“Housing the homeless without requiring a lifestyle change is an ineffective, unscalable and unsustainable solution,” wrote Robert Smiley, the COO/Founder of The Hands Up Project. Once homeless himself, Smiley says Seattle needs to quit addressing just the symptoms of homelessness and focus on the root causes. “The most valuable gift we can give those in need is not a temporary shelter but the tools required to deal with life’s challenges.” Read more in Robert Smiley’s guest op-ed. (Shift WA)

Yesterday morning Gov. Inslee laid out his legislative goals for the 2019 session. You’ll be unsurprised to hear that they all correspond nicely to a liberal presidential campaign platform. “Gov. Inslee’s policies may be geared more towards Iowa than Washington state,” said Senator Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville). (The News Tribune)

The Washington state Supreme Court has declined to review a ruling that killed Seattle’s income tax. “There’s no way they can look at this and see any silver lining,” said income-tax opponent Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes assured the extreme left that the city would not give up on circumventing the state constitution. (Seattle Times)

Liberals want to fix the problems at Western State Hospital by…building another one. A new 500-bed state hospital probably would be built on the Western State Hospital campus, said Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma). “All of us know that we can and must make improvements for the behavioral health of our citizens,” Gov. Inslee said. What the governor forgot to mention was that many of the failings at Western State happened under his leadership. (The News Tribune)

Stanford University researchers showed charter-school students’ scores on state math and reading exams grew at a similar pace compared to those enrolled in traditional public schools. The study was the first in-depth analysis of student performance of the state’s charter-school program. The research also showed some charter schools significantly outperfored their local school options – by margins higher than the national average. (Seattle Times)

“As Vancouver Public Schools — and other districts throughout the state — grapple with projected budget shortfalls, legislators must avoid the temptation to lift a lid on school levies,” wrote The Columbian. The paper applauded the Republican led effort to protect taxpayers through a levy cap. Adding that the cap will prevent, “school districts from treating the public as a bottomless reservoir of cash.” (The Columbian)

State Representative Tina Orwall (D-Des Moines) plans to request $6 million from the Legislature to speed up processing of backlogged rape kits. “When we process those kits and upload them in CODIS, we catch other criminals,” Captain Monica Alexander of the Washington State Patrol said. Orwall’s bill has not been drafted yet, but she contends the goal will be to streamline the state’s rape kit testing process down to about 45 days. (KIRO 7)

A staffer at Q13 FOX was fired after doctoring a video of President Trump’s Oval Office address. “This does not meet our editorial standards and we regret if it is seen as portraying the president in a negative light,” Q13 news director Erica Hill wrote. The video had been edited to look like President Trump was sticking his tongue out and made his skin look extra orange. (Seattle Times)

Snohomish County Councilmember Nate Nehring says unfunded mandates imposed on counties by the state, like the Growth Management Act, are huge burdens. The unfunded mandates forced on local taxpayers, “leaves local governments with less money to provide core functions such as public safety and road maintenance.” To the Left, feeling good about legislation is more important than that legislation actually doing good. (The Marysville Globe)

A Tonasket City Councilmember called for the mayor to step down after a police officer alleged the mayor had instructed him to use the name Joseph because “Jose” sounded, “too Hispanic.” “Mayor walked into the office, he told me, ‘I changed your name from Jose to Joseph because Jose sounds too stereotypical. It sounds too Hispanic.’” Perez said in a video. Mayor Brown alleges the allegation is false. (Spokesman Review)

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