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Wall St. Journal
KREM
KXLY
Providence hospital aims to solve a staffing crisis with 'earn to learn’ program
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Wall St. Journal
By John CarlsonMarch 25, 2022 6:36 pm ET
Seattle
After six years of increasingly progressive governance, Seattle voters finally had enough. In November they elected Democrat Bruce Harrell, a moderate former City Council president, to be the city’s next mayor. Mr. Harrell’s more liberal opponent in the nonpartisan mayoral election had campaigned on preventing the city from clearing away Seattle’s drug-infested homeless encampments and cutting the city’s police budget by half.
Mr. Harrell, on the other hand, pledged to make public safety a priority and to ensure that city spending on homeless programs followed firm rules for moving people “off of sidewalks and out of parks.” He pledged to restore civility to the city’s increasingly angry political discourse. “I never had to deviate from that message,” he told me in an interview this week.
Mr. Harrell’s election wasn’t the only victory for common sense. Sara Nelson, a self-described “lifelong Democrat,” defeated Nikkita Oliver, a well-known radical activist, for a seat on the City Council. And in the race for city attorney, former public defender Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who had vowed to stop prosecuting misdemeanors, lost to a Republican, Ann Davison, who promised to increase prosecution.
All three of November’s winners were essentially out of Seattle politics only two years ago. Mr. Harrell’s political fortunes had stalled, and he declined to run for a fourth council term in 2019. Then a Democrat, Ms. Davison lost her 2019 bid for City Council by 20 points. She joined the “walk away” movement and switched parties, losing her 2020 bid for lieutenant governor. Ms. Nelson failed to win a Democratic primary for a council seat in 2017.
So why the sudden rebound?
Seattle’s local politics have traditionally been collegial. That spirit disappeared in the early 2010s as radicals began swarming into the City Council. Kshama Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative Party, pushed the council leftward with a confrontational style and ties to a network of outside pressure groups andTwitter mobs.
When Mayor Jenny Durkan took office in 2018, there was hope that the former federal prosecutor could rein in the progressive council, but Ms. Sawant and Seattle’s angry left dismissed her as a “corporate Democrat.” Rather than search for common ground, Ms. Sawant sought conflict, even participating in a march on Ms. Durkan’s home.
Seattle’s politics boiled over in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.Nordstrom’s flagship store downtown was sacked and looted, along with 100 other businesses. Police cars were set ablaze. Protesters converged on the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct building, demanding it be shut down. Day after day the crowd grew in size and intensity. Left-wing council members showed up to support the protesters, not the cops.
The volatile crowd could easily have been diverted to a nearby park, but the city allowed the mob to control the streets, night after night, for 10 days. Ms. Durkan gave up, the precinct was shuttered and boarded, and the six-block, cop-free Capitol Hill Occupied Zone, or CHOP, was born. It was later re-christened CHAZ—the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Ms. Durkan publicly hoped it was the start of a “summer of love,” but instead of Woodstock, Seattle got Altamont. CHAZ was plagued by violence—assaults, robberies and shootings.
All this misery begat even more extremism in 2021. Ms. Oliver’s City Council bid was built around a vow to defund the police. Ms. Thomas-Kennedy, the candidate for city prosecutor, expressed support for the idea of abolishing both the police department and the jail. On Christmas Eve 2020 she tweeted her wish that police officers would catch Covid.
It was too much for Seattle voters. Mr. Harrell not only won the election, he won a mandate, trouncing M. Lorena González by 18 points. Ms. Nelson beat Ms. Oliver by 8 points. And Ms. Davison became the first Republican elected to any office in Seattle since the Reagan era.
Seattle’s turnaround will take time. The city’s political culture has been wounded by decades of terrible public policy, and not just by the mayor and City Council. Judges are still letting armed drug dealers with long rap sheets out of jail on low or no bail.
Mr. Harrell knows that the healing process will be slow. “My strategies have to be sustainable,” he says. He acknowledges the help he’ll need from the City Council and local prosecutors. His immediate goal is to hire more cops, which is also a priority for Ms. Nelson on the City Council. “I’m down 400,” said Mr. Harrell, a reference to the mass resignations and retirements of Seattle officers in recent years.
Mr. Harrell’s other priority isn’t as concrete. He wants to bring back the upbeat, happy city he grew up in. “Seattle has gotten grumpy,” he says. The public’s mood “reflects the angry tone of politics in the last few years.” We need to realize, he says, “that most people share the same goals.”
