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PrintGov. Jay Inslee Friday sent a letter directing the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to initiate a new rulemaking relating to wolf management. The directive comes after Inslee accepted the appeal from the Center for Biological Diversity that challenged the Department's decision to deny the Center's petition to amend current wolf management rules. The petition argued that current rules fail to prioritize non-lethal management of endangered wolves.
In part, Inslee's letter read:
"While I cannot legally prescribe the specific policies that must be included in this new rule, I ask that DFW include clear and enforceable measures in the proposed rule to achieve the following management outcomes:
Standardized definition and requirements for the use of range riders;
Requirements for use of non-lethal deterrents most appropriate for specified situations (wolf population and range, size and location of livestock operation, terrain and habitat, history of depredation);
Action plans in areas of chronic depredation to end the need for annual lethal removal; and, Compliance measures where livestock operators do not implement the required non-lethal measures.
COVID-19 Count
A total of 399 coronavirus cases were confirmed in Washington early Sunday evening, bringing the total number of diagnoses to 77,235, including 1,953 deaths, according to the state Department of Health. About 6,860 people have been hospitalized in the state due to the virus. Saturday, another 501 coronavirus were confirmed in Washington.
In the USA, there were 6,277, 994 total coronavirus cases and 188,942 deaths. Globally there were 27,147,626 cases and 889,456 deaths from COVID-19 as of 7:30 am Monday.
Inslee Statement Slams
Trump Memorandum
Gov. Inslee released a statement last Wednesday in response to the Trump administration's presidential memorandum attempting to cut federal funding for Seattle and other states and cities.
"This illegal memorandum is a sham," Inslee said. "It is just the latest baseless, petty and divisive move by President Trump to distract from his abject failure to protect Americans from COVID-19. With more than 185,000 lives lost on his watch, we won't forget. The president cannot and will not defund us. He is not a dictator and laws still apply to him. While we're calling our lawyers, he should call his public health experts. This will not stand."
Federal Funding
to be Distributed
Gov. Inslee announced (Aug. 31) nearly $190 million will be awarded from the state's federal stimulus funding to local governments that did not receive direct distributions under the CARES Act. The new funding includes nearly $126 million that will be distributed to cities and counties and about $62 million to local health jurisdictions. The governor's budget office approved the distributions, in consultation with legislative leaders.
"Our local public health jurisdictions, cities and counties have worked tirelessly since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 appeared in Washington to protect their communities," Inslee said. "This much needed infusion of funds will help sustain their efforts to stop the spread of this virus."
The new funding for cities and counties comes on top of nearly $300 million that was distributed last spring to cities and counties with populations under 500,000 that were ineligible to receive direct funding from the federal government under the CARES Act.
Specific allocations to cities and counties will be released by the Department of Commerce in the coming days. Each county will receive a minimum distribution of $300,000 and each city will receive a minimum distribution of $30,000 from the state.
