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.”

The Washington Supreme Court ruled last week that Attorney General Bob Ferguson can continue pursuing a lawsuit against the city of Sunnyside.

Cities across the state have implemented a crime-free rental housing program in which landlords, tenants and law enforcement work together to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in rental properties.

In its 2020 lawsuit, the state claims that Sunnyside, in Yakima County, abused the program by forcing tenants out of their homes over unsubstantiated claims of crime or nuisance without a court order. The lawsuit said dozens of residents were forced out of their homes with little or no notice. The majority of the 43 alleged unlawful evictions between 2014 and 2019 involved Latino residents, women or families with children.

The state claimed that through unlawful evictions, the city’s law enforcement officers did not comply with provisions of the U.S. and state constitutions, the federal Fair Housing Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

Yakima County Superior Court granted a summary judgment, agreeing with the city of Sunnyside that the state lacked the authority to pursue legal action for a variety of reasons, including that the city could not be subject to liability under the state’s Rental Landlord Tenant Act and that the attorney general is not authorized to enforce the private rights of a small number of individuals.

The Washington Supreme Court reversed that summary judgment. The court ruled that the state has an “interest in protecting the health, safety, and well-being of its residents, including holding government actors accountable against allegations of discrimination and violations of constitutional rights.” It also ruled that the state’s claims address matters of public concern, including the lawful operation of crime-free rental housing programs, protection of Washingtonians’ civil rights and prevention of police misconduct.

While the Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment, it let stand the Court’s dismissal of the state’s claim that the city of Sunnyside violated the Resident-Landlord Tenant Act. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Yakima court for further proceedings.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday sided with Starbucks in a dispute over the firing of pro-union workers in a ruling that could restrict the National Labor Relations Board’s future authority to intervene when workers accuse companies of illegally suppressing union organizing. 

The case centers around seven baristas in Memphis, Tennessee, who alleged that Starbucks fired them for trying to unionize their store. The NLRB sided with the workers, and because it can take years for an unfair labor practice complaint to go through the legal process, the agency asked a judge for an injunction reinstating the workers, which was granted.

Starbucks had accused the baristas of violating store policies, and contested the legal standard the judge had used to impose the injunction. The Supreme Court agreed the lower court’s legal test was too broad and inconsistent with those of other courts. 

The NLRB did not comment on the decision, but instead pointed to a statement the agency’s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo made during Supreme Court arguments in April. 

“Without obtaining this temporary relief,” Abruzzo said, “the lawbreaker will fully reap the benefits of having violated workers’ rights — such as by snuffing out a nascent organizing drive — through the passage of time, because a Board remedy in due course will come too late to sufficiently address the harm.”

In February, Starbucks announced a new path forward for contract negotiation, setting a goal of ratification of a contract in 2024, after years of impasse. Union members told Cascade PBS those renewed talks had been productive during initial negotiations. 

“We remain focused on making progress toward our goal of reaching ratified contracts for represented stores this year,” Starbucks wrote in a statement after the decision. “Consistent federal standards are important in ensuring that employees know their rights and consistent labor practices are upheld no matter where in the country they work and live.”

Lynne Fox, president of Workers United, the union representing the Starbucks employees, called the court’s ruling egregious. Fox also argued the company should have dropped the case earlier this year when it committed to a new path in bargaining. 

“Working people have so few tools to protect and defend themselves when their employers break the law,” Fox wrote in a statement. 

More than 10,000 workers at 437 stores have joined Workers United since unionizing efforts began at Starbucks cafes in December 2021. A Cascade PBS investigation explored early negotiations between Starbucks and the union, and examined the role of the National Labor Relations Board in adjudicating hundreds of related unfair labor-practice complaints.

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown declared an emergency this week to address the city’s opioid crisis. 

“We’re here today because our community is dealing with the devastating effects of fentanyl and other opioids,” Brown said during a news conference Tuesday. Other speakers included representatives from Spokane’s treatment providers and law enforcement agencies. 

The declaration will enable the city to implement several public health and safety initiatives immediately. The initiatives will focus on Second and Division streets, an area where unhoused residents and others have been severely impacted by substance use. 

The city will proceed with establishing a temporary transition center out of the Cannon Street Shelter, which it shut down last year. The center, operated under a contract with the Empire Health Foundation, will focus on providing services to unhoused residents in an encampment zone located between North Browne and North Division streets and from Interstate 90 to Sprague Avenue. The center would be the latest in an ongoing effort to clean up the area and connect unhoused residents to services under the Department of Commerce’s Right-of-Way Encampment Resolution Program. 

The city will also target “high utilizers” who cycle from the street to the emergency room to jail. The city is partnering with Consistent Care, a Spokane organization, to provide case management services for those individuals. The city is also working with Spokane Treatment and Recovery Services to increase the use of its CAR50 program, which provides transport for individuals under the influence of a substance to an appropriate medical or treatment facility. 

Under the emergency declaration, the Spokane Fire Department can now provide medical intervention for withdrawal management. The city is also working with local, state and federal agencies to address the drug market that has festered in the Division corridor. 

As part of the emergency response, the city will request additional fentanyl test strips and Narcan from the state and pursue opioid abatement strategies approved under the state’s settlement with opioid manufacturers.

Two city councils in Yakima County rejected a proclamation for Pride Month, deciding not to officially recognize or acknowledge summer celebrations of the LGTBQ+ community.

The Sunnyside City Council rejected a Pride Month proclamation during its May 28 meeting. That follows one week after the Yakima City Council, in a 5-2 vote, rejected the proclamation during its May 21 meeting. 

Both Yakima and Sunnyside have officially recognized Pride Month in previous years. Last year, with a 5-2 vote, the Yakima City Council proclaimed Pride Month. As part of that proclamation, a Pride flag flew in front of Yakima City Hall for the entire month. Sunnyside Mayor Dean Broersma signed a Pride Month proclamation as recently as 2022. 

Yakima Mayor Patricia Byers and Assistant Mayor Matthew Brown voted against the proclamation this year, as they did last year. This time, they were joined by council members Reedy Berg, Leo Roy and Rick Glenn, who were all elected to the council last fall, ousting less conservative incumbents. 

Council members Janice Deccio and Danny Herrera voted for the proclamation. 

A draft version of the rejected proclamation states, “Now, Therefore, I Patricia Byers, Mayor of the City of Yakima, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of June 2024 as “LGBTQ2S+ Pride Month” in the City of Yakima and encourage all residents to join in commemorating diversity, fostering inclusion, and advocating for equal protection under the law. Let us unite in our commitment to eradicate prejudice and discriminatory practices, ensuring that all cultures, races, and groups are treated with dignity and respect.”

Yakima Pride, a local advocacy group, expressed disappointment with the Yakima Council’s rejection on its Instagram page, but is moving forward with planned events on June 8, which will include a parade through downtown Yakima, an outdoor festival and a rainbow prom. 

In Sunnyside, the pride vote was split 3-3, with one council member absent. The vote came after numerous comments supporting and opposing the proposed proclamation.