Seattle’s decline didn’t happen overnight and it won’t be solved overnight either. But the healing has begun.
Mr. Carlson is morning host at 570 KVI in Seattle.
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KREM
SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is launching a prevention support program to reduce fentanyl use in Spokane.
The 'Operation Engage' program is a prevention support initiative aimed to mitigate the fentanyl drug threat in Spokane and to continue addressing other drug problems in the community, such as drug trafficking, violence and crime reduction.
DEA Special Agent in charge Frank Tarentino III said in a statement that the program was necessary after seeing an increase in overdoses and overdose deaths in the communities due to the use of fentanyl drugs.
“In response to this ever-increasing threat, the DEA Seattle Field Division is launching a community-level collaborative effort in Spokane to increase awareness and education through a wide range of resources and programs," Tarentino said in the statement.
Some of the program's goals are to identify local drug threats, trends and be a bridge between local public safety and public health efforts.
"The impact and overall effectiveness of this initiative is directly dependent on the community, law enforcement, health care, prevention and social service professionals working together to mitigate the fentanyl drug threat," Tarantino said,
The program's objectives are to connect DEA field offices with the communities they serve and support local drug-free community coalitions, public health and prevention leaders to aid and ensure lasting success.
"We believe it is critically important early on to provide awareness to our communities and families," Tarentino said. "This learning process is the first step in avoiding drug experimentation, drug misuse, drug addiction and all related behaviors that are plaguing our communities.”
The DEA Seattle Field Division’s Operation Engage program was one of 11 proposals that were approved for continued funding for 2022.
More information about the implementation of this program is expected for Tuesday, March 29 after a news conference with more details.
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KXLY
Posted: March 25, 2022 1:53 PM by Erin Robinson
SPOKANE, Wash. – Police recovered thousands of dollars worth of stolen items and drugs from a home in north Spokane earlier this week.
Detectives arrested Jesse Ray Adams Jr., 55, after a lengthy standoff early Monday morning.
Police identified Adams, a 10-time convicted felon, as the suspect following a lengthy investigation.
Once he was arrested, police searched the house and found two stolen cars, multiple stolen firearms, as well as fentanyl, methamphetamine and five motorcycles believed to be obtained through drug trafficking proceeds.
Officers also found tools, an E-bike, ammunition, drug scales and a trailer full of what is believed to be stolen property.
Adams was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and intent to deliver. Additional charges are pending.
Spokane Police have been able to identify the owners of several of the stolen items and return them.
March 25, 2022 6:35 PM
SPOKANE, Wa. — We’ve talked quite a bit about the staffing issues hospitals had during the pandemic, and it’s not a new issue. Staffing has been an issue within hospitals for well over 10-years. At Providence, they’re looking at the long-term game for solutions.
Genesis Beliz just finished up a six-week nursing assistant program at Providence. She considered a few different programs but after hearing that she would be paid through this one, it was an easy decision.
“I thought it was a great deal,” Beliz explained.
“We have built some programs called ‘Earn While you Learn’ and several different areas including nursing assistants, medical assistants, phlebotomists, nursing technicians, and many more that are in development right now,” said Chief Human Resources Officer at Providence Staci Taylor.
Essentially, these programs offer compensation to train future caregivers along the way. For many, this is a game-changer.
“We reach out to individuals who may not have had another opportunity to enter into the healthcare profession because of the financial barriers to some of the training programs that are associated with licensed programs,” explained Taylor.
The support goes beyond these certificate programs, too. Beliz is already looking to further her education down the road, with the goal of becoming a registered nurse. Because she went through Providence’s nursing certificate program, she’ll be eligible for up to $5,000 per year in tuition reimbursement through Providence, as she studies to become a nurse.
“I will start school this fall and finish up what I need to do before any nursing programs. They actually help out with school tuition here and I feel like that will also benefit me a lot. Everything just fell into place here,” Beliz told us.
“To be able to meet individuals like Genesis who are passionate about being in health care and helping individuals, and we get to help her help others, I’m sure excited to support her along her journey” Taylor added.
In addition, Providence is offering all kinds of non-financial incentives such as unprecedented sign-on bonuses, increasing wages, offering retention bonuses for key positions, and non-financial benefits like mental health to help caregivers prevent burnout.