We all know how good our state is at producing higher taxes, new regulations, and rising crime, but when it comes to producing the next generation of leaders (and their workers), the predictions don’t look so good. At least that’s the take from the Seattle Times, which reports that “around 70% of jobs in Washington state will require some education beyond high school. Yet the rate of homegrown high school grads earning credentials here is on the decline, a new report says.”

That report comes from the Washington Roundtable, a CEO-only organization, which notes that “the projected rate of enrollment in colleges and universities dropped 10 percentage points between the high school graduating classes of 2019 and 2021 alone.” You can learn more about how “it isn’t just fewer bachelor’s degrees the Roundtable is worried about” as those seeking non-degree credentials are also down here… Seattle Times.

You can expect another round of Democrat legislator press releases this week congratulating themselves on all the money they have taken from “polluters,” releases which will also deny that their cap-and-tax carbon auctions are impacting prices their constituents are paying at the gas pump. That’s the takeaway from Crosscut’s piece on the cap-and-tax process, as it describes how the “first two auctions sold pollution credits totaling about $800 million. The third is expected to put the total for the year well over $1 billion.”

The story misses that this is the fourth carbon auction of the year, as the reporter somehow does not count the emergency auction held earlier this month, but some correct details are here… Crosscut.

Labor Day is coming up, which means that selected teachers unions across the state are gearing up for the public relations exercise known as “an illegal public worker strike” to increase union dues collected in this state. This year, that is starting in Southwest Washington, where, according to the Columbian, the “Camas Education Association is striking for a second day Tuesday after Monday’s bargaining session again failed to yield a deal on a new contract.”

You can read how proud at least one educator is to be breaking the law, saying Monday, “This is the moment when we as educators show why we do this work” here… The Columbian.

Nothing defines liberal “governance” like adding years of delay and millions of dollars to the budget. Welcome to just another day at the playground known as Sound Transit, as reported by the Seattle Times, where the region’s troubled transit agency “will extend its light-rail planning two extra years until 2026, and spend $32.8 million more, while consultants study new downtown and South Lake Union station sites promoted by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and King County Executive Dow Constantine.”

You can find out how your money will be wasted as “Consultants will go back to the drawing board to analyze these new sites, which weren’t studied in the draft January 2022 environmental impact statement” here… Seattle Times.

Newspapers take their issue and editorial endorsement decisions seriously, but perhaps some are not connecting the two as often as they should.  That’s apparent from an (Everett) Herald editorial which points out – in its effort to demand the state act faster on cleaning up the drug overdose crisis, which has accelerated under soft-on-crime policies passed by Democrat legislative majorities – that “It’s not that action hasn’t been taken, that laws and policies haven’t seen necessary change, that investments aren’t being made, but — as it takes any object with enough mass and inertia to be slowed and turned around — the pace of drug overdoses and deaths in Snohomish County and Washington state are not showing signs of reversing; or even so much as slowing.”

What the paper is missing is that its editorial writers have endorsed Governor Jay Inslee and Democrat legislators down a straight party line who have made the overdose crisis worse, some two years after the all-Democrat “state Supreme Court threw out the state’s law on drug possession in 2021.” You can read more about how part of the problem may be that, in the paper’s opinion, an “opioid treatment clinic” next to a children’s activity center is fine because such clinics “in appearance and fit with the community are little different from a dentist’s office” here… (Everett) Herald.

Evidently, the Seattle Times editorial board has a low bar of achievement for the people it likes, which is on display in an editorial claiming that “Attorney General Bob Ferguson did the right thing in deciding to follow a new state rule about disclosing donor names when shifting their contributions from one campaign fund to another.”

Let that sink in. The Times has determined that it should “commend” an elected official who has abused his public position until he got caught because it is “the right thing” for the person who wants to be in charge of our state to “follow a new state rule.” You can learn more about if AG Fergson’s earlier decision to not “disclose the names of donors who gave $1.2 million to his past attorney general campaigns” was the act of someone who should get a promotion here… Seattle Times.

Some might find it hard to tell when Sound Transit (ST) is misleading the public, but at Shift, we start from that assumption to save time. That tendency proved well founded with this story, which the public radio folks at KUOW fell for, under the headline that ST’s light rail trains would be coming to the Eastside “sooner than expected.”

Of course, “sooner” and expected are both in the eyes of the beholder, as the Eastside route (“approved by area voters in 2008”) was “originally supposed to open this year.” You can read on about how several years late, over budget, and under-delivering on promises is the Sound Transit way here… KUOW.

Lacey Councilmember Lenny Greenstein joined us for last week’s Newsmaker Interview. Greenstein discussed the different approaches to homelessness between Olympia and Lacey. While Olympia has numerous encampments, Lacey remains free of them despite the cities’ proximity. Greenstein attributes Olympia’s homelessness issues to enabling drug addiction and untreated mental illness, in contrast to Lacey, which focuses on providing help and upholding the law. Greenstein, a 12-year City Council veteran, explained his views on the causes of homelessness, his opposition to Lacey’s involvement in the Olympia-controlled Regional Housing Council, and his campaign priorities for his upcoming re-election. Read more.

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