https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/proposed-food-bank-cuts-would-be-significant-for-communities/281-632ed9a6-12ee-4cab-8e8a-37fd47ed5a9e In February, Washington governor Bob Ferguson presented legislators with a list of suggestions to reduce state spending. One called for a cut in state funding for food banks. Ferguson proposed reducing food bank funding to $41 million annually. #WashingtonState #Food #FoodBanks #Health

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this article about the Bonneville Power Administration's draft decision to leave the California Independent System Operator's (CAISO) market for an Arkansas-based market called the Southwest Power Pool Markets+ (SPP): https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/03/10/bpa-announces-intention-to-split-with-california-and-join-new-southwest-energy-market/

The BPA supplies (mostly) hydropowered electricity to a third of the Pacific Northwest, but also sells its excess capacity to other utilities. The BPA's own studies show fragmenting the West's energy market by switching to SPP will raise rates for local power consumers -- but the BPA prefers Southwest Power Pool because of "governance issues." Which apparently translates to, "not California focused."

The Columbia Snake River Campaign doesn't much like this plan: https://columbiasnakeriver.com/news/bonnevilles-rush-to-markets-puts-northwest-power-customers-at-risk

Hey #WashingtonState voters, we have one more day to get the #RankedChoiceVoting bill out of committee in the state legislature. Please take a moment to call the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000 and register your support for the Washington VOICES Act, HB 1448!

Here's a link to the bill: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1448&Year=2025

And here is FairVote Washington's one-pager: https://fairvotewa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FairVote-WA_Washington-VOICES-Act_012225.pdf

Let’s get these fine folks into the #washingtonstate #seattle #tacoma #bellingham #spokane feeds.
https://universeodon.com/@WADeptHealth/114123891592966791

admiring writer in the #SeattleTimes #DannyWestneat lays out the figures of federal money for the 4th Congressional District of #WashingtonState (think Hanford) and the vote for Trump (or not voting at all) His careful conclusion is being " engaged in the Sisyphean challenge of our moment. Which is to try not to forfeit whatever principles I have left to this man."

Hey #union and #labor supporters in #washingtonstate please email your state reps and ask them to support HB1622 and give public sector workers in WA the right to bargain over the use of #AI which we can't right now. https://act.aflcio.org/letters/support-public-employees-fight-to-bargain-over-ai-in-the-workplace?source=email&
#unionstrong #unions

HEY LOOK THEY’RE BACK

Follow them if you’re here or otherwise interested!

From: @WADeptHealth
https://universeodon.com/@WADeptHealth/114123891592966791

HEY WASHINGTON STATE FOLLOW WAHEALTH HERE SO THEY HAVE REASON TO STAY

From: @mapache
https://hachyderm.io/@mapache/114122531448686470

The official account of WA Dept of Health said not much happening in its account. I live in the Puget Sound and did not know such account exists.

So, help me boost it so more people discover it, to encourage other orgs for using more open platforms.

@WADeptHealth

#Spring #migration season could cause uptick in #AvianFlu

By Brooke Griffin, KIRO 7 News
March 05, 2025

"Animal experts are warning people to protect their pets and farm animals from bird flu infection as migratory birds make their way across Washington State.

"Amber Betts with the Washington State Department of Agriculture tells us there are currently six million birds migrating across the United States, many of which will fly through Washington state as they head to Canada.

"She said with this current strain of avian influenza, #MigratoryBirds and #WildBirds are the main distributors when it comes to spreading the disease.

"'There’s different species that can have the virus without symptoms and then others if they get it it’s not good for them,' Betts said.

"Betts tells us bird flu kills chickens very quickly once they are infected but many wild birds will not only survive with the disease, they may not even show symptoms.

"She says the sick wild birds will fly across states and countries, infecting entire sections of land with susceptible chickens, ducks, and birds as they go.

"'It can live on surfaces for quite some time,' Betts said. 'If there’s a shared water source and an infected bird drinks out of that and then another bird drinks it, the disease can be shared that way and through droppings.'

"She tells us there are precautionary measures that can be taken to prevent the spread.

"'Make sure the water or food we leave out for our backyard birds is under a cover and not accessible by wild birds. Make sure they don’t have access to a pond where our birds have access as well as the wild birds.' Betts said.

"There have already been at least six confirmed cases of pet cats testing positive for avian flu in [#WashingtonState].

"'That’s the reason we are concerned every time we see migration season coming upon us,' Betts said.

She said the best practice is keeping your pets from drinking any standing water and farm animals away from fields with bird droppings is the best way to prevent them from getting sick."

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/spring-migration-season-could-cause-uptick-avian-flu/4XY7RZUK7ZH3RMN3RHRV6EG7ZU/
#HPAINews #BirdFlu #AvianInfluenza #PetHealth

Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government.

Normally I start with the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant, but the state site has this week's Sars-CoV2 7-day running average at ... 0.0?!? The same extremely unlikely reading is up at King County's version of the same data, available at https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dph/health-safety/disease-illness/respiratory-virus-data. This is some sort of hiccup, obviously.

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally).

Note: when the state switched over to new data providers in September, they also removed the previous historical data from the graphical interface. That's because the two providers used different methodologies that made direct comparisons difficult. Unfortunately, it also removed valuable context for interpreting the results. So, keep in mind we're just seeing what happened in September 2023 until now.

Olympia, March today
March 4th at capitol lake
3pm

Also marches in
Wenatchee, Everett, Vancouver, Pt. Townsend

https://evergreenresistance.org/events/

#olympia
#pnw
#everett
#porttownsend
#washingtonstate

#washingtonstate congressional district 9 (south #seattle Renton, Kent, Auburn) peeps: Representative Adam Smith is having a telephone town hall today at 2:30pm. Let him know what you think about ::waves hand at smoldering ruins::

I sent him a note yesterday asking him why he hadn’t said anything about last week’s announcement that Hegseth is going to kick out all the trans people out of the military. Smith is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, so this is very much his wheelhouse.

Democrats will just hide in the kneeholes of their desks if they don’t feel heat.

Second US company recalls pet food as bird flu spreads to cats through tainted meat https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/cats-bird-flu #Infectiousdiseases #Washingtonstate #WestCoast #Birdflu #Animals #USnews #Health #Oregon #Cats #Pets

Washington state employees are going to have mandatory furlough days again. Just announced at the Gov’s press conference. #washingtonstate #stateworkers #publicservice

Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots.

A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, and isn't affected by the Trump administration's ongoing federal government vandalism.

Let's start with the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant: the Sars-CoV-2 7-day rolling average again improved this week. The last 7DRA number was calculated on 2/18.

WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewershed results, and a breakdown of variants for the state wastewater surveillance program, along with other metrics like case counts and hospitalizations for Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, at https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-surveillance-data/respiratory-illness-data-dashboard#WasteWater. If you go to the page and click "learn more" in the statewide view tab, you can find out lots of details about how these data are calculated and how to interpret them. The dashboard gets updated every Wednesday (generally).

Note: when the state switched over to new data providers in September, they also removed the previous historical data from the graphical interface. That's because the two providers used different methodologies that made direct comparisons difficult. Unfortunately, it also removed valuable context for interpreting the results. So, keep in mind we're just seeing what happened in September 2023 until now.