A Bellingham man was airlifted to a Seattle hospital Thursday morning after an apartment fire in the Birchwood neighborhood. Bellingham fire officials are also investigating a string of three fires early Thursday in the Sunnyland neighborhood. Washington state’s primary election is coming up and election officials are calling on voters to be vigilant about misinformation. Eric Tegidof (TEG-it-off) has more. The Bellingham City Council this week approved $500,000 from the American Rescue Plan to the Bellingham Food Bank.
Intro
You’re listening to KMRE News, I’m Glenn Northrop—good to be with you on this Thursday afternoon.
STORY 1
A Bellingham man was airlifted to a Seattle hospital Thursday morning after an apartment fire in the Birchwood neighborhood.
The Bellingham Herald reports the fire broke out around 6 a.m. on Northwest Avenue// Fire officials said rescuers pulled the man from the flames and he had serious injuries.
Firefighters quickly contained and put out fire which was limited to one apartment unit/ though they were still trying to determine whether adjacent units sustained smoke damage.
The initial damage estimate is $75,000
STORY 2
Bellingham fire officials are also investigating a string of three fires early Thursday in the Sunnyland neighborhood.
The Bellingham Herald reports firefighters received calls about fires between 3:30 and 4 a.m. outside Hardware Sales and Trader Joe’s on King Street. They later found evidence that a third fire had been attempted at a location between those businesses.
No one was injured or displaced by the fires. Damage at both stores was estimated at $5,000. Investigators believe all were set intentionally, and their investigation continues.
STORY 3
A consultant says Whatcom County responded effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic but it criticized the county for inefficiency and a lack of public transparency. The Bellingham Herald reports that Berk Consulting released its 56-page report to the Whatcom County Council recently.
The report cites the county’s comparatively low mortality rate/ its role in U.S.-Canada trade challenges its effort to address homelessness/ its work with businesses who were impacted by closures and its effort to collect and distribute donations for those in the most need.
However the report gave low marks to the Whatcom Unified Command and the county health department Berk reported two agencies did not work well together at first as each lacked training in the nuances of each other’s work. And there was animosity and uncertainty about which agency had decision-making authority.
The county spent $100,000 on the report.
STORY 4
Washington state’s primary election is coming up and election officials are calling on voters to be vigilant about misinformation. Eric Tegidof (TEG-it-off) has more.
Washington state’s primary election is coming up, and election officials are calling on voters to be vigilant about misinformation.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said misinformation at election time has become more prevalent. He said local election officials are being more proactive and encourages people who have questions about the voting process to reach out to their local county auditor.
“We can’t sit idly by anymore,” said Hobbs. “We actually have to not only remind them to vote and sign their ballot, but also let them know what the ballot process is so it gives them the security and confidence to know their votes are going to count.”
Washington state’s primary is on August 2. Ballots will go out in mid-July.
Online and mail voter registrations must be received by July 25. People can register in person through election day, any time before 8 p.m.
Hobbs is participating in an online town hall meeting hosted by AARP Washington this Thursday to speak about voting and misinformation.
Doug Shadel is state director of AARP Washington. He said older Americans can be more likely to pass on misinformation in certain online contexts.
Shadel encouraged people to be more cognizant of the stories they’re sharing.
“Before you do that, really do what we call lateral reading,” said Shadel. “If you hear a story, question the validity of it. Find another source for that same information before you pass it on to someone else.”
Shadel said voters age 50 and over are a vital segment of the electorate who show up to the polls consistently. That’s why he believes it’s important to get information on this subject out to them.
“Democracy depends on making decisions based on facts,” said Shadel. “And we’re committed to helping our members and others around the state get the facts both about the candidates and about where we stand with the elections.”
STORY 5
The Bellingham City Council this week approved $500,000 from the American Rescue Plan to the Bellingham Food Bank.
The Cascadia Daily News reports that the Whatcom County Council delayed action on $500,000 request for the county’s nine food banks.
The Bellingham Food Bank’s Executive Director Mike Cohen said the food bank is in a $1.7 million budget shortfall and the money will help reduce that.
Before they decide, County Council members asked County Executive Saptal Sidhu [SAP-tall Si-DOO] to verify how much money from the American Rescue Plan the county has left and what other programs might suffer if they approve the money for the food banks.
Cohen said the patrons of the food bank doubled between 2020 and 2022. This year, the food bank budgeted $1.7 million for buying food. With more visitors and significantly higher food prices Cohen projects the foodbank will actually need twice that amount. He said the food bank will also try to highlight that need during its year-end fundraising campaign.
WX
Local weather today: Plenty of sunshine with a high of 72 degrees overnight lows of 54. Tomorrow expect more of the same.
CLOSE
This week’s KMRE news content was created by the hard work of volunteers Matt Zable, Justine Mallahan, and Susan Lindsey.
As always, you can listen to KMRE News weekdays at 3, 4, and 5pm. For community powered KMRE, I’m Glenn Northrop. Have a great afternoon.
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