The Columbian

FILE - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee delivers his annual State of the State address to a joint legislative session in the House chambers of the state Capitol, Jan. 9, 2024, in Olympia, Wash.

Inslee’s budget proposal would delay state child care expansion

December 31, 2024, 7:33am Latest News

More Washington children are expected to qualify for public child care and preschool programs in 2025 and 2026. Read story

Copies of pay or vacate notices sit on the floor of Cheyonna Lewis’ home in east Vancouver. Lewis is one of many renters in Clark County dealing with junk fees.

WA cities expanded renter protections as state efforts stalled

December 30, 2024, 6:05am Latest News

Efforts to pass renter protections at the state level stalled in 2024, but cities across Washington — from Olympia to Woodinville to Spokane — expanded local ordinances and policies aimed at protecting tenants. Read story

Jenna Carodiskey-Wiebe, assistant teacher with ECEAP, right, watches as two-year-old Zakiah Jatta plays with Play-Doh in her classroom at Akin’s Early Learning Center in Auburn, Wash., Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Washington is doing more to help families access and afford child care, but huge gaps remain. Early ECEAP provides free child care and family support services to infants and toddlers from low-income households. But there are only 178 spots funded in the entire state. Some of those spots are at Akin’s early learning center in Auburn. (Ellen M.

Child care and early learning central to debate over how to close WA budget gap

December 26, 2024, 9:07am Latest News Free

Gov. Jay Inslee’s budget proposal offered some hope for child care and early learning advocates who were prepared to fight against deep cuts. Read story

Washington state Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, will serve on the Senate Ways and Means Committee in the 2025 legislative session and be a leading voice on tax policy for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Democratic state senator’s email reveals tax ideas WA lawmakers may debate

December 24, 2024, 7:35am Latest News Free

A Democratic state senator’s errant email is shedding light on new taxes that she and her colleagues may pursue in 2025 as well as a strategy to sell them to the public. Read story

Members of the House convene on the first day of the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Olympia.

WA lawmakers fight to keep public records hidden — on your dime

December 20, 2024, 11:19am Clark County Politics

State taxpayers have helped foot the bill, at least $150,000 so far, toward lawmakers’ legal expenses in two separate lawsuits against the Legislature for withholding documents from the public. Read story