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Columbian Newspaper

Talks resume to bring Israeli officials to the U.S.
Author: Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Talks have restarted aimed at bringing top Israeli officials to Washington to discuss potential military operations in Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a planned visit this week because he was angry about the U.S. vote on a U.N. cease-fire resolution, the White House said Wednesday.

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Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82
Author: Associated Press

NEW YORK — Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election and who almost became Republican John McCain’s running mate eight years later, has died, according to a statement issued by his family.

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Thailand lawmakers approve bill to legalize same-sex marriage
Author: Associated Press

BANGKOK — Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.

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Vancouver officials developing new green building policy
Author: William Seekamp

Vancouver officials want to curb greenhouse gas emissions from some of the biggest polluters in the city: buildings.

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Taking over at Washington feels very personal for Danny Sprinkle
Author: TIM BOOTH, AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE — It was personal for Danny Sprinkle when, after a decade as an assistant coach, his first chance at being a head coach came at his alma mater, Montana State.

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As those who fled Israel’s border villages weigh whether to return, what hangs in the balance?
Author: ADAM GELLER, Associated Press

KIBBUTZ NAHAL OZ, Israel (AP) — Months after Hamas killed 1,200 people in an early-morning assault, Israeli communities ravaged in the attack remain mostly empty. Now the residents who fled these “kibbutzim” along the border with Gaza are wrestling with whether, how and when to return — choices that have implications not just for their families, but also for the country. Here are the key takeaways:

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NYT Politics

In Saga of NBC and Ronna McDaniel, Perks and Perils of Partisan Talk on TV
Author: Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin
Why are television news networks so enamored with paid Beltway analysts?

The Chronicle - Centralia

New legislative district map likely to be used in 2024 after appeals court declines to intervene

A legislative map that shifts some voters in South Thurston County from the 20th Legislative District to the Second Legislative District will likely be used in the upcoming election after a federal appeals court declined a motion to stay the maps on Friday.

The shift in Southwest Washington’s legislative boundaries is just one of many in the state after a federal judge's ruling the previous map violated the rights of voters in south-central Washington. The case, Soto Palmer v. Hobbs, centered around the 15th Legislative District, which stretches from Yakima to Pasco.

In August, a judge found the previous maps split the region’s Hispanic population between multiple districts, diluting their voting power. The new map will connect Latino communities from East Yakima in Yakima County to Pasco in Franklin County.

In a news release, Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined a motion to stay the maps on Friday, which paved the way for the maps’ use in November.

“This is a sham lawsuit brought for raw political power. The Democrats knew they could not get this through the bipartisan Redistricting Commission process so they brought a couple of lawsuits hoping they could find a sympathetic judge to buy in. They found one in Judge Lasnik,” Braun said in a statement. “We can only hope that at some point, the United States Supreme Court will right the wrong that has been done in this process.”

After the map’s release, Republicans throughout the state decried the legislative boundaries, with Fifteenth District Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, writing in a statement she was “personally very disappointed in Judge Laznik.

“He allowed the misuse of the Voting Rights Act to allow a partisan gerrymander of the Washington state redistricting map,” Torres wrote. “This map DECREASES the numbers of Hispanics in Washington’s Majority-Minority district.”

On Monday, Braun said the new maps are “nothing but a judicial gerrymander.”

“These gerrymandered maps push three Republican Senators out of their districts and I believe, two Republican Representatives. Of course, no Democrat legislators were affected,” Braun said Monday. “These gerrymandered maps displace 500,000 people from thirteen districts around the state when intervenors showed it could be done with only 80,000 people and three districts.”

Following the map’s release, the UCLA Voting Rights Project (UCLA VRP), which brought the lawsuit, said the selected map “was preferred for its ability to consolidate Latino communities into a unified district, thereby enhancing their voting strength and ensuring their voices are heard in legislative processes.”

“We are thrilled with the Judge’s decision to adopt Map 3B. This ruling is not just a victory for the Latino communities in Washington state, but it also sends hope to all underrepresented communities fighting for fair representation in the United States,” said Sonni Waknin, program manager and voting rights counsel at the UCLA VRP, in a statement on March 15. “This case underscores the importance of safeguarding the rights of all citizens to participate in our democracy equitably.”

Dave Reichert touts law enforcement career at Lewis County fundraiser

Based on data from the 2020 census, most Washingtonians were not alive the last time a Republican resided in the governor’s mansion.

Touting his record in law enforcement and an unblemished election record in King County, Dave Reichert said Tuesday that his experience qualifies him to break the Democrats’ 40-year winning streak.

“I found out when I went to Congress that being a hostage commander came in very handy,” Reichert said. “But I also found out that being a SWAT commander came in even more handy because you’ve got to know when to kick the door in. And you know what? It’s time to kick the governor’s door in.”

A fundraiser at Jester Auto Museum and Event Center Monday attracted roughly 300 attendees, including several candidates for public office, to hear from the man they believe can break the Democrats’ four-decade stranglehold on the governor’s mansion. The event was hosted by the Conservative Coalition of Lewis County.

