Capitol Buzz: Inslee vetoes $235M in new spending as COVID-19 fiscal cliff looms; Builders make plea to Inslee as construction takes massive unemployment hit

Washington House Republicans: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information and Resources
Governor’s Office: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Information and Updates
Washington State Department of Health (DOH): 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19)

CORONAVIRUS

CASE COUNTS & COUNTY UPDATES

• Washington passes 7,900 COVID-19 cases, reaches 338 deaths (The News Tribune)
• Pierce County reports 68 new COVID-19 cases, two deaths (The News Tribune)
• Thurston County COVID-19 cases grow to 67 after three more announced Sunday (The Olympian)
• First Thurston County resident dies of COVID-19 complications (The Olympian)
• Bellingham nursing home reports sixth resident dies after positive coronavirus test (The Bellingham Herald)
• Four new Whatcom County coronavirus deaths reported Sunday, positive cases reach 224 (The Bellingham Herald)
• 15 positive cases of COVID-19 in Mason County (iFiberOneNewsRadio-KMAS)
• Number of Kitsap County positive COVID-19 tests surpasses 100 (Kitsap Sun)
• Yakima County COVID-19 cases up to 326; nine dead (Yakima Herald)
• Three new cases of COVID-19 reported in Walla Walla County (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Coronavirus: 88 confirmed cases in Grant County, eight new cases (Columbia Basin Herald)
• More than 350 people have COVID-19 in Yakima County, 12 dead (KAPP-T/KVEW-TV)
• 283 COVID-19 cases reported in the Tri-Cities, 63 of those are probable (KAPP-TV/KVEW-TV)
• 19 new COVID-19 cases in Benton County, two in Franklin County (KAPP-TV/KVEW-TV)
• Three new Adams County cases, bringing total to 23 (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Employee at Amazon distribution center positive for COVID-19 (The Everett Herald)

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Stumbling toward spring: Northwest growers scramble to start during coronavirus crisis (NW News Network)
• Whatcom farmers continue to produce key products during the coronavirus pandemic (The Bellingham Herald)
• Kitsap agriculture, backyard gardening seeing a surge during coronavirus pandemic (Kitsap Sun)
• Despite big impact, Warner confident Washington wineries will bounce back from COVID-19 (Washington Ag Network/KONA Radio)
• Northwest lawmakers call for assistance for cattle producers (Washington Ag Network/KONA Radio)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Coronavirus crisis creates new tensions between employers and workers (The Seattle Times)
• Some gun stores staying open despite Washington’s stay-at-home order (KING TV)
• Washington small businesses rush to federal stimulus aid (KCPQ TV)
• Tacoma businesses turn to GoFundMe as money dries up during coronavirus shutdown (The News Tribune)
• University of Washington Tacoma throws business tenants a lifeline during COVID-19 crisis: No rent due for now (The News Tribune)
• Everson company switches gears to make cots in fight against coronavirus pandemic (The Bellingham Herald)
• Boeing indefinitely extends production shutdown at Washington state plants due to coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• Clark County manufacturers make face masks amid business decline (The Columbian)
• Tri-Cities builders make plea to Inslee as construction takes massive unemployment hit (Tri-City Herald)
• ‘Non-essential’ Tri-Cities gun stores refuse to close under Inslee order (Tri-City Herald)
• Tri-Cities restaurant inspections are on hold because of the coronavirus (Tri-City Herald)
• Veterinarians work despite COVID-19 (Skagit Valley Herald)
• Coronavirus has ravaged the arts. Financial relief is available, but is it enough? (Crosscut)
• Seattle manufacturer answers the call to make personal protective equipment (KING TV)
• With governor’s exemption, construction continues on many public projects (Yakima Herald)
• ‘Essential’ businesses: Florists, boat sellers and toy makers (The Everett Herald)
• Boeing reverses course, extends shutdown at its factories ‘until further notice’ (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Backlogs, glitches and glimmers of hope: what small business owners encounter as they seek relief (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Local distillers switch to sanitizer production (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Sumner plastic company starts making medical face shields for coronavirus crisis (The News Tribune)
• Health district to patrol businesses, could close those that don’t use social distancing (The Wenatchee World)
• A mounting casualty of coronavirus crisis: Health care jobs (AP/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• COLUMN: ‘Essential’ but unwanted: Coronavirus reveals another American double standard (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Washington gun stores defy order, stay open during coronavirus shutdown (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)
• EDITORIAL: Resume residential construction to keep mills, and toilet paper, going (The Seattle Times)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Official says kids are at risk for abuse amid stresses, school closures related to coronavirus (KNKX Radio)
• Religious leaders keeping Easter services ‘as ordinary’ as possible for worshipers (The Daily News)
• Seattle’s Chinese American community is here to help fight the coronavirus: ‘We are all together’ (The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Your kids are living through history. Here are ways to teach them some during COVID-19 outbreak (Matt Driscoll/The News Tribune)
• COLUMN: Practice small-town values at small-town stores (Sue Lani Madsen/The Spokesman-Review)

