Traffic safety, ferries, State Patrol targeted in proposed transportation budgets
Lawmakers for House and Senate Transportation committees each released budget proposals this week for the 2023-25 biennium, with a focus on similar priorities such as traffic safety and keeping current transportation projects on track for completion. Senate lawmakers released their $12.9 billion proposal Wednesday, after the release of the $13.6 billion House transportation budget proposal on Monday. House Transportation Chair Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, told reporters Monday that lawmakers have been “blessed with opportunities and challenges” surrounding transportation funding for the next two years. “This year, the House Democrats and House Republicans worked side-by-side on this budget and I believe there will be bipartisan support,” Fey said in a statement. Continue reading at The Olympian. (Fred Felleman)
Editorial: Meet the moment and ban sale of assault weapons in WA
Washington is poised to make history if it passes major restrictions on the sale of semi-automatic weapons. On Tuesday, the Senate Law and Justice Committee narrowly passed House Bill 1240, which has already cleared the House. The next step is a full Senate floor vote in April, at which time it would be sent for the governor’s signature. If the Legislature acts, Washington would become the 10th state in the nation to broadly restrict assault weapons. The year 2016 was when state Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Mukilteo, first introduced this legislation. He was spurred to act after a 19-year-old in his district murdered three teenagers and wounded another at a house party with an AR-15 purchased several days before. In every legislative session since, Peterson has raised the bill again. He says it’s kids who have kept the fire for it burning — kids dying in one massacre after another. Kids marching after each. “Their fear is what drives me,” he said. “We want to stop the next Uvalde, the next Parkland.”. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Wade Payne)
WA bill would bring trauma-informed practices to sexual assault cases
As a sexual assault survivor, Leah Griffin has spent years working to reform the public policies that she says repeatedly undercut her attempts to seek justice and heal. After the 2014 assault, she got turned away from a hospital, waited hours to speak with police and was threatened by prosecutors. “What I experienced at that time was a cascading system of failures,” she said. Griffin knew something had to change. After reaching out to numerous lawmakers and other officials, Griffin joined recent efforts in the Washington Legislature to codify survivors’ rights, strengthen hospital protocols and expand trauma-informed training for police. Continue reading at Crosscut. (Matt M. McKnight)
Aberdeen Daily World
Nonprofit working on big housing goal
Capital Press
Budget panel backs study, but not cap-and-trade refunds to farmers (Fitzgibbon)
Columbian
Clark County agencies to get $2.2 million to boost housing efforts
Lexington dam project heads into final phase to improve flood protection
The Daily News
Kelso revisits affordable housing complex plan that could preserve Sons of Norway building
Everett Herald
Cathlamet ferry to depart from Edmonds after repairs from July crash
Snohomish’s rogue barber keeps clipping despite no license, $90K in fines
Snohomish County will get another District Court judge (Lovick)
News Tribune
Five kids have been killed in Tacoma in 2023. How do we protect youth from violence?
Opinion: As an Indigenous rights lawyer, I need police body cam footage. Don’t limit my access
Opinion: Crisis care centers are important. But WA needs more to fill behavioral health gaps
Northwest Asian Weekly
Encampment sweep on King and Jackson — Government and community approaches clash
Olympian
Group tasked with recommending WA airport site met. Here’s what was, and wasn’t, decided
Do you want a job murdering ‘murder hornets’? Washington state is hiring
Traffic safety, ferries, State Patrol targeted in proposed transportation budgets (Fey, Liias, Shewmake)
House passes Senate bill banning some WA employers from discriminating against cannabis users (Keiser, Kloba)
Peninsula Daily News
Governor signs Kimberly Bender’s Law (Lekanoff, Van De Wege)
Puget Sound Business Journal
Redmond mayor courts aerospace sector with new moniker
Feds issue sweeping rule on small business loan data collection
Seattle’s Port Commission president wants to shore up relationships
Seattle Medium
$69.2 Billion Budget Proposal From Washington State House
Seattle Times
Protect Salish Sea with shared strategy between B.C. and WA
Cap on insulin cost now permanent in WA (Keiser)
WA lawmakers may pass bill to boost dense development near transit (Reed)
Editorial: Meet the moment and ban sale of assault weapons in WA (Peterson)
Spokesman Review
Region’s health care facilities can drop mask requirement, but will they?
Walla Walla Union Bulletin
District 16 lawmakers hear about seniors’ affordable housing challenges at town hall
Yakima Herald-Republic
Yakima County ambulance provider AMR cites financial problems for ceasing Grant County operations
KING 5 TV (NBC)
Sexually abusive jail guards, police to face harsher penalties under new Washington law
Q13 TV (FOX)
WSF internal investigation claims captain was at fault for 2022 ferry crash
Cascadia Daily News
Sen. Lovelett: Allow DNR to tap into new carbon exchange
Crosscut
WA bill would bring trauma-informed practices to sexual assault cases (Orwall)
MyNorthwest
Paine Field to become research hub in search for more sustainable jet fuel
SeaTac Blog
SeaTac student serves as page with Washington State Senate (Keiser)
