Week in Review: convention center, gun violence, and bird flu

Bill Radke discusses the week’s news with Northwest News Network’s Anna King, political analyst and contributing columnist Joni Balter, and Insider’s Katherine Long.

On Wednesday, Summit, the Seattle Convention Center expansion opened, doubling the SCC’s capacity. The expansion cost nearly $2 billion to develop and took more than four years to complete. The Downtown Seattle Association says that “this will mean millions in new spending and tax revenue, adding fuel to downtown’s continued recovery.” Will this have the impact that the DSA hopes for?

On Thursday, the Washington state Supreme Court heard oral arguments from both sides in the capital gains tax case. The court will have to decide whether or not the tax is unconstitutional. Supporters say the tax is aimed at taxing only the richest Washingtonians, imposing a 7% tax on profits over $250,000 from the sale of assets including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and that the tax is an excise tax. Opponents argue that the tax is an income tax, which is unconstitutional in Washington state. What did we learn from opening arguments?

On Tuesday, a man opened fire at a Yakima convenience store, killing three people. The suspect was later found at a Target with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The suspect’s mother told police that her son had been a methamphetamine user for years and had a handgun and access to two long guns. How are people from Yakima responding?

Roughly 58 million birds have died or been euthanized as a result of the current avian influenza outbreak, including over one million birds so far in Washington state. Egg and chicken supply in stores is running low and prices have skyrocketed. The large amounts of dead birds have resulted in the government building a massive “slow cooker” in southeast Washington. Is there any sign this pathogen will be slowed or stopped?