CONGRESS & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

• Waiting for stimulus check or unemployment benefits? Here’s when they might arrive (The News Tribune)
• Trapped by the coronavirus pandemic, Congress tries new ways of legislating from home (KUOW Radio)
• Inslee continues criticism of Trump: It’s ‘ludicrous’ we don’t have national effort against coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic (KCPQ TV)
• Coronavirus: President thanks Inslee for work done in WA as nation warned of difficult week ahead (KIRO TV)
• Herrera Beutler, lawmakers urge ‘decisive’ action on COVID-19 scams (The Columbian)
• COLUMN: For Trump, gun ruling essential (Greg Jayne/The Columbian)
• EDITORIAL: You say Tacoma’s too small to get coronavirus cash? Then fix the formula, Congress (The News Tribune)
• EDITORIAL: Trump, Zoom, and masks: How national leadership has reshuffled and other viral thoughts (The Olympian)

COURTS, CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Breaking quarantine: Washington man arrested after flying to Hawaii, cops say (The News Tribune)
• During isolation, SPD sees increased domestic violence reports (KUOW Radio)
• Monroe inmate first to be diagnosed with COVID-19 inside state prison (Seattle P-I)
• Jail operations revised to protect inmates from COVID-19 (KONA Radio)
• Judge orders DOC to detail what it’s doing to address COVID-19 in Washington prisons (The News Tribune)
• COLUMN: Seattle burglary explodes 87% downtown after coronavirus policy, crisis (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

EARLY LEARNING

• Childcare facilities face COVID-19 hardships (KLEW TV)
• WA rushes to provide emergency child care for essential workers (Crosscut)

EDUCATION & SCHOOL SAFETY

• In their own words: Washington students share how the coronavirus pandemic has changed their lives (The Seattle Times)
• WA education superintendent doubtful that classes will return this school year (KIRO TV)
• After viral video, expect more from Graham-Kapowsin High’s ‘social distancing’ bands (The News Tribune)
• Clark County school districts, teachers prepare for classes to resume remotely Monday (The Columbian)
• Pasco schools hand out hundreds of laptops to students needing access to classwork (Tri-City Herald)
• State superintendent says schools may remain closed (Columbia Basin Herald)
• OPINION: Sorry distance-learning disciples, but best education still needs close contact (Steve Jaech, retired Pierce College instructor/The News Tribune)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• With Kitsap residents staying at home, public safety professionals see a drop in 911 calls (Kitsap Sun)

ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES & PARKS

• Spokane man continues hiking Pacific Crest Trail despite pleas to stop (The Spokesman-Review)
• ‘Flushable’ and disinfecting wipes are clogging Tri-Cities sewers and toilets (Tri-City Herald)
• Washington public lands are still closed. So please stop going around closure signs, officials ask (Northwest Public Broadcasting)
• With more people staying home, Washington skies are cleaner (Crosscut)
• Department of Ecology conducts first public hearing for proposed Chehalis Basin Dam via webinar due to COVID-19 (The Chronicle)

