Tiny homes, energy-efficient schools, school vaccine requirements, fall and winter prep



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Tumwater tiny home village brings 50 inside
Gov. Jay Inslee and First Spouse Trudi Inslee tour the Franz Anderson Tiny Home Village in Olympia.

Gov. Jay Inslee and First Spouse Trudi Inslee toured the Franz Anderson Tiny Home Village in Olympia Friday morning.

Shelter, showers, heat, security - all things often taken for granted, and all things people trapped in homelessness are made to go without. Thanks to a new tiny home village in Tumwater, 50 people have been brought inside from nearby encampments along I-5 and given a new chance.

Too often, siting is an obstacle to building shelter necessary to reduce street homelessness. In this case, Thurston County and the City of Olympia jointly purchased a property, and funding from the state?s Rights of Way Safety Initiative helped take care of the rest. Siting was never an issue thanks to proactive local governments.

The Franz Anderson Tiny Home Village will be operated by Olympia Mutual Aid Partners with 24/7 staffing and onsite case management. There is a laundry room, a fenced pet play area, communal dining, ample showers and bathrooms, storage, and other amenities that will change lives for the better.

The state?s ROW initiative contributed vital funding to extend utilities to the site, build the tiny homes, and run the village for three years. The initiative, launched last summer, has helped more than 700 people transition out of encampments [ [link removed] ] in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties and those people remain housed today.

"There's an answer to homelessness, and this is it," said Inslee Friday. "At $10,000 a pop, these tiny homes do a lot of good - quickly. That's why we need more funding for the Rights of Way program to help people get inside, get treatment, and get their life on course."

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Hockinson kids tout their school's planet-saving features

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Gov. Inslee with a group of 5th graders at Hockinson Elementary School in Brush Prairie

Gov. Jay Inslee visited Clark County Wednesday to tour Hockinson Elementary School, where new efficient features are slashing the school's monthly spend on utilities while also reducing its use of fossil fuels. Young students were eager to show off their school's new energy-efficient lighting and advanced heat pumps.

As the kids put it: "The Earth is worth investing in." [ [link removed] ]

Funding from the state Department of Commerce helped fund the retrofit. Similar projects are improving schools, libraries, office buildings, and homes across the state to reduce emissions. As Washington continues its incredible growth spurt, cleaner buildings will help hold down emissions and keep people healthier.

The state's Climate Commitment Act (CCA) created a new cap-and-invest program that is supercharging the effort. The program will fund things like heat pumps, electric charging stations, electric school buses, solar projects and other energy-efficiency retrofits that reduce pollution and provide more people fossil fuel-free options.

*Read the full story from The Columbian. [ [link removed] ]*

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News you might have missed:

*India lifts tariffs?on U.S. apples, boosts WA orchards*

This week, India announced it would lift tarrifs on apples [ [link removed] ] imported from the United States. Over 175,000 acres of apple trees thrive in Washington, and?over 10 billion?apples are handpicked by farm workers each year.?According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington's annual export of apple products amounts to nearly $5 billion.

*New Tri-Cities Alliance to spur clean energy innovation*

A new nonprofit will bolster solar, wind and other clean energy efforts in eastern Washington. The Tri-City Development Council this week launched the Energy Forward Alliance [ [link removed] ] to fuel the region's leadership on clean energy innovation.?At least 5,000 people work in the energy industry around the Tri-Cities area, and the new alliance will continue to nurture local enterprise and the generation of more clean, affordable power.

*One-of-a-kind helix fish passage nears completion at Cle Elum Dam*

A new fish passage project [ [link removed] ] at the Cle Elum Dam will help sockeye salmon along as soon as 2026. The fascinating new design incorporates a spiral waterway inside the dam that will improve the survival rate of passing fish compared to the existing spillway.

*Start the school year with annual vaccinations*

The state Department of Health encourages families to catch up on their vaccinations to keep classmates safe as the school year begins.?Children entering school and child care must meet state immunization requirements [ [link removed] ]. Recent data shows that 91% of K-12 students met requirements - a slightly lower figure than normal.

?Vaccinations protect children against serious diseases so they are healthy to attend school and achieve,? said Jamilia Sherls-Jones, DOH's director of the Office of Immunization.

*Feds award WA $23.4 million to modernize electric infrastructure*

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $23.4 million in grants [ [link removed] ] awarded to the state to improve electrical grid resilience from extreme weather and natural disasters. Federal Grid Resilience and Tribal Formula Grants help preserve reliable power as communities confront extreme weather and disasters made more frequent and intense by climate change.

*Prepare now for fall and winter emergencies*

September is National Preparedness Month. The state Department of Health encourages preparation for the possibility of flooding and power outages [ [link removed] ] as summer fades and autumn rains arrive. DOH encourages families to?keep enough food, water, medicine, and key supplies to be self-sufficient for two weeks.?












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