The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival returns May 31, with a lineup featuring Jake Tapper, Amanda Knox, and a slate of local and nationally recognized journalists, podcasters and lawmakers deconstructing the day’s most pressing issues. The full lineup of speakers was released today.

This year’s festival will include live podcast and television recordings from outlets like CNN, NPR and The Atlantic alongside a mix of community events in downtown Seattle. More information is available here.

Seattle voters will be asked in August if they want to continue paying for the city’s democracy voucher program — a first-of-its-kind public campaign-financing system that gives voters money to donate to political candidates. 

Seattle voters created the program in 2015, along with a 10-year property tax levy to fund it. The voucher program aims to make election financing more diverse and equitable by giving voters four $25 coupons they can give to city of Seattle candidates during elections. 

Ten years after it was created, city officials say the program has been a success. On Monday, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to send a property tax levy renewal to the August ballot that would fund the program for another decade. 

If passed, the levy would cost the median homeowner about $13 a year and raise about $45 million over 10 years. The figure is about $15 million higher than the expiring levy to account for inflation and increased candidate participation in the program. 

City Council members praised the program across the board, with several saying they’d seen the positive impact firsthand during their own runs for office. 

“For me, this specifically meant that I didn’t need to take campaign donations that I felt might have implicit strings attached,” said Councilmember Dan Strauss. “This allowed me to be more independent, and it meant that I actively chose to knock on everyday Seattleites’ doors rather than spending time on the phone, calling political donors.” 

Many Councilmembers said the program is especially important in light of threats to democracy at the national level and the growing influence of wealth in politics. 

“Our democracy is at risk,” said Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck. “We must take every step here in Seattle to protect it, because in a healthy democracy, billionaires can’t buy elections.” 

Most democracy vouchers go unused. A study by researchers at Stony Brook and Georgetown University found that participation among the voting-age population declined from 7.59% in the 2021 election to 4.72% in 2023. 

City Council member Cathy Moore noted that there remains a need to educate people about the program, particularly in communities where English is not the primary language. 

Candidates in the races for Seattle mayor, city attorney and three Council seats are eligible for democracy vouchers this year.

Note: This story was updated on 4/22/25 to correct the difference between the previous property tax levy and the new proposal. 

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday nullified a 2023 Spokane ballot initiative that expanded the city’s camping ban, reversing decisions from trial and appeal courts.

The majority for Jewels Helping Hands and Ben Stuckart v. Brian Hansen, et al., in an opinion written by Justice Gordon McCloud, stated that Proposition 1 was beyond the scope allowed by local initiative power because it “administer[ed] the details” of the city’s existing anti-camping policy rather than create a new law or policy.

“I hope this decision paves the way for less discrimination against our homeless neighbors,” said Julie Garcia, founder and executive director of Jewels Helping Hands, one of the plaintiffs in the case who sought to block the initiative.

The initiative, sponsored by Spokane resident Brian Hansen, prohibits camping within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and day care centers. It was a response to concerns over rising criminal activity near Camp Hope, an encampment that operated for 18 months in the East Central neighborhood and once contained several hundred unhoused residents. The encampment closed in June 2023.

Advocates for the unhoused, who brought the lawsuit, opposed the initiative, noting that it greatly expanded the area where camping is not allowed. However, Spokane voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 1 in 2023 with nearly 75% of the vote.

The city did not enforce Proposition 1 until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last summer that states can criminalize homeless encampments regardless of shelter space availability, reversing a previous court decision.

In a written statement, Mayor Lisa Brown wrote that the city’s ordinance prohibiting camping in public areas remains in effect and that the Spokane Police Department is enforcing the law. However, Brown emphasized support for a much more comprehensive approach to addressing the city’s unhoused population, stating that “enforcement alone is not going to solve homelessness.”

Justice C.J. Stephens wrote a dissenting opinion, stating that the majority’s interpretation of what is deemed administrative was too broad and effectively eliminated local initiative power. Stephens felt the proponents of Proposition 1 believed it was a “different policy direction” from the city’s camping policy, and so the initiative was within the scope of what is allowed under the law.

Following backlash from members, REI Co-op is retracting its endorsement of Doug Burgum, a Trump administration appointee who has been criticized by environmental advocates over his support for fossil fuel drilling on public lands and loosening environmental regulations.

