The University of Washington announced Thursday it will require all employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine before fall classes begin. Faculty and staff at all three campuses will be required to show proof of immunization in order to work at university facilities. The mandate follows new updated guidance from the Washington Department of Labor & Industries that requires employers to confirm proof of vaccination before ending mask mandates. "The.
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“Inconsistent.” “Disastrous.” “Senseless.” Those are just some of the words being used to describe Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan for reopening the state – and they’re the words of his fellow Democrats. It’s a sign of rising frustration over the slow pace of getting restaurants, gyms and other businesses open again.
From the start of the pandemic, Governor Inslee faced criticism from conservatives upset about his mask mandate and stay home order. But over the last week, there’s been a noticeable shift. Now members of Inslee’s own party are assailing him.
“[I]t is clear that the governor’s plan exhibits a disastrous disconnect with the realities of our communities and, as their elected representatives, we must demand a reopening plan that is fair and sound,” wrote a trio of Olympia Peninsula Democrats in a recent statement.
Washington state offers a new blueprint for how Cascadia can kick the fossil-fuel habit.
Peter Fairley is an award-winning journalist based in Victoria and San Francisco, whose writing has appeared in Scientific American, NewScientist, Hakai Magazine, Technology Review, the Atlantic, Nature and elsewhere. SHARES Climate activist Eileen Quigley is feeling hope after seeing her state of Washington set a bold new path toward renewable energy. She worked with modellers to inform the plan.
Photo by Dan DeLong via InvestigateWest. [Editor’s note: This is part of a year-long occasional series of articles produced by InvestigateWest in partnership with The Tyee and other news organizations on shifting the Cascadia region to a zero-carbon economy.]
States begin activating National Guard after FBI warns of armed protests at capitols Staff and wire reports January 13 A member of the Washington National Guard stands at a fence surrounding the Capitol in anticipation of protests Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Olympia, Wash. (Ted S. Warren) Governors around the country began ramping up security at their state capitols, including activating their states’ National Guards, in preparation for what the FBI identified as massive armed protests planned in every state capital in the country leading up to Inauguration Day. The activations come in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. They are in addition to National Guard forces mobilized to D.C., where there are already about 6,200 National Guard soldiers and airmen from six states and the District of Columbia on the ground supporting civilian auth