By Bill Lucia | Editor
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Number of the week: $207 million
That’s the firefighting cost earlier this month for 20 wildfires that have burned across parts of Washington this summer. This tally is from Aug. 11, so it’s already higher and will keep rising until fall weather arrives and the blazes die down. State, local, and federal agencies will share the expense, which covers only firefighting operations, such as crew pay and equipment fuel. Disaster recovery costs are separate and will be substantial this year given the Spokane fires that damaged or destroyed more than 800 structures.
Firefighters on the Modrite Fire last month. The fire has burned more than 57,000 acres in northeast Washington. (Photo via National Interagency Fire Center)
Burning through cash: More than 770,000 acres have burned this year across the state. Expect fire costs to be a topic of discussion in the legislative session that kicks off in January. In the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, the Department of Natural Resources — the state’s lead wildland fire agency — spent an estimated $304.8 million on firefighting. This was nearly $18 million more than what the agency had budgeted.
The department has had to press lawmakers in the past couple of years to fully fund a $500 million, eight-year commitment to pay for activities geared toward curbing fire risk, like thinning forests, cleaning up flammable brush, and preparing private property in fire-prone areas to better withstand flames and embers.
Cutting down risk? Mixed into discussions about this year’s fires is criticism that forestland has been mismanaged and that more logging should be part of the solution to reduce fire risk. The Trump administration moved aggressively toward embracing this position at the federal level this week when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it plans to entirely ax so-called Roadless Rule protections that for decades have prevented road construction, logging and mining across nearly 45 million acres.
READ MORE:
Cost to battle 20 wildfires in WA has topped $200M | by Aspen Ford
Trump administration advances plan to rescind protections for nearly 45 million wild acres | by Alex Baumhardt
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Where’s the governor?
Gov. Bob Ferguson at last night’s Mariners game, where his daughter threw the first pitch. (Photo courtesy of Gov. Bob Ferguson)
Last night, he caught the first pitch at the Mariners game in Seattle, thrown by his daughter, Katie, a fastpitch softball player.
Earlier in the week was the first meeting of his Economic Development Council. It was held Wednesday at an Alaska Airlines building in SeaTac and ran about 90 minutes.
Ferguson posted photos of himself on social media at the meeting. Members of the press weren’t invited. Governor’s office communications director Brionna Aho said the meetings aren’t open to the public. At least one political consultant for the Democratic governor was on hand. Aho said Rachel Smith, who is president of the Washington Roundtable, a group that represents major companies, will chair the council.
“The first meeting was a productive discussion. The members were engaged and enthusiastic,” Aho said.
Ferguson created the 26-member council in late June. It’s supposed to meet quarterly and submit advisory reports to the governor with findings and recommendations. The governor’s office has described it as an effort to “guide economic policy to ensure Washington remains a great place to do business.” The effort comes as Washington Democrats face criticism from business leaders that they’ve become too hostile to the private sector and that taxes and other policies are causing companies to sour on the state.
The governor this week also continued a recent string of face time with Democratic legislators. His schedule showed meetings with Rep. April Berg, who chairs the powerful Finance Committee, state Sen. Noel Frame, a leading voice on progressive tax policy, among other lawmakers.
Also on this past week’s calendar: a monthly briefing on the Interstate 5 bridge replacement. A request for qualifications notice went out earlier in the week seeking potential contractors for the first phase of construction on the megaproject, which has a total estimated cost upward of $14 billion. The first funded phase, which would be paid for with $6 billion in hand, consists of building the new span and highway connections to it, tolling infrastructure, transit design and removal of the existing bridge.
In the books
Amanda Doyle, chief of staff for Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, signs primary election certification paperwork in Olympia on Friday. (Photo courtesy of secretary of state’s office)
By Jerry Cornfield
The 2026 primary results are official. Amanda Doyle, pinch-hitting for Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, her boss, signed the official certification of results on Friday for the Aug. 4 election. Doyle is Hobbs’ chief of staff.
Turnout checked in around 37%, with nearly 69% of ballots deposited in drop boxes and 30.9% returned in the mail. Challenged ballots totaled 27,072. Of those, 20,262 arrived too late to be counted, while 4,305 had signatures that didn’t match those voters had on file and around 2,210 were unsigned.
Not every result is final. As we noted Monday, ballots in a state Senate race will be recounted next week to see which of two Democrats, Michael Shepard or Eamonn Collins, advances. Shepard leads by 4 votes. Whoever wins will square off with Republican Erika Creydt in the Nov. 3 general election.
IN OTHER NEWS
Deaths and serious injuries of children involved with Washington’s child welfare system last year were even higher than record levels the state previously reported, according to new data.
A powerful labor union and the governor’s office are at odds in contract negotiations for thousands of Washington caregivers, with the state proposing a wage freeze and the workers pressing for higher pay.
A citizen activist lost his bid to keep a one-sentence statement off ballots that summarizes how an initiative to repeal Washington’s new income tax on high earners would affect the state budget.
One of the most destructive invasive insects in the nation has arrived in southern Washington, posing a grave threat to ash trees.
Washington’s Democratic governor and a Republican congressman are asking President Donald Trump to meet with them to discuss the wildfires that have devastated parts of the state this summer.
A reporter-turned-attorney is the newest member of the citizen panel that enforces state campaign finance laws.
Only rubble remains
The General Administration Building, which loomed on the northern skyline of the state Capitol Campus for seven decades, is no more. The six-story, 283,865-square-foot structure had been empty since 2018 and the state moved ahead with demolition plans this summer. Renovating was deemed too expensive. As of today, what’s left is a pile of rubble. Construction of the building was completed in 1956 following a lawsuit that argued state agencies were constitutionally required to be located in Olympia. At that time, many had main offices in Seattle. Earlier this year, the Department of Enterprise Services said the vacant lot would be paved over as an area to store construction materials and equipment. Its permanent use will be up to the Legislature.
The remains of the General Administration Building seen earlier this week. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Late stages of demolition, earlier in August. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
The building pre-demolition. The state kept the 11-foot-wide bronze state seal at center. (Photo courtesy of Department of Enterprise Services)
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