vote in person at county election offices and voting centers through 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Along with their ballot, voters can expect to be mailed voters’ pamphlets with election information based on their residency. Cascade PBS offers a comprehensive Voter Guide with information on statewide, federal and legislative candidates from all regions to learn more about who is running.

All of the state’s 39 counties have races in this election, including 654 elected offices such as Governor, Attorney General, state Supreme Court seat, state Public Lands Commissioner and positions in the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as 94 local measures including bonds and levies.

Washington has a top-two primary system. The two candidates in each race with the most votes will face off in the General Election in November regardless of party. The president and vice president are nominated through a different process and are not included in the August primary. 

Krist Novoselić, the former bassist for Nirvana, is playing several shows through July 27 with his newest band  – the Bona Fide Band – to gather signatures to get on the presidential ballot. But Novoselić says the nomination is just a means to an end – to gain official recognition for a new centrist political party in Washington.

If the party gathers 1,000 signatures from registered voters, Novoselić will be on the November ballot as the nominee for the Cascade Party of Washington, but he says he is not campaigning to beat the front-runners President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump. Instead, the Cascade Party of Washington says that nominating a candidate for president is the only way in this state that it can be recognized as a “bona fide political party,” enabling it to coordinate with and support candidates directly, which a political action committee cannot do.

The Cascade Party says it has petitioned the Secretary of State to remove the requirement of running a candidate for president for official recognition, but it will play by the rules in the meantime and nominate Novoselić by gathering signatures at the shows – which qualify as official conventions under state rules. People can also sign the petition online via the party website. The deadline to hold the conventions is July 27. Upcoming show dates will be July 18 to 27 in cities including Vancouver, Cathlamet, Tacoma, Yakima, Spokane, Richland and Walla Walla. The Cascade Party of Washington states that it represents those “tired of the polarized fringes dominating our politics,” and its platform includes greater urban density, funding law enforcement, a “market-driven transition” to renewable energy and more.

Washington’s ban on high-capacity magazines for semi-automatic weapons will stay in effect, at least for now, the Washington Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

The decision, written by Chief Justice Steven Gonzalez, acknowledges the Second Amendment concerns of the petitioners against the 2022 state law, but also notes that many other courts have upheld the constitutionality of high-capacity ammunition bans.

The Supreme Court decided the ban would remain in effect until it can hear arguments on the case in the state’s appeal of the lower court ruling. That hearing could potentially happen this fall.

The decision involves a September 2023 lawsuit by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson against Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso alleging the store had offered more than 11,400 high-capacity magazines for sale since the state ban went into effect in July 2022.

Cowlitz Superior Court judge Gary Bashor ruled in April that Washington’s ban on magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition violated the state and U.S. Constitutions. Ferguson filed the successful motion to the state Supreme Court for a temporary stay of ruling. Monday’s ruling solidified that temporary stay.

More than 400 new housing units will be built near the Link Light Rail Mount Baker station, including affordable housing. The City of Seattle Office of Housing announced a partnership with Mercy Housing Northwest and El Centro de la Raza to develop these new housing units to “promote community-centered development” in the neighborhood, according to a press release. 

After the pandemic, residents proposed to transform the areas around the station by using them for art, music and other community events to deter crime. 

The University of Washington transferred this property, including the former UW Laundry site, to the city in June 2020. The redevelopment will include affordable housing, child care and an early-learning research facility. The child care center will serve 160 students and provide job training for early-learning educators. The city budgeted $5 million for the project, which will receive additional funding from partners. 

Mercy Housing Northwest and El Centro de la Raza’s plans call for a total of 431 new homes at 2901 27th Ave. S.; 2700 S. Winthrop St.; and 26th Avenue South and South Forest Street. 

About a third these homes are reserved for families earning at or below 30% of the Area Median Income, which currently is $45,200 for a family of four. More than half of the development will be for family-sized homes. The city says this is part of the One Seattle strategy for inclusive and sustainable communities.

The two organizations will receive city funding from the Seattle Housing Levy, the JumpStart/Payroll Expense Tax and the Mandatory Housing Affordability program for the first phase of the project. 

PBS News Hour reports that former President Donald Trump’s campaign said in a statement that he was “fine” after being whisked off the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after apparent gunshots rang through the crowd. 

Video of the incident quickly spread on social media Saturday afternoon, showing Trump grabbing his ear before falling to the ground and being surrounded by Secret Service agents. He later arose with blood on the side of his face before being escorted off stage.  

Check the PBS News Hour homepage for the latest live updates on this developing story, or follow them on X. 

Six weeks after a ransomware attack at Seattle Public Library took out many services, wi-fi and printing are now available again at all branches, and the Peak Picks program for popular titles is  expected to make a comeback next week. 

But it could be several more weeks before patrons will be able to return books or place them on hold, according to the library’s blog.

Not everything at the library has yet been restored following  the attack that impacted services over Memorial Day weekend. The library is expecting most of its services to be restored in the next five to seven weeks, according to its blog. The public computers, which many patrons use for job searches and homework, are expected to come back online in mid-to-late August. 

While patrons have access to E-books, audio books and physical items, they can place holds on or return only E-books and audio books. The ability to place physical items on hold could be available in late July or August, according to the library, and they have asked patrons to hold on to the physical books they have borrowed. There is no estimated date for when the library will start accepting returns.                               

