New year brings new laws for Washington state residents
The arrival of 2022 also brings with it a raft of new laws set to take effect in Washington state, including legislation that aims to restore voting rights and ban the use of Native American images and names as school mascots. Customers who take food orders to go will now have to ask for single-use eating utensils and condiments because a new law that starts Saturday prohibits establishments from providing them without being asked to do so. In other instances, the new legislation was personal for its sponsors. Continue reading at KOMO News.
The F.D.A. clears booster shots for 12- to 15-year-olds
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, a group that became eligible for initial shots in May. Regulators also shortened by a month the amount of time that adults and adolescents should wait between second and third doses, allowing them to seek booster shots five months after second injections. And they allowed some immunocompromised children aged 5 to 11 to seek a third shot, including those who have undergone solid organ transplants or have conditions that amount to “an equivalent level of immunocompromise,” the F.D.A. said in a statement. Continue reading at The New York Times. (Rachel Woolf)
Washington state minimum wage to increase 80 cents Saturday
The Washington State minimum wage increases Saturday, reflecting inflation over the past year. The new hourly minimum, which applies to employees 16 years and older, will increase 80 cents per hour to $14.49 from the current $13,69, according to the state Department of Labor & Industries. Employees aged 14-15 will earn $12.32 per hour. L&I is required to make adjustments to the minimum wage every year based on cost-of-living expenses. Continue reading at The Olympian. (Getty Images)
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