BIDEN BOWS OUT
It's Joever. After weeks of pressure to step aside from members of his own party concerned about his age and ability to defeat Donald Trump in November, President Joe Biden, 81, announced on Sunday that he is stepping aside as the Democratic presidential nominee and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place. The news was met with praise from local Democrat-affiliated politicians like City Council member Zack Zappone and Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown. Biden's fitness as a candidate had been a subject of disagreement among Democrats in the race to represent Eastern Washington in Congress. Two weeks ago, Dr. Bernadine Bank, an OB-GYN, was the first Democrat in the 5th Congressional District race to call on him to drop out. In a statement on Sunday, she threw her support behind Harris. "With so many Senators and party leaders already endorsing Harris, the party leadership has been working behind the scenes with Biden to make things happen," Bank said. The only Democrat in the Congressional race who had explicitly called on Biden to stay in was Ann Marie Danimus, a small-business consultant. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she thanked Biden for his service and pledged to support the new nominee. (NATE SANFORD)
FORGOTTEN FUNDS
More than 17,000 Spokanites are missing out on precious tax money through the Washington state Department of Revenue's Working Families Tax Credit. These funds are available on a sliding scale based upon family size and income level. For example, a single individual with no children would need to make less than $17,460 a year to qualify for $315 of credits, while a married couple with three kids — the top of the scale — would need to make less than $63,398 to qualify for $1,255. So far only 42% of eligible Spokane County residents have applied for these credits, with about $9.3 million in payouts since the tax credit was funded by the Legislature in 2021. To address this, Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners will assist folks with their applications at an Aug. 3 Back-to-School Resource Carnival. Additionally, Nuestras Raices Centro Comunitario will be holding walk-in Wednesdays at its 1214 E. Sprague Ave. location to assist families with their applications too. (COLTON RASANEN)
COMPUTER CHAOS
Last Thursday, a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused widespread chaos — shutting down millions of computers using Microsoft Windows systems and disrupting airports, local governments, banking and hospitals across the country. Thankfully, the Spokane region managed to ride the Crowdstrike disruption with minimal road bumps. MultiCare's Deaconess and Valley Hospitals rescheduled nonemergency procedures. Spokane government agencies fared better against the disruption than other large cities, such as Portland, which declared a citywide emergency. Spokane Transit Authority's social media accounts stated the system disruption was minimal and wouldn't impact riders. City of Spokane spokesperson Erin Hut reported no disruptions or outages impacted the city due to the Crowdstrike update. "So far, everything has been going pretty smoothly on our end," Hut says. Spokane County communications director Patrick Bell says the county experienced some disruption, but the systems affected were back online within the workday. The cloud-based SmartGov permitting software was impacted and was only intermittently accessible before the workday. According to CrowdStrike's website, 82% of U.S. state governments and 48% of the largest 50 U.S. cities use their cybersecurity software. (VICTOR CORRAL MARTINEZ)
