Memorial Day, opioid crisis, new state troopers, grizzly bear research



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Monday is Memorial Day

This Monday, May 29, is Memorial Day. The occasion is a chance to honor U.S. military servicemembers who have died while serving their country.

The Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs has posted a list of local observances [ [link removed] ] taking place in more than a dozen Washington cities. The state Department of Transportation has posted a traveler?s guide for the weekend [ [link removed] ], warning of highway delays and long ferry wait times due to the heavy traffic expected.

On the Washington State Capitol Campus, the Winged Victory monument [ [link removed] ] honors veterans of World War I. Erected in 1938, the monument was created by artist Alonzo Victor Lewis. The monument?s north face reads ?Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.?

The Winged Victory monument at the Washington State Capitol

The northern face of the Winged Victory monument at the Washington State Capitol reads, ?Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.?

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Opioid summit convenes tribes, state agencies
Gov. Jay Inslee, state officials, and members of 25 tribes within Washington state attended an opioid and fentanyl summit Tuesday

Gov. Jay Inslee, state officials, and members of 25 tribes convened an opioid and fentanyl summit Tuesday to respond to a rising death toll from opioids and fentanyl.

Every day in Washington state, three to five people die from opioid or fentanyl. State data [ [link removed]. ] shows that American Indian and Alaska Native Washingtonians die at nearly twice the rate of any other demographic. This week, Tribal leaders and state agencies convened a two-day summit hosted by the Lummi Nation [ [link removed] ] to address opioid and fentanyl crisis in Tribal communities.

?The scale and severity of this crisis is daunting, but it?s a fight we can?t lose,? tweeted the governor [ [link removed] ].

Discussions focused on several topics including increased access to housing and treatment and strategies for engaging youth in prevention efforts.

Inslee signed new budgets [ [link removed] ] last week that raised behavioral health provider rates, and funded opioid treatment services and mobile crisis response teams statewide. The budgets included a critical tribal priority ? $15.5 million from the state?s opioid settlement funds will support tribal efforts to defeat the opioid epidemic.

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WSP graduates new class of troopers
The graduating class of the Washington State Patrol?s 117th Trooper Basic Training

The graduating class of the Washington State Patrol?s 117th Trooper Basic Training stands at attention during their graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Washington State Patrol graduated its 117th Trooper Basic Training Class [ [link removed] ] Tuesday. Each of the 44 new troopers completed more than 1,400 hours of training between the classroom and the field to qualify for graduation.

Several awards were presented to outstanding members of the class. The Top Academic Award was given to Trooper Christian Freund, and the Top Overall Cadet Award was given to Trooper Joshua Hudson. Each year, WSP also presents a Core Values Award to the trooper voted by their class to represent the division?s values of leadership, integrity, and professionalism. This year, the Core Values Award was given to Trooper Christian Freund.

Washington state is experiencing record traffic death, so the graduation of more troopers is timely. In January, Gov. Jay Inslee led calls for action for traffic safety legislation, saying, ?It is such a painful thing to know that 745 people did not get home safely last year.?

The newest class of troopers has already been at work stopping impaired and unsafe drivers, performing 9,056 driver contacts [ [link removed] ] during their training. The new class will report to assignments across the state to continue their lifesaving work safeguarding Washington highways. Even with the new graduates, WSP is still hiring and has more than 200 open positions [ [link removed] ].

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Inslee has bear of a time in Pullman
Gov. Jay Inslee visited Pullman Thursday

Gov. Jay Inslee visited Pullman Thursday to tour the WSU Bear Center, visit a local food bank and service provider, and meet medical residents at Pullman Family Hospital helping address rural primary care shortages.

Primary care providers are in short supply in rural areas, and poverty is not. Gov. Jay Inslee visited Pullman [ [link removed] ] Thursday where locals are taking action to address both problems.

At Pullman Regional Hospital, residents from the Washington State University Family Medical Residency Program [ [link removed] ] are introduced to the full variety of healthcare needs of rural communities. The residents also help relieve a rural primary care shortage during their tenure. Inslee met with the residents and asked about their experience.

?The patient-physician relationship is key. By breaking down barriers, you can build a relationship and build trust,? said Dr. Bolu Olawuyi, one of the program?s residents. ?This program introduces us to many different patients and we focus on preventative medicine to reduce morbidity and mortality.?

Inslee also visited the Community Action Center of Pullman, a social service hub that offers food assistance and housing vouchers to low-income neighbors. The center operates an efficient hydroponics garden to grow its own fresh produce indoors using little water and little soil. The center?s operators sat down with the governor to talk about the housing shortage and the town of Malden?s recovery from devastating fires in 2021. The governor last week signed new budgets [ [link removed] ] that invest historic sums to build new housing.

The governor?s last stop in Pullman was to visit the one-of-a-kind WSU Bear Center. The center hosts 11 captive grizzly bears and performs control studies to inform conservation research on wild bear populations around the world. Among other research, the center is studying the physiology of bear hibernation [ [link removed] ] to inform human diabetes research.

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News you might have missed:

*Inslee, agency leaders host public review of small business engagement and supplier diversity*

The State of Washington is committed to improve its contracting policy to better engage small businesses and improve supplier diversity. On Wednesday, Results Washington convened agency leaders and business sector representatives for a public review of the state?s progress. Between 2016 and 2022, state agencies increased their spend to minority-owned businesses from 5.7% to 8.4%, and 6,000 state employees have completed a new supplier diversity training course. The meeting can be viewed on TVW [ [link removed] ].

*Visit a state park this holiday weekend*

Rolling dunes, snow-covered mountains, sandy beaches, towering forests ? a trip to a Washington state park will create lifelong memories. There are more than 130 parks [ [link removed] ] in the state with an incredible variety of sights and amenities. Wapato Hills State Park Trail near Chehalis is flat and accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. Lake Sammamish state park is just outside Seattle and offers two lakefront beaches for swimming of playing in the sand. Read about more the state's fantastic parks on Gov. Jay Inslee?s Medium [ [link removed] ].

*Port of Bellingham project adds affordable housing and waterfront recreation*

Gov. Jay Inslee visited Bellingham Tuesday and toured the Port?s expansive waterfront redevelopment project which includes the new Waypoint Park with waterfront access, a bike pump track, and a unique ?container village.? [ [link removed] ] ?The park will be a hub for community events and gatherings, and it?s adjacent to a new affordable housing development [ [link removed] ] under construction. State toxic cleanup funds helped prepare the site for development, and the Legislature invested a historic sum into the state?s Housing Trust Fund this session, which will lead to accelerated affordable housing construction statewide.

A new affordable housing development under construction in Bellingham.

Record investments in the state Housing Trust Fund will help accelerate affordable housing construction across every Washington county.

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