Orion Donovan Smith

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News >  Nation

An S-R political reporter rides the rails to Spokane as Amtrak turns 50 and Biden pushes for better rail service

Sun., May 23, 2021

WASHINGTON – On Sunday afternoon, I’ll be boarding an Amtrak train at Union Station, steps from the U.S. Capitol. Sixty-some hours and 2,659 miles later, I’ll disembark in Spokane.

News >  Nation

After escaping multiple wars overseas, refugee in Spokane hopes U.S. citizenship will help her reunite with children

UPDATED: Wed., May 19, 2021

Since Kalthouma Mohamed took the Oath of Allegiance and became a U.S. citizen last month, she has been torn between two emotions.

News >  ID Government

Inslee, Murray, Cantwell reject Simpson’s dam-breaching proposal

UPDATED: Fri., May 14, 2021

WASHINGTON – After months of relative silence since Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson unveiled his proposal to breach the four Lower Snake River dams, on Friday Gov. Jay Inslee and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell made their clearest statements yet rejecting the Idaho Republican’s plan to save Idaho’s dwindling salmon runs.

News >  Family

Parents must file taxes by Monday deadline to receive correct monthly payments up to $300 per child starting in July

Fri., May 14, 2021

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service will begin sending families monthly payments of up to $300 per child in July, the result of a reimagined child tax credit Congress passed in March, but parents need to file their taxes by Monday’s deadline to receive the correct amount based on their 2020 income.

News >  Health

Sen. Patty Murray calls lack of affordable child care ‘silent epidemic’ during virtual Northwest Passages forum

UPDATED: Thu., May 13, 2021

In a virtual Northwest Passages forum with The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray laid out her vision for remedying the nation’s lack of affordable child care, which she called a “silent epidemic in our country.”

News >  WA Government

McMorris Rodgers, Fulcher, Newhouse keep mum after GOP ousts Liz Cheney from leadership role

UPDATED: Thu., May 13, 2021

WASHINGTON – Inland Northwest Republicans in Congress kept quiet after the House GOP conference voted Wednesday to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from the party’s third-ranking leadership role over the Wyoming Republican’s ongoing criticism of former President Donald Trump.

News

Biden administration to start sending $350 billion in aid to states, tribes, counties and cities

UPDATED: Mon., May 10, 2021

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration announced Monday it will begin sending $350 billion in pandemic relief and economic stimulus funds to state, tribal, county and city governments this month, a major piece of the $1.9 trillion aid package Congress passed in March.

News >  Pacific NW

U.S. promised Nez Perce fishing rights, but what if Snake River dams kill off fish?

UPDATED: Mon., May 10, 2021

LEWISTON – In a cavernous warehouse above the Clearwater River east of Lewiston, 1.14 million spring chinook swam, swirling together into evanescent balls of silver, breaking into smaller configurations and then returning. It’s a hypnotic dance under harsh industrial lights and spread among 38 large green tubs, each holding more than 30,000 of the small fish.

News >  Health

Patty Murray’s decades-long fight to transform U.S. child care system may finally become reality

UPDATED: Thu., May 6, 2021

WASHINGTON – When Sen. Patty Murray first got to Congress in 1993, one of a then-unprecedented seven women in the 100-member Senate, her colleagues weren’t interested in talking about child care.

News >  ID Government

Newhouse, McMorris Rodgers slam Simpson for coordinating with Oregon governor on dam-breaching proposal

Thu., May 6, 2021

WASHINGTON – A feud broke out Wednesday between Northwest Republicans in Congress after public records revealed Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson coordinated with Oregon’s Democratic governor before unveiling his proposal to restore salmon runs by breaching dams on the lower Snake River.

News >  Health

Idaho’s ‘heartbeat’ abortion ban relies on nationwide wave of anti-abortion laws eyeing Supreme Court

Sun., May 2, 2021

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, outlawing virtually all abortions in the state, with an important caveat: It won’t actually go into effect unless a nationwide push by anti-abortion groups reaches the Supreme Court.

News >  Higher education

Biden’s plan to make community college tuition free could help Northwest students, local administrators say

Thu., April 29, 2021

WASHINGTON – As part of President Joe Biden’s $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan,” the White House on Wednesday unveiled a proposal to eliminate tuition costs at two-year community colleges across the country.

