Capitol Buzz: Washington nears deadline for inmate plan amid COVID-19; State to lose billions in revenue from COVID-19 closures

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 10,000 COVID-19 cases, is up to 491 deaths (The News Tribune)
• Washington state reports 187 new COVID-19 cases, 17 deaths (The News Tribune)
• Pierce County reports 10 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death amid technical difficulties (The News Tribune)
• Thurston County COVID-19 cases unchanged at 80; people recovering inches up to 67 (The Olympian)
• Whatcom reports two new positive tests and no new deaths linked to coronavirus Sunday (The Bellingham Herald)
• Latinos suffering high coronavirus rates in state. All Tri-Cities cases up another 5% (Tri-City Herald)
• 21 new cases of COVID-19 in Benton, Franklin Counties (KONA Radio)
• New local cases of COVID-19 reported (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Coronavirus: 120 confirmed cases, virus shows early signs of slowing (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Benton Franklin reports 14 new COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Cities area (KAPP-TV/KVEW-TV)
• 464 COVID-19 cases in the Tri-Cities (KAPP-TV/KVEW-TV)
• Yakima County health officials report 64 new virus cases, 20 deaths (KAPP-TV/KVEW-TV)

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• As farm work carries on, some worry about becoming Washington state’s new coronavirus epicenter (The Seattle Times)
• Immigrant farmworkers face unique challenges as coronavirus continues to spread (Northwest Public Broadcasting)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Elected officials, construction industry want Inslee to classify home building as ‘essential’ (NW News Network)
• What happens when a business doesn’t comply with Gov. Inslee’s ‘stay home’ order? (KING TV)
• Thieves, vandals target private construction sites idled by pandemic (KOMO TV)
• Gov. Inslee, mayors urge people to stay home at cost of tourism dollars (MyNorthwest)
• Thurston business leaders take a collaborative approach to surviving COVID-19 (The Olympian)
• Applications pour in for city of Lacey COVID-19 small business grant funds (The Olympian)
• Tips and advice for shopping Whatcom grocery stores during the coronavirus pandemic (The Bellingham Herald)
• Lynden, construction industry chafes against Inslee’s coronavirus restrictions (The Bellingham Herald)
• Labor and Industries issues guidance to help grocery stores keep workers safe during pandemic (iFiberOneNewsRadio-KMAS)
• Ellensburg Distillery making hand sanitizer as fast as it can (Daily Record)
• Tri-City hotels lay off hundreds and even shut doors to weather coronavirus closures (Tri-City Herald)
• COVID-19 has put Skagit County restaurants in a bind (Tri-City Herald)
• Downtown Longview businesses adapt, stay positive during COVID closures (The Daily News)
• Pandemic pushes Seattle restaurants to the brink, but it was tough before COVID-19 (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Wells Fargo is again urging small business customers to consider other banks for SBA relief loans (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• In pilot program, Amazon builds its own lab to begin testing employees for COVID-19 (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• AI for Health investment marks Microsoft’s latest move in COVID-19 response (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• OPINION: Support hospitality sector, cornerstone of community life (Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association/The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Drop arbitrary distinction that stops essential housing from being built (Sue Lani Madsen/The Spokesman-Review)
• EDITORIAL: Grocery store traffic rules for coronavirus-era shoppers: First one-way aisles, then what? (The News Tribune)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• People of color hard hit by coronavirus in King County, but numbers are incomplete (The Seattle Times)
• Racial disparities not apparent — yet — in WA coronavirus deaths (Crosscut)
• Internet keeps faith communities connected during holy time of year (Kitsap Sun)
• Local pastors move Easter services online to comply with state order to stay home (The Olympian)
• Tri-Cities family’s produce delivery business surges amid stay-home order (Tri-City Herald)
• Having pandemic-related food and body anxieties amid the coronavirus pandemic? You’re not alone. (The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: If you are lucky enough not to need help, here are ways to help those who do (The Olympian)

CONGRESS & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

• Herrera Beutler calls for increased funding, clarity on payroll loans (The Columbian)
• Guaranteed income? What Congress is considering for new coronavirus package (The News Tribune)
• Stimulus money direct deposits are showing up in accounts. When will you get yours? (The Olympian)

