OLYMPIA, WA — Democratic legislators on Tuesday filed three bills related to police accountability ahead of lawmakers convening an unusual 105-day session next week. Due to ongoing coronavirus precautions, this year's 105-day legislative session will largely take place remotely, including most debates and votes in both chambers. The Seattle Times reports a limited number of state senators will be permitted on ...

Clark County Judge James Ladley couldn’t seem to believe what he was hearing. Before him was John Letellier, a 47-year-old Navy veteran accused of what a former federal prosecutor would later call a “chippy robbery” of a Subway store, netting $107 and a $5 gift card. Chippy or no, a conviction would send Letellier to prison for life under Washington’s three-strikes ...

Not all businesses have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the nation gun stores are doing brisk business, and here in Pierce County, firearm sales have more than doubled in 2020. Inventory is flying off the shelves, according to Damien Wongwai, owner and operator of Bull’s Eye Indoor Range in Tacoma. He told a member of the Editorial Board ...

Washington lawmakers are looking to make it harder for police officers to take the stand in court or get rehired if their name is on a Brady list. Brady lists are disclosures of members of law enforcement whose involvement in a case as an arresting officer, investigator, or witness is in question because of a history of dishonesty or misconduct. The term ...

In the wake of new restrictions meant to curb a surge in COVID-19 and a $135 million economic relief package aimed at taming the economic ripple they’ll cause, lawmakers are discussing what more can be done to help the hospitality industry — and quickly. Before the latest COVID-19 restrictions were introduced last week, the Washington Hospitality Association already had estimated 35% ...

Monday, the City Council is set to hold its final vote on a 2021 budget for Seattle that will leave both #defundSPD and pro-police spending activists along with Mayor Jenny Durkan mostly unsatisfied. That is the nature of compromise. In the city, this will bring a nearly 17% cut to the city’s 2021 policing budget along with important changes to reduce the size and ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The last time the Washington state legislature officially met was at the end of the regular session in March just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning in the state and the U.S. But as a new legislative session nears, some members are advocating for a special session to be called this year instead of waiting until January 2021. It ...

Approximately 93 percent of Sikh American citizens are registered to vote, and 96 percent of those registered voters have said they are voting in the 2020 election Nov. 3, reported the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund in the findings of its first-ever National Sikh Survey. Speaking at the survey’s launch on Oct. 27, SALDEF Chair Kavneet Singh lauded the ...

During a Behavioral Health Recovery System Transformation Task Force meeting on Friday morning, group members discussed the series of behavioral health recommendations they will submit to the governor’s office ahead of the next legislative session. The recommendations were developed during previous task force meetings dating back to September 2019.

Manka Dhingra

Washington State Senator

Always interested in history and politics, Washington State Sen. Manka Dhingra made history as the first person of the Sikh faith ever elected to any state legislature. She took the Eastside’s 45th District position during the 2017 special election, and she founded women’s advocacy organization API Chaya in 1996.

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