Washington | featured news

PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon officials have overturned a contractor’s decision to force 17 severely mentally ill patients out of state-funded residential facilities after a newspaper and a nonprofit organization raised concerns, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Friday.
The Oregon Health Authority had hired the Pennsylvania-based contractor Kepro to review the cases of about 1,600 patients in the facilities to determine if they all needed to be there. The review was part of a $27 million contract for a three-year project, the newspaper said.

YAKIMA — As devastating wildfires continue to increase throughout Washington, so does the sense of urgency to prevent and control them.
Thursday in Olympia, Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz unveiled a strategic 10-year fire protection plan that calls for significant increases in resources, training, funding and education to tackle a problem only expected to get worse with climate change and additional development in high-risk areas.
“We must act like our safety, our economy and our lives depend on it, because they do,” Franz said.