Beat
15 entries
The Daily Herald
Snohomish County PUD proposed a 2027 electric budget of $769 million in operating spending plus $239 million in capital spending for system reliability upgrades, with no rate increase. Officials credited better-than-expected 2025 year-end finances and deferral of lower-priority projects; the last no-increase budget proposal was in 2021, and the most recent change was a 2.5 percent increase that took effect April 1, 2026.
My Edmonds News
More than 400 people protested at 19 locations across Washington Sunday to demand a statewide moratorium on data centers. In Walla Walla, where Amazon plans a $4.8 billion data center, about 40 people marched to the county community development director's office; Amazon's filings give conflicting cooling-water figures of 14 million and 18 million gallons a year, and two local moratorium petitions have gathered nearly 1,900 signatures. Seattle, Spokane, and Skamania, Benton, and Yakima counties have passed data center moratoriums.
The Daily Herald
Rep. Suzan DelBene writes that the WISeR program, which pays private companies to use AI to review Medicare claims, has delayed care for Washington seniors since launching in January in Washington and five other test states, recounting one senior's long wait for pain-treatment approval. The op-ed warns that CMS plans to expand the program to cancer treatments and other care.
My Edmonds News
Economic Alliance Snohomish County and 425 Business will host People-centered AI: Boosting Productivity Without Replacing Jobs, the next session in EASC's Coffee Chats series, October 13 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Zoom with a Facebook simulcast. The free session covers real-world business applications of AI, workforce impacts, upskilling, and change management; registration is required and attendees receive session resources by email.
Snohomish County Tribune
The Snohomish School District offers 18 career and technical education pathways, and its worksite learning program gives students CTE credit for supervised paid work. This opinion piece argues local employers should carry that learn-by-doing model into jobs exposed to AI.
Snohomish County Tribune
All but one person who testified at the county's hearing on its data center moratorium opposed allowing data centers, and more residents submitted written comments in opposition. The council set the six-month moratorium on data centers in unincorporated areas in late June; one Arlington-area resident urged the council not to trade the county's farms, forests and homes for data centers.
The Daily Herald
About 13 people spoke at the Snohomish County Council's public hearing on its six-month moratorium on new data center development in unincorporated areas. Most supported the moratorium and some called for a permanent ban; Council member Nate Nehring said permanent regulation will take several months and anticipated extending the pause to a full year.
Lynnwood Times
The Snohomish County Council scheduled a public hearing for 10:30 a.m. August 19 in Everett on Emergency Ordinance 26-026, the six-month moratorium it adopted unanimously on June 24. The ordinance pauses applications for data centers of 2 megawatts or greater in all zones of unincorporated Snohomish County and expires December 25 unless renewed.
KNKX
A civic assembly of 29 randomly selected Snohomish County residents met over three spring weekends at WSU Everett to work out how county government should use AI, producing 35 recommendations on transparency, accountability, privacy, environmental impact, and human oversight. County councilmembers say they will consider adopting the recommendations into law.
Lynnwood Times
Snohomish County Council member Nate Nehring explains the council's unanimous June 24 vote to pause data center development in unincorporated Snohomish County for six months, extendable to twelve, while the county writes a permanent policy.