The U.S. House passed a bill yesterday protecting the Snake River dams, based in part on recommendations by the Washington Policy Center. Todd Myers of the WPC said, “The fixation on destroying the Snake River dams has been a distraction and impediment to bringing salmon advocates, tribes, sport fishers, and others together to focus on the biggest threats to salmon recovery.” H.R. 3144 now moves to the Senate. (Washington Policy Center)

Planning to buy a “green” car? You may want to speed up your time horizon, as state tax exemptions for electric vehicles are expiring June 1. While pitched as a boon to the environment, the tax breaks went almost entirely to wealthy car buyers who would have purchased those models even without the tax breaks. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Mayor Jenny Durkan’s education levies will be pricey. Over the life of the $636.5 million levy, a median-value home owner would pay close to another $250 per year. The levy would go toward making community college free for all students graduating from Seattle’s public high school. (Seattle Times)

Buzzfeed reports on sexual harassment allegations against Benton Strong, former Washington State Democratic Party spokesman, from his time at the Center for American Progress (CAP). Buzzfeed revealed that CAP learned of allegations against Strong in 2016 after receivingan exit memo from a young woman who’d just quit detailing the sexual harassment she experienced from Strong. She wrote that management already knew about the harassment and that she faced retaliation for reporting it. Ed Murray, Seattle’s then-mayor, hired Strong at the city after Strong’s departure from CAP. (Buzzfeed)

Six years ago, federal investigators from the Government Accountability Office identified issues facing the Hanford vitrification plant. Those same problems persist today. The plant, worth $17 billion, has been under construction since 2002 with the aim of turning 56 million gallons of radioactive waste into a stable glass for disposal. (Tri-City Herald)

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