The former sheriff of King County, Reichert represented Washington’s Eighth Congressional District in Congress from 2005 to 2019.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment,” said podcaster Brandi Kruse, who introduced Reichert. “There will not be another moment like this, at least not in our lifetimes.”

While the state party convention isn’t until next month, and the gubernatorial primary election is more than four months away, Reichert’s focus was solely on the Democratic frontrunner.

“Did you see (Attorney General) Bob Ferguson came out with his law enforcement plan the other day?” Reichert said. “Here’s my law enforcement plan, it’s pretty simple: give the cops the ability to enforce the damn law.”

To do so, Reichert said cops should face a higher standard for potential criminal charges in cases of use of force. Criminal justice is among the priorities of the campaign, Reichert said, as he repeatedly referenced his support for law enforcement.

It’s a pitch that’s personal for Reichert.

Upon arriving on the scene of a domestic call early in his career, Reichert observed a man holding a knife to his wife’s throat. The man, according to Reichert, planned to kill his wife and the first police officer who arrived.

While his partners distracted the man, Reichert snuck into the house through a side entrance and slowly approached before engaging the man in a scuffle, a fight that resulted in multiple cuts to Reichert’s throat.

“Part of the reason I wanted to tell you this is, number one, we never give up. We never quit,” Reichert said. “And number two, we have to back our cops in this state. One of the reasons I got back into this race is because our cops need backup.”

The sheriff during the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests, otherwise known as the Battle of Seattle, Reichert said anti-police sentiments that festered then continue to exist today.

“It started back then. It just slowly progressed and evolved to where we are today,” Reichert said, referencing protestors who temporarily blocked Interstate 5 in Seattle in January. “When I’m the governor, when we’re the governor, we’re going to direct the police chief to tell those state troopers to clear that freeway.”

The second tenant of his campaign, Reichert said, is homelessness, an issue he said ultimately stems from substance abuse.

“We’ve got to start to address those issues,” Reichert said.

As governor, Reichert said he also wants to address the state’s tax system, referencing failed legislation in the 2024 legislative session that would have raised the cap on tax increases from 1% to 3% and the state’s Climate Commitment Act.

“We have an inefficient, ineffective, deceptive government,” Reichert said.

As governor, Reichert said education would also be a priority, though he stressed: “Your children are your children.” In the speech, Reichert called for more charter schools.

“We’ve got to get back to teaching the basics,” Reichert said. “So that our children can be productive members of our community.”

Reichert’s visit comes roughly a month after the Lewis County Republican Convention, where Misipati “Semi” Bird won the unofficial straw poll of attendees with 63 votes, compared to the 28 votes Dave Reichert received. Three attendees were undecided on who they preferred for governor.

According to polling from the Northwest Progressive Institute, Ferguson leads a four-way race between Reichert, Bird and Democratic state Sen. Mark Mullet. In a two-way race between Ferguson and Reichert, the poll shows a 4% advantage for Ferguson.

“This election is not just going to be historic for the state of Washington, this election will be historic across this country,” Reichert said. “We are the longest-running state without a Republican governor in this country, almost 40 years, almost 40 years. And we can change that.”

Lewis County needle exchange ordinance delayed amid legal threats, call for amendments

As written, an ordinance to restrict Lewis County’s sole needle exchange program “likely” violates state and federal law, according to a pair of letters sent to the board of county commissioners.

“Because syringe exchange programs are authorized by statute, we believe Ordinance 1354 is likely preempted by state law,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington wrote in a letter dated March 25.

The letter comes after Kaplan and Grady, a law firm specializing in civil rights, claimed in a letter dated March 18 that the ordinance “as written, likely violates federal civil rights laws.”

“If implemented, it will likely lead to a federal civil rights lawsuit for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act (RA), and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution,” David Sinkman, an attorney at the firm, wrote.

The letter from Kaplan and Grady, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Robert Bradley said, was addressed during an executive session this week. On Tuesday, Bradley recommended the board further discuss the ACLU letter in executive session, “considering the litigation history.”

The risk of legal action comes as the Lewis County commissioners again delayed a decision on adopting the ordinance, this time until April 16, after Commissioners Lindsey Pollock and Scott Brummer signaled they’d like to see additional amendments, changes that were not completed before Tuesday’s meeting.

As drafted, the ordinance would ban mobile needle exchange programs, require program operators to offer “on-site counseling or referrals for an approved substance use disorder treatment program,” and ban needle exchange programs from use as a “safe or supervised injection site,” among other requirements.

Currently, Gather Church operates the only mobile needle exchange program in Lewis County.

The ordinance would require the needle exchange to operate as a one-for-one — meaning to get a new needle, a participant would have to turn in a used one — and would forbid “other drug paraphernalia” from being “issued or distributed in any manner.”