All digital services were restored and are now available for use, including the library website, streaming services like Hoopla and Kanopy, Museum Pass, Seattle Room Digital Collections, online newspapers and magazines, and learning tools for students and adults like tutoring and homework help. 

Despite the ransomware attack, the library has continued to hold in-person events such as  author signings, family story times and more. All locations and spaces, like meeting rooms or study spaces, are still open during normal business hours. New patrons can sign up for new library cards in person, but they won’t be able to sign up online until late July or early August. 

Staff are able to answer questions in person or through phone and email. The library hopes to restore the online chat on Monday, July 15. 

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown named Kevin Hall as chief of police, the latest in a number of new hires since she entered office earlier this year.

Hall, who will oversee the police department for the second-largest city in the state, comes to Spokane from Arizona, where he spent more than three decades with the Tucson Police Department. Most recently, he served as the department’s assistant chief of police.

Former chief Craig Meidl left the Spokane Police Department at the end of last year and is currently working as interim chief for the Richland Police Department. Assistant Police Chief Justin Lundgren has been serving as interim chief since early this year.

A start date for Hall is to be determined, but city officials said they expect him to start before Sept. 1.

The police chief selection committee included a cross-section of city leaders, advocates, business owners and industry leaders, including Dave Dunkin, president of the Spokane Police Guild; Spokane City Councilmembers Michael Cathcart and Paul Dillon; and Dr. Luis Manriquez, assistant clinical professor at Washington State University’s Floyd College of Medicine.

Hall was selected from a group of four finalists, which included Tom Worthy, police chief in The Dalles, Ore.; Matthew Murray, who recently served as chief of police in Yakima; and Col. Kathleen Lanier from the Memphis Police Department.

With Hall’s selection, Mayor Brown, who defeated former Mayor Nadine Woodward last year, has filled the last significant vacancy in her leadership team. Most recently, in April, Brown appointed Julie O’Berg as chief of the Spokane Fire Department, a position she had held on an interim basis for several months.

In an interview with Cascade PBS earlier this year, Brown said that she was searching for a police chief who was a good communicator and open to innovative practices from around the U.S. and tackling the city’s ongoing budget deficit.

Earlier this month, Brown declared a state of emergency to address the city’s opioid crisis. Among the strategies to combat the crisis is to work with law enforcement at all levels to deal with the ongoing drug market in the corridor of Second and Division streets.

Along with announcing the selection of Hall as police chief, the Spokane City Council also announced they would seek volunteer committee members to provide feedback for and against a community safety ballot measure that would increase the sales tax by 0.1%, with exemptions for food, prescription drugs and other necessities. The city estimates the new tax will raise $6.5 million in revenue annually. Among their plans for the money are upgrades and replacements to fire equipment, a relaunch of the city’s neighborhood resource officer program, and the expansion of its capacity to respond to extreme weather conditions. Brown had announced the sales tax proposal earlier in the week.

The Washington Department of Resources has implemented a statewide burn ban for state forest lands in response to dry summer weather conditions that increase wildfire danger.

The state agency is implementing the ban in response to dry summer weather conditions that increase wildfire danger statewide. The DNR is looking to reduce potential wildfire ignition as firefighters respond to several fires already raging across the state. Much of the state, which has been experiencing a heat wave in recent days, is under high, very high or extreme fire danger.

Under the ban, which began Wednesday afternoon, outdoor burning will be prohibited on any forest lands under DNR fire protection through Sept. 30. This includes campfires and charcoal briquettes. Depending on fire conditions, the DNR may extend or shorten the ban period.

The DNR ban does not include burning on private land or on local, state or federal park lands. But local bans may be in effect. The Washington Department of Ecology keeps track of some other burn bans, and local fire agencies issue others. For example, King County is under a Stage 1 Burn Ban, which means residents cannot burn yard debris, but recreational fires are OK. King County restrictions do not usually impact cities like Seattle, which has its own regulations and bans.

The Washington Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously dismissed a challenge to a Lacey law targeting homeless people living in recreational vehicles.

The plaintiff in the case, Jack Potter, left the Lacey City Hall parking lot in 2019 under threat of impound after the city passed an ordinance that prohibited RVs and other large vehicles from parking on city streets or parking lots for more than four hours. He relocated his trailer to Olympia.

The decision comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that cities may ban homeless people from sleeping outdoors even if they do not first offer shelter. Cities have already begun proposing stricter anti-camping laws in the days since the ruling.

Attorneys for the Northwest Justice Project, the ACLU and the National Homelessness Law Center portrayed the Thurston County suburb’s law as part of a wave of anti-homeless ordinances seeking to “banish” homeless people from the city. 

A federal district court judge sided with the city of Lacey in 2021. Potter then appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which asked the Washington Supreme Court to decide.

The Washington court’s ruling in the RV case concerned narrower legal questions than the Grants Pass homeless camping decision.

Potter’s challenge invoked a “right to travel” under the Washington Constitution, which he argued included a right to remain in place. Lawyers for the city defended the law as being within the city’s legal authority to regulate parking and said it applies equally to everyone.

The justices found Potter’s argument unpersuasive, writing that the right to travel does not confer a right to reside in a particular manner and does not protect “his preferred method of residing in Lacey: by siting his 23-foot trailer on a public street in violation of generally applicable parking ordinances.”