TVW Coverage - May 3, 2024
TVW Washington's Public Affairs Network
Public Affairs Made Public
UPDATE Division 2 Court of Appeals/Tacoma - Canceled - State v Arroyo, was removed from oral argument -- so no coverage today of that case.?
And more...
More From TVW.
Here is what we covered on our produced programs this week:
Washington to Washington: The Fentanyl Crisis. The death toll from the synthetic opioid fentanyl continues to climb with 112,000 deaths nationwide in 2023. As the crisis builds, the debate over how to address it plays out in Washington state and in the nation’s capital. We explore how lawmakers, federal agents, and those working in treatment are responding and how one family has turned their loss into action.
Featuring interviews with Maria Petty, who lost her son to fentanyl – leading to legislative approval this year of the “Lucas Petty Act”; State Senator Lynda Wilson; State Representative Debra Lekanoff; U.S. Senator Patty Murray; Congressman Dan Newhouse; Special Agent David Reames of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; former fentanyl addicts, and treatment providers.
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Inside Olympia: Drought Declaration. In mid-April the State Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency, which is about as early as the state makes drought declarations – that according to Ria Berns, water program manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology. This year’s drought is a “snowpack drought,” resulting from snowpack that is far below normal especially in certain regions, namely the North Cascades, Olympics, and Lower Yakima Basin. Water experts consider snowpack a reservoir. With climate change “We’re losing a significant reservoir, and that’s going to continue a downward trend over time,” according to Berns.
How will the drought impact agriculture? We put that question to Perry Beale, who manages the State Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences program. He’s also co-owner of a dryland wheat farm and ranch in Pomeroy. While it’s too early to know the impacts on ag, Beale says farmers are already thinking and planning for contingencies – he gives example of innovative things farmers are already doing to conserve water. The financial hit to farming, a mainstay of the Washington economy, can be big: An after study of the 2015 drought found it had a $700-800 million economic impact for the Yakima Valley in a single year.
Learn more about the science of drought, water management, and how farmers prep for a low-water year, this week on Inside Olympia.
The Impact: Wolves in Washington. “Wolves are so adaptable, they’re so resilient, they have incredible dispersal capabilities.” Washington’s wolf population has continued to grow year over year for more than a decade, according to Julia Smith, Endangered Species Recovery Section Manager for the State Department of Fish and Wildlife. Today there are more than 260 wolves and 42 packs in the state. Most if not all of Central and Eastern Washington already have wolves present. As the wolf population in Washington continues to grow, where are they headed next? “Hopefully, the west side of the Cascades” and “also eventually the Olympic Peninsula.”
The state’s Wolf Advisory Group has helped steer policies for dealing with wolves, and put a framework of required preventative measures and non-lethal deterrents in place for ranchers. Some critics of the state’s framework say too many wolves are being killed in response to reported livestock attacks. On the other side of the debate, some ranchers and stakeholders have pushed for more flexibility in dealing with wolves that prey on livestock.
Plus, there’s another predator soon to come to the landscape: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to reintroduce grizzly bears in the North Cascades.