skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Lawmakers, Locals Tout Practical Aspects of Wild Olympics Bill

play audio
Play

Friday, August 22, 2014   

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. - A push to add new wilderness acreage to Olympic National Forest gained some momentum Thursday, as members of Congress invited supporters and reporters to the area for an update on the legislation.

The "Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act" lost some steam when its original sponsor, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, retired. Now Rep. Derek Kilmer and Sen. Patty Murray, both D-Wash., say it's time to move it forward again.

Port Townsend city councilwoman Michelle Sandoval said adding new protections for 126,000 acres and parts of 19 rivers are important for the area's future.

"As a Realtor, I can tell you that it is our incredible quality of life that attracts prospective new home buyers," she said. "We should and we can do much to protect and promote these natural treasures, and the Wild Olympics legislation will do both."

Sandoval said the area to be protected is in the watershed that provides Port Townsend's drinking water. She and other speakers at Thursday's event said the practical combination of clean, safe water and more tourism and recreation should spark renewed interest in the legislation.

Water quality also is a chief concern for Bill Taylor, vice president of Taylor Shellfish. As part of the state's $270 million shellfish industry, he said the water upstream from the beds where they are grown has to be clean, cold and plentiful.

"That really is one of the critical things in protecting water quality for shellfish," he said. "We face many other challenges, but it's one less challenge we have to worry about. So yeah, having good water quality is absolutely critical to our success."

The current Wild Olympics bill was hammered out in a three-year public process. It still has detractors, who want more timber harvest on that land and fewer protections in Olympic National Forest. Its supporters say it won't negatively affect the timber industry in the region or limit public access to the land.

The legislation is S 1949 and HR 3922.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021