A controversial “poverty defense” proposal, which would have expanded legal defenses for poor or mentally ill people accused of a misdemeanor, has stalled in Seattle City Hall before it ever became an official bill and has no immediate timeline for its revival. . . . Anita Khandelwal, director of the King County Department of Public…
It’s a conflict facing growing numbers of Native people along Line 3’s nearly 400-mile path. As it cuts across the Fond du Lac reservation, treaty lands of several other bands of Ojibwe and the headwaters of the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota, the project has brought not just jobs but controversy and discord into the…
Efforts to expand the state’s green building rules would, among other things, phase out gas heat and appliances in most homes and businesses. As Washington lawmakers work to get ahead of a brewing post-pandemic housing catastrophe, efforts are underway to join that effort with responses to two slower-burning disasters — the climate crisis and runaway…
One new measure would focus on taxing billionaires. Other proposals revive the idea of taxing capital gains. A tax on capital gains, such as profits from selling stocks and bonds, is something that has been discussed in Olympia for many years, but so far hasn’t had the votes to pass. A new payroll tax on…
Season 1, Episode 3, Video duration, 6 min 43 s Washington mandates language-access services for patients who speak limited English, but lack of oversight means many fall through the cracks. A growing immigrant population means that these services are more crucial than ever. Listen here.
