(The Center Square) – Pierce County has a new executive and some returning faces to the county council following a few closes races in last week’s general election. Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello, a Democrat, has won the race for the Pierce County executive position. He bested Rep. Kelly Chambers, R-Puyallup, by only 10,012 votes as of Tuesday morning Chambers congratulated her opponent in a social media post on Monday. Mello, thanked his supporters
(The Center Square) – As temperatures drop in Spokane, its homeless residents are struggling to find safe places to sleep despite the city’s new housing navigation center up and running. Mayor Lisa Brown proposed the housing navigation center earlier this year as the core of her scattered-site shelter model. The new center and model replace typical congregate shelter settings that can house up to hundreds of people daily but often under subpar living conditions. The
(The Center Square) – Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee has approved a revised Site Certification Agreement for the Horse Heaven Wind Farm Project in Benton County. The project is to be located just south of the Tri-Cities, where residents and local leaders are not giving up the fight against the massive wind turbine and solar array project. As previously reported by The Center Square, a group called Tri-Cities CARES has argued the gigantic turbines, up
(The Center Square) – The underperforming South Lake Union Streetcar in Seattle may soon close. Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka is proposing amendments to the 2025-2026 budget package that include plans to retire the 1.3 mile-long South Lake Union Streetcar line and transfer the existing funding used to operate the streetcar in favor of other transit service options. Potential options for transferred funds could include more buses serving the South Lake Union area near downtown