Monday Evening Headlines

Seattle's economy is complicated. Inflation, tariffs, AI, layoffs, it's a lot to keep

track of.

That's where we come in. I'm Joshua McNichols.

And I'm Monica Nicholsburg.

We host Booming, a podcast about the economic forces shaping our lives here in the Pacific Northwest.

Every week, we dig into the big questions about our economy and where you fit in.

Find Booming on the KOW app or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Good afternoon. From the KOW newsroom, this is Seattle Now. I'm Paige Browning.

The U.S. is now at war with Iran and a local jet is deployed. It's our top story today.

And in local news, it's decision time on whether to cut money for education, health care

and climate projects in Washington. Washington's lawmakers have days to figure it out.

That discussion in a few minutes after our roundup of today's top stories. It's Monday, March 2nd.

Starting with, the U.S. is at war with Iran. The U.S. is being aided by at least one military jet

from Washington state in its developing war. A Navy growler jet based at Naval Airbase

would be island is deployed for electronic warfare. As first reported by the Seattle Times,

the growler jets seen in photos on the aircraft carrier that led the first wave of attacks on Iran this past weekend.

President Trump has said the U.S. is determined to destroy Iran's missile capabilities and wipe out its Navy.

Iranian Americans in the Seattle area are watching a war with Iran unfold with hope and fear. Scott Greenstone has more.

Some Iranian Americans celebrated the killing of Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei over the weekend.

They also held vigils for Iranian civilians killed by the regime and this weekend's attacks.

Half the community is very excited. Half the community is very scared.

Representative Daria Farivar, a Democrat, is the first Iranian American woman in the Washington state legislature.

She called the regime's former leader evil personified but worries about civilians and American soldiers.

I don't believe that Trump is going to save us. I don't believe that this is going to result in the regime change.

I believe that this is going to result in devastation across Iran.

Officials say counter strikes killed six American soldiers. The Iranian Red Crescent Society says almost 600 Iranians have died so far.

Scott Greenstone, K.O.W. News.

Washington's congressional delegation is split on whether President Trump's military strikes in Iran are an overreach.

Washington Congressman Adam Smith is condemning the Trump administration for attacking Iran without congressional approval or a clear mission.

He spoke on NPR's morning edition today.

What are our objectives? We do not know. They keep saying we have them and we're going to keep fighting until we achieve them.

But they have not said what they are and that is just incredibly irresponsible given the level of destruction that is currently going on in the Middle East.

He says Congress could limit the president's power to conduct the campaign against Iran if Democrats had the votes.

Republicans like Eastern Washington's Michael Baumgartner are sticking by the president. Baumgartner called the operation, quote, important and necessary.

In immigration news this week in Seattle, the ninth circuit court of appeals will consider a case.

The backer say could ultimately affect millions of people in immigration detention around the country.

Amy Raidl has the story.

The lawsuit from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project challenges a Trump administration policy requiring mandatory detention for people who entered the U.S. illegally regardless of how long they've lived in the U.S.

Attorney Matt Adams says previously these people could seek release if they were not deemed a safety or flight risk.

30 years they've been receiving bond hearings up until now. And also there's been this abrupt reversal of the executive interpretation of the law.

A federal judge in Tacoma struck down the policy but said immigration courts are defying that order.

Meanwhile, another federal appeals court has upheld the new interpretation, meaning the issue could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Amy Raidl, KUOW News.

An Everett man's due in court this week for allegedly threatening to kill President Trump.

The Everett hailed reports the man made several threatening social media posts in August, including one that said I'll assassinate the U.S. President and then more in September.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury last week and his arrangement is Thursday.

We'll get to a state legislative update in a minute, but I want to highlight one potential cut coming.

The legislature could empty its funding for planting and sustaining trees.

The budget proposed by the House of Representatives cuts all money for the Urban Forestry Program. And we have more from KNKX Environment Reporter, Bellamy Pale Thorpe.

The Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry Program gained a lot of momentum statewide after the deadly heat dome in 2021, which killed at least 100 people in Washington.

Having lots of shade where lots of people live is an essential climate strategy.

Lowell Wise is Executive Director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation, which has been working to help restore that city's urban canopy with tree planting programs targeting areas of highest need.

To try to increase tree canopy in those neighborhoods that are characterized by often less than half of the tree coverage that other neighborhoods have.

The Department of Natural Resources Budget for Urban Forestry is about $1.5 million per year, but it says if that is cut, it will also lose more than $5 million in federal funding that requires state support.

I'm Bellamy Pale Thorpe reporting.

A heads up for those of you who pay the household bills, Puget Sound Energy wants to hike electric rates for customers by nearly 17% and gas prices 13% next year.

PSC put out a new rate proposal that it says is necessary to fund its operations and new wind, solar, and battery projects.

It would add $28 to the average monthly electric bill and $14 to customers gas bills in 2027.

Washington State's utility regulators must sign off on the rate hikes after months of review.

Seattle added a lot of women's hockey fans after the Olympics last month, and you could feel it Friday.

The Seattle Torrent, a professional women's hockey league team, just set a new U.S. attendance record for women's hockey.

More than 17,300 fans filled the stands at climate pledge arena for their game against Toronto Friday.

It was their first game back after the Olympics, where six teammates played for different nations.

The Torrent lost five to two Friday without Captain Hillary Knight, who was injured in the Olympics.

