SEATTLE POLICE-DEMOTION-CLAIM
Protests: Seattle police commander files claim over demotion
A recently demoted Seattle police commander has filed a $5.48 million discrimination and retaliation claim against the city, alleging interim police Chief Adrian Diaz made him the scapegoat during last year’s police clashes with racial justice demonstrators. Capt. Steve Hirjak says in the claim, filed Thursday, that Diaz demoted and falsely blamed him for the improper actions of another commander, who gave riot-gear clad officers the orders to use tear gas and blast balls into a largely peaceful crowd on June 1, 2020. The 51-year-old Hirjak, a 27-year veteran who became the department’s first Asian American assistant chief in 2018, contends his May 26 demotion and other mistreatment have marred his career.
DEPUTY KILLED
Man accused of killing detective ordered held without bail
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a Clark County sheriff’s detective in Vancouver, Washington, has been ordered held without bail. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Guillermo Raya Leon made his first appearance in county court Thursday on a warrant charging him with aggravated murder in the death of detective Jeremy Brown and possession of a stolen gun. A phone message for his attorney seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned. Authorities arrested Raya Leon Sunday in Salem, Oregon after he fled from the Friday shooting of Brown, who was working undercover doing surveillance on Raya Leon at an apartment complex in Vancouver.
BC-US-WATER-WARS-DRY-WELLS
Homes lose water as wells run dry in drought-ravaged basin
MALIN, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of homeowners’ wells have gone dry, leaving them with no running water in an area near the Oregon-California border where the American West’s worsening drought has taken a dramatic toll. At least 120 — and probably several hundred — domestic wells have dried up in the past few weeks. The news comes just a few months after the U.S. government shut off federally controlled irrigation water to hundreds of farmers in the area for the first time ever. Farmers have drawn on deeper wells to try to salvage some crops. That, plus a historic drought, have depleted shallower groundwater normally tapped by homes and hobby farms.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-OREGON-SCHOOL MASKS
Oregon to require masks indoors for K-12 schools
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The state of Oregon will require students and staff in K-12 schools to wear masks indoors come fall. Governor Kate Brown’s announcement Thursday follows this week’s updated national mask guidance in schools and a spike in COVID-19 cases in Oregon, due to the highly transmissible delta variant. In a statement from the Oregon Department of Education officials say they are working to create a rule requiring face coverings in all indoor school settings — both public and private — for all individuals two years and older. This includes students, staff, contractors, volunteers and visitors. Officials say the rule will take effect upon adoption, but the exact date is unclear.
AP-US-PORTLAND-HOMELESS-WILDFIRES
Portland bans homeless camps in forest areas amid wildfires
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland, Oregon, has banned homeless people from camping in forested parks to both protect them from potential wildfires and prevent them from accidentally starting blazes. The City Council adopted the rule Wednesday amid a summer of drought and record-breaking heat. The so-called high-risk hazard zones include Portland’s famous Forest Park and heavily forested wetlands and natural areas around the city. Forest Park is one of the largest urban forests in the U.S. The city says there have been frequent reports of fires at unsanctioned campsites. An advocacy group says the solution is “half baked” unless the city also provides safe places for displaced residents to go.
SEATTLE HOMELESS INITIATIVE
Seattle homelessness initiative qualifies for ballot
SEATTLE (AP) — A campaign to alter Seattle’s city charter and force it to handle homelessness differently, known as Compassion Seattle, has officially qualified to appear on the November ballot. The King County Department of Elections confirmed Wednesday morning that the measure — Charter Amendment 29 — had 34,714 valid signatures. It needed 33,060 to qualify for a vote. Charter Amendment 29 would force the mayor to create 2,000 shelter or housing spaces within a year, budget 12% of the city’s general fund for homelessness and human services, and when there is enough housing or shelter for people living outside in Seattle keep public spaces free of homeless encampments.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-HOSPITAL STRAIN
COVID-19 surge straining Eastern Oregon hospitals
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — Officials say over half of all patients hospitalized as of Tuesday at CHI St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, Oregon, have tested positive for COVID-19. The East Oregonian reports the hospitalizations come as Umatilla County reported about 8% of the state’s total cases over the past two weeks despite accounting for just 2% of its population. The county’s case rate during that same time period was more than seven times higher than Oregon’s highly-populated Multnomah and Washington counties. Umatilla County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Oregon, with fewer than 40% of residents fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
LITHIUM MINE-NEVADA LAWSUIT
Judge allows Nevada tribes to join fight over lithium mine
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A judge has cleared the way for two tribes to join a legal battle over plans to build a mine in Nevada at the largest known U.S. deposit of lithium. That means they can try to seek a temporary ban on digging for an archaeological survey that they say would desecrate sacred tribal lands near the Oregon line. A U.S. judge on Wednesday allowed tribes to intervene who say their ancestors were massacred in the late 1800s at Lithium Nevada’s proposed Thacker Pass mine site. The company says a review has included “substantial consultation” with local tribes that never raised similar concerns.