GENERAL NEWS

• How the coronavirus overwhelmed Washington state’s early efforts to contain it (The Seattle Times)
• Coronavirus daily news updates, April 4: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the nation (The Seattle Times)
• State Health Department, CDC recommend wearing simple cloth masks (KIRO TV)
• Inslee calls for national stay-at-home order to combat COVID-19 (The News Tribune)
• Wearing face masks soon to become the new normal, but don’t seek medical-grade version (The News Tribune)
• Without social distancing, report says Whatcom could have up to 4,200 coronavirus deaths (The Bellingham Herald)
• Coronavirus daily news update, April 6: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state, and the nation (The Seattle Times)
• When your home becomes a coronavirus hot spot, hunker down by taking these steps (Tri-City Herald)
• Confluence Health CEO pleas for community to follow social distancing (The Wenatchee World)
• Governor Inslee receives 74 percent approval in response to COVID-19, poll says (KEPR-TV)
• OPINION: 10 ways our post-pandemic lives will be better (Dr. Richard Waltman, primary care physician/The News Tribune)
• EDITORIAL: Prepare for a long fight to flatten the curve (The Everett Herald)

HEALTH CARE

• Ailing Everett couple gambles on drug trial for COVID-19 cure (The Seattle Times)
• Major health insurers in Washington state waiving co-pays and costs for coronavirus patients (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle is one of first in nation to receive powerful new mask decontamination system (Seattle P-I)
• Army field hospital at CenturyLink Field Event Center expected to open next week (KIRO TV)
• Shuksan care center faced debt, improper care violations before coronavirus, records show (The Bellingham Herald)
• Masks donated to Bellingham hospital mean more than protecting staff from coronavirus (The Bellingham Herald)
• Seattle research institute launches fast track Covid-19 immunotherapy trial (KUOW Radio)
• The military field hospital at CenturyLink is ready to receive patients (KUOW Radio)
• COVID-19 presents challenges to dementia caregivers in Clark County (The Columbian)
• Camas students make and donate masks (The Columbian)
• Eerily prescient pandemic exercise in 2018 is now informing Washington state’s coronavirus crisis-care response (The Seattle Times)
• Washington sending over 400 ventilators for non-coronavirus patients to New York, harder hit states (The Seattle Times)
• As state settles on guidelines about who would get care in worst-case scenario, disability advocates raise flags (The Spokesman-Review)
• Protective equipment arrives at hospitals as Spokane County surpasses 200 COVID-19 cases, reports 10 deaths (The Spokesman-Review)
• Microsoft exec says coronavirus could spark big shift for AI in health care (The Seattle Times)
• Community Health of Central Washington opens car clinic at Mountain View location (Daily Record)
• Coronavirus patients rush to join studies of experimental drug (AP/The Oregonian)
• Are Snohomish County hospitals ready for the COVID-19 peak? (The Everett Herald)
• Virtual health provider to quadruple physician headcount, hire across the board after raising $43M (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Former hospital gets renewed to fill potential need (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Samaritan Healthcare projects revenue lower than projected (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Here’s how the Pierce County health department plans to distribute 1,400 test kits sitting in storage (The News Tribune)
• Whatcom opens drive-through site to test high-risk populations for coronavirus (The Bellingham Herald)
• Gov. Jay Inslee says Washington will return 400 ventilators to national stockpile (The Spokesman-Review)
• Drive-thru coronavirus testing site could soon close (The Everett Herald)
• Drive-Up COVID-19 testing site coming to Yakima (KNDO/KNDU)
• Washington may soon run out of COVID-19 testing supplies (KAPP-TV/KVEW-TV)
• OPINION: Silencing nurses and doctors will make the coronavirus crisis worse (Sally Watkins, executive director of the Washington State Nurses Association and a registered nurse/The Seattle Times)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• How to figure out if your student loan qualifies for coronavirus relief (The Seattle Times)
• Washington state students working their way through college are hard-hit by coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• New WSU College of Nursing Dean Mary Koithan on taking over in time of coronavirus: ‘I look at it as an opportunity’ (The Spokesman-Review)
• WSU laboratory begins testing animals for COVID-19 (KXLY)
• OPINION: How do we meet our mission during a pandemic? (Mary Cullinan, president of Eastern Washington University/The Spokesman-Review)

HOMELESSNESS

• Puyallup moves homeless camp from Riverwalk Trail to rec center amid coronavirus crisis (The News Tribune)
• Pierce County creates $1.85M response plan for the homeless during coronavirus pandemic (The News Tribune)
• Salvation Army had planned to close Olympia shelter, but COVID-19 has changed that (The Olympian)
• Local churches expand services for homeless during COVID-19 outbreak (The Olympian)
• Whatcom County receives grants to help homeless during outbreak (KGMI Radio)

