Governor Jay Inslee may have finally found something he’s good at: pandering to the environmental crowd with an absurd plan to address climate change. Greenpeace gave Inslee the highest grade (A-) on climate change among all of the 2020 presidential candidates. “The governor started rolling out his climate plan a few weeks ago and since then we’ve seen a huge uptick in support,” campaign manager Aisling Kerins. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has also indicated that she is a fan as well. (MyNorthwest)

Despite the best efforts by Olympia Democrats and the WEA, Washington charter schools are helping students thrive. The 2019 graduating class at Summit Olympus High School marks the first charter school graduates in the history of our state. “As a whole graduating class, we’ve all grown really close, and it’s going to hurt to say goodbye, but at the same time, we’ve seen each other grow,” said student Emma Coleman – who earned a $90,000 scholarship to attend university. 98% of the 66-person graduating class were accepted to a four-year university. (News Tribune)

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced last week that she supported Police Chief Carmen Best’s decision to retain an offer after they admitted to lying. The officer lied when he said he did no retaliate against a citizen who had insulted him. Durkan “agrees that this officer’s behavior was clearly inappropriate and is contrary to what the Seattle Police Department stands for,” said a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. (Seattle Times)

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the resumption of fact-finding missions in deadly police use of force cases in the county. “The inquest system was successful in providing a better understanding of the facts, but many people remained unsatisfied,” said Executive Constantine. A committee examined the process and recommended changes, including no longer using sitting judges and adding transparency with audio of proceedings available online. (MyNorthwest)

A huge county road expansion known as the East-West Corridor is set to kick off construction this fall. “My sense is that since it is such a long-term project, and since we didn’t have the funding in place, it might not have seemed real to people. It was more conceptual,” said Matt Pietrusiewicz, the Yakima County engineer. (Yakima Herald)

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