The lower Snake River dams are once again hotly debated on Capitol Hill.

Republican lawmakers say the four dams should be protected from even hypothetical removal, and that any federal research should be stopped after President Trump backed off a $1 billion settlement agreement that shut down a legal battle over the dams and their impacts on endangered fish.

The hot button D.C.

debate was prompted by a bill from Representative Dan Newhouse, the “Defending Our Dams Act.” More details are up on NWPB.org.

And now environmental groups are moving to lift that pause on litigation over the dams.

A push for a workers bill of rights on the west side of Washington will be voted on next year.

Backers of the Tacoma initiative included Tacoma for All, Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367.

They recently sued the city, and now a Superior Court judge has issued a decision saying the initiative will now be on the February 2026 special election ballot.

The judge ruled the city council knowingly passed a resolution that was impossible for the county to enact when the council moved to put it on the upcoming November ballot.

It was impossible because of the short timing.

Here's what UFCW Local 367 union rep Zaid Velasco had to say about that.

“We are in the position where we don't want to set a precedent where we can just have, you know, our elected leaders make a decision to not listen to the people, and follow the initiative... the initiative process.” The initiative aims to boost the city's minimum wage and make employers follow laws around consistent scheduling, including a requirement that employers give at least a 14 day notice of work schedules.

A brand new sewing center aims to teach, inspire and help people gain some economic empowerment.

The Kennewick Sewing Center is modeled off of one out of Portland.

It teaches people how to sew from the basics to measuring people's bodies and making patterns for clothes.

Donations of fabric and sewing machines came in from local churches.

The program is run by the Tri-Cities Community Connections.

Here is its vice president Steve Lewis.

“I've seen lives transformed.

I've seen folks come in who've never touched a machine, and I've seen them sell stuff and then get excited about their own skills.” He says East Kennewick and East Pasco both have a need for a program like this.

There's growing poverty rates in both areas of Tri-Cities, according to the most recent Census data.

Lewis says providing sewing classes like this can help with economic development.

The classes began this month.

They're in Spanish only right now at the Kennewick First United Methodist Church.

Learn all about it online.