COURTS, CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Washington Supreme Court orders Inslee to take ‘all necessary steps’ to protect inmates from coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• Court orders state response to prisoner health after protest (The Everett Herald)
• Governor spends weekend preparing to respond to state Supreme Court ruling to protect inmates against COVID-19 (KOMO TV)
• Washington nears deadline for inmate plan amid COVID-19 (KING TV)
• Inmates’ relatives press Inslee to free up prison space to fight COVID-19 outbreak (The News Tribune)
• Seventh inmate at Monroe prison tests positive for COVID-19 (The News Tribune)
• State Supreme Court orders DOC to take steps to protect inmates, report plan Monday (The News Tribune)
• Tenino hires acting police chief after current chief experiences medical emergency (The Olympian)
• Washington prisoners will make PPE, amid confirmed cases in inmates and prison riots (The Spokesman-Review)
• Bainbridge officer dies after showing symptoms similar to COVID-19 (Kitsap Sun)
• Keep a distance, gloves, mask. Shoplifting, theft, car prowls down during coronavirus, but still plenty for cops to do (The Seattle Times)
• Brandi Kruse: Protecting prisoners from COVID-19 is in our best interest (KCPQ TV)
• Clark County law enforcement agencies start program to help the elderly amid outbreak (The Reflector)
• COLUMN: Gov. Inslee’s inconsistency, insanity (Dori Monson/MyNorthwest)
• COLUMN: After coronavirus riot, Inslee rewards inmates with release plans (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

EDUCATION & SCHOOL SAFETY

• Northshore’s lesson for Washington schools amid the coronavirus closure: Online learning is hard to get right (The Seattle Times)
• State superintendent says even fall may be too soon to return to school (The Spokesman-Review)
• Washington educators engage students remotely in many ways — including singing (KNKX Radio)
• Amid COVID-19 school closures, some students stranded in digital desert (Kitsap Sun)
• ESD helping school districts adjust to online learning (Skagit Valley Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Next school year could look different (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Will seniors graduate with waivers? Will there be a ceremony? (Columbia Basin Herald)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• After aiding disaster relief around the world, Kitsap nonprofit deploys in its own backyard (Kitsap Sun)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Regulators approve COVID-19 bill assistance for Puget Sound Energy Customers (iFiberOneNewsRadio-KMAS)
• OPINION: Snohomish PUD keeping lights on until ‘storm’ passes (John Haarlow, chief executive and general manager of Snohomish County Public Utility District/The Everett Herald)

ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES & PARKS

• Thurston Commissioners vote to officially reopen county trails during COVID-19 shutdown (The Olympian)
• Coronavirus could mean relaxed enforcement, more pollution (iFiberOneNewsRadio-KMAS)
• ‘Heartbreaking’ guidance calls for hikers to quit Pacific Crest Trail trips during pandemic (Northwest Public Broadcasting)

GENERAL NEWS

• The state of our state’s coronavirus fight (The Seattle Times)
• Coronavirus daily news updates, April 13: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the nation (The Seattle Times)
• Coronavirus daily news updates, April 12: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the nation (The Seattle Times)
• Inslee says more restrictions could be needed beyond the May 4 stay-home order to battle coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• Coronavirus flight: As the affluent head to Washington vacation homes, some year-rounders worry (The Seattle Times)
• As 3D printing of protective gear ramps up, a free mask designed in Seattle is the first of its kind to get federal approval (The Seattle Times)
• New University of Washington data predicts U.S. coronavirus cases could peak in late April (KING TV)
• Community Foundation for Southwest Washington raises more than $4 million for coronavirus response (The Columbian)
• How would WA virus restrictions be modified, ended? (The Columbian)
• Don’t let sunny Thurston weather lure you away from coronavirus social distancing (The Olympian)
• Whatcom Unified Command receives and distributes thousands of PPE donations (The Bellingham Herald)
• When will coronavirus peak? Here’s the model Whatcom County is following (The Bellingham Herald)
• Elderly people isolated at home express worries, fears during telephone town hall (KNKX Radio)
• How would Washington virus restrictions be modified, ended? (AP/The Spokesman-Review)
• Traveling Port Orchard family gets a first-hand view of how states are reacting to coronavirus (Kitsap Sun)
• Why Tri-Cities is doing worse on social distancing. Warm weather doesn’t help (Tri-City Herald)
• Live updates: Washington is ‘starting to bend the curve’ says Gov. Inslee (MyNorthwest)
• Fauci expresses ‘cautious optimism,’ says lives could have been saved if U.S. acted earlier (KCPQ TV)
• How would virus restrictions be modified, ended in Washington state? (KCPQ TV)
• Trucker donates food for more than 1,000 meals for Woodland students in appreciation of truck stop (The Reflector)
• Trump says he’ll decide on easing guidelines, not governors (The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: King County wants you to shut up, stay home, hand over your money (Todd Herman/MyNorthwest)
• COLUMN: ‘Slightly illegal’ bridge banner brings Tacoma together during coronavirus (Matt Driscoll/The News Tribune)
• EDITORIAL: Could Gov. Inslee’s stay home order go through summer? We need to know (Tri-City Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Everett testing site’s closure means less certainty (The Everett Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Coronavirus has made reusable grocery bags suspect (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

