WSU football coach Mike Leach is in the Cambodian capital this week, along with three Washington lawmakers, meeting with the prime minister and other government officials. Bill Stevens with the WSU Athletic Department clarified that Leach was traveling at his own expense and “it is not WSU football related.” (Spokesman-Review)

“I am pretty blown away that an adult would behave this way, I find it appalling.” That’s what Seattleite Ari Hoffman said of Kshama Sawant’s rhetoric around the head tax. Unable to make an economic argument for the head tax, Sawant has instead called Jeff Bezos a “bully” and anyone opposing the head tax “right-wingers.” (Q13 Fox)

In an interview with Q13 Fox, Sawant took the recent pushback from workers and business owners as a reason to double down on the head tax. In a testy segment with Q13’s Brandi Kruse, Sawant called for an increase in the tax proposal from $75 million to $150 million a year. (Q13 Fox)

An independent analysis of King County’s homelessness crisis by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company suggests the county will need to spend $410 million to solve the homeless problem. The report estimates King County is short roughly 14,000 units of affordable housing. (Seattle Times)

Columbia County commissioners are considering the creation of a new position at the county to handle employee relations. Columbia Commissioner Merle Jackson said of the decision, “No single event caused this. It’s just a direction we felt we needed to go.” (Union-Bulletin)

Do you like The Morning Briefing? Forward this to a friend! It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected].

If you don’t want to receive this email each morning, click here to opt-out of The Morning Briefing.