equity
Tribal leaders ask Congress for help with fentanyl crisis in Native American communities
WASHINGTON — Leaders of Native American tribes detailed the fentanyl crisis in Indigenous communities during a Wednesday U.S. Senate hearing. “This growing crisis is rooted in the longstanding structural inequities in Native communities,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, who chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she […]
WA hires leader for new investigative unit focused on missing and murdered Indigenous people
A member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe with nearly three decades of law enforcement experience will take a lead role at a new state investigative unit devoted to unsolved cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Monday that he has hired Brian George as the chief investigator for […]
Washington’s new equity director on where her office goes from here
Washington’s new Office of Equity director, Megan Matthews, wants you to know she’s ready to get to work. “This is real to me,” Matthews said. “This isn’t about a position. I don’t come to this with ego. I come to this humbly and with a lot of respect for what we are mandated to do.” […]
It may have just gotten harder to protect minority communities from pollution
In recent years, some states have invested in air quality monitoring, applied extra scrutiny to permitting decisions and steered cleanup funding to minority communities that have borne the brunt of pollution for decades. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down race-conscious college admissions policies, state lawmakers are facing a […]
Why Washington’s jury diversity problem starts outside the courthouse
Chief Justice Steven González put a renewed spotlight on Washington’s lack of jury diversity in a recent opinion for the state’s highest court. In a unanimous decision last week, the state Supreme Court ruled that a Black man, Paul Rivers, was not denied a right to a fair trial when he was sentenced to life […]
A ‘she-cession’ no more: After COVID dip, women’s employment hits all-time high
After fears of a “she-cession” during the pandemic, women have returned to the workforce at unprecedented rates. Much of the gain reflects a boom in jobs traditionally held by women, including nursing and teaching. Many good-paying jobs in fields such as construction and tech management are still dominated by men, a continuing challenge for states […]
Harm of anti-LGBTQ laws includes economic pain for communities, families
Roberto Che Espinoza had been thinking about leaving Tennessee after the 2024 election, but in June they noticed that the state attorney general was seeking medical records on gender-affirming medical care, which Espinoza, a nonbinary transgender man, said included their own records. “Being on any kind of list … I knew after the release of […]
US Supreme Court strikes down use of affirmative action in college admissions
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that two prominent universities’ consideration of race in acceptances violated the U.S. Constitution, effectively reshaping the role of affirmative action in the college admissions process throughout higher education. In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, wrote that the admissions processes at […]