Knight, meanwhile, just hit another big stage after winning Olympic gold.

She and Team USA teammate Megan Keller gave the opening monologue of Saturday Night Live.

It was going to be just us, but we thought we'd invite the guys to.

They were joined by the Hughes brothers from the men's gold medal team.

Knight appeared to be referencing comments from President Trump, who invited the men's team to DC and said he'd have to.

Invite the women's gold medal team, or he'd probably get impeached.

Enjoy those clear skies this evening.

Tomorrow through Sunday, rain is in the forecast for the lowlands.

Temperatures all week will sit near the average historical highs for this time of year in Seattle.

But nighttime lows are up to eight degrees warmer than normal.

And with clouds coming in, we might have a hard time seeing tomorrow's total lunar eclipse in Western Washington.

Peak viewing time on the west coast for the Blood Moon is 3.30am tomorrow, Tuesday.

Now our feature story tonight.

Ten days are left in the Washington legislative session.

Lawmakers in the State House and Senate are looking to reconcile two slightly different spending plans.

Each chamber passed a supplemental budget over the weekend led by the Democratic majorities.

And they call for heavy cuts to childcare, education, and health care funding.

KUW's state government reporter Sarah Meises Tan, chatted with KUW's Angela King about what's at stake.

Can you tell us more about the two versions of the budget that were just approved?

Sure, so I think the biggest takeaway with these two budget versions is that they ultimately are quite similar.

There are some big costs facing the state. Democrats have said repeatedly that cuts from the federal government

have caused a number of people to be deemed ineligible for things like food assistance and health care coverage,

and the state has had to step in to take that cost up.

There are also a number of lawsuits against the state's foster care system, alleging neglect,

that point to some larger issues beyond the budget.

Both budget versions rely heavily on revenue generated from a proposed tax on high income earners,

also known as the Millionaires Tax, which could take effect in 2029 but has not yet passed the governor's desk.

And both budgets pull from the state's rainy day fund for this year to cover shortfalls,

along with funds from the Climate Commitment Act.

The big picture, the state is facing a $2 billion deficit for this current two-year budget cycle,

and it's been a challenge for leadership to address this.

So that being said, what's on the chopping block?

Yeah, the biggest cuts come from childcare and education,

which in the Senate's version of the budget accounts for nearly a third of the budget's costs saved.

Childcare advocates mention that in budget deficit years, these are typically the areas that suffer the most because of the funds.

They just aren't often earmarked for specific use, so they are the ones that are typically turned to when money is needed.

And also, they've just mentioned that given the cuts to the federal government,

there was urgent need to cover some other items, like people not receiving food assistance

and not being able to get their health needs met.

And so this seemed like I was told the least bad place to make those cuts.

But of course, those are still going to have some pretty dramatic impacts.

The cuts to childcare mostly hit a program called the Working Connections Childcare Program.

That provides subsidies for low and middle income families to send their children to daycare.

I think depending on what budget version you look at, that's going to have slightly different ramifications,

depending on how the final version is passed, but that program is getting hit pretty hard.

And then we also have cuts to transitional kindergarten programming and higher education.

Those are the next two areas that saw the second and third largest cuts.

I can absolutely say that I could hear in Democrats voices when they presented this budget

that they made some tough decisions that they didn't necessarily want to make.

And I think we will all be watching as the governor looks to sign this to see what might happen

as these cuts are actually implemented.

So Sarah, what would you say are the biggest points of contention right now?

Yeah, the House holds a pretty emotional debate over how the state's foster care system is run.

Mostly as an offshoot of a discussion of the cost of the state's mounting legal challenges.

Many of the state's current lawsuits stem from alleged mismanagement of cases in the foster care system.

And there has been some bipartisan criticism of the use of the Climate Commitment Act funds to pad the budget.

So these are revenues generated by the state's carbon emissions market, which is funds generated from power plants essentially paying to pollute.

Their original purpose of these funds was to be used to go back to underserved communities and climate resilience projects.

But both budgets would look to just put this money back into the general fund.

Republicans ultimately put forward quite a number of amendments on Saturday in the House debate.

Almost none of them were taken up.

So what's next, Sarah?

Both the House and the Senate will meet in negotiations in the coming days to iron out differences in their two budget versions.

And then they'll send a consolidated budget to the governor by the end of next week.

All of that will be headed there by March 12th.

State government reporter Sarah Meises Tan, speaking with KUW's Angela King.

Next time on Seattle now, we talk about the benefits and dangers of AI companions and why regulations necessary.

Without those kinds of regulations, companies have to choose between spending their time on grabbing market share and spending their time on putting these guardrails in place.

And if everybody's required to do the right thing, then that kind of takes the dilemma away.

Here more Tuesday morning.

That's all for today from the KUW Newsroom in Seattle.

Our producer is Andy Hearst and I'm Paige Browning.

The interview in today's episode was produced by John O'Brien.

Seattle now and KUW are members of the NPR network.

See ya.

We all remember this song.

It made it all seems so simple and turns out it's not.

Who writes, influences and kills, bills, it gets messy.

I'm Scott Greenstone.

And I'm Libby Dankman. On Sound Politics, we tell that story.

The inside track on how policy gets made in this Washington and the other one.

And how it impacts you.

Listen now on the KUW app or wherever you get your podcasts.