REI was one of more than 30 outdoor recreation companies that signed onto a January letter of support for the nomination of Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota. The move was met with widespread criticism from members of the Issaquah-headquartered outdoor retail co-op, which has long marketed itself as a company dedicated to environmental stewardship. The REI Union described the endorsement as “shocking” and part of a trend of REI “abandoning the values that make our Co-op special.” 

In a video statement posted Wednesday, newly appointed REI CEO Mary Beth Laughton apologized to REI members and said the company will lead the creation of a new business coalition dedicated to protecting public lands.

“Let me be clear: Signing that letter was a mistake,” Laughton said. “The actions that the administration has taken on public lands are completely at odds with the longstanding values of REI.”

Laughton, a former executive at Nike and Athleta, took over as REI’s CEO on March 31 following the retirement of Eric Artz. She noted that the letter had been signed before she took over, and said the company had signed off on it in an effort to “have a seat at the table and continue our outdoor recreation advocacy.”

“Many of you shared your disappointment and your frustration with that decision, and I hear you,” Laughton said. 

Laughton said REI is taking a leadership role in a new organization called Brands for Public Lands, a coalition of over 60 businesses that will lobby Congress and the US Department of the Interior to protect public lands. 

“Our public lands are under attack, from the gutting of national park staff to expanded threats of drilling or even selling off of our public lands," Laughton said. “The future of life outdoors has never felt so uncertain.” 

REI has in recent years grappled with financial challenges and a contentious unionization effort. In March, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against REI after finding that the company illegally withheld benefits packages from workers at unionized stores, a claim the company denies. Unionized employees are calling on REI members to withhold their votes in this year’s board elections after the company excluded two union-backed candidates from appearing on the board election ballot.

The REI Union said in a post on X that the retraction is a “huge step back on the right path for our co-op” and a sign that REI’s new CEO is listening to members.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week its intention to cancel a disaster relief program that had promised more than $80 million to build a levee in flood-prone Grays Harbor County.

Without the federal money, local officials told The Daily World that the project is dead in the water.

“And just like that … years of due diligence and hard work to move the North Shore Levee flood protection projects forward — now down the drain,” Grays Harbor County Commissioner Vickie Raines said. “This is devastating to Grays Harbor County.”

The cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam – which lie at the confluence of multiple rivers into Grays Harbor – have suffered annual floods in recent years and faced more than a dozen floods since the 1960s that qualified as federal disasters, Cascade PBS previously reported. Canceling the federal grant would wipe out close to half of the more than $180 million needed for a long-proposed system of levees to protect downtown areas along the waterfront. 

FEMA officials last week called the grant program “wasteful and ineffective,” but did not provide evidence. A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the move violated an earlier injunction against the Trump administration’s attempts to freeze funds already allocated by Congress. 

Local leaders in the economically struggling former logging towns have spent years bolstering support for the levee, which they see as the only way to protect against increasingly dangerous storms and give the communities a chance at rebounding. Punishing flood insurance premiums and strict building codes are further choking what scant investment the towns attract, as Cascade PBS detailed in a 2023 investigation.

Hoquiam city administrator Brian Shay told Cascade PBS that he has been reaching out to federal officials and senators and remains hopeful that FEMA will conduct a case-by-case review and see the value of the project, which was on the verge of beginning construction. Awarded the funds four years ago, the region has spent millions and just recently achieved a key federal environmental review.

“West Levy was ready to go to bid on construction this fall, it’s that close,” Shay said. “We’re hoping there’s a path forward.”

This article originally appeared in the Washington State Standard.

Washington is suing a property management software company and a handful of landlords over allegations they colluded to inflate rents through a price-fixing scheme, Attorney General Nick Brown announced Thursday.

The state says RealPage has three products to help landlords calculate rental prices and manage occupancy. The company uses nonpublic information that landlords agree to share to create an algorithm that pushes them to raise rents, according to the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court. 

Instead of competing, the landlords all raise their prices together based on RealPage’s recommendations, according to the complaint. So instead of the market helping determine rents, it’s software.

RealPage also tells landlords to nix discounts they give to attract tenants, the lawsuit alleges. And it reportedly recommends keeping units vacant to keep rents up, instead of leasing them for a lower price.

