Washington students hold steady in performance on standardized tests, with most changes only being 1 or 2 percentage points. The most notable increase came from a the number of students passing 7^th grade reading tests this year in comparison to 2016.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant is attacking Amazon’s decision to locate a second headquarters outside of Seattle. “Amazon’s quest for a second massive corporate base is reminiscent of Boeing’s ongoing efforts to ship jobs out of the Seattle area and hold us hostage.” Adding, “Instead, we need to unionize, and to take these behemoths into democratic public ownership, so that they are run not for profit for a few, but in the interests of the majority of working people and of society.” (Read more here)

Seattle’s Police Department has three new assistant chiefs as Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole takes steps to create more leadership experience for the department. She reports this change will not impact the budget.

Students at Roosevelt High School – where “it’s rare to see anyone who is openly Republican” – were given an opportunity to learn from Trump supporters. When a Trump supporter and alumni of the school visited class, at least one student was “so upset, I had to run out of the room to calm myself down.” (Read more here)

The City of Seattle has denied Chris Hansen’s group the ability to submit a proposal for renovating Key Arena, saying “they should have submitted their proposal during the RFP process… they did not submit a proposal and continue to show no interest in working in partnership with the City.” Seattle City officials have selected the Oak View Group proposal to move forward with renovations.

Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart is now proposing a “tent city,” claiming he regrets filling the area beneath I-90 with boulders to stop homeless people from camping out.

The Washington National Guard is in Cle Elum to help fight the Jolly Mountain Fire that has consumed nearly 24,000 acres of land and is threatening more. The 800-person strong fire crew already in place is now being assisted by nearly 130 soldiers from the Guard.

Spokane’s air quality has yet to improve, making today the fourth day in a row the city has dealt with hazardous air due to the smoke from the fires.

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