For years, crime victim advocates in Washington have fought for state funding to make up for dwindling federal dollars. This year will be no different. These advocates are asking for a minimum of $21.4 million to keep their organizations afloat. But Gov. Bob Ferguson’s budget proposal, released last month, included just $12 million ...
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OLYMPIA — “Here in this Washington, we will not turn our backs on our immigrant communities,” Sen. Manka Dhingra said to a clamorous crowd on the Capitol’s north steps. “This is what America looks like.” Under a gray sky, roughly 300 people filled the steps with handmade signs and paper butterflies on Thursday, ...
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OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington State Legislature is considering legislation to establish a Purple Alert system for missing vulnerable adults, prompted by an Arlington family's desperate search for their son and the advocacy of local high school students.
Jonathan Hoang, 21, walked away from his ...Read More
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law HB 1052 on Monday—it’s a bill aimed at improving accountability in hate crime cases. The law, championed by King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion, will help address confusion in current hate crime statutes and ensure that offenders are held accountable for their actions. State Rep. ...
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The Washington state Senate adopted a resolution Monday honoring the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Senate Resolution 8648 states that Indigenous women and girls in Washington and nationwide face disproportionate rates of violence, disappearance and homicide. Washington ranks second highest for missing and murdered Indigenous women in the U.S., per ...
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Each year, March 31 is marked as International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), a day to recognize and celebrate transgender and nonbinary people. The Human Resource Campaign (HRC) estimates there are more than 2 million transgender people in just the United States, though that number varies depending on the source. The ...
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After fatal car crashes, fires or other emergencies, coroners and medical examiners are among the first to respond. But unlike police, firefighters and other first responders, they’re limited in the types of workers’ compensation claims they can file when their mental health is affected. A new bill in the ...
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A University of Washington behavioral health facility temporarily stopped admitting new patients in November — just six months after it opened. The $244 million hospital, known as UW Medicine’s Center for Behavioral Health and Learning, includes beds meant for up to 75 patients going through the state’s involuntary commitment system — ...
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With dwindling federal funds and a looming state budget shortfall, Washington lawmakers are trying to figure out how to keep paying for services for crime victims. Funding for the Victims of Crime Act State Plan is projected to be cut in half by this summer. The state has backfilled that money ...
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OLYMPIA, Wash. — Establishments that hold liquor licenses would be required to have drug testing devices available for customers under a proposal initiated by teenage girls.
Sixteen students from Lake Washington High School’s AP government class attended a Senate committee hearing on ...Read More