News >  WA Government

Most Inland Northwest lawmakers won’t attend Biden’s pared-down address to Congress

UPDATED: Wed., April 28, 2021

WASHINGTON – When President Joe Biden addresses House and Senate members at the Capitol on Wednesday, marking his first 100 days in office, it will be a far cry from the usual address presidents give to a joint session of Congress near the start of each year.

News

Census results show above-average population growth in Northwest as Oregon, Montana gain congressional seats

UPDATED: Mon., April 26, 2021

WASHINGTON – Population data released by the Census Bureau on Monday showed above-average growth across the Northwest, with Idaho the second-fastest-growing state in the nation, while overall U.S. population growth has slowed.

News >  Agriculture

Congress hasn’t passed major immigration reform in 35 years. Two Northwest Republicans could change that

UPDATED: Sun., April 25, 2021

WASHINGTON – On Saturday, thousands of people descended on a vast field in Nyssa, Oregon, knives in hand. They had been summoned by a viral video on TikTok.

News >  Nation/World

Colville Tribes member wins pivotal case as Canadian Supreme Court rules Sinixt, once declared ‘extinct,’ have hunting rights on ancestral land

UPDATED: Fri., April 23, 2021

Canada’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Sinixt people, part of the 12 Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, have constitutionally protected hunting rights on their ancestral land in current-day British Columbia.

News >  WA Government

Earth Day 2021: After COVID-19 derailed efforts to reduce plastic waste, will they move forward again?

Thu., April 22, 2021

WASHINGTON – On March 9, 2020, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill banning single-use plastic bags, part of a global wave of efforts to reduce plastic waste.

News >  Nation/World

Coeur d’Alene, Walla Walla, Lewiston and other ‘metropolitan areas’ could lose that status under federal proposal

Mon., April 19, 2021

On Jan. 19, the day before President Joe Biden's inauguration, the Office of Management and Budget announced its intention to double the minimum population of an metropolitan statistical area's core city from 50,000 to 100,000. Under that new definition, 144 cities could be downgraded to "micropolitan," including six of the seven MSAs in Idaho and four more in Washington.

News >  Nation

White House reverses course, pledges to raise refugee limit after backlash from lawmakers, aid groups

UPDATED: Sat., April 17, 2021

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration drew intense criticism from Northwest refugee advocates when it announced Friday the president had decided to preserve the Trump administration’s historically low limit on the number of refugees allowed into the United States.

News >  Health

Veterans, McMorris Rodgers air concerns about VA health records system after agency halts rollout over problems in Spokane

UPDATED: Thu., April 15, 2021

WASHINGTON – In a telephone town hall meeting organized Thursday by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Eastern Washington veterans voiced their frustration with a new electronic health records system the Department of Veterans Affairs is piloting at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane.

News

Biden’s plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 draws mixed reactions from Congress

Wed., April 14, 2021

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, multiple outlets reported Tuesday, two decades after the 2001 terrorist attacks launched from the country that sparked America’s longest war.

News >  WA Government

Bipartisan concern over Big Tech’s impact on children could mean better odds of new regulations

Sun., April 11, 2021

WASHINGTON – On March 25, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers faced the CEOs of three of the world’s most powerful tech companies in a virtual hearing.

News

Tribal leaders, lawmakers hail Biden administration decision to halt sale of National Archives facility in Seattle

UPDATED: Fri., April 9, 2021

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Thursday halted the sale of the National Archives and Records Administration facility in Seattle, drawing praise from tribal leaders and members of Congress who had warned relocating the massive building’s contents would make it much harder for tribes, researchers and state agencies to access critical records.

News >  ID Government

Amid mounting opposition to Rep. Mike Simpson’s plan to save Snake River salmon, supporters of dam removal hope for bipartisan backing in Congress

Thu., April 8, 2021

WASHINGTON – When Congress returns to the Capitol next week after a two-week recess, the question on everyone’s mind will be what is included in the more than $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs bill Democrats are crafting.

News

Washington to receive $68 million from CDC to expand COVID-19 vaccination efforts

Tue., April 6, 2021

WASHINGTON – Washington state will receive more than $68 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to bolster local COVID-19 vaccination programs, part of an effort to get vaccines to the communities hit hardest by the pandemic, according to the CDC.