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

Local firefighters claim in a federal lawsuit against the town that they have been denied overtime pay for nearly a decade. The suit filed Saturday by Chesterton Firefighters Local 4600 also claims that despite assurances from the town that "nothing would change," a policy change was enacted just days after the current labor contract was signed that limits firefighters ability to use four 24-hour periods of earned time off each year, according to the union's attorney, Angela Jones.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NWITimes.com

An Orlando firefighter fired last year for a positive drug test was given his job back last week, after he argued the cocaine in his system was a result of drinking a tea made with coca leaves, an internal investigation shows. The positive drug test results, recorded during an annual physical exam in December 2017, prompted the Orlando Fire Department to fire Kevin Reynolds two months later, according to documents released this week in response to a Jan.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

Having three people die in fires in one week is not common in Whatcom County. In fact, it wasn’t even a full week — it happened in five days plus a few hours. “It is rare,” Bellingham Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill Hewett told The Bellingham Herald this week. “It is abnormal, that’s for sure. For all of Whatcom County — all the cities and out in the county — we might see one fire death in a year.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Bellingham Herald

A Tuesday morning house fire in a neighborhood south of Issaquah spread to other structures and reportedly forced a nearby preschool to evacuate, officials said. Crews battling the blaze were hampered by an inconsistent water supply, said Capt. Steve Johnson of Eastside Fire and Rescue. Firefighters initially responded to the scene, in the 23800 block of SE Tiger Mountain Road, at around 10 a.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO News