King County Struggles To Fund Roads And Bridges

Funding for roads and bridges in King County has been dwindling for years, and despite warnings as far back as 2014, money for capital investments in unincorporated areas is still set to run out within the next six years.

The scope of the problem has been well documented in various studies, including the 2017 annual bridges report released last August. The county owns or maintains 182 bridges that range in age from 10 to 100 years old, with the median age being 65 — or 15 years older than their typical useful lifespan.

Due to declining revenue between 2012 and 2018, no new standalone bridge replacements have occurred since 2014, and work is focused exclusively on daily safety and maintenance work, the report found. King County Local Services department public information officer Brent Champaco said when money for capital improvements runs out, other basic maintenance and operations services will be reduced to stay within budget.

King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert has been taking a leading role brainstorming ways to address the funding shortfall. The county found in 2014 that its roads and bridges program was underfunded by roughly $250 million annually. An independent analysis from 2015 found the deficit to be even higher. The analysis by BERK found the county could use up to $500 million each year to fully fund transportation infrastructure projects. In the 2019-2020 county budget, which was approved last December, the county was able to allocate $108.2 million each year. The budget found that within the next seven years, the county’s Local Services department will have to eliminate its capital program if additional revenue isn’t secured.

Read more: http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/king-county-struggles-to-fund-roads-and-bridges/

Follow-up: Sovenski sentenced to 180 days of work-release after hurling racial slurs at teens

Richard Sovenski, the Hayden, Idaho, man who hurled racial slurs at a Spokane youth group and allegedly assaulted an adult accompanying them last summer, was recently found guilty of misdemeanor battery by a jury. Now, he's reportedly been sentenced to 180 days of work-release.

Under his work-release sentence, Sovenski must sleep in a correctional facility but will be allowed to leave during the day for his construction job.

"I'm happy that he will be serving some time," says Jose Ceniceros, the former youth community director at Immanuel Church in Spokane who was with the teens during the incident. "I'm glad he got what he got."

The case stems from an altercation last summer. On July 12, Ceniceros led a group of teens — some of whom were biracial — to Coeur d'Alene to hear a preacher speak before heading to a McDonald's for ice cream. As they were leaving, Sovenski, 52, allegedly knocked Ceniceros to the ground and proceeded to yell racial slurs and profanities and told them to "get the f—- out of Idaho." (Ceniceros says he started filming with his cellphone after he was punched, and captured Sovenski's outburst on video.)

Read more: https://www.inlander.com/spokane/sovenski-sentenced-to-180-days-of-work-release-after-hurling-racial-slurs-at-teens/Content?oid=16261671

Earlier thread:
Man who yelled racial slurs at teenagers at Coeur d'Alene McDonald's not convicted of hate crime
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1048756

Lori Isenberg pleads guilty in Coeur d'Alene to embezzling $580K in housing funds

A Coeur d’Alene woman, who remains under investigation for the suspicious death of her husband in February, pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling more than a half million dollars from the North Idaho Housing Coalition.

Laurcene “Lori” Isenberg, 64, appeared at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, which carries a maximum of 20 years in federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge will sentence Isenberg April 30.

Isenberg was indicted in October on four counts after investigators say she embezzled about $580,000 from funds that were supposed to go to help poor people find affordable housing. She agreed to plead guilty to three counts of wire fraud in November.

Also on Tuesday, Isenberg’s daughters, Jessica F. Barnes, 36, and Amber A. Hosking, 39, were sentenced after they previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit program theft.

Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jan/29/lori-isenberg-to-plead-guilty-in-coeur-dalene-to-e/

University of Idaho double downs amid criticism of text alert implying threat

Indiana, Kentucky join Planned Parenthood's western alliance

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Planned Parenthood's affiliate overseeing Hawaii and three western states announced Friday that it was adding Indiana and Kentucky, a first-of-its-kind consolidation based not on geography but on reallocating resources to fight new abortion restrictions in the Midwest and South.

The arrangement by the women's health nonprofit places Indiana and Kentucky under a Seattle-based affiliate that currently oversees clinics in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho and western Washington.

Chris Charbonneau, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, said her group has an annual budget of about $70 million. She said its donors wanted to help Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.

In recent years, that Indianapolis-based group has faced the legal costs of challenging far-reaching limits on abortion rights sought by Republican lawmakers in both states — including a proposed bill before Kentucky's Legislature that would ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Read more: https://magicvalley.com/news/state-and-regional/indiana-kentucky-join-planned-parenthood-s-western-alliance/article_e5ef4890-0a37-5e9f-8274-347e242ed6ae.html

Cross-posted in the Indiana Group.

