By Bill Lucia | Editor
State Supreme Court races often pass with little fanfare, but not this year. Though seats on the nine-member court are nonpartisan, the five up for grabs reflect divides between Democrats and Republicans. Money is flowing. At least four of the 10 candidates have raised more than $300,000 and outside groups are spending, too.
Also in today’s edition…
With thousands of acres of state timberland scorched in this year’s wildfires, officials are trying to streamline salvage logging of burnt trees.
And, data center development pressure in and around tribal communities.
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The Temple of Justice in Olympia, where the state Supreme Court convenes. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
With only two candidates running, the race between appeals court Judge Ian Birk and King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell was not on the primary ballot. So far, it’s one of the most expensive. Birk has raised $395,000, more than any other state Supreme Court candidate this year. O’Donnell has raised $334,000.
Meanwhile, Justice Theo Angelis faces Dave Larson, a former Federal Way Municipal Court judge who narrowly lost a bid to join the high court in 2024. Angelis was one of Gov. Bob Ferguson’s two appointments to the court this year, taking over a seat after Justice Barbara Madsen retired. Angelis has hauled in $365,000; Larson $354,000.
For a full roundup of the slate of races, see today’s article.
(Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Natural Resources)
By Aspen Ford
This year’s wildfires have burned at least 93,000 acres of state trust land. Money from logging this land goes to schools and other parts of state and local government. Officials are now racing to sell charred timber before it degrades and becomes even less valuable. The state’s Board of Natural Resources last week voted to allow the Department of Natural Resources to sell more burned forestland without board approval. Before the decision, the department could appraise and sell burnt timber, in what’s called salvage harvests, without board approval if it was worth less than $250,000. After the board vote, that threshold is $2 million.
By Madyson Fitzgerald
Tribal communities are grappling with the fact that more developers are looking at their land for data center projects. Some tribal leaders are also concerned about President Donald Trump’s ability to alter regulations related to federal lands. In March, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma became one of the first Native nations to enact a complete moratorium on data centers.
Honor the Earth, a national nonprofit organization advocating for the protection of Indigenous sovereignty and the environment, has helped communities organize against data center development. While municipalities are pushing back against data center developers by tightening codes and enforcing stricter regulations, Ashley Leitka, an enrolled member of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the director of the department of sovereignty and self-determination at Honor the Earth, said some companies are hoping that tribal nations will be more lenient.
“These companies are really preying upon the lack of economic diversity in our tribal nations,” Leitka said. “The reality is our tribal leaders are given a mandate to care for their nations, and whenever there’s opportunities, it’s pretty difficult for them to assert why they would not consider it.”
ICYMI
To protect forests, I learned to burn them | by Alex Brown
This Washington town is burning. That’s the plan | by Alex Brown
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