Multiple agencies responded to a fire at a feed store in downtown Bellingham Monday morning. The cause of the fire at Hohl Feed & Seed on Railroad Avenue is still under investigation and Bill Hewitt, Assistant Fire Chief at Bellingham Fire, told KOMO the answer could be days away. The fire started at around 4:30 AM, temporarily shutting off power to roughly 200 people nearby.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 6:16:25 AM - SOURCE: KPUG-AM 1170

Citing rats, broken plumbing, leaky ceilings, poor ventilation and run-down equipment, firefighter unions across the state are sounding the alarm about station houses they say receive little attention, saying poor conditions raise safety fears and hurt morale. “There’s concerns statewide,” said Richard MacKinnon Jr.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Boston Herald

Federal transportation officials are requiring railroads to establish regional response teams along oil train routes following a series of fiery derailments. The new rule announced Thursday is aimed at having crews and equipment ready in the event of an accident. It applies to oil trains in continuous blocks of 20 or more loaded tank cars and those having 35 loaded tank cars.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NWI.com

California’s most affluent special districts nearly doubled their spending over the course of a decade, while the value of their cash and investments nearly tripled, according to a Southern California News Group analysis of state data. The figures revive the question many good-government advocates have been asking for decades: Do special districts, which operate largely under the public radar, simply have too much money? Critics say they do, and argue that their functions should be absorbed into cities and counties that overlap their boundaries.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Breeze - Metered Site