Indiana, Kentucky join Planned Parenthood's western alliance

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Planned Parenthood's affiliate overseeing Hawaii and three western states announced Friday that it was adding Indiana and Kentucky, a first-of-its-kind consolidation based not on geography but on reallocating resources to fight new abortion restrictions in the Midwest and South.

The arrangement by the women's health nonprofit places Indiana and Kentucky under a Seattle-based affiliate that currently oversees clinics in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho and western Washington.

Chris Charbonneau, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, said her group has an annual budget of about $70 million. She said its donors wanted to help Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.

In recent years, that Indianapolis-based group has faced the legal costs of challenging far-reaching limits on abortion rights sought by Republican lawmakers in both states — including a proposed bill before Kentucky's Legislature that would ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Read more: https://magicvalley.com/news/state-and-regional/indiana-kentucky-join-planned-parenthood-s-western-alliance/article_e5ef4890-0a37-5e9f-8274-347e242ed6ae.html

Cross-posted in the Kentucky Group.

Ex-Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall sentenced for misusing public money

BOISE — A former Jerome County sheriff will spend three years on probation and must perform 100 hours of community service for misusing public money.

Doug McFall (R), 61, was sentenced recently by Fifth District Judge Ned Williamson, according to Attorney General Lawrence Wasden.

McFall pleaded guilty in November.

McFall was also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine, $393 in restitution and court costs.

The judge suspended a one- to three-year prison sentence. But if McFall fails on probation, McFall could end up serving the time. The judge also suspended a 60-day jail sentence.

Read more: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/ex-jerome-county-sheriff-doug-mcfall-sentenced-for-misusing-public/article_6fe08b0f-3070-5910-ad84-8449e8f19afa.html

Books expect record handle from lowest-scoring Super Bowl

The lowest-scoring game in Super Bowl history might produce the highest betting handle ever at Nevada sportsbooks.

A late flurry of money poured in on the Rams and Patriots before Super Bowl LIII, including at least three $1 million-plus wagers, giving bookmakers reason to believe the total amount wagered in the state could eclipse last year’s record of $158.6 million.

“The handle is going to be up there,” MGM Resorts sportsbook director Jay Rood said Sunday night after New England’s 13-3 win over Los Angeles.

“It will probably be a 10 percent increase. If every (other book) was pacing the same way as us, it should set a record.”

Read more: https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/betting/books-expect-record-handle-from-lowest-scoring-super-bowl-1589194/

Raiders approved to preemptively leave NV Energy without major impact fee

State energy regulators will allow the Raiders to contract with an outside electricity provider — not NV Energy — for their $1.9 billion under-construction stadium off the Las Vegas Strip without being assessed a pricey departure fee.

According to an order published by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission and approved unanimously on Wednesday, the Raiders will be allowed to preemptively leave the state’s primary electric utility and purchase power from another provider without paying an exit fee, the third such under-construction business granted the right to do so following a Northern Nevada biofuels plant and a large Google data center.

The commission’s order is a blow to NV Energy, which asked commissioners to levy a $7.3 million exit fee on the football team or risk having power prices rise in the future because of the number of departing customers.

In a statement, NV Energy spokeswoman Jennifer Schuricht said the company still believed “we are the best energy partner for our customers and will continue to work hard to earn the Raiders’ Las Vegas Stadium business.”

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/raiders-poised-to-preemptively-leave-nv-energy-without-major-impact-fee

Legislative leaders tout friendly relations, prepare for high-stakes session

Assemblyman Jason Frierson and then-Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford appeared cut from the same cloth when the 2017 legislative session convened.

They were classmates in law school. They attended the same church. They were part of the same historically black fraternity. Together, they became the first pair of African-American lawmakers to lead the Legislature.

But for all his history with Ford, Frierson says he and incoming Senate Majority Leader Kelvin Atkinson go back further.

“It’s easy to forget that I’ve known Kelvin for even longer,” Frierson said.

Atkinson was one of the first people Frierson met when he moved to Las Vegas in the late 1990s, and the two attended the same church. Atkinson, first elected to the Assembly in 2002, recruited and mentored Frierson when he first ran for office in 2010 and said he in turn has leaned on the Assembly speaker for advice on how to handle leading a caucus.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/legislative-leaders-tout-friendly-relations-prepare-for-high-stakes-session