John Ryan

1 week ago | kuow.org | Scott Greenstone |John Ryan

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied a request from Washington state last week to help pay for damage caused during a storm last year. In November 2024, about two weeks after the election, winds from a cyclone struck the Pacific Northwest, pelting Washington with gusts over 70 miles per hour. Trees fell on power lines and hundreds of homes and businesses, shattering the window of an Amtrak train and damaging highways.

1 week ago | kuow.org | John Ryan

A kokanee salmon heads upstream in Ebright Creek above Washington's Lake Sammamish on Nov. 26, 2024. KUOW Photo/John Ryan The Trump White House wants to eliminate several programs that benefit Pacific salmon, the iconic but widely threatened species of the Pacific Northwest. Much of the effort to keep Pacific salmon from disappearing is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

1 week ago | spokanepublicradio.org | Owen Henderson |John Ryan |James Dawson |Doug Nadvornick

"Wealth taxes" off the table in budget talks in OlympiaWashington legislative Democrats say they’ll give up on efforts to impose so-called “wealth taxes” in their effort to craft a two-year budget that balances. The Northwest News Network reports the governor has made it clear he won’t sign a budget that includes a tax levied on stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other financial assets held by the state’s richest citizens.

1 week ago | kuow.org | John Ryan

After dismantling most federal action on the global climate, the Trump administration now aims to attack state and local policies that fight climate change as well. An executive order signed by President Trump on Tuesday directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to look for state and local laws that address climate change or environmental justice and to “take all appropriate action” to stop enforcement of any that are illegal.

2 weeks ago | m.kuow.org | John Ryan

Baby orca J63 surfaces among other members of J Pod off Victoria, British Columbia, on April 6, 2025. Courtesy Center for Whale Research/Mark Malleson. Taken under Fisheries and Oceans Canada Species at Risk Act license. Another baby has been born to the Northwest’s endangered orca population. A Center for Whale Research crew spotted the baby, still ruddy from the womb, from a boat near Victoria, British Columbia, on Sunday.