This is Northwest Public Broadcasting's Weekly News Now.

I'm Johanna Bejarano in for Tracci Dial.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We begin in Idaho this week, where a law that went into effect this summer is limiting access to gender affirming health care for many transgender adults.

Idaho's legislature passed House Bill 668 this spring, banning public funds from being used for gender affirming care.

The law says transgender people on Medicaid or state health insurance plans can no longer get coverage for treatments, including hormones or gender affirming surgery.

NWPB spoke with one person affected by the law.

So I've had a lot of time to cool down in this thought process has been for, you know, 3 or 4 years, and I'm not changing my mind.

The new law meant that the $10,000 procedure that had been covered by their insurance just weeks before would now require them to pay out of pocket.

Gender affirming healthcare has been associated with a lower risk of depression and suicide, according to the Journal of Adolescent Health.

For the full story, head to NWPB.org.

It's still a little early to say how things will wrap up this year for northwest wildfires, but the days have been cooler and wetter, Helping crews contain fires.

Oregon has set records with almost 2 million acres burned so far this year.

That's the most for the state in modern history, dating back to the early 1990s.

Washington has had an average wildfire year hovering over 270,000 acres burned.

This number is typical for the state nowadays, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

An art exhibit inspired by Washington's unique and threatened shrub-steppe landscape crops up at Tieton Boxx Gallery this month.

Images of the Shrub-Steppe is the eighth annual juried art exhibit hosted by the gallery together with Cowiche Canyon Conservancy.

Here is Cowiche Canyon Conservancy executive director Celisa Hopkins.

Art is and has been a way that people connect with nature and share their experience of the wonder of the natural world.

Washington's Sagebrush Sea has been fragmented by agriculture and development.

For more information, visit NWPB.org.

You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Also on YouTube.

I'm Johanna Bejarano with your NWPB Weekly News Now.

Thanks for joining us.