Striking teachers march around the Tacoma School District Central Administration Building, Sept. 10, 2018, in Tacoma, Wash. (Credit: Ted S. Warren / AP) Listen (Runtime 4:28) Read By Phineas Pope […]Read More
For workers in Washington state, there are a number of bills being brought forward this legislative session that labor leaders hope will make working life better in the state.
The Washington State Labor Council has introduced its legislative agenda for 2025, which focuses on improving child labor laws, bargaining over artificial intelligence in public sector jobs and Read More
When workers go on strike in Washington state, they don’t earn a dime. A new piece of legislation could change that.
This bill would allow workers to eventually access unemployment benefits, starting the second Sunday after they began withholding their labor. Workers could claim up to four weeks of benefits through the state’s unemployment insurance, according to Read More
Aerospace company Boeing has announced another round of layoffs, this one impacting 396 workers in Washington state.
About half of the Boeing employees in Washington laid off in this round of cuts are members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. Bryan Corliss, a spokesperson for SPEEA, said in recent months, his union has seen over 3% of Read More
Nurses at Tacoma’s St. Joseph Medical Center could soon have a new collective bargaining agreement with higher wages, improved safety measures in the hospital and some staffing mandates.
The bargaining team for the nurses reached a tentative agreement with the hospital after months of bargaining. This week, all employees at the hospital represented by the Washington Read More
The Tacoma City Council adopted its next two-year budget, after months of working with city staff to balance for a predicted $24 million structural deficit. Read More
As the city of Tacoma works to manage its $24 million budget deficit, council members have been making decisions on what to cut. At Tuesday’s council meeting, the electeds considered two amendments.
The first amendment was brought forward by Council member Jamika Scott, who worked in collaboration with Council member Joe Bushnell to find a way to protect the city’s cash Read More
The City of Tacoma has a budget problem; its expenses are higher than its revenue. That means the city has a projected structural deficit of $24 million for the 2025-26 biennial budget.
Staff and city council members have been working to balance that, and one thing they’re proposing cutting has a lot of community members upset. Read More
The next phase of Tacoma’s attempts to address housing shortages will soon be implemented, as the Tacoma City Council has voted unanimously to adopt the second phase of the Home in Tacoma zoning package.
The package of changes to city zoning standards aims to create more opportunities for different types of housing across the city, including by allowing more units to be Read More
In Western Washington, Clallam County has likely lost its 40 year streak as a bellwether for the presidential election. While more votes are still being counted, the majority of Clallam votes tallied so far are for Vice President Kamala Harris.
That is not the story nationwide. The election has been called for former president Donald Trump. Read More
After their contract ended on Halloween, nurses at Tacoma’s St. Joseph Medical Center spent a rainy Friday morning picketing outside the hospital.
The nurses’ union, Washington State Nurses Association or WSNA, has been negotiating with hospital management since August. But Pamela Chandran, director of legal affairs for the union, said there are sticking points. Read More
In high school classrooms and on college campuses, students learn about the U.S. system of governance and the country’s political history. This November, some get to make their voice heard in those systems for the first time as voters.
In the Northwest, the issues driving some of these voters vary; from social issues to economics to housing. Still, others are choosing Read More
A staffer for the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System has alleged retaliation after he spoke out about the deteriorating conditions of a building on the south Seattle campus that housed specialty clinics and office space.
Douglas Galuszka, chief of logistics, was issued two suspensions totaling three weeks of unpaid leave this year. He said VA administrators Read More
Every October in the backyard of a Bothell home, a team of workers swarm around millions of blue orchard mason bees, to harvest the hibernating bees.
The company, Rent Mason Bees, quickly takes apart and cleans the wooden nesting blocks that gardeners and farmers across the state use in the spring to house these tiny pollinators. The company offers this service as part Read More
Twenty-five years ago, the Olympic Pipeline ruptured in Bellingham, Washington, killing three people. In the aftermath, Washington state created its Citizens' Committee on Pipeline Safety, meant to advise on regulation to keep communities around pipelines safer.
The committee still functions today, but Amanda McKay, who serves on it, said that increased interest and Read More
In the past, if a local fire department needed to use air support from the state, crews had to go through multiple agencies before resources would be deployed. But with legislation that passed unanimously last session, they can now call the resources directly.