In a press conference Thursday, Brown said property managers used the Texas-based RealPage software to price an estimated 800,000 leases in Washington between 2017 and 2024. About a third of Washington residents are renters, according to the lawsuit.

In 2023, more than half of Washington’s renters paid more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to a state report released in December.

“Pricing is higher and occupancy is lower for properties managed by landlords using RealPage than for those that don’t,” Brown said. “Washington needs a competitive market to help with our critical shortage of affordable, multifamily housing. RealPage’s unfair practices are drowning renters and pricing more and more families out of stable housing in Washington.”

The lawsuit alleges RealPage and nine landlords violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act by stifling competition.

“It’s price fixing, it’s illegal and it hurts Washingtonians,” Brown said.

Chris Vialpando, a renter in Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, said his landlord raised his rent over 50% in 2022 based on RealPage’s algorithm. He said he is one of many “falling victim to the collusion, thereby perpetuating this already complex, systemic housing crisis.”

“And I also understand that inflation and market adjustments are naturally part of the rental economy, but what I don’t understand is how these predatory companies can continue to operate freely without continuous authoritative examination and scrutiny,” Vialpando said.

In a statement, a RealPage spokesperson said the company’s software “is purposely designed and built to be legally compliant and has always used data legally and responsibly, and we have a long history of working constructively to show that.”

“We believe the claims brought by Washington State AG Nick Brown are devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable,” spokesperson Jennifer Bowcock said. “Washington State should stop scapegoating pro-competitive technology, and we encourage Washington State’s public leaders to focus on meeting the greater demand for housing with more supply.”

Gov. Bob Ferguson, when he was still attorney general, launched an investigation into the RealPage software in early 2023. 

The investigation came on the heels of a ProPublica report on RealPage’s algorithm that found just 10 property managers oversaw 70% of apartments in a Seattle neighborhood. All of them used RealPage’s pricing software.

The state had previously been part of an ongoing federal lawsuit along with other states and the U.S. Department of Justice over antitrust concerns, but dropped out of that case in late February. The attorney general’s office withdrew from that lawsuit because “We saw a bigger problem,” Brown said.

“We saw a conspiracy, and we saw a greater path to help more renters,” he said. “We filed this case in state court because we believe that state law protects a greater number of Washingtonians and tenants than the federal case.”

Tenants across the country have also brought a class-action lawsuit against RealPage and its property management clients that is ongoing in federal court in Tennessee. 

Washington’s lawsuit asks a judge to declare the conduct illegal, award restitution and hand down civil penalties.

The landlords named as defendants in the complaint are Greystar, Cushman & Wakefield, LivCor, UDR, Prime Administration, Quarterra Multifamily Communities, LaSalle Properties, MG Properties and Sares Regis Management Company.

Lawmakers in Olympia are also looking to ban algorithmic rental price-fixing this year. Senate Bill 5469 would prohibit the collection of data that feeds recommendations for rental rates and bar landlords from obtaining those recommendations. The attorney general would enforce violations of the proposed law.

The state Senate passed the measure on a party-line vote this month, and it is now moving through the House.

This week, RealPage sued the city of Berkeley, California, over a similar ordinance aimed at stopping landlords from using algorithms to set rents.

In an interview the day he took office in January, the new attorney general said one of his top priorities was tackling “unjust, illegal, misleading business practices” in the housing sector.

“It’s our job to be a watchdog, and make sure that housing is affordable and available for everyone,” Brown said at the time.

The Washington State Standard originally published this story on April 3, 2024.

This article was originally published by the Washington State Standard.

Washington was among 23 states that sued the Trump administration Tuesday over the cancellation of $12 billion in federal funding to address infectious diseases, substance abuse and mental illness, including about $160 million for Washington.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of the abrupt termination last week of grants related to disease tracking, vaccination efforts and other work that officials said could cost thousands of jobs in public health departments nationwide. This pot of money makes up $11 billion of the $12 billion cut. 

The cuts in Washington reportedly include $118 million for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases program, impacting 150 full-time employees. Losing this money will hurt the state’s ability to respond to emerging outbreaks, including measles and bird flu, according to the complaint.

That money also continued to support COVID-related surveillance efforts, the lawsuit says.  

In total, Washington’s Department of Health stands to lose around $130 million, an agency spokesperson said last week, with the termination affecting upward of 200 department employees, and more at local health departments, tribal health clinics and community-based organizations.

