Seattle City Council to consider protections for people seeking abortions
A pair of new Seattle City Council bills designed to prohibit discrimination and interference with abortion care will be considered by members of the council Friday, adding to a cluster of potential policy changes intended to make the city a safe harbor for people seeking abortions. After the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June, ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for almost 50 years, many of the city’s elected officials proposed ways to fund, uphold or defend the right to an abortion in Seattle, as other states banned and criminalized abortions. Continue reading at The Seattle Times. (Jennifer Buchanan)
King County declares fentanyl a public health crisis
King County’s record-breaking number of fentanyl overdoses has prompted the county council to declare a public health crisis. This year 268 people have died so far — a 46 percent increase compared to this time last year, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office Overdose Dashboard. Council members say the goal is to sound the alarm and find solutions. Most of the recent fentanyl overdoses and deaths have been linked to illegally manufactured opioids. It’s a synthetic drug that’s fast-acting, addictive and highly potent. “I’ve been working on this a long, long time. And this is unprecedented,” said Caleb Banta-Green, principal research scientist with the University of Washington’s Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute. Continue reading at KUOW. (Isolde Raftery)
Extreme heat wreaks havoc on roads and railways. Experts say we need to adapt.
Roads and airport runways buckling. Train tracks warping. Bridges swelling. These are just some of the damaging effects extreme heat has had on critical infrastructure in recent years, as heat waves have become more frequent and intense — a stark reminder, experts say, of the need to adjust quickly to a warming planet. “Most of our physical infrastructure was built using the temperature records of the mid-20th century,” Costa Samaras, principal assistant director for energy with the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote in an email. “That is not the climate we have now.” Continue reading at The Washington Post. (Robin van Lonkhuijsen)
Associated Press
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