All eyes are on Texas as Republicans work to draw new congressional districts ahead of

26. But the battle for control of Congress runs through Southwest Washington, home to one of the

most competitive districts in the country. And that's where incumbent Marie Glucent-Camp

Perez has a new challenger. He's the Republican leader in the state Senate. Meet John Braun,

a moderate who could deliver the third district in the state Senate. Meet John Braun, a moderate who

could deliver the third district to the GOP this week on sound politics, wherever you get your

podcasts. Good afternoon from the KUOW Newsroom. This is Seattle now. I'm Paige Browning. Coming up,

a Trump executive order means that refugees ready to come to Seattle are now in limbo. We'll go

in depth in a few minutes, but first, here's our roundup of today's top stories. It's Wednesday,

January 29th. Starting with changes at the top of Seattle's

Police Department, interim police chief Sue RAR is finishing up her tenure this week. RAR led the

SPD for nearly eight months. And on her way out, she's sharing pride in the department. She says officers have not used their

guns in her entire stint. I know that I'm tempting the gods, but I have to say this, the public

needs to know. We have not had a single police officer and SPD fire a single round for eight

months. She says that's despite a high level of gun violence in Seattle.

Coming into the post, Sean Barnes takes over as SPD chief beginning tomorrow.

Before this, he was police chief in Madison, Wisconsin.

Rar's words for him, that she hopes he'll continue her efforts to build trust within the agency after

several rough years for officers. RAR was on KOWW's sound side today and you can hear the

full interview on our website link in the show notes. In political news, federal funding will continue

flowing. Today, the Trump administration rescinded its plans to freeze many aspects of federal government spending. Still, Trump's underlying executive orders that pertain to cutting federal spending on climate change and DEI remain in place. It's causing uncertainty for state leaders in Olympia, particularly on how

federal spending affects the state budget and a projected multi-billion dollar shortfall.

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