One of the specific programs affected is Care Connect, which the department launched early in the pandemic to provide food and other needs to people with COVID so they could isolate. The program later shifted to meet the needs of those suffering from long COVID, among other things.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown also cites the state’s Care-A-Van mobile health clinics, which provide vaccinations and other services to underserved communities. Officials have already had to cancel clinics due to the lost funding. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rolled back the grants “for cause” because “the pandemic is over,” so the funding is no longer needed, according to the lawsuit. The states counter that the money was never intended to be used only to respond to the COVID pandemic.

The lawsuit also tackles the separate but simultaneous Trump administration axing of another $1 billion in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funding, including $34 million for Washington. 

Brown is one of several attorneys general leading Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island. The Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are named as defendants. The Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“We can’t make America healthy by spreading preventable diseases,” Brown said. “Aside from the illegality of these actions, the administration is also choosing to neglect the biggest public health challenges, including substance abuse and mental health crises, facing our communities.”

The states say the cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act by suddenly terminating the grants without much explanation. The plaintiffs asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to reverse the cuts. 

The state Department of Health’s now-canceled federal grant dollars were expected to expire between June 2025 and July 2026, agency spokesperson Marisol Mata Somarribas said.

Also on Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services began its purge of 10,000 federal workers.

As part of the layoff announcement, Kennedy also said he’d be halving the number of Health and Human Services regional offices from 10 to five. Seattle’s office serves Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Its fate was unclear Tuesday.

This is at least the eighth lawsuit Brown has led or joined against the Trump administration since January. Most have resulted in preliminary court orders blocking implementation of a variety of actions, including eliminating birthright citizenship, blocking gender-affirming care for minors and mass firings of federal workers.

The Washington State Standard originally published this story on April 1, 2025.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week filed a complaint against REI Co-op, after finding the retailer illegally withheld benefits packages from workers at unionized stores. 

The NLRB is seeking an order that would require REI to retroactively give unionized workers wage increases and bonuses that match those at non-union stores. REI has until April 2 to respond to the complaint, and a hearing is scheduled for Dec. 9. 

Eleven REI stores have unionized since 2022 in a contentious organizing battle that’s shaken the Washington-based outdoor co-op’s progressive reputation. None of the unions have yet secured a contract. Union organizers recently tried to nominate pro-labor candidates to the co-op’s board of directors for this year’s board election, but the board did not nominate either of them for a membership vote.

The complaint filed Thursday alleges that REI violated several aspects of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to bargain in good faith and withholding annual pay raises and bonuses at stores that voted to unionize. This was done at least since February 2024 to “discourage employees” from engaging in union activity, the complaint said.  

The complaint lists nine stores across the country where benefits were allegedly withheld, including the REI in Bellingham, the only Washington store that has voted to unionize. 

Dan McCann, an REI employee in Bellingham, said in a statement provided by the union that REI withheld “thousands of dollars” from himself and his unionized co-workers. 

“This complaint is a victory for workers like me who have been retaliated against by REI because we joined a union,” McCann said. 

In an emailed statement, REI said it “has negotiated — and will continue to negotiate — in good faith with stores that have chosen union representation.” 

“Federal law requires us to bargain in good faith on all aspects of the employment agreement, including pay and benefits, rather than making unilateral changes,” the statement said. “We’re actively negotiating these topics with the union, so no pay changes have been implemented — there’s nothing to ‘withhold.’” 

The complaint specifically alleges that REI excluded unionized employees from annual “merit pay” wage increases and from participating in the company’s “summit pay plan” — REI’s annual bonus program for employees. Those benefits have been part of REI’s workers’ benefits package for over a decade, the union said. Workers at non-union stores have continued to receive those benefits, the complaint said.

In a statement, the REI union said the complaint is “the first step to rectifying REI’s ongoing illegal union busting.” 

“We call on REI leadership to comply with the remedies the NLRB is demanding, return to the bargaining table with real proposals and real decision makers, and finally live up to the progressive values it claims to uphold,” the union said. 

Unionized REI workers recently rallied outside the flagship REI store in downtown Seattle and called on REI members to protest the company’s direction by casting “withhold” votes in this year’s REI board of director elections. 

Note: This story was updated on 3/22 to correct the title of the National Labor Relations Board. 

