Workers at PeaceHealth feel their access to health care is limited with new insurer

By Lauren Gallup
A photo at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham during National Nurses Week in 2021.
When employees at PeaceHealth hospitals around the state need a prescription filled for themselves or a family member, they can get them filled at PeaceHealth pharmacies for lower costs. It’s one of the benefits of the health care organization's insurance plan for its employees. But in Bellingham, Washington, PeaceHealth workers can’t use that benefit. There isn’t a Read More

Washington State Labor Council wants better standards for child care industry, paid vacation leave for all

By Lauren Gallup
The Washington Capitol building in Olympia with flowers in front.
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

More Boeing layoffs impact Washington workers

By Lauren Gallup
Grounded Boeing 737 MAX airplanes fill a parking area adjacent to Boeing Field Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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

Tacoma City Council moves forward with zoning changes

By Lauren Gallup
Old homes in a denser neighborhood near Tacoma's busy Sixth Avenue.
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

The dirty work of owning mason bees

By Lauren Gallup
Workers at Rent Mason Bees sort through bee cocoons on a light table that allows them to see through the cocoon. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)
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

Tacoma police chief back after weeklong investigation

By Lauren Gallup
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 last bellwether standing: Clallam County

By Lauren Gallup
At the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center, a group of community members meets up every Thursday morning to talk politics. On March 14, the Thursday following Washington state's presidential primary elections, the place was filled with voices eager to discuss presidential politics. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)
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

Tacomans struggle with high temperatures, heat and access to cooling varies across the city

By Lauren Gallup
Tree canopy over a paved pathway through Tacoma's South Park on the afternoon of Friday, July 12. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)
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

Medication first, and then a whole-health approach

By Lauren Gallup
The outside of the nonprofit Blue Mountain Heart to Heart in Walla Walla. The organization serves people with chronic illnesses, including substance use disorder. (Credit: Blue Mountain Heart to Heart)
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
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