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Last fall, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced a series of improvements to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which is designed to give student debt relief to borrowers who work full time in public service. The program, which originated in 2018, was roundly criticized for rejecting nearly 99 percent of applicants under the Trump administration. But with the new changes, which were spurred by a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Teachers, there is new optimism that more borrowers can benefit from PSLF. SB 5847, sponsored ...

WASHINTON, D.C. — The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed nation in the world with rates more than double the rate of any of its peer nations. Tuesday, the White House held the first-ever federal Maternal Health Day of Action to address these staggering trends. Studies show Black and Native American women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to white women. During today’s summit, Antoinette “Toni” Brown, a mother from Illinois, shared her story with lawmakers. Her daughter died in 2017 after health complications from giving ...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Vice President Harris and the White House during their Maternal Health Day of Action Summit. Senator Murray participated in a panel moderated by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and focused on the historic measures to improve maternal health in the Build Back Better package. During the panel, Senator Murray stressed that in order to build back stronger and fairer from the pandemic, Congress and the federal government must prioritize addressing the maternal ...

Despite Washington’s status as a technology hub, more than 40% of the state’s public K-12 school districts didn’t offer a single class in computer science, according to recent data. That’s abysmal. Not every young Washingtonian will want to grow up to work in computer-related industries, but each student should have the opportunity to explore these in-demand and lucrative careers. Click here to read more.

Backup was only about a minute away. But by the time it arrived, Centralia Police Officer Phil Reynolds had already used his Taser three times on a handcuffed suspect in the back of his patrol car. Two days later, Reynolds used his stun gun on another suspect, with one of the deployments lasting 44 seconds, nearly nine times as long as the standard Taser cycle. An internal review found four other incidents where Reynolds used his Taser in ways that violated department policy, then filed inaccurate reports about those uses of force. Click here to read more...

At a press conference Tuesday, Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D – Seattle) said that the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) did not fully support ESSB 5226 until an amendment from Sen. Annette Cleveland (D – Vancouver) was added. But after assessing public testimony offered by WASPC and following up with the organization to hear about how their stance on the bill developed, the Wire found that Sen. Cleveland’s amendment had no such impact.

ESSB 5226, removes the penalty of driver’s license suspension for failing to pay a ticket for a non-criminal traffic infraction. If individuals are ...

From 2014 to 2019, Michelle McClendon was without a driver’s license after she could not afford to pay a parking ticket she incurred while living out of her Toyota Camry. She also could not afford to be relicensed, so when public transit could not get McClendon to school, work or the grocery store, she would take a chance driving without a license.

She would pray on her way to work, asking in her words that “the universe be gracious” to her. Driving without a license in Washington state is a criminal offense punishable by 90 days in jail ...

At some point, Washington’s housing crunch will become a housing crisis. Meanwhile, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and legislative attempts to address housing issues will reverberate for decades to come.

Most pressing is a looming deadline for an eviction moratorium put in place by Gov. Jay Inslee. Shortly after the arrival of COVID-19, Inslee made it temporarily illegal for tenants to be evicted because of an inability to pay.

WASHINGTON – Democrats moved Tuesday to revive efforts in Congress to change gun laws after two high-profile mass shootings less than a week apart, but a stubborn partisan divide threatens to block even modest reforms.

After a 21-year-old man shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, congressional Democrats called for swift action on legislation to stem gun violence.

“What happened in Boulder yesterday is a tragedy,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote Tuesday on Twitter, “and unfortunately it’s one that’s all too common in our country. The best way to honor these victims & ...

Olympia, WA — Clean Cars 2030 (originally HB 1204), groundbreaking legislation that calls for all model year 2030 or later passenger and light-duty vehicles sold in Washington State to be electric vehicles (EVs), took one step closer to becoming law yesterday when it advanced out of the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology as an amendment to SHB 1287. The combined bill now heads to the Senate Transportation Committee.

Introduced in the legislature by Rep. Nicole Macri (D-Seattle), the target date for phasing out gas cars established in Clean Cars 2030 is five years earlier than the ...