The Capitol Buzz is a weekday summary of online news stories from across the state, highlighting policies, politics and other issues that affect Washingtonians.
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VIDEO UPDATE
AGRICULTURE & WATER
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR
- The job market is ‘softening’ but still causing headaches for employers (Puget Sound Business Journal)
- Boeing added 15,000 jobs in 2022, with more hiring ahead (The Seattle Times)
- The last 747: Boeing workers reflect on an iconic plane like no other (The Seattle Times)
CANNABIS
COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES
- Hundreds gather to mourn 5 family members killed in a fire (FOX 13)
- A new assisted living facility lets rural Pierce County residents age in their community (Gateway News/The News Tribune)
CONGRESS
- Biden, McCarthy to discuss debt limit in talks on Wednesday (AP)
- Congressman Dan Newhouse addresses Speaker of the House election (KPQ Radio)
COURTS (FEDERAL)
- Trump’s lasting legacy on the judiciary is not just at the Supreme Court (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
- Judge dismisses lawsuit from protester who claimed she was denied medication in jail (The Seattle Times)
COURTS (STATE)
- Temporary order bars Whatcom District Court judge from hearing more than 100 cases (The Bellingham Herald)
- Prosecutors rest their case against Walla Walla firefighter Anthony Spada in child molestation trial (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
CRIME
- Armed robberies in Pierce County up 71% since 2017 (KING TV)
- Retail theft on the rise, attorney general tells industry reps and law enforcement (The Wenatchee World)
- COLUMN: Ignore hype, U.S. not soft on crime (Greg Jayne/The Columbian)
EDUCATION
- Private schools in Seattle area juggle demand and expectations amid enrollment surge (Puget Sound Business Journal)
- Judge orders private special education school to turn over records to Seattle Times (The Seattle Times)
- Inside the movement to revitalize tribal languages in WA schools (The Seattle Times)
- BLOG: Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen: “We need to take a good look at funding students instead of schools.” (Shift)
ELECTIONS
EMERGENCY POWERS
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES
ENERGY & UTILITIES
- Puget Sound Energy rethinks pilot program to move people off natural gas (The Seattle Times)
- In the fight over gas stoves, meet the industry’s go-to scientist (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
- A copper mine could advance green energy but scar sacred land (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
- Two lawsuits and 20 years later, Army Corps of Engineers sets Whatcom oil terminal limits (The Bellingham Herald)
ENVIRONMENT
FISH
GUN RIGHTS
- Democrats advance assault weapons ban, new rules for gun buyers (The Everett Herald)
- State House committee votes on assault weapons ban, gun safety training (KNWN Radio)
- Gun owners favor requiring parents to lock up weapons. It’s lawmakers who don’t (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)
- California has more than 100 gun laws. Why don’t they stop more mass shootings? (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS
- Providence rated worst nonprofit hospital in country regarding consumer practices (MyNorthwest)
- ‘A decade process’ – Group begins talks about improving health care in Kitsap (Kitsap Sun)
- Bill introduced to broaden access to music therapy in Washington (KING TV)
- WA health, LGBTQ orgs praise plan to allow more gay men to donate blood (The Seattle Times)
- COLUMN: The ER has become a sanctuary for society’s unmet needs (Sabreen Akhter, pediatric emergency physician in Seattle/The Seattle Times)
HIGHER EDUCATION
- Q&A: Why Paul Francis wants you to reconsider community college (The Seattle Times)
- WSU removing Covid vaccine requirement for most students (KUOW Radio)
- UW School of Medicine pulls out of U.S. News rankings (The Seattle Times)
- Veterans face challenges, navigate support while seeking higher education (Daily Record)
- WSU clears lot for new ag science building (The Lewiston Tribune)
HOMELESSNESS
- ‘Slipping through the cracks’: From foster care to homelessness (The Columbian)
- Man shot and killed in Seattle encampment under I-5 (The Seattle Times)
HOUSING
- Inslee wants WA to borrow $4B to build housing and shelter. How would that work? (The Seattle Times)
- WA bills seek to cap rent hikes and register rentals, landlords object (The Seattle Times)
