Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is calling for forests in the northwest to be thinned, explaining that the amount of trees in forests in Washington and Oregon are bringing the areas to “powder keg levels,” and are exacerbating the wildfires raging across the states. “We’ve allowed forests to develop that never developed naturally,” John Bailey, a professor of fire management at OSU said. “As a result, we have longer and hotter fire seasons that drive these megafires.”

“I think it’s unprecedented, at least in modern history, to have a mayor resign like this,” former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said of Ed Murray resigning from his position as mayor after five allegations of sexual abuse. “You can see the council struggling to sort out how this transition works.”

City Council President Bruce Harrell was sworn in as Mayor of Seattle yesterday after Murray stepped down. He has five days to decide whether or not he will remain interim mayor until the November elections – if he chooses to decline the position, the council will have twenty more days to choose another member to serve as mayor.

The City of Tacoma is suing three opioid manufacturing companies: Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The city is claiming to have taken a massive financial hit, “as a result of the epidemic Defendants have created,” by needing to provide more services to the community as they battle opioid addiction and abuse. “Prescription opioids have not only helped to fuel the homeless crisis, but have made it immeasurably more difficult for the City to address.”

Pullman City Council amended an ordinance yesterday that will allow Uber and Lyft to operate in their city limits without requiring the companies to obtain fingerprints from their drivers. Uber has been seeking permission to operate in Pullman since 2016.

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