Capitol  Buzz

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Fish vs. farming battle heats up at House hearing on Lorraine Loomis Act (The Center Square)
• Want more sustainable Washington wine? There will soon be a label for that (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Washington’s unemployment rate falls to 4.5% in December (FOX 13)
• OPINION: Our daughter and all victims of 737 MAX crashes deserve DOJ investigation of Boeing’s duplicity (Michael Stumo, lost his daughter, Samya Rose Stumo, in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302/The Seattle TImes)
• EDITORIAL: Robust minimum wage is an important tool (The Columbian)
• EDITORIAL: Court correctly strikes down mandate (Capital Press)

CAPITAL BUDGET

• State Rep. Peter Abbarno introduces proposal to create grant program for rural fire departments (The Chronicle)

CHILD CARE

• Parents and caregivers of young children say they’ve hit pandemic rock bottom (NPR/OPB)

CONGRESS

• Voting bill collapses, Democrats unable to change filibuster (AP/The Seattle Times)
• McMorris Rodgers helps introduce global sex trafficking bill (KWHT)

CORONAVIRUS

• Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers confirmed Wednesday in Washington state (The News Tribune)
• Most of Western Washington appears to be ‘close’ to omicron peak this week (MyNorthwest)
• Most eligible WA residents have gotten COVID boosters, but work still ahead, DOH says (The Olympian)
• Where are you most likely to catch COVID? New study highlights high risk locations (The Bellingham Herald)
• Washingtonians will soon be able to order free rapid COVID tests through new state website (The Seattle Times)
• Omicron flips ‘big switch’ at Seattle-area hospitals as ICUs are spared from COVID surge (The Seattle Times)
• As omicron surges, frustrations and challenges mount in correction facilities (The Everett Herald)

CRIME

• Washington Democrats, Republicans offer differing solutions for catalytic converter thefts (The Chronicle)
• ‘Shady’ search for execution drugs led Idaho DOC to Tacoma pharmacy, investigation shows (The News Tribune)
• Burglar steals more than 15 guns from WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife’s Yakima office (KXLY)

EDUCATION

• Sponsor defends remote learning bill at Senate hearing (The Center Square)
• Learning 8 to 5: Washington lawmakers look to lower age when kids must start school (The Spokesman-Review)
• How did the pandemic impact kids’ test scores in Washington? Early numbers don’t look good (The Spokesman-Review)
• The ‘summer slide’ meets the ‘COVID slide’: Drop in test scores isn’t surprising with remote schooling, experts say (The Spokesman-Review)
• More teachers face burnout during pandemic because of mental health, staffing issues (KOMO TV)
• Seattle Schools wants weekly COVID testing. Here’s why it hasn’t happened yet (The Seattle TImes)
• Racist video from Capital High School basketball game sparks outrage (MyNorthwest)
• OPINION: In Olympia, crashing school test scores barely make the agenda (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Hundreds of Washington schools in danger from seismic shifts (The Center Square)
• Cosmopolis residents rally in support of former volunteer firefighters after mass resignation (KING TV)
• FEMA opens disaster resource center in Sedro-Woolley (Skagit Valley Herald)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Renewable natural gas sees strong support in the Northwest (AP/KLCK Radio)

ENVIRONMENT

• Mining company drops rights to Upper Skagit watershed in key preservation step (The Seattle TImes)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE

• A year in, multiple crises clobber Biden, his presidency (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)

GUN RIGHTS

• Legislators debate multiple new gun bills in 2022 aiming to tackle safety, other issues (KAPP/KVEW)

HEALTH CARE

• New bill could reduce prices for insulin, other medications (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Senate bill would reimburse doctors, nurse practitioners at same rate (MyNorthwest)
• Dayton General Hospital again closes to visitors due to community COVID-19 rates (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Omicron hits Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center harder than other surges (KUOW Radio)
• EDITORIAL: We hope commissioners follow the spirit of new public health law (Yakima Herald-Republic)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• CWU researcher takes part in global warming research project (Daily Record)

HOMELESSNESS

• King County officials announce March unsheltered population count (MyNorthwest)
• WSDOT will pay to remove Wheeler homeless camp near I-5 (The Olympian)

HOUSING

• Five takeaways from Seattle’s red-hot 2021 housing market (The Seattle TImes)
• Statewide upzoning proposal aims for ‘stout’ housing density near mass transit (MyNorthwest)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Bellingham renews search for new police chief with these qualities (The Bellingham Herald)
• COLUMN: Will more funding make Yakima a safer place? (Lance Tormey/KIT radio)

LEGISLATURE

• Pickleball community rallies to make the game WA’s state sport (Crosscut)
• Walsh files bill to limit state spending (KXRO Radio)
• COLUMN: Democrats ready to ditch the other ‘grand bargain’ of 2021 (Jerry Cornfield/The Everett Herald)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Chelan County Commissioners supporting numerous legislative proposals in 2022 (KOHO)

LONG-TERM CARE

• Washington House sends bill to Senate that would delay controversial long-term care tax (The Spokesman-Review)
• What’s next for beleaguered WA long-term care program? (Crosscut)
• Lawmakers hit brakes on WA Cares payroll tax, plan big changes (The Seattle Times)
• State House votes to delay WA Cares tax (The Center Square)
• Washington House votes to delay mandatory long-term care tax to July 2023 (FOX 13)
• WA House passes pause to long-term care program and tax (AP/KOMO TV)
• Washington House votes to delay long-term care tax for 18 months (NW News Network)

MEDIA

• COLUMN: Free Press roundup: Antitrust cases heating up (Brier Dudley/The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: What do you bring to the conversation? (Sue Lani Madsen/The Spokesman-Review)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Four ways lawmakers want to improve Washington’s mental health system (The Seattle Times)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Anesthesia doctors warn VA secretary new national standards could hurt veterans’ care (The Spokesman-Review)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

• EDITORIAL: Don’t use tragedy to reduce public records (The Seattle Times)

OTHER STATES

• Lawsuit claims Gov. Kate Brown unlawfully commuted sentences of nearly 1,000 inmates (The Oregonian)
• Oregon has more open jobs than unemployed people, exacerbating hiring squeeze (The Oregonian)
• OPINION: Keep Alaska’s pristine wild lands free of poisonous industrial mining (Seth Kantner, lives in northern Alaska and is a commercial fisherman and author/The Seattle Times)

REDISTRICTING

• Yakima Valley voters, civil rights groups file lawsuit against state redistricting plan (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Latino voters file lawsuit over Washington redistricting plan (Crosscut)

SPORTS

• Pipeline of short track speedskaters from Washington to Olympics grows longer (NW News Network)

TRANSPORTATION

• FAA clears most big jets to land at Sea-Tac Airport; regional planes are not cleared of 5G risk (The Seattle Times)
• BNSF railroad tries to block 17,000 workers from striking (AP/The Seattle Times)
• Highway 2 mayors from Leavenworth to Monroe support improvement study (The Wenatchee World)
• COLUMN: The snow is gone, but the storm continues (Dave Ross/MyNorthwest)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Inslee issues emergency order addressing European Green Crab infestation at Lummi (The Bellingham Herald)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Biden administration to spend billions to prevent wildfires in Washington, 10 other states (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)

WILDLIFE

• Washington sheriff defends cougar policy to legislators (Capital Press)