Flooding, COVID-19, and Thanksgiving preparation, this week.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Northwest News Network and KUOW correspondent Anna King, freelance Science Reporter Jane C. Hu and The Stranger staff writer Jas Keimig.

On Thursday Governor Inslee announced he would be seeking federal aid to help with floods, and that aid is going to be needed. Heavy rains resulting from an atmospheric river has led to severe flooding in Western Washington, including Lummi Island, Bellingham, and Sumas. And it’s not just flooding causing damage, landslides have blocked access to roads across the region, including cutting off access to Vancouver British Columbia and the Makah reservation. Is this kind of major climate event something we should expect to see more often in Washington, or is this a “once in a lifetime” event?

While Western Washington is getting far too much rain, Eastern Washington isn’t getting anywhere near enough. This isn’t the first time wheat farmers have dealt with drought. But as of now the region has only had 1 and 4/10ths inches of rain. That’s not enough to sustain sprouting wheat. What can be done to help wheat farmers right now?

On Thursday, a Washington state florist whose case went to the U.S. Supreme Court reached a settlement with the same-sex couple whose wedding job she refused. Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers, paid $5,000 to Robert Ingersoll, and announced that she would be retiring. Ingersoll has stated that he will be matching that five thousand dollars and donating the total sum to a local PFLAG chapter, an LGBTQ advocacy group. Is this the end of this seven year fight, or is there more to come?

During their meeting this week, Seattle school board members unanimously approved a resolution that “urges” the Washington State Board of Health to consider making the COVID vaccine a requirement for children ages 5 and older once it’s been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This would be added to the already existing list of immunizations required to attend school. If the State Board of Health does enact this, how will parents who oppose the COVID-19 vaccine react? Also, the FDA authorized booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults today, a move that expands the number of Americans eligible for additional shots by tens of millions. Under this scenario, any adult who received a second dose of the vaccine at least six months earlier would be officially eligible to get a booster. Will people show the same sense of urgency to get the booster as they did when they got their initial shot(s)?

Speaking of the holidays and COVID, families are again having to decide what they are comfortable with as far as indoor gatherings are concerned. Vaccines weren’t available this time last year like they are now, but variants of the virus have shown that breakthrough cases are a risk. Additionally, the food you want to put on your Thanksgiving dinner table could be noticeably more expensive or harder to find. Everything from turkey to potatoes to onions raised or grown in Washington were affected in some way by the heatwave this summer. And shipping issues haven’t helped. How will this change the holiday?

Finally, the Crocodile is coming back! Last November the famous venue announced it would be moving due to a breakdown in negotiations with their landlord. Now, they're reopening down the street from their old space. But this time they’re going bigger. As reported by The Stranger: “the new and improved Crocodile is a 30,000 square foot complex that will offer three new music venues: a 750-person capacity showroom, a 300-person venue, and a 100-person seat comedy club and movie theater. There's also a daytime café, a restaurant bar, and a 17-room hotel. With a 50% increase in audience capacity, the new Crocodile has greatly expanded its capabilities.” That’s a lot of room. Does this move the Crocodile too far away from it’s grungy roots, and into a more gentrified space? Or is that what’s necessary to survive in Seattle?