Category Archives: In The News

Washington state House and Senate lawmakers announced their supplemental operating budget proposals Monday, with each chamber dedicating most of the funding to K-12 education and behavioral health. Senate lawmakers are proposing a $71.7 billion supplemental operating budget, adding approximately $1.9 ...

Pay raises and inflation. Hospital beds and opioid treatments. Special education and college financial aid. Electric-powered fire trucks and soccer field renovations. Democratic budget writers in the Senate and House penciled in money for these, and much more, in spending ...

By The Herald Editorial Board State Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, reacted to her appointment to chair of the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee, with the humility expected from a veteran lawmaker who has worked effectively behind the scenes on policy ...

Sen. June Robinson, an Everett Democrat, was named Thursday as the new chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, the budget-writing panel responsible for developing tax policies and deciding how the state spends billions of dollars each year. Robinson, ...

EVERETT — State Senate Democratic colleagues selected Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, to serve as the chair of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee for the 2024 legislative session. Robinson will be in the decision-making seat in the committee that ...

OLYMPIA — Hospital executives and nurse union leaders achieved detente late last month in their years-long battle on staffing levels. They only had a handshake, not a deal. Agreement required several more days of negotiations between the two groups and ...

Funding and more will help replenish the community health centers many relied on the past two years. The landmark investments made this legislative session to Washington state’s health care system are akin to providing critical life support to a patient. ...

OLYMPIA — A fierce legislative fight over staffing levels and worker protections in hospitals is over. For now. A bill that would have limited the number of patients assigned to a nurse and imposed hefty fines on hospitals that failed ...

The Senate and House passed the Senate’s proposed supplemental budget which intends to spend billions on various sectors. The state’s spending bill is now awaiting a decision from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Democratic legislators in both the Washington House and Senate ...

EVERETT — Amid the Taliban’s rise, more than 300 evacuees from Afghanistan were welcomed to Snohomish County between October and the end of January. Another 150 were expected by mid-February, advocates say. Those numbers don’t account for all arrivals from ...