Week in Review: Air quality, guns, and SCOTUS

Guest host Mike Lewis discusses the week’s news with Seattle Times' Claudia Rowe and Elise Takahama, and Insider’s Katherine Long.

A federal class action lawsuit was filed by a trans teen and his family against Mountlake Terrace-based Premera Blue Cross. The lawsuit alleges that the health insurer violated discrimination laws by refusing to cover chest surgery. Premera says that it has age limitations on a variety of surgeries, not just gender-affirming procedures. Is Premera's decision to deny gender-affirming care in this situation aligned with what other major insurers are doing?

The Seattle Times reported that the gun that was used to shoot a pregnant Belltown business owner recently had ties to a drive-by shooting in Tacoma in 2021. Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz says there's a pattern of weapons frequently being sold or traded after they've been used to commit crimes, largely by people who aren’t legally allowed to possess them. He says a third of the guns Seattle Police recovers have been reported stolen. What can a municipality or a state do to control this "secondary" gun market?

Northwest air quality this week took a nosedive. The Washington State Department of Ecology says the air quality is hazardous in the south end of Tacoma. Smoke from local wildfires, as well as smoke from July 4th fireworks are largely to blame. Given that fireworks reduce air quality in two ways — when they burn and the fires they start — should they be banned outright?

A recent Seattle Times/Suffolk University poll found a majority of respondents say Amazon makes life better in Seattle. 51.4% said Amazon had improved life in Seattle, 38.2% said it had not and 9.4% were undecided. Amazon says that it has created higher paying jobs in the city, while creating opportunities for small businesses near its headquarters. Is this a surprising result?

According to an analyst with Wedbush, Microsoft will join Apple in 2024 as a company with a $3 trillion valuation. Dan Ives says that “the monetization opportunity” for the company’s AI-related initiatives is happening sooner than anticipated. Microsoft shares are up nearly 30% in the last month. What are the potential benefits of having a local company with such a high valuation? What are the potential liabilities?

The U.S. Supreme Court decided last week to do away with race-conscious admissions. Leaders at Seattle University, the University of Puget Sound, Gonzaga University, and Whitman College say they are still committed to forming diverse student populations as the ruling allows. How are Washington's colleges adjusting to the end of affirmative action?