HOUSING

• Eviction moratorium creates confusion for Clark County renters, landlords (The Columbian)
• Landlords worry eviction moratorium means lost rent (The Daily News)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Mayor releases statement on Tacoma’s first death (The News Tribune)
• Pierce County demands more strident coronavirus prevention at long-term care centers (The News Tribune)
• Vancouver issues two emergency orders (The Columbian)

MEDIA

• Washington state nonprofit files lawsuit saying Fox News misled viewers about coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• BLOG: Some small changes for covering Olympia during the pandemic (Jim Camden/The Spokesman-Review)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Irritable? Can’t sleep? We react to pandemic’s stress in many ways, experts say (The News Tribune)
• Advocates want fewer patients at Western State during pandemic; state says effort underway (The News Tribune)
• Mental health experts race to help children cope with stay-at-home life amid coronavirus closures (The Seattle Times)
• Those with mental health and substance use disorders most at-risk to increased COVID-19 stress, anxiety (The Wenatchee World)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• ‘It’s very surreal’: Guardsmen arrive to help local food banks amid coronavirus crisis (KCPQ TV)
• Fairchild adapts to COVID-19 precautions, won’t release case counts due to Pentagon order (The Spokesman-Review)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

• EDITORIAL: Coronavirus is no excuse. Elected officials must allow public comments (Tri-City Herald)

OPERATING BUDGET

• Inslee vetoes $235M in new spending as COVID-19 fiscal cliff looms (NW News Network)
• Gov. Inslee vetoes some spending in response to COVID-19 as Washington death toll nears 300 (KCPQ TV)
• Inslee cuts state budget, expecting pandemic to cause revenue to drop (The Spokesman-Review)
• EDITORIAL: Virus will leave Washington’s state budget a mess (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

OTHER STATES

• Coronavirus in Oregon: 1 new death as known cases pass 1,000 (The Oregonian)
• Oregon sends 140 ventilators to New York; Gov. Kate Brown: ‘We are all in this together’ (The Oregonian)

POLITICS

• Wyman to seek CARES Act election funding (My Columbia Basin)

PRIVACY

• Spokane health officials providing more information about COVID-19 patients, but privacy concerns limit other data (The Spokesman-Review)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• In age of coronavirus and social distancing, states looking to Washington’s vote-by-mail system (The Seattle Times)
• Unemployment relief delayed weeks for some, state system overwhelmed (KCPQ TV)
• OPINION: Governor’s stay-home order could use a dose of flexibility, consistency (Sen. Mark Schoesler/The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Coronavirus adds to suffering of foster children in King County ( Naomi Ishisaka/The Seattle Times)

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

• Addiction recovery challenged during pandemic (AP/The Columbian)

TAXES

• Treasurer’s Office offers payment plans for property tax (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

TECHNOLOGY

• How tech’s lobbyists are using the coronavirus pandemic to make gains (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)

TRANSPORTATION

• Despite stay-at-home orders, 6 out of 10 are on roads, and Seattle traffic hovers around 50% of typical levels (The Seattle Times)
• Intercity Transit will reduce evening hours, frequency (The Olympian)
• WTA limits passenger capacity on fixed bus routes amid coronavirus concerns (The Bellingham Herald)
• Does Washington ‘stay at home’ order permit recreational drives? It’s a little fuzzy (The Bellingham Herald)
• For Kitsap health care workers, ferry schedule changes add new stress to tough days (Kitsap Sun)
• Transit agencies around Puget Sound to receive over $500 Million (AP/The Everett Herald)
• Sound Transit halts nearly all construction on its multibillion-dollar light rail extension projects (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Seattle-area transit agencies will receive $538M from the CARES Act. Here’s where that money will go. (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• OPINION: Saving Washington: The case for investing in light rail now (Jessyn Farrell, senior vice president at Civic Ventures and a former state representative/Crosscut)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Washington state tribes, allies mobilize to gather medical protection needed in coronavirus fight (The Seattle Times)