Omicron, Rudy Guiliani, and fare enforcement this week.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Seattle Times general assignment and breaking news reporter Amanda Zhou, KUOW politics reporter David Hyde, and political analyst and contributing columnist Joni Balter.

A new omicron subvariant, the “stealth variant” has shown up in Washington, although at first glance it doesn’t seem to be any worse than the original omicron variant. Companies in the cloud (Microsoft, Amazon) continue to do well in the pandemic. Seattle grocery workers get to keep their hazard pay. There was a public hearing on whether Washington should criminalize fake vaccine cards, and Washingtonians can get free masks and test kits. If a server or bartender identifies a fake card, what are they supposed to do?

President Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani will be the keynote speaker at a King County Republican Party fundraiser event in March. King County's GOP is also planning to take Giuliani on a tour of Black Lives Matter protest sites in Seattle while he is in town. Giuliani has helped lead Trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Just 8% of Seattle voters supported President Trump in 2020. What is the strategy?

An argument that fare enforcement violates civil rights has made its way to the state Supreme Court. If the argument is successful, transit agencies could lose the authority to ask riders for evidence that they have paid. What are both sides saying?

The WA Cares Fund is the state’s long-term care insurance program that is designed to provide about $36,500 in assistance to older residents who are aging and might develop chronic illness, a disability or get into an accident. The program is funded by a 0.58% payroll deduction and has been criticized by lawmakers and residents. Part of this is due to the eligibility requirements which has to do with how long you’ve worked and paid into the fund. The Washington Senate Wednesday passed a pair of bills to delay the payroll tax for WA Cares by 18 months and change other parts of the program, sending the legislation to Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk. How could they have planned it better, if at all?

In a standard Seattle primary, voters select one candidate in each race. But a group known as Seattle Approves wants to change that with a method known as “approval voting,” which would allow someone to vote for as many candidates as they want. The proposal was filed this week. How would it change who holds office in Seattle?