Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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A state task force on missing indigenous women, created in 2021, will be extended at least two more years if a Senate-passed bill is approved by the House and governor. The bill, Senate Bill 5477, sponsored by Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, would implement recommendations identified in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force. “Crimes against Indigenous people, especially women, and children, have continued to plague our state and our nation,” said Torres. “Despite making up only 2% of our population, 136 indigenous peopl...
Terminally ill patients seeking help to end their lives with the aid of a physician shouldn’t have to wait so long to get approval from the state. That’s the position of Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, who said he intends to eliminate barriers to care without removing safeguards in the Washington Death with Dignity Act. His Senate-passed proposal is Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5179. "One in four people do not live long enough to survive the 15-day waiting period (currently in the law). We talked to people who asked for access to this law...
For the first time in history, a foreign head of state has addressed a joint session in the Washington State Legislature. President Sauli Niinistö, of the Republic of Finland, met with Washington lawmakers March 6 to discuss climate change and their partnership in supporting Ukraine. The visit comes as Finland intends to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "The current critical geopolitical situation has brought us closer together than ever before. We are now strengthening our...
A national test given to people who want to be paraeducators in public schools often slows the process and presents roadblocks for bilingual applicants, some educators say. Substitute House Bill 1015, sponsored by Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle, attempts to solve these problems. “As many of you are aware, school districts are not only dealing with a significant shortage of teacher applicants but also struggling to fill their para-pro positions,” said Rural Education Center Director Jim Kowalkowski. “While this bill will not compl...
Installing automated vehicle speed cameras and other measures to improve highway safety were approved in separate bills by the state Senate Feb. 23. “Speed kills. Our work zones have lower posted speeds for very good reasons. This helps to prevent collisions with slower-moving work vehicles and helps to protect workers who are often outside of their vehicles,” said Mark McKechnie from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission testifying in support of ESSB 5272. There were 28 fatalities in work zones in the past three years. About 20% of acc...
School districts should be required to test all students to see if they qualify for more challenging classes. That is the message behind Substitute Senate Bill 5072, proposed by T’wina Nobles, D-Fircrest. It requires districts to screen all students during the school day for participation in a “Highly Capable Program (HCP). “With this model, every student in a grade level gets to be considered, and no student is overlooked.” Nobles said. “Districts that have implemented universal screening are seeing the results improve equity for advanced...
Ashley Bonus said she began her fight against impaired driving after her sister, Stacy Gammons-Ankerfelt, died in an accident in 2012. Now, she wants a new law that lowers the blood alcohol level needed to sustain an impaired driving conviction. “I work hard to make a change for my sister. I would never want any other family to feel the pain we feel every day. So, I work really hard just to make any change I can,” Bonus said. Bonus, now a volunteer with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), testified recently in support of Substitute Senate Bil...
Allisone McClanahan suffered from severe chronic pain and fibromyalgia. To ease her pain, the 26-year-old took a pain pill from a friend she thought contained oxycodone. Instead, she died of a drug overdose in 2021. After her death, the toxicology report revealed the pill did not contain any oxycodone and was poisoned with fentanyl, seven times the amount her body could withstand. Genevieve Schofield, Allisone’s mother, said she did not want anyone to experience pain like hers. She reached out to legislators, and testified at hearings, u...
Victims and witnesses who track perpetrators in prison to know when they are released will be able to keep their identities private, if a bill that passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support becomes law. “This bill creates a safer environment for the victims and survivors, and they are not placed again in harm’s way because of a public records request,” said T’wina Nobles, D-Fircrest. The Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) provides a tracking program for victims and witnesses so they can know when the person who victimi...
Mary Le Nguyen stood in front of a group of 70 abortion-rights activists on the Capitol steps for a "reproductive freedom rally" in early January and she shared her personal story of being a survivor of sexual abuse. "This is not about power shifting from here to here. I want people to like us to have the power," Nguyen said, as she protested with Pro-Choice Washington. "I want us all to be more powerful, but that means we need to slow down together and see that reproductive justice is more...
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and Gov. Jay Inslee say they are backing a package of new laws aimed at protecting workers, pedestrians and commuters. New bills would include reducing the blood alcohol concentration limit for operating a vehicle when driving, imposing more restrictions on high-risk drivers and requiring a skills course for young and older drivers. Amber Weilert, a mother from Parkland, described how her son was struck and killed in a crosswalk while riding his bicycle. “I am here to be Michael’s voice to support him and...
Starting at the Olympia Ballroom in the state capital's historic district, students from across Washington carried inflatable orcas and salmon and marched through the streets of Olympia to the steps of the Legislative building. Chanting "Save our salmon," members of the Washington Youth Ocean and River Conservation Alliance (WYORCA) and other environmental groups advocated for the protection of Northwest salmon runs and the orca pods that depend on them. "We need Inslee and the political leaders...
People who change their names to hide from their abusers should be afforded more privacy. That, at least, is the conclusion Maia Xiao came to after a transgender friend committed suicide after being harassed online despite a name change. Her friend’s “deadname,” the name used before transitioning, was discovered since it was a public record under Washington state law. “Even if she knew she was in a dangerous situation, she could not have changed her name privately because of our law,” Xiao said. Under consideration now is Senate Bill 5028, whi...
After two years of an online and hybrid Legislature that severely restricted legislators’ direct contact during the pandemic, the House and Senate chambers were full of people reuniting and greeting each other. at the opening of the state Legislature Jan. 9. A main issue at the start of the session was moving past the COVID-19 pandemic and adopting new rules and procedures that allows for in-person and remote participation. President of the Senate Denny Heck, the Lieutenant Governor, said community members sent the Senators to the l...
