Washington State

Women feeling lonely and sad

Washington State considers rape kit backlog ‘essentially eliminated’ 30,000 tests later

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In a moment Washington state officials say has been a long time coming, the state’s crime lab in Vancouver is declaring its sexual assault kit testing backlog “essentially eliminated.” Over the past decade, the lab has tested more than 30,000 kits. In 2019, House Bill 1166 required rape kits to be tested within 45 days as of May 2022. Today, the Washington State Patrol’s Vancouver Crime Lab reports 95% of kits are tested and DNA entered into a database in 45 days.

Seastar

Lab-grown starfish released into wild for the first time ever, saving species from extinction

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Due to sea star wasting disease, lower oxygen levels in seawater, and rising temperatures, starfish populations are at risk around the globe. Across the last decade, the sunflower star population plummeted by over 90%. Fortunately, in 2019, marine biologist Jason Hodin stepped up to save the sea stars from extinction. At the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs, Hodin has carefully grown and raised several generations of sunflower starfish in a controlled environment, breeding them from a select sample of starfish he rescued from the harbor five years prior.

Salmon jumping upstream

President Biden brokers $1 billion deal with Oregon, Washington, 4 Columbia River tribes to revive Northwest salmon population

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The plan brokered by the Biden administration pauses long-running litigation over federal dam operations and represents the most significant step yet toward eventually taking the four Snake River dams down. The plan will strengthen tribal clean energy projects and provide other benefits for tribes and other communities that depend on the Columbia Basin for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation, the White House said.

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