Benton County

Now on to my home state of Washington, where the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle has expanded rapidly, and there have been some concerning developments involving human infections.

By October 30th, Washington had recorded 40 affected dairy herds, 39 in Yakima County and one in Benton County.

The Benton detection was confirmed October 23rd and announced October 26th.

Routine surveillance identified the virus before obvious illness was observed, so the recognized outbreak has expanded both in number and geography.

Just to kind of orient you, we're on top of Jump Off Joe Butte and looking to the north.

A windy ridgetop in Benton County offers spectacular views of the valley below where the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers converge.

It is high above the valley floor and a prime spot for wind.

So there's an ideal place on the ridgetop where the wind is the strongest.

When the wind farm was originally proposed by Scout in 2021, more than 200 wind turbines and three solar arrays would have generated more than 1,100 megawatts of electricity.

That's enough to power about one million homes.

The project is backed by former Governor Jay Inslee and labor unions in Benton County that see the potential for high-paying jobs installing the new turbines.

All the money's gonna stay right here locally.

And so, you know, we package that up.

We have 65 different delivery routes that go out every single day, Monday through Friday, all the way from Prosser to Connell, anywhere in Benton and Franklin County.

And so those are all driven by a volunteer in their own car.

And so, yeah, that's...

Like how many do you have and where are they? And is it for your clients that are, for your friends who are able to get themselves there?

Yes, exactly.

So we have seven different ones throughout Benton and Franklin County.

One at the Prosser Community Center, the Desert Rose Housing in Benton City, the Howard Amon Community Center in Richland, our main campus here, which is our Fowler Street Cafe, one at the Pasco First Avenue Center, one at the Ray Pfluger Center that's also located in Pasco, and then at the Key Waden Community Center in Kennewick.

We hope this will help us to implement measures on farm to prevent transmission within or between other dairy or poultry facilities.

That's Washington State Veterinarian Amber Idle commenting on the detection of highly pathogenic avid influenza at a dairy herd in Benton County.

Well, that's Daybreak West for this Tuesday, October 27th.

For the latest news out of Washington, D.C., visit AgriPulse.com. For AgriPulse Daybreak West, I'm Jeff Daly.

Well, and that's because it looks at everything on the internet, period.

It doesn't look at things in Benton County, Washington.

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Raymond is now predicting the relationship between state and federal requirements could eventually face a legal challenge.

Benton County Prosecutor Eric Isinger also voiced support for the ruling, saying Second Amendment rights are extremely important to residents in his county and all across the state.

I think this is a good outcome in terms of upholding the rights of the people to keep and bear arms, Isinger told the Center Square.

Andrew Clark, Benton County's chief criminal deputy prosecutor, also commented on the change Friday.

Clark said the change primarily concerns federal requirements and could affect the paperwork firearms dealers submit to the ATF.

I think the main thing is, you know, this is mostly regarding the federal requirements, Clark said.