The legislation — House Bill 1498 — was called a success by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Read More
After a week of administrative leave, Tacoma’s police chief is back on duty.
Tacoma City Manager Elizabeth Pauli placed Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore on leave last week. In a statement released on Wednesday, Pauli wrote that she conducted a fact-finding investigation into personal use of a city asset. The statement did not specific what the city asset, or costs Read More
The city of Tacoma is considering proposals to allow for more housing development, and different kinds of housing, in all residential areas. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 3:47) […]Read More
In season four, episode 19 of the sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” actor Bradley Whitford plays a city council member in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Whitford tells Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, “City council isn't about making everyone happy. In fact, every decision you make is going to make a lot of people very unhappy.”
Right now, the Tacoma City Read More
This wildfire season for the first time, local firefighting agencies across Washington were able to call in aerial resources from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources without having to wait crucial minutes to begin full suppression. Read More
At food establishments across Redmond, diners this month will find a unique accompaniment to their orders; poems.
Penned by local writers as well as poets from international Cities of Literature, the poems expound on community, harvest and lineage. Redmond’s poet laureate, Ching-In Chen, is leading the project, called Read Local Eat Local, It kicks off on Thursday Sept. Read More
If you were to drive the farthest west you can in Washington, you’d reach Clallam County. That’s on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula, nestled between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a remote, wide county, where you can visit Olympic National Park and drive from sunny Sequim to rainy Forks. It’s a place known for its beauty and for its Read More
In Portland, Oregon, a federal judge is set to hear arguments this week in a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission against the proposed merger between the two grocery store chains, Kroger and Albertsons.
Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, joined other members of Congress in filing an amicus brief opposing the merger. Read More
A portion of the Electron Dam on the Puyallup River has to be removed, according to a decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The federal appeals court upheld the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington that a vertical metal wall portion of the dam, a temporary spillway, makes the dam a complete barrier to fish passage and Read More
In a big, open room in the basement of Bellingham’s old city hall, little cupboards line the walls holding spray paint, different kinds of tape, cans of WD-40, and at least four different handheld drills.
Wearing round-framed glasses and an explorer’s hat, museum preparator David Miller stands over the work table, messy with progress. He is sculpting fake dinosaur bones. Read More
It used to be the case that people who harvest shellfish could breathe a sigh of relief in late autumn. Spring, summer and even early fall have long presented the right conditions for harmful algae to grow and produce biotoxins in waters along the Washington state coast and into Puget Sound.
But in recent years, recreational and commercial harvesters, state agencies and Read More
Lurking within the deep, blue waters that lap along the Washington state coastline and into the Puget Sound, algal blooms burst in colorful explosions when the sun shines across the surface, giving these aquatic plants life.
But these brightly colored blooms sometimes pack a dangerous punch. Read More
Tacoma For All and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367 announced plans to bring an initiative to Pierce and Thurston county voters next year. The groups are calling the initiative a workers’ bill of rights. Read More
In Skagit County, a nonprofit that houses a number of animals, including exotic ones, is in continued legal battles. A law firm that advocates for animal rights is claiming the organization may have violated the Endangered Species Act, by, as the law firm claims in its complaint, the illegal euthanization of wolves. Read More
Stories of recovery: Patients talk about pairing medication assisted treatment with provider support
Six years ago, if you had told Jamie Cline that today, she would be the mom of a toddler, working at a doctor’s office and completing her bachelor’s degree, she would have thought you were nuts.
But, she is doing all of those things. On top of all of that, Cline is also nearly six years into recovery from drug addiction. Read More
Everyone watching fires around Washington this week held their breath as about 600 lightning strikes hit the landscape across the state.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources, who, alongside agency partners, prepared for those conditions this week by pulling in out-of-state resources and pre-positioning crews. The lightning strikes ignited at least two Read More
Dry, hot and windy conditions have communities on alert for wildfire danger across the Pacific Northwest. Those conditions propelled fire growth over the weekend, and more of the same weather is expected this week. Read More
Four days a week, Kevin Ruby’s team is responding to calls and, often complaints, about people experiencing homelessness in Tacoma.
