Inslee signs natural gas bill into law, critics say it comes at expense of customers; The festival of bill signing draws to a close

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• AI hustlers stole women’s faces to put in ads. The law can’t help them. (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Experts say the economy is getting better, but consumers don’t feel that way. Here’s why. (States Newsroom/Washington State Standard)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Labor and love: 1 in 10 Clark County residents are caregivers, dealing with isolation and rewards (The Columbian)
• In-depth investigation into troubled Pasco group ordered after damning WA state audit (Tri-City Herald)

CONGRESS

• WA Senator Maria Cantwell calls for potatoes to remain classified as vegetables (KIRO TV)
• Congresswoman comes to Ellensburg to highlight connectivity program, keep it alive (Daily Record)

CORRECTIONS & JAILS

• Drug possession, assault and prison riot charges filed against Green Hill School inmates in March (The Chronicle)
• Everett man accused of supplying drugs in Whatcom County Jail overdoses (Bellingham Herald/Everett Herald)
• Inmate revived with Narcan at Skamania County jail (KIHR Radio)

COURTS (STATE)

• Bellevue eviction case escalates to Superior Court amid restraining order dispute (KOMO TV)
• Dispute over Caton Landfill operations moves to state pollution control board (Yakima Herald-Republic)

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• New WA law aims to erase black market for stolen catalytic converters (The Seattle Times)
• Gun violence disproportionately affects Black and brown people. What’s being done about it? (KING TV)
• Update: Mother arrested in death of Everett boy, 4 (The Everett Herald)
• Point Defiance stabbing suspect leads police on cross-country chase. He’s been arrested (The News Tribune)

CYBERSECURITY

• AT&T says a data breach leaked millions of customers’ information online. Were you affected? (AP)

DRUG CRISIS

• Inslee signs bills combating fentanyl, opioid addiction in Washington state (The Center Square)

EDUCATION

• Why Seattle Public Schools is closing its highly capable cohort program (The Seattle Times)
• Seattle schools will hold meetings, examine practices at Rainier View (The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: Kennewick should come clean on why it canceled the school superintendent search (Tri-City Herald)

ELECTIONS

• BLOG: Washington increases penalties for threatening elections workers (Jim Camden/The Spokesman-Review)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Seattle firetruck fleet deteriorating faster than repairs can keep up (The Seattle Times)
• OPINION: At higher cancer risk, firefighters need early tests (Greg Markley, secretary/treasurer of the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters and a division chief at the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority in south King County/Everett Herald)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Inslee signs natural gas bill into law, critics say it comes at expense of customers (MyNorthwest)
• Gov. Inslee signs controversial decarbonization bill (FOX 13)
• Podcast: No, HB 1589 does not ban natural gas (KNWN Radio)
• Inslee moves Washington a step closer to linking its carbon market to CA-Quebec (The Center Square)
• Power utilities say region needs to prep for extreme cold (NW News Network)
• OPINION: Gov. Inslee should have vetoed natural gas bill (Sen. John Braun/The Seattle Times)
• OPINION: Roll on, Columbia: How to meet WA’s complex power, conservation needs (Dan Evans, Les Purce and KC Golden/The Seattle Times)
• OPINION: Natural gas plays important role in region’s energy infrastructure (Camilo Amezquita, of Houston, vice president/general manager of Williams-Northwest Pipeline and Roger Gray, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, CEO and president of PNGC Power/The Spokesman-Review)

ENVIRONMENT

• WA becomes first state to ban lead-contaminated cookware (The Seattle Times)
• Instead of tearing down old buildings, what if we recycled them? Tacoma might try it (The News Tribune)

GUN RIGHTS

• Gov. Inslee signs bill expanding WA ‘gun-free’ zones (KONA Radio)

HANFORD

• Award of 10-year, $45 billion Hanford contract challenged for a 2nd time by losing bidder (Tri-City Herald)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• New Gates Foundation grant will tackle WA’s postsecondary problem (The Seattle Times)
• After receiving racist hate mail, UW students call for action (KUOW Radio)
• Western Washington University starts online cannabis course for industry hopefuls (KOMO TV)
• WWCC, professional staff union reach collective bargaining agreement (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

HOMELESSNESS

• Why is there so much homelessness in wealthy Ballard? (The Seattle Times)
• Tumwater delays decision on code on nighttime loitering on city property (The Olympian)

HOUSING

• Luxury tiny homes creating a stir in Washington home market (MyNorthwest)
• HopeSource awarded $1.6 million to support veterans housing project (Daily Record)

IMMIGRATION

• Calls for federal investigation into Tacoma detention center mount amid detainee death (Washington State Standard)
• WA immigration rights activists say they faced harassment, intimidation in Tacoma (The News Tribune)
• COLUMN: In Tacoma, a detention center where people become ‘invisible’ (Naomi Ishisaka/The Seattle Times)

LAND USE & PROPERTY RIGHTS

• The fighting’s not over, but site work has begun on Tacoma mega-warehouse project (The News Tribune)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• City of Seattle, police officers guild reach tentative contract agreement (The Seattle Times)
• Walla Walla City Council approves $15M police guild contract for 2022-2024 (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
• Why wasn’t an AMBER Alert issued for missing Everett boy? WSP explains (KING TV)

LEGISLATURE

• The festival of bill signing draws to a close (The Washington Observer)
• Inslee reflects on ‘lives changed’ with a pen in a conference room (Washington State Standard)
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs his last bill (NW News Network)
• Inslee signs billion-dollar budgets for the final time during his run as governor (The Spokesman-Review)
• Bipartisanship rises in Washington Legislature (The Spokesman-Review)
• Dye, Schmick ask: What about the consumer? (The Lewiston Tribune)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Regional Homelessness Authority at critical juncture, Seattle council members say (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• EDITORIAL: Proposed city compensation agreements show bad habits are hard to change (The Seattle Times)

MEDIA

• Washington’s largest newspaper publisher sold to out-of-state investors following financial hardship (KUOW Radio)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Washington youth mental health shows best improvement in 20 years (Crosscut)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• Ceremony in Yakima thanks Vietnam veterans for their service (Yakima Herald-Republic)

OPERATING BUDGET

• New Washington budget boosts state spending by $2B (Washington State Standard)

OTHER STATES

• Oregon prepares to reboot an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Washington County has eliminated homeless encampments (The Oregonian)

REDISTRICTING

• EDITORIAL: New legislative maps might be leading us off the trail (Yakima Herald-Republic)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Apps like TikTok push users to fight their political battles (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)
• OPINION: Lessons for everyone, not just students, at MisinfoDay (Liz Crouse, MisinfoDay program coordinator at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public/The Seattle Times)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• State takes over closed Burien facility, plans to serve kids in crisis (The Seattle Times)
• Washington state couple opposing preferred pronouns sues state for denying foster licenses (KOMO TV)

TRANSPORTATION

• Newly passed bill to bring more traffic cameras across Washington (FOX 13)
• Road workers face daily danger, but this group dies most often in WA construction zones (The Olympian)
• ‘A huge year for transit’: Swift Orange Line begins in Lynnwood (The Everett Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Bridge questions timely after Baltimore collapse (The Columbian)

WILDLIFE

• Cascade critter crossings: How I-90 became safer for wildlife, drivers (The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: A welcome return of grizzlies to North Cascades (The Everett Herald)