This article originally appeared in the Washington State Standard.

Ralph Munro, Washington’s longest-serving secretary of state and a moderate Republican who achieved unusually broad popularity across the political spectrum, died early Thursday at his convalescent home in Lacey. He was 81 and had struggled with multiple health issues for the past several years.

Current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs announced his predecessor’s passing, saying Munro “embodied the drive and attitude of a true statesman.”

Munro was remembered for many things as word of his death spread quickly around Olympia and the wider Pacific Northwest. During his life, Munro championed diverse causes, from orca protection, voting expansion and disability rights to immigration, international trade, polio eradication and historic preservation.

“Ralph was known for moderation, civility and bipartisanship. He certainly exuded that in his role as secretary of state,” recalled friend and longtime collaborator Sam Reed, who succeeded Munro in office.

In elective office, Munro was one of the last Republicans able to consistently win statewide as Washington trended bluer and bluer. He squeaked into office as secretary of state in 1980 at age 37 and was reelected four more times until he chose to retire at the end of 2000.

During his tenure, Munro strongly advocated for expanding vote-by-mail. Washington also established “motor voter” registration on his watch, which encourages residents to register to vote when they apply for or renew a driver’s license. He also ushered in Washington’s first address-confidentiality program to protect victims of domestic violence and stalking. That program allowed victims to receive mail through the secretary of state’s office in order to keep their actual addresses secret.

Munro faced minimal competition for re-election in his later campaigns. His political ads on the radio memorably entailed 30 seconds of bagpipe music with a brief tagline stating, “This interlude brought to you by” the Munro campaign.

Munro raised one son, George, with his first wife, Karen. He divorced, remarried and divorced again late in life. He has three grandchildren. Munro also is survived by a daughter in Minnesota, Christi Stoll, with whom he reconnected in recent years.

The Washington State Standard published a longer version of this article on March 20, 2025.

This article originally appeared in The News Tribune.

Pierce County has announced $17 million in affordable-housing investments made possible by revenue from the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Sales Tax.

In 2023, the Pierce County Council approved the sales tax that collected one-tenth of 1% of sales to leverage additional revenue for affordable-housing investments. The tax was named after Maureen Howard, a prominent advocate for the homeless in Tacoma who died in January 2023.

Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello said even though the $17 million investment covers a diverse range of projects across a broad scope, many more affordable-housing units will need to be built in the coming decades.

A county report stated that on average, the county would need to produce over 2,300 units per year of housing affordable at or below 50% of area median income (AMI) through the year 2044. According to Pierce County, the region’s area median income is around $98,200 per household.

The round of investments announced by the county March 4 will account for more than 350 affordable-housing units.

Habitat For Humanity will receive $1.1 million for the purchase and rehabilitation of 20 single-family homes owned by Pierce County Housing Authority.

Homeownership Center of Tacoma will receive $139,132 for construction of two new single-family homes on two parcels.

Mercy Housing Northwest will receive more than $3.6 million for development of 80 units of affordable housing near the planned Bus Rapid Transit corridor for households earning less than 60% of AMI, with 20% of units set aside for families with a disability.

Pierce County Housing Authority will receive $892,857 for the acquisition of an affordable-housing building in Parkland with 56 units.

Urban Black Community Development will receive $1 million for acquisition and rehabilitation of three historic buildings in downtown Tacoma to preserve 78 affordable-housing units, primarily studios and one-bedrooms for 50% or below AMI.

Bridge Meadows will receive $5.5 million for development of 60 new affordable-housing units serving households earning less than 60% of AMI, including 44 units for seniors and 16 town homes for families with children who have experienced the foster-care system.

Beacon Development Group and Greater Christ Temple Church are to receive more than $4.6 million for development of 65 new affordable-housing units for seniors earning less than 50% of AMI, with 13 units to be set aside for permanent supportive housing to assist those experiencing homelessness.

Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare will receive $33,000 for operation and support of the Cedars apartment complex, which consists of 15 studio apartments for single adults with a mental illness and earning less than 30% AMI.

AHAT Homecare will receive $116,000 for operation and support of two adult family homes for low-income individuals living with HIV and AIDS.

A longer version of this article originally appeared in The News Tribune on March 17, 2025. Cameron Sheppard is a WSU Murrow News Fellow at The News Tribune.