“We always are trying to put people in touch with resources,” Ruby said. “It's just the resources right now, this week, last week, this time of year in general, include a lot more often water, cooling shelters, transportation to cooling Read More
The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium welcomed a new member into its marine family last month: a California sea lion pup.
Already, Pepper is a spicy and playful pup, said Jen DeGroot, curator of marine mammals and birds at the zoo. Read More
A couple of blocks off U.S. Route 12 in Walla Walla, Blue Mountain Heart to Heart has been treating people with substance use disorder for over a decade. But, for years, the nonprofit was unable to quickly offer a proven treatment for opioid use disorder: medication-assisted treatment.
Staffers would have to arrange for patients to get an assessment with a trained Read More
Lawmakers, including Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington, recently introduced a bill to try to sustain maternity wards in rural hospitals. But the additional funding might not be enough.Read More
A ballot from the March 2024 primary election in Washington state. (Credit: Johanna Bejarano / NWPB) Listen (Runtime 7:53) Read In preparation for the general election this November, Northwest Public […]Read More
A loud whoosh brought Cortez Hopkins out of his office. Two ceiling tiles had crashed down where moments before a staffer had sat packing up records. Water trickled down as Hopkins snapped pictures of the damage.
Hopkins and others were working overtime in the logistics office of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System campus in South Seattle as nearly an Read More
Catherine McKinney is a sister of a person with developmental delays. She knows firsthand the joys and challenges families face when seeking opportunity and community for their loved ones.
At Clallam Mosaic, where she is the program and communications director, McKinney helps families like hers find community through recreational programs that range from martial arts to Read More
A few months from now, people across Washington state will vote in this year’s general election. Most will vote by mail, with the ballot mailed to them from their county auditor.
Voters will fill out their ballots, sign the envelopes and drop them off in a ballot box or send them in the post, where a team of election workers will accept those ballots and send them over to Read More
More than six months after the Pierce County AIDS Foundation (PCAF) closed, community members and service providers say there is still a void for people in the county seeking testing and care for HIV/AIDS.
“It's been going on six months now that the community doesn’t have these services available to them,” said Chace Hunter in April. Hunter is the executive director of Read More
The United States Department of Agriculture is soliciting applications for funding to build farmworker housing nationwide.
In the Pacific Northwest, leaders hope the money can address gaps in farmworker housing. The Pacific Northwest is in a housing crisis and that impacts rural small businesses and agricultural producers, as well as farmworkers, said Helen Price Johnson, Read More
The skepticism in how elections work and their accuracy has become a hot topic on social media, at the dinner table and in the news.
Kyle Haugh, Pierce County elections manager, said since 2016, there’s been a spike in interest in how elections are administered. Read More
According to a new report released April 16, by the Anti-Defamation League, 2023 had the most reported incidents of antisemitism nationwide since the organization began tracking incidents of antisemitism in 1979.
Last year, there were 8, 873 reported incidents of antisemitism nationwide, which the organization averages to one incident every hour. Read More
Recent funding from the Washington State Department of Commerce will help keep one Pierce County housing project running. Project Open Door serves people experiencing chronic homelessness. Read More
This weekend, big service changes will go into effect for Pierce County’s public transportation system.
While Pierce Transit makes service changes throughout the year, Rebecca Japhet, who handles communications for the public transit operator, said these service changes are the biggest the company has made in seven years. Read More
It’s that time of year when flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and crews working for the Samish Indian Nation are scouting shorelines within the San Juan archipelago, looking for marine debris. Read More
While it's not instant forgiveness, the Saving on a Valuable Education plan does forgive debt, eventually. This month, the rules on the new program changed to make that forgiveness come a bit sooner, for some.
Now, student loan borrowers on the plan who borrowed less could see loan forgiveness in as little as 10 years, with no undergraduate borrowers waiting more than 20 Read More
When Mike Allende started managing social media for the Washington State Department of Transportation, he was told “don’t be boring.”
“Boring” is probably the last word any one would use to describe Allende’s approach to the job, which massively grew engagement while he worked there. Known by some fans as Mr. WSDOT, he’s the man behind the most followed state department Read More
East of Tacoma, across Highway 18, down a packed gravel road, and behind a locked metal gate, Tacoma Water churns over the Green River. This is the source for most of Tacoma’s drinking water. Read More
