To address wealth gap, WA to consider $4,000 ‘baby bonds’
A new proposal coming to the Washington Legislature for consideration next year aims to break the cycle of poverty that’s trapped families like Bereskin’s and lift future generations of low-income residents toward a path of financial independence. The Washington Future Fund would create a pool of money that every child born under the state’s Medicaid program, Apple Health, could access a portion of upon adulthood to use toward homeownership, education or pursuing a small business. Lawmakers introduced the plan during the last legislative session but paused the idea, opting instead to create a state committee charged with outlining exact details and recommendations for how Washington could create a trust fund program for the roughly 40,000 children born each year under Apple Health. Continue reading at The Seattle Times. (Amanda Snyder)

Capital gains tax gets the go ahead as state Supreme Court considers case
The Department of Revenue (DOR) will be able to collect Washington state’s new capital gains tax ahead of the Washington state Supreme Court’s final ruling on the constitutionality of the income tax. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently requested that the DOR be allowed to collect the tax ahead of the official ruling. Ferguson said that “our state’s elected leaders adopted a capital gains excise tax to fund education, the State’s paramount duty, and to help rebalance our tax code, the nation’s most regressive,” in his motion filed with the court.The law creating the capital gains tax, SB 5096, was signed last year by Gov. Jay Inslee and went into effect in January 2022, before it was stopped. The legislation created a 7% excise tax on the sale or exchange of capital assets above $250,000. It was projected to bring in $415 million in 2023, the first year the state would see money from the tax. Continue reading at My Northwest. (Flickr)

Northwest tribal leaders welcome Biden’s new commitments at Tribal Nations Summit
Leaders of Northwest tribes on Wednesday welcomed new commitments from President Joe Biden and members of his administration at the first in-person Tribal Nations Summit held by the White House in six years. In a series of speeches and panel discussions with tribal leaders, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and several other top administration officials pledged to give tribes more say in federal decision-making, to set uniform standards guiding how agencies consult with tribes and to abide by treaties between tribes and the federal government. In conjunction with the summit, which fell at the end of Native American Heritage Month, the White House announced a 10-year plan to revitalize Native languages, along with a slew of other efforts aimed at improving the lives of Indigenous people living on and off reservations. Continue reading at The Spokesman Review. (Orion Donovan-Smith)

Associated Press
Twitter ends enforcement of COVID misinformation policy

Aberdeen Daily World
Invasive green crab booming in Willapa Bay
Quinault gets $25 million for Taholah relocation

Bellingham Herald
WA workers compensation premiums set to increase in January 
Bellingham shipbuilder awarded a contract for this NOAA research vessel 

Capital Press
Editorial: Some farmers, ranchers cut out the middlemen 

Everett Herald
Second flu death since 2020 reported in Snohomish County
Lynnwood council delays budget vote amid questions on worker wages

Indian Country Today
Joe Biden pledges new commitments, respect for tribal nations

Kent Reporter
Kent apartment rents up 5.2% compared to November 2021
Sound Transit may suspend Sounder service due to national rail strike

News Tribune
Sheriff Troyer’s criminal case is ‘simple,’ attorneys say. Here’s what they told jurors

New York Times
California Panel Sizes Up Reparations for Black Citizens
Congress Is Trying to Avert a Rail Strike. Here’s How and Why.
Alcohol Deaths Claim Lives of Working-Age Americans

Olympian
Thurston County expands support for homeless because of hazardous cold weather
Storm knocks out power for thousands in Thurston County as possibility of snow looms

Puget Sound Business Journal
Survey: Big tech layoffs enhances talent pool for smaller firms
Community colleges scramble to find students amid enrollment crisis
Opinion: Welcome to the new Golden Age of education

Seattle Medium
Seattle Promise Scholarship App Process Open
Abuse In State Special Education Schools
Seattle Businesses Angry at Holiday Crime
Office Of Law Enforcement Over Oversight Takes Exception To New Sheriff’s Office Policies

Seattle Times
To address wealth gap, WA to consider $4,000 ‘baby bonds’ (Trudeau, Stonier)
WA Supreme Court clears way for state to collect capital-gains tax
Seattle-area weather updates: Freezing temps, lowland snow and more
Criminal trial begins in Sheriff Ed Troyer’s false-reporting case
Opinion: Substance use is a health issue, not a legal one

Skagit Valley Herald
Skagit County hires director of public health

Spokesman Review
Spokane County commissioners vote against raising property taxes
Crews will plow all residential streets in aftermath of record snow
Northwest tribal leaders welcome Biden’s new commitments at Tribal Nations Summit

Tri-City Herald
Job fair to hire 1,700 workers. Pay is among the highest in Eastern WA
A Tri-Cities ‘Boomtown’? Study ranks this city among the nation’s fastest growing
Pasco unveils new voter district maps after ‘technical anomalies’ were questioned
Richland searching for new council member to replace mayor

Walla Walla Union Bulletin
Walla Walla School Board to discuss student behavior survey in special meeting

Washington Post
Teen brains aged faster than normal from pandemic stress, study says
We looked at 1,200 possibilities for the planet’s future. These are our best hope.
Young kids who breathe polluted air can fall behind in school, study finds

Yakima Herald-Republic
First big snow of winter blankets large swath of Central and Eastern Washington

KING 5 TV (NBC)
Marysville cold weather shelter sees record number of people seeking a place to stay warm
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Road rage shootings on the rise around western Washington, data shows

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)
Hundreds of flights canceled, delayed at Sea-Tac Airport due to winter weather conditions
NLRB says Starbucks violated labor law, must negotiate with union at Seattle store
Over 10k customers still without power after strong winds hit part of Western Washington

KOMO 4 TV (ABC)
Seattle council member agrees to talk crime with frustrated business owners
Everett police to host guns for gift cards event

KUOW Public Radio
Rise in syphilis cases prompts new guidance from health officials
Many states fail to adequately budget for wildfire costs, study says
Could grizzly bears officially return to the North Cascades?

KXLY (ABC)
WSDOT: Camp Hope down to 433 people, state looking for housing

Q13 TV (FOX)
Cleanup underway  after high winds, heavy snow down trees in the North Sound

Crosscut
Herrings are swimming back to the Salish Sea

MyNorthwest
Bremerton Fast Ferry to operate more sailings beginning Thursday
Capital gains tax gets the go ahead as state Supreme Court considers case
King County jails seeking to be reimbursed for housing inmates waiting for mental health treatment
Rise of pediatric flu causes worst medication shortage in ’15 years’
Seattle City Council likely to increase car tab registration fee

West Seattle Blog
FOLLOWUP: Added during West Seattle Bridge closure, SFD Ladder 13 and Medic 26 will stay here
FOLLOWUP: Water Taxi returns to full schedule