WACD Reading List

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As the area comes off a record-breaking heatwave, almost every jurisdiction in the Inland Northwest has some sort of fireworks ban in place to prevent wildfires. Even in counties that don’t have a ban, officials have been urging the public to refrain from putting on their own display and go watch a professional show instead, though the city of Spokane announced Thursday that four of its planned fireworks shows were canceled because of the fire risk.

In Arkansas, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, cases are surging, officials said. In Los Angeles County, where the vaccination rate is slightly above the national average, officials warned about a possible new wave of infections, especially given the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

Something unusual happened a few months ago in an asparagus field on the Oregon-Idaho border: Six thousand people showed up on a Saturday for the chance to pick some free veggies. "I am a big fan on community, so it's really cool to see so many people out here," said one picker. Children who were out picking were divided on whether they like eating asparagus.

The 25/5 rule is an emotionally intelligent way to avoid distraction, achieve more focus, and get more done.

Scandinavian societies of the first millennium adapted their farming practices to volcano-driven climate changes.

When wildfires rage across the landscape, whether on grasslands or in forests, the massive plumes of smoke that rise into the air and travel for miles can carry more than a thousand different types of microbes with them. Yet until University of Idaho associate professor Leda Kobziar came along, there was essentially no research on what bacteria and fungi might be carried in that smoke, how far those microbes might travel, or how they might impact soil ecology both where the fire started and where the microbes land.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that fully vaccinated people are "safe" from the current variants and do not need to wear masks, doubling down on CDC guidance as some others call for a return to mask wearing. But Walensky said that the CDC's guidance has not changed and that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks, echoing other health experts who note that the vaccines are highly effective even against the delta variant.

From mask rules to where you can go around town, Crosscut answers your questions about what life without COVID restrictions may look like.

The Washington Department of Ecology has no plans to move forward with declaring a drought, as Eastern Washington bakes and wheat farmers harvest smaller crops. Ecology drought coordinator Jeff Marti acknowledged Friday that dry-land wheat farmers are being "hammered" by the second-driest spring in state history followed by heat waves. A drought declaration, however, won't bring water to non-irrigated farmland, he said. "I want to make sure that if we do declare drought, it is to accomplish something and be an actual benefit."

The science of hope and wonder can help us reinvent our post-pandemic future.

Have you ever attended a meeting that wasn’t the meeting? Everyone was pleasant and agreeable in the room, but then filed off to engage in back-channel conversations and hold kangaroo courts. This kind of charade is one of the many symptoms of a “nice” culture. But what’s touted as niceness is often nothing more than the veneer of civility, a cute nod to psychological safety, a hologram that falsely signals inclusion, collaboration, and high performance.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - State revenue projections for the 2021-23 general fund have increased by nearly $1.8 billion as the economy reopens from the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. The estimate was released Wednesday by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

A national organization has set its fire-risk level for the country at 4 out of 5, prompting fire officials in Eastern Washington to warn the community about the risks of a hot, dry and fiery summer. Candice Stevenson, public information officer at the National Interagency Fire Center, said the fire preparedness levels guide where the national organization sends its resources, and how much will go to each region.

New proposed protections for the Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan — an alpine bird subspecies whose snowy habitat is shrinking — have drawn the attention of the Board of Lewis County Commissioners. On Monday, Commissioner Gary Stamper, whose rural and expansive district includes most of East Lewis County, said the recent announcement is “something we need to stay on top of.”

Turn on those fans and get ready for a summer scorcher: Seattle and areas of Western Washington are poised to see toasty, record-breaking temperatures today. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Seattle is currently predicting high temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s on Monday due to an area of high pressure over the region before a cooling trend on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But this record-setting heat wave’s remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change. These sprawling, persistent high-pressure zones popularly called “heat domes” are relatively common in later summer months. This current system is different.

Some states are making great strides in vaccinating their residents against Covid-19, but the ones that are not may soon be contending with a more transmissible variant, experts say. About 45.1% of the US population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, CDC data showed, and in 16 states and Washington, DC, that proportion is up to half. But some states -- such as Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming -- have fully vaccinated less than 35% of residents.

Grower leaders from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) and the Washington Grain Commission (WGC) have sent a letter to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee asking him to announce a drought declaration in wheat counties so growers will have access to federal natural disaster aid.