“We have to do things differently. The numbers are going the opposite way,” said Commissioner Sean Swope, who first proposed the ordinance. “Record high overdoses. We need more treatment in our community, and we need to get people into treatment. This isn’t to penalize anyone. This is just a pivot and to say we need a change in our community because we want to save lives.”

According to Bradley, Pollock submitted “a list of proposed amendments” on Friday, which amount to “significant changes” to the proposal.

“There are enough changes where I’m going to submit, basically, an alternate chapter,” Bradley said Tuesday.

An amended ordinance is expected by the end of the week. Despite the legal risks, Swope encouraged his seatmates to move forward on Tuesday.

“To be very clear, I know that we’re probably going to have some type of litigation with this,” Swope said. “It’s important to make change in our community.”

Swope called for a vote on the ordinance as written during Tuesday’s meeting and voted against the motion to recess until April 16, though he was overruled in both instances by his seatmates.

“I think the ordinance will withhold any legal challenge, and I think it will save lives, as well,” Swope said. “And that’s the most important piece of this. We have to have accountability and we have to move people in the right direction.”

According to Centralia Police Commander Andy Caldwell, the number of overdoses in Centralia nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023, increasing from 34 to 65. In the first two-and-a-half months of 2024, Centralia has had 19 overdoses.

“We do not need to be like Seattle, Portland and Olympia and experiment because, as we can see, and I hope everyone can see, that is a failed experiment,” Police Chief Stacy Denham said Tuesday, adding that syringe exchange programs need additional regulation. “We are not those areas. We are Lewis County, and we’re Lewis County Strong.”

The potential for litigation comes as Lewis County considers becoming the first county in the state to adopt stricter regulations on such programs.

“For the sake of some other organization coming in and operating a (syringe services program), I’m very much in favor of some kind of ordinance,” Cole Meckle, the pastor of Gather Church, said Tuesday. “Again, it just has to be thoughtful, not punitive.”

Kate McDougall, a member of both the Chehalis City Council and the Lewis County Behavioral Health Advisory Board, said she opposed the ordinance as written.

“I would not pass the ordinance today. I think that we need more work on it,” McDougall said. “I think we need to do more work, and I would ask for more time to look at this ordinance to keep everything holistically safe.”

According to Commissioner  Brummer, the commissioners have received more than 50 pieces of written public comment, with more than 40 in support of the ordinance “in its current form.”

“I think that it is prudent for the protection of the people, and the taxpayers, that we do our due diligence to ensure that, as best we can, we have carefully looked at all aspects of this ordinance before its passage,” Brummer said. “At this point, I am well in support of it as written, but as I’ve said, I would like to see your proposed amendments, Commissioner Pollock.”

 

Potential conflict with state law

In a three-page letter to the Lewis County commissioners, the ACLU of Washington wrote that the proposed ordinance “will greatly inhibit the viability of syringe exchange programs currently existing in Lewis County.”

As written, three or more violations of “any portion” of the ordinance could result in a misdemeanor charge for needle exchange operators in Lewis County, a charge that could result in a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a monetary fine.

“I don’t want Lewis County taxpayers to have to pay money to try and defend an ordinance that has components in it that are not legal,” Meckle said. “It’s not the ordinance itself, it’s the criminalization of these activities, which itself is not legal.”

Like Meckle, Pollock voiced concern about the ordinance’s enforcement mechanism.

“I get really concerned when we’re talking about the criminalization of health care after the debacle that we’ve been through in the past four years,” Pollock said.

According to the ACLU of Washington, the potential criminal charge places the ordinance “in direct conflict with the Uniformed Controlled Substance Act as the lawfulness of needle exchange programs are expressly authorized under RCW 69.50.4121(3).”

“The ACLU of Washington trusts that the Lewis County Commissioners will develop alternative methods to ensure the safe implementation of harm reduction services that do not run afoul of state law,” the letter reads. “Moreover, it is our hope that the commissioners consider reasonable alternative measures for the greater good of the county and all its constituents.”

 

Potential conflict with         federal law

In a seven-page letter addressed to the clerk of the board, Sinkman states that both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Rehabilitation Act (RA), protect the program “unless there is objective evidence that Gather Church and its patients pose an actual risk of a direct harm to others (not themselves).”

“Ordinance 1354 is not supported by any report, testimony, photo, or other evidence documenting any public safety danger caused by the operations of the one mobile syringe service exchange in Lewis County,” Sinkman wrote. “Rather, it appears driven by animus against syringe service exchanges and the people they serve and by unfounded fears of increased drug use, crime, and the number of unhoused in the county.”

According to the letter, a federal challenge to a restrictive zoning ordinance resulted in the town of DuBois, Pennsylvania, paying $132,800 in damages and over $270,000 in attorney fees and costs.

“To avoid the risk of protracted and expensive litigation and possibly a federal investigation, Lewis County should not enact Ordinance 1354 as written,” the letter states.

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