HEALTH CARE

• When will this end, and what comes next? Health officials and epidemiologists are working to figure out Washington’s coronavirus end game (The Seattle Times)
• Despite pandemic fight, unemployment high among health care workers (KOMO TV)
• Providence now testing essential workers with COVID-19 symptoms at Lacey drive-thru clinic (The Olympian)
• Former Astria Medical Center won’t open for COVID-19 (KIT Radio)
• COVID-19 cases surge across Washington’s nursing homes (KUOW Radio)
• Battelle system decontaminates Washington state masks for reuse during coronavirus outbreak (Tri-City Herald)
• How Tri-Cities hospitals are coping, with peak in coronavirus cases yet to come (Tri-City Herald)
• OPINION: Miracle drugs not best way to defeat COVID-19 outbreak (Dr. Anthony L-T Chen, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department)
• OPINION: While experts fiddle, COVID-19 is a raging inferno. Why are they so afraid of this drug? (Will Jones, attorney/The News Tribune)
• EDITORIAL: Out of the shadows: COVID-19 exposes sorry state of Washington’s nursing homes (The News Tribune)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• WWU anticipates return to campus for fall 2020 (KGMI Radio)
• WWU moves to online commencement and summer classes due to coronavirus (The Bellingham Herald)
• Gaudino: No reduced staffing at CWU through at least June 30 (Daily Record)
• With schools shuttered by coronavirus, here’s what WSU and other experts recommend for teaching online (The Seattle Times)

HOMELESSNESS

• Here’s what the Seattle area has – and hasn’t – done to protect its homeless population from coronavirus (The Seattle Times)
• Health officials report 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in King County homeless shelters (Seattle P-I)
• Volunteer nurse cares for Puyallup’s homeless during COVID-19 pandemic (The News Tribune)
• Homeless affected by COVID-19 to stay at Motel 6 in east Vancouver (The Columbian)
• COVID-Zero — agencies, county take steps to protect the homeless (Yakima Herald)
• COVID-19 spurs reckoning in crowded homeless shelters (Crosscut)

HOUSING

• Buying, selling a home in coronavirus pandemic puts coping skills to the test (The News Tribune)
• Assistance for tenants, payments for landlords could be on Spokane horizon (The Spokesman-Review)
• Advocates worry house flippers may bank on coronavirus fear to target Seattle area homeowners (The Seattle Times)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Snohomish County budget shortfall could top $26 million (The Everett Herald)
• Clark County Council urges Inslee to let construction workers return to work (The Reflector)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon limits hunting, fishing, to state residents to keep Washingtonians out (AP/KOMO TV)
• Virus has killed dozens in Oregon longterm care facilities (AP/The Columbian)
• Coronavirus in Oregon: 1 death, 80 new cases as known cases pass 1,500 (The Oregonian)
• Oregon small businesses face chaos, uncertainty as they seek federal coronavirus rescue loans (The Oregonian)
• Coronavirus cases plateau in Oregon; drop not expected for 6 weeks, new estimates show (The Oregonian)

TAXES

• State to lose billions in revenue from COVID-19 closures (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Due date for Clark County property taxes delayed (The Columbian)

TECHNOLOGY

• Comcast uses Seattle as proving ground for a web now flooded with traffic (Puget Sound Business Journal)

TRANSPORTATION

• State ferries extend winter sailing schedules (The News Tribune)
• Airlines cut Paine Field departures to a handful a day (The Everett Herald)