Longtime State Senate leaders Lisa Brown (D-Spokane) and Joe Zarelli (R-Ridgefield) are retiring this year. Join us as they discuss the challenges facing Washington, including the budget shortfall, school funding, skyrocketing tuition, health care and more. As party leaders, Senators Zarelli and Brown will candidly address the choices elected leaders face on these issues, and…

Many voters are going to be disappointed even before they cast their ballots in November. They will receive their ballots in the mail, search for their party’s legislative candidates, and find no candidates. Instead, they have but one choice … which is tantamount to no choice at all. If you live in Edmonds in the…

Looking at the weather map, how can you not be grateful we live in the Northwest? The rest of the country is sweltering and steaming in heat and humidity with no end in sight — meanwhile, we keep the comforter on the bed, the window cracked for fresh air, and enjoy mostly sunny days that…

Happy Birthday America! “[T]hese truths are self-evident…all men are created equal…they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…among these…Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…Governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed…” That’s our democracy, challenging the English monarchy with a new concept of equality for all. John Burbank, Executive Director…

Every student learns the American mantra from their teachers and parents: work hard, play by the rules, and you’ll have a chance to get ahead. This month’s crop of graduating high school seniors is powerful evidence that Washington’s students do step up to their responsibilities. But we (voters and legislators alike) have defaulted on our…

We have a lot of public heroes. We tend to think of the firefighters, EMTs and police who arrive at an accident, save lives, care for the injured, and clean up the mess. But we often ignore some lower profile public heroes, who we literally depend on for the health of our community. You can…

If you lived in a run-down house and all of a sudden your family got a lot of money, what would you do? Most people would think about fixing up the rickety front steps, replacing the leaky shower, and painting the back bedroom, for starters. But what if that new money came in the form…

This time of year, high school seniors who plan to go to community college or the University of Washington take a look at the actual price of admission — and then try to figure out with their parents whether they can make it work. It gets tougher every year. Just 10 years ago, UW tuition…

If you’re anything like me, you spent part of this week doing your income taxes. Or maybe you’re delaying that task until the weekend. It’s not a very pleasant way to spend your weeknights or your weekend, but those are the wages of procrastination for citizens like me. When you pay your taxes, you may…

The drumbeat for economic advancement is filled with warnings that our kids must get a college education to get ahead. So it’s instructive to see where those college educations can lead. Take my friend’s son Dale, for example. He’s 28, with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Washington. He is highly skilled…