By Bill Lucia | Editor
With nearly 50,000 ballots cast for state Senate candidates in northwest Washington’s 42nd District, who secures second place and a spot in the November general election could come down to just four votes. That was the margin Michael Shepard led by over Eamonn Collins on Monday night after an examination of challenged ballots. The results will be verified in a hand recount planned for next week.
Also in today’s edition…
The state’s campaign finance watchdog panel gets another new commissioner.
A federal plan to open millions of acres in the West to grazing sparks a lawsuit.
And, refugee admissions to the U.S. dip to record lows.
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Left, Eamonn Collins and, right, Michael Shepard. (Photos courtesy of campaigns)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
Shepard and Collins are both Democrats. Shepard had 13,125 votes on Monday and Collins 13,121. An additional 125 votes were tallied Monday after a county canvassing board review of ballots that were either unsigned or had signatures that didn’t match those on file. This is the race to replace Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, who decided not to run for another term. Republican candidate Erika Creydt, a psychologist and Blaine school board member, leads the race with 44.6% of the vote. The votes split between Shepard and Collins total around 53%.
By Jerry Cornfield
Washington’s citizen commission that enforces state campaign finance laws has another new member. Lisa Kremer, a lawyer with Vandeberg Johnson Gandara PS in Tacoma, was appointed to the Public Disclosure Commission on Aug. 7 by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson. Kremer, a former journalist with the Tacoma News Tribune, will be completing the unexpired term of Jim Oswald, who resigned in June. The term runs through Dec. 31, 2028. Kremer is the third new commissioner to join the panel this year.
By Alex Baumhardt
A nonprofit conservation group is suing the federal government over plans to allow cattle grazing on more than 24 million acres of previously restricted land across the West. The Center for Biological Diversity and the group’s endangered species co-director, Noah Greenwald, filed the lawsuit to stop the plan. Federal wildlife and land management officials have found that grazing large livestock, including cattle, can degrade water quality, harm native plants and wildlife, and cause other problems.
Brooke Rollins, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said when the grazing plan was announced last year that “bureaucratic overreach and activist-driven lawfare” had undermined the multiple-use mandate of national forests and grasslands. “We are empowering line officers with clear direction and reaffirming grazing as an essential tool for healthy landscapes and vibrant rural communities,” Rollins said at the time.
By Shalina Chatlani
The number of refugees entering the U.S. is on pace to hit a record low, according to a new analysis. The U.S. has admitted 10,258 refugees — nearly all white South Africans — in the first 10 months of the federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. During fiscal 2025, part of which overlapped with President Joe Biden’s term, the U.S. admitted 38,102 refugees. In the previous year, during which Biden was president the entire time, 100,034 refugees were admitted. The Trump administration has capped refugee admissions for fiscal 2026 at 17,500, the lowest level in the past 25 years.
ICYMI
As WA caregiver union pushes for pay hike, state seeks wage freeze | by Jake Goldstein-Street
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