Washington state went all in on expanding public broadband this year. So much so, that the Legislature passed two different bills aimed at extending high-speed internet to people in rural areas. It’s possible, however, that two bills aren’t better than one. And they may partly cancel each other out. Now that Gov. Jay Inslee has signed both measures into law, confusion is mounting about whether the two laws can co-exist.

SEATTLE (AP) — European green crabs were found in Washington's inland waters in 2016, prompting extensive monitoring. Now state officials said this destructive invasive species is spreading in several coastal locations. They thrive in shallow water and soft sediment, which Washington's estuaries provide.

"...people whose narcissism leads them to manipulate and exploit others may have difficulties in distinguishing themselves from others. They see your goals as the same as theirs, so why wouldn’t you want to throw your personal interests by the wayside to satisfy theirs? Aren’t you willing to be that tool they need to succeed."

TONASKET — The Okanogan Rivers is expected to hit minor flood stage by next week, according to meteorologists at the Spokane office of the National Weather Service. “Unseasonably warm temperatures and rapidly melting mountain snowpack will lead to significant rises in rivers and creeks across Okanogan County into next week,” officials said in a hydrologic outlook warning Friday morning. “Some of the bigger rises are expected along the Okanogan River, and current forecasts place the river into action stage near Tonasket by Sunday and into minor flood stage by Monday night. Increased flow is also expected for the Similkameen River.”

And today, we’re excited to share our list of nominees for Summer 2021. Neither our staff nor our curators have read each and every title below, but we believe that the two best nonfiction books of the season are among them. So if you’re looking for summer reading, the nominees are…

STEVENS COUNTY, Wash. — With nearly six million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine already given in Washington, the state is on the way back to normalcy. But in some rural areas, vaccine hesitancy remains an issue. Even as communities within Stevens County have seen a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases recently, the number of vaccines being given isn’t going up, and many residents are hesitant to get the shot.

If your relationships, work, and life have been disrupted by the pandemic, the weeks and months before you fully reenter the world should not be wasted. They are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come clean with yourself—to admit that all was not perfectly well before. Here’s how you can make a plan not to return to normal.

Shifting away from large-scale farming would build resilience in the face of climate change and other crises. The authors of new research want to show how to make it happen.

The report offers a measure of clarity—if not a complete road map—for how to reach the 30x30 goal. To get there, stakeholders from all aspects of land use are asked to pitch in. No longer is conservation the exclusive realm of federally protected lands. Instead, the very definition of conserved land is being adjusted to incorporate farms, working landscapes, city parks, and practically any natural environment that stores carbon, provides wildlife habitat, or serves as green space for communities lacking access to nature.

In PwC's latest US Remote Work Survey, PwC surveyed 133 US executives and 1,200 US office workers between November 24 and December 5, 2020, to determine how effective remote work has been. According to their findings, 80% of organizations are planning a hybrid work environment for the long term. PwC's Digital Products Leader, Tom Puthiyamadam, an expert who coaches teams on how to bring the best ideas to life, shared with me three best practices for navigating this transition to a hybrid model.

Public speaking is one thing. Public speaking on Zoom comes with a whole new dimension of challenges, especially if you get nervous about presenting. From potential technical issues to being unable to rely on non-verbal cues from your audience, it’s easy to break a sweat about all the things that could go wrong while giving a virtual talk. But what if you could not only manage your performance anxiety but also learn how to enjoy public speaking on Zoom calls?

The 60-30-10 Rule was developed by leading teams researchers, Ruth Wageman and the late Harvard Professor, Richard Hackman. The rule explains variance in team performance, specifically it says that: 60 percent of the variance in team performance is attributed to the way a team is designed. 30 percent of the variance in team performance is attributed to the quality of team launches. And only 10 percent is attributed to how well the leader coaches the team.

It's a tough time to be a young person. COVID-19 has robbed many of them of experiences and plans. Their unemployment rate remains high. College enrollment is down. To address those concerns and bolster preparedness for a warming world, President Biden wants to retool and relaunch one of the country's most celebrated government programs: the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The big picture: For the first time in a long time, nobody needs to cherry-pick some misleading data to make it seem like things are going well, and the good news doesn’t need an endless list of caveats, either. It’s just really good news. We’re winning. Be happy.

Vaccines may become less effective over time, but there’s no evidence that we’re on the brink of catastrophe. “I don’t think that there’s an imminent danger that we’re going to go back to square one,” says Thomas Friedrich, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. “We should be concerned, but not freaked out.”

There are some core obligations of the ECA, including the statewide inventory of urban forests; equipping cities with ordinances, management plans, tree inventories, and canopy analyses; and, developing the Evergreen Communities recognition program. That said, there is some flexibility in how our program will be structured and how we will execute the funding.

The May 7th, 2021 Sustainable, Secure Food Blog explores how wind erosion affects farming in Washington and some solutions farmers can use. According to blogger Andrew McGuire, “Wind erosion is a soil health thief. In both sandy and fine-grained silt soils of Eastern Washington, wind erosion lifts, sifts, and then carries away the best part of the soil. Lost are the tiny particles of clay and silt with the organic matter that is stuck to them.” Local soil conditions make matters worse. Low rainfall produces sparse vegetation, therefore low soil organic matter levels.

After a very good statewide snowpack for much of the year, the basins across Oregon have lost most of their snow. Scott Oviatt with NRCS Oregon says snow accumulations were trending in the right direction until the peak of the year around April 1st. “But what we’ve seen, beginning in late March and April is very dry conditions and unseasonably warm temperatures occurring across the region. And as a result, the above average snowpack throughout the northern portion of the state of Oregon have runoff rather rapidly.”

Backlash to such a policy is a near certainty in any venue, but especially one in the sports realm. Sports and politics often don’t play well together because team allegiances unite people from across the map and, thus, the political spectrum. This is a fracturing, and how far it will extend in Washington, and for how long, is still anyone’s guess.

Kim Wyman defended Washington’s Vote at Home system against Trump’s attacks in a 2020 op-ed: “Mail-in voting works, and Washington state . . . is proof that it works. Plus, it’s safe and secure.” She went on to say “drop boxes are secure, convenient and a great way to ensure ballots are submitted on time.” In Vote At Home states like Oregon and Washington, every voter turns in a hand-marked paper ballot: the gold standard for voting security.