Lawmakers OK study on affordable housing
Gov. Chris Gregoire and top legislative leaders on Tuesday authorized a study of ways to promote affordable housing in Washington.
The governor, House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, asked the state Affordable Housing Advisory Board to convene a bipartisan group to recommend legislation for the 2007 session.
“In some communities, even middle-income working families are finding it difficult to find affordable homes,” the leaders said in a joint letter to the Washington Realtors, which requested the task force.
“A balanced approach is necessary to develop an effective response to this growing social and economic problem.”
The Realtors said recently that housing affordability has fallen to the lowest point in 12 years, with median home prices in some Puget Sound communities topping $500,000. Statewide, home prices increased 19 percent in the past year, the group said.
Spokane Realtor Terry Sullivan, the state president, said describing home prices as a “crisis” is not an overstatement.
“If we prepare now for the growth we know is coming, more people will be able to live in the communities where they work,” he said.
PORTLAND
West Nile virus cases are year’s first in state
Three Oregon residents have tested positive for the West Nile virus, the state’s first human cases of the year, health officials said Tuesday.
The three live in Malheur County and are recovering, said Chris Thomas, the county’s public health nurse.
Oregon had five human cases in 2004 and eight last year. None proved fatal.
“This is the time of year when we would expect to start seeing the appearance of West Nile virus, and it’s a definite reminder for people to start taking personal precautions against mosquito bites,” Thomas said.
Precautions include wearing insect repellent, staying indoors at peak times for mosquitoes, wearing long-sleeve clothing and eliminating standing water where mosquitoes can breed.
Roughly 80 percent of those who become infected with West Nile don’t realize it and have no symptoms. About 20 percent of infections result in a flu-like illness.
However, in about 1 percent of those infected, the virus can cause neurological disease, which can be fatal.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Officials suspend search for plane
The search for a plane missing since late July with three Northwest men aboard has been suspended, authorities said Tuesday.
All potential leads have been exhausted and all areas have been thoroughly searched, the Air Force said.
The plane had taken off from the Kenai airport for Anchorage on a training flight.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Ralph Aiken, of East Wenatchee, was the instructor on the training flight. The pilot was Rick Posusta, of Boise. Ian Beer, of Port Orchard, Wash., was riding behind them in a passenger seat.
Relatives of Aiken, an East Wenatchee city councilman, said earlier this week they believed he was dead. A memorial service was scheduled for Aug. 19 at the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church.