Occupation Continues & State of the State

Occupation Continues & State of the State. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Another meeting was held Monday evening in Burns regarding the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge now in its second week. Harney County Sheriff David Ward held the community meeting to update residents on the continued occupation and to directly tell Ammon Bundy and his group to go home which was met with cheers. The occupiers have not been quiet. On Monday, they began cutting down fences as well as going through files at the refuge to expose how the government has mistreated local ranchers. The FBI has been leading up the response group but no end is seen.

Washington's Governor Jay Inslee gave his State of the State address yesterday in Olympia before a joint meeting of the House and Senate. One of the topics were the devastating wildfires.

INSLEE: A million acres of our state were scorched — an area larger than the state of Delaware. More than 300 homes — primarily in Eastern Washington — were destroyed. And tragically, three firefighters lost their lives. I've proposed using our Budget Stabilization Account to cover the $180 million in costs related to battling these wildfires. It's exactly what these reserves were meant for. Additionally, I've proposed using $29 million from the Disaster Response Account to help communities recover from these devastating fires and to ensure we are better prepared for our next fire season.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.