Rely on natural gas? Washington lawmakers don’t care. The state’s ‘phaseout’ will cost you; Washington has some of the worst roads in America, according to a new nationwide analysis

OUR NEWS RELEASES FROM THIS WEEK

• Governor signs McEntire legislation to increase flexible school calendar waivers
• OPINION: Legislature is failing to address the child care crisis (Rep. Tom Dent)

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Water allotment drops to 63% for Yakima Valley junior water rights holders (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• EDITORIAL: Reclassifying potatoes goes against the grain (The Columbian)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Washington trade mission heading to Vietnam without Inslee (Washington State Standard)
• Boeing pays Alaska Airlines $160 million for 737 Max 9 blowout fallout (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Google hits pause on Kirkland campus (The Seattle Times)

CAPITAL BUDGET

• OPINION: A closer look at the updated capital budget (Sen. Brad Hawkins/The Wenatchee World)

CHILD CARE

• More federal money for child care is coming to Washington (Washington State Standard)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• After a long slog, climate change lawsuits will finally put Big Oil on trial (Washington State Standard)

COURTS (STATE)

• Washington Supreme Court reverses Kitsap County DUI case decision challenging breathalyzers (KING TV)
• Future of Washington public defense funding unclear after judge tosses lawsuit (Spokane Public Radio)
• Two-month wait for public defenders as Yakima County attorney shortage grows worse (Yakima Herald-Republic)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• New Washington law will crack down on catalytic converter theft (Axios – Seattle)
• Father of girls killed in Renton crash calling for accountability: “this was no ‘dumb mistake’” (FOX 13)
• Two-year-old in Federal Way dies from gunshot injuries (MyNorthwest)
• How will Metro Parks Tacoma handle security after violent events at Point Defiance? (The News Tribune)

EDUCATION

• How Seattle Public School’s use of ‘social identity wheels’ could violate federal law (The Center Square)
• Soap Lake enrollment drop affects revenue, places staffing at risk (Columbia Basin Herald)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Mercer Island residents get OK to return home after evacuations (The Seattle Times)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Washington’s largest utility approaches renewable energy milestone (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Should wind turbines be limited on Tri-Cities Horse Heaven Hills? Washington taking comments (Tri-City Herald)
• OPINION: Rely on natural gas? Washington lawmakers don’t care. The state’s ‘phaseout’ will cost you (Sen. Chris Gildon/The News Tribune)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• Federal proposals aim to increase medical training for students in rural communities (KIRO TV)
• King County doctor: Confronting bird flu with lessons learned from COVID-19 (MyNorthwest)
• New Multicare Deaconess and Valley hospital contract ratified; up to 25% wage increase coming for some workers (The Spokesman-Review)
• OPINION: Many patients, not enough beds: Here’s how to solve a care crisis (Jeannine Erickson Grinnell, CEO of Valley Medical Center, Sommer Kleweno Walley, CEO of Harborview Medical Center, and Cynthia Hecker, CEO of UW Medical Center/The Seattle Times)

HOMELESSNESS

• New pilot program aims to help unhoused Tacoma students access affordable housing (The News Tribune)
• EDITORIAL: Cities make progress on homelessness while regional effort flounders (The Seattle Times)

HOUSING

• ‘Nowhere else to cut’: Seniors face 14% rent increases, in homes they own (The Everett Herald)

INSURANCE

• What’s behind the ‘outrageous’ rise in Washington car insurance rates (The Seattle Times)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Did Seattle defund the police? Five graphs explain this enduring myth (KUOW Radio)
• Vancouver police stretched thin as officers pulled off patrol to respond to growing number of calls (The Columbian)

LEGISLATURE

• State lawmaker says murder of 4-year-old Ariel Garcia could have been prevented (The Center Square)

MENTAL HEALTH

• State to fund new youth mental health center at former Daybreak facility in Brush Prairie (The Columbian)
• Comprehensive Healthcare mobile outreach to begin this summer (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

OTHER STATES

• More red states explore ESAs (Pluribus News)
• Oregon Senate Republicans have tapped a new leader (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Portland Mayor Wheeler unveils a new public camping ban policy (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Idaho Legislature passes bills to limit gender expression, ban compelled pronoun use (Washington State Standard)

REDISTRICTING

• U.S. Supreme Court declines to block new Washington legislative map (Crosscut)
• Washington state legislative map clears U.S. Supreme Court appeal (KNKX Radio)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Free blue checks are back for some accounts on Elon Musk’s X. Not everyone is happy about it (The Seattle Times)

TRANSPORTATION

• Washington has some of the worst roads in America, according to a new nationwide analysis (The News Tribune)
• Why are gas prices so high in Seattle? Here’s what we know (FOX 13)
• New traffic signs may catch you looking at your phone (The Seattle Times)
• It’s a big year for regional light rail, but tough questions loom for Sound Transit board (KNKX Radio)
• Lynnwood Link to launch in August: ‘A major milestone’ for light rail (The Everett Herald)
• COLUMN: How avalanches changed PNW train travel (Knute “Mossback” Berger/Crosscut)