Governing

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We paid attention to WA's legislative session so you didn't have to

This year’s legislative session is in the can. Like every round of lawmaking, we started the session with lots of plans: Roughly 1,200 bills were introduced and 340 passed. Northwest News Networks' Jeanie Lindsay has been tracking it all so you don't need to. She tells us about her top 3 takeaways from the session.
- Clare McGrane
'I didn’t want one, but I needed one.' An Idaho mother comes to Washington for an abortion

Kayla Smith and her husband were excited to expand their family when they learned that they would be having a baby boy. They already picked the name, Brooks.
- Natalie Akane Newcomb
Big bills, tense debates, lawmaker departures: Takeaways from Washington state's 2024 legislative session

Washington's legislature has adjourned for the year, with lawmakers making progress on many big issues. But several priorities for Democrats stalled as a few Republican-backed voter initiatives took center stage during the short 60-day session.
- Jeanie Lindsay
King County Council members push back on criticism over handling of asylum-seeker crisis

The plight of a couple hundred asylum-seekers looking for shelter has been juggled among various community and religious organizations that are calling on elected officials to do more.
- Libby Denkmann
$32.7M slated for asylum-seekers flowing into Washington state

As legislators in Olympia move closer to finalizing the state’s next budget, they’ve designated $32.7 million for services to help an influx of asylum-seekers in Washington.
- Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez
Tukwila is swelling with asylum-seekers. What can be done?

When asylum-seekers began showing up at the door of Tukwila's Riverton Park United Methodist Church last year, Rev. Jan Bolerjack felt it was the church's duty to care for them. But as the situation worsened over the months, the reverend said it's now more than one church, in one Washington town, can handle.
- Libby Denkmann
Corner stores are the cornerstone of Seattle's quest to become a 15-minute city

A "15-minute city" is a city where the shops and restaurants you need are within a 15-minute walk of your home. The city's new comprehensive plan update includes a proposal to achieve that status in part by reviving neighborhood corner stores.
- Joshua McNichols
Why Washington state Democrats passed 3 Republican-backed voter initiatives

Most of the bills lawmakers pass in Olympia include bipartisan support, but many Democrats are skeptical of, or outright oppose, these initiative measures. So why did Democrats join with Republicans to enact them?
- Jeanie Lindsay
Washington's legislative maps were challenged by someone who helped draw them

In Washington State, every ten years, a bipartisan commission takes the latest census data and negotiates over district lines that determine who you vote for. But in a very real sense, redistricting is about power and which voices will be heard, and catered to. The latest round of maps was finished in 2021 – but from the jump, the 15th District faced legal challenges. And in an unusual twist, it turns out one of those challenges was orchestrated by someone responsible for drawing the map in the first place.
- Libby Denkmann
'Exploitative' labor practices in Washington state prisons highlighted in new report

The report’s authors interviewed dozens of incarcerated people, highlighting what they call exploitative labor practices in state prisons. Interviewees not only earned far below Washington state’s minimum wage, but also said they felt coerced to work.
- Libby Denkmann

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