- Multiple rent stabilization bills aim to control extreme increases (MyNorthwest)
- What to know about Seattle’s social housing initiative (Axios – Seattle)
- The City of Tumwater wants to turn this motel into affordable housing for seniors (The Olympian)
- OPINION: Support new effort to end homeownership disparities (Gordon McHenry Jr., president and CEO of United Way of King County, and Dona Ponepinto, president and CEO of United Way of Pierce County/The Seattle Times)
- EDITORIAL: Serve the people, not developers: Amend WA ‘middle housing’ bill (The Seattle Times)
IMMIGRATION
LAND USE & PROPERTY RIGHTS
LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Memphis police disband unit that fatally beat Tyre Nichols (AP)
- Local law enforcement officials, community leaders continue to lament death of Tyre Nichols (KIRO TV)
- Seattle protesters decry Tyre Nichols’ brutal beating by Memphis police (AP/The Seattle Times)
- Addressing police accountability nationwide in wake of Tyre Nichols killing (KING TV)
- Seattle protesters rally against police violence where pedestrian was struck, killed by officer (The Seattle Times)
- OPINION: The close calls and long nights of a law enforcement officer (Jerrell Wills, deputy director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission/The Seattle Times)
- EDITORIAL: WA should fund unit to investigate missing Indigenous people (The Seattle Times)
LEGISLATURE
- Legislature has options for addressing drug possession law. Here’s a look at some of them (The Spokesman-Review)
- Lawmakers debate tax, abortion, road safety measures in week 3: In Session (KING TV)
- Goal of Zach’s Law: Educate Washingtonians about cold-water shock (The Columbian)
- Washington Legislature considers a bill that would prevent pre-employment cannabis testing (The Spokesman-Review)
- Legislation would ban ‘deep fakes’ from state political campaigns (KNWN Radio)
- WA lawmakers consider changes to “Death with Dignity Act” (Spokane Public Radio)
- WA lawmakers discuss bill to ban for-profit pet sales at retail stores (MyNorthwest)
- BLOG: State lawmakers have more than 1,300 bills to tackle during 2023 session (Shari Phiel/The Columbian)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
- Seattle could broaden anti-discrimination law to add caste (FOX 13)
- Tacoma council considers stance on WA drug-possession bills. Here’s where it is leaning (The News Tribune)
MEDIA
MENTAL HEALTH
OTHER STATES
- As the Colorado River shrinks, Washington prepares to spread the pain (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
- As pandemic rent relief ends, states struggle to prevent homelessness (Stateline.org/The Columbian)
- Oregon pins hopes on mass timber to boost housing, jobs (AP)
- Kotek homebuilding target is ambitious, potentially costly and politically fraught, experts say (The Oregonian)
PARKS
STATE GOVERNMENT
- State agencies drop out of meeting discussing controversial sex offender facility in Tenino (FOX 13)
- Inslee comments on Tenino sex offender housing amid community outrage (The Chronicle)
- In focus: at Capitol, protesters rally against Tenino area sex offender housing (The Chronicle)
- WA Corrections pays $600K settlement in sexual harassment lawsuit (MyNorthwest)
- We the People: Many states have had multiple capitals, but Washington’s has always been Olympia (The Spokesman-Review)
- OPINION: To restore public trust, start reestablishing public safety (Sen. John Braun/The Chronicle)
SUBSTANCE ABUSE
- Experts urge better opioid rescue drug access to save lives (AP)
- Social media platforms have worsened fentanyl crisis, Spokane County sheriff tells panel led by McMorris Rodgers (The Spokesman-Review)
- Opioid center protesters admit they lost the war (MyNorthwest)
- COLUMN: In Seattle, the ‘shadow epidemic’ has passed COVID (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)
TAXES
- Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon: No broad-based tax relief for Washingtonians (The Center Square)
- Backers, foes of capital gains tax react to oral arguments before Washington Supreme Court (The Center Square)
- Washington denies new capital gains tax also taxes income (Capital Press)
- EDITORIAL: Proposed wealth tax is worth a look (Yakima Herald-Republic)
TRANSPORTATION
- Washington traffic safety is ‘a crisis that we can’t ignore,’ lawmakers say (The Seattle Times)
- Sound Transit, Washington State Ferries receive millions in federal funding (KOMO TV)
- Could turning on red become illegal in Washington state? (KONA Radio)
- Washington’s rejected vanity license plates of 2022 (Axios – Seattle)
TRANSPORTATION BUDGET
