Washington
Bird flu infects flock of 800,000 poultry in southeast Washington • Washington State Standard
Bird flu has infected a commercial flock of about 800,000 fowl at an egg farm in southeast Washington, the state’s Department of Agriculture said this week.
It’s the first detection in Washington this year of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial poultry operation and is one of about four dozen known commercial and domestic flocks in the state to be infected with the disease since 2022, the department said.
“It was a pretty long break we got,” said Amber Betts, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Agriculture. She explained that the fall migration season for wild birds raises the risks of the disease spreading at poultry facilities.
As of Thursday, there were no signs the H5N1 virus had spread to humans or other types of livestock in the area where the infected flock was detected, Betts said.
“Right now, it’s a poultry outbreak,” she said.
In response to outbreaks like this, flocks are quickly euthanized and disposed of either through composting or cremation. Left unchecked, the disease spreads quickly among birds at poultry farms and causes severe illness or death for the animals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a program to compensate poultry operations for losses tied to bird flu.
Here in Washington, state and federal officials will monitor other commercial bird flocks within about six miles of the Franklin County site where the latest outbreak has occurred.
Commercial poultry operations in that zone are required to monitor their flocks’ health closely, with regular surveillance testing, and must request permits from the state to move products deemed safe in or out of the area, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
The last outbreak at a commercial poultry facility in Washington involved about 1 million birds, while domestic flocks that have been infected have ranged widely in size, Betts said.
Bird flu circulates among wild birds and can spread to agricultural flocks.
The first detections in the U.S. of the current H5N1 outbreak of the disease were in January 2022. Since then, the sickness has affected at least 103 million poultry in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The strain of the virus now active in the U.S. has also infected dairy cows and other mammals, including harbor seals in northwest Washington. There’ve also been at least 25 reported human cases across the country in 2024, none of them in Washington state, CDC figures show.
Bird flu infections tend to be rare in people and typically occur when people are around animals with the illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk to the general public from the virus remains low.
Symptoms in people, according to the CDC, may include eye redness, flu-like respiratory illness, fever, cough, sore throat and in more serious cases, pneumonia.
Between 2003 and April of this year, the World Health Organization recorded 889 cases and 463 deaths in 23 countries caused by the H5N1 bird flu virus. A concern is that the virus could mutate in ways that allow it to spread more easily among people.
Washington
North Dakota National Guard heading to Washington duty
BISMARCK — About 60 North Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers will be sent to help the District of Columbia National Guard under a joint task force starting in April.
Most soldiers are from the 131st Military Police Battalion, which is headquartered in Bismarck, according to a release.
The support will be given as part of the effort that began on Aug. 11, when several states activated members of their National Guard to support local and federal law enforcement in Washington under the President Donald Trump’s
executive order 14333,
which declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital.
The support is a federal mission under the command of the D.C. National Guard, which supports civilian agencies and local law enforcement to reduce crime and minimize property damage.
“Safeguarding the citizens, federal workers and elected leaders in our nation’s capital is a matter of national security, and we appreciate these Soldiers volunteering for this important mission,” said North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong in a release. “We know they will represent our state with the skill and professionalism that military leaders everywhere have come to expect from the North Dakota National Guard.”
The battalion is expected to be in Washington for about three months.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
Washington
Brothers shot Park Police officer who arrested one of them the day before, documents say
Charging documents reveal the U.S. Park Police officer who was shot Monday in Southeast D.C. had arrested one of the suspects the day before and was following that suspect at the time.
The suspects are brothers, 22-year-old Asheile Foster and 21-year-old Darren Foster, of Southeast. They appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Court documents state the Park Police officer who was shot had arrested Asheile Foster on Sunday on suspicion of dealing drugs. The officer said he followed Foster after he was released from jail on Monday and came to Park Police headquarters to get his personal belongings.
According to prosecutors, Foster told police he knew he was being followed by a white Tesla, and he confronted the officer on Queens Stroll Place SE, jumping out in front of the Tesla before the officer swerved around him.
Then, dozens of gunshots went off, the officer told police. He said in charging documents he was shot in the shoulder as he kept driving several blocks to the intersection of Benning Road and Southern Avenue SE, where police found him. A helicopter then took him to a hospital. According to charging documents, the officer was treated and released the same night as the shooting.
A U.S. Park Police officer who was shot in Southeast D.C. on Monday is recovering from what authorities say was likely a targeted attack. Multiple law enforcement sources tell News4’s Mark Segraves that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday.
Photos in the charging documents show the brothers firing at the officer’s Tesla, according to prosecutors.
The shooting drew a massive police presence to the Southeast neighborhood near the D.C-Maryland border Monday night.
Shell casings littered the middle of the street. Police said they recovered two weapons: a Glock 9 with an extended magazine and an AR-15.
Prosecutors said that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday. No one was injured in that shooting.
Darren Foster was located and stopped shortly after the shooting, D.C. police said. Asheile Foster was found on Tuesday.
The brothers were charged with assault on a federal officer, assault with intent to kill and weapons charges. They could face up to 60 years in prison if they’re convicted.
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Washington
Washington passes new AI laws to crack down on misinformation, protect minors
Washington just became the latest state to regulate artificial intelligence.
Under a pair of bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson Tuesday, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic will have to include new disclosures in their popular chatbots for Washington users.
Ferguson asked legislators to craft House Bill 1170 to crack down on AI-generated misinformation. When content is substantially modified using generative AI, that information will now have to be traceable using watermarks or metadata. The new law applies to large AI companies more than 1 million monthly subscribers.
“ I’m confident I’m not the only Washingtonian who often sees something on my phone and wondering to myself, ‘Is that AI or is it real?’ And I feel like I’m a reasonably discerning person,” Ferguson said during the bill signing. “It is virtually impossible these days.”
RELATED: WA Gov. Bob Ferguson calls for regulations on AI chatbot companions
House Bill 2225 establishes new guard rails for AI chatbots that act like friends or companions. It applies to services like ChatGPT and Claude, but excludes more narrowly tailored chatbots, like the customer service windows that pop up when visiting a corporate website.
Chatbots that fit the bill will have to disclose to users that they are not human at the start of every conversation, and every three hours in an ongoing chat. The tools will also be barred from pretending to be human in conversation with users.
The rules go further if the user is a minor. Companies that operate chatbots will have to disclose that the tools are not human every hour, rather than every three hours, if the user is under 18. The bill forbids AI companions from having sexually explicit conversations with underage users. It also bans “manipulative engagement techniques.” For example, a chatbot is not allowed to guilt or pressure a minor into staying in a conversation or keeping information from parents.
“AI has incredible potential to transform society,” Ferguson said. “At the same time, of course, there are risks that we must mitigate as a state, especially to young people. So I speak partly as a governor, but also as the father of teenage twins who grapple with this as a lot of parents do every single day.”
Under the law, AI chatbots will not be allowed to encourage or provide information on suicide or self-harm, including eating disorders. The companies behind these tools will be required to come up with a protocol for flagging conversations that reference self-harm and connecting users with mental health services.
The regulations come in the wake of several high-profile instances of teenage suicide following prolonged interactions with AI companions that showed warning signs. Many more AI users of all ages have reported mental health issues and psychosis after heavy use of the technology.
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