WA is poised to model a major culture shift in gun laws
When campus officials at Michigan State University began tweeting “Run, Hide, Fight” as guidance to students for how to handle a gunman actively shooting on campus earlier this week, they were essentially saying: Sorry, we are out of ideas. Formulated by the Department of Homeland Security, it is widely dispersed. In Washington, even the tiny Shelton School District posts videos advocating the approach. It may be practical in the moment. But “Run, Hide, Fight” is not an adequate response. It is a concession that the feds, at least, have nothing more concrete to offer on public safety. Washington state gun policy, however, has been moving in a more constructive direction for nearly a decade. With ever more citizens shattered by gun violence, and a majority of legislators endorsing new muscle in combating it, Washington is poised to model a major culture shift, rejecting the belief that there are no answers. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Paul Sancya)

‘These are not detention centers, these are prisons’: Hunger strike highlights poor conditions at NWDC
On Feb 1, undocumented immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma went on a hunger strike to protest poor living conditions. Grassroots advocacy group La Resistencia reported that more than 115 detainees joined the protest, sparking a crackdown by detention center personnel, including alleged use of tear gas within the facility. State Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-Edmonds), the sponsor of HB 1470, said that the state has a responsibility to look out for people within NWDC. “The people that are in that facility are very vulnerable,” Ortiz-Self said. “They can’t be ignored; you can’t just pretend we don’t hear this. And I think all of us as Washingtonians, when we hear that people are going through hunger strikes or being abused or going without basic needs, and the organization’s refusing transparency, refusing to prove that they’re wrong — they just deny it — I think we need an outcry that says, ‘Not in our Washington.’ You don’t get to come into our Washington and treat people inhumanely.” Continue reading at Real Change News. (Flickr)

Seattle’s Black-white homeownership divide widened in the last decade, report says
One hundred years ago, Seattle passed its first zoning ordinance, which allowed neighborhoods to be restricted to single-family developments. The same year, the city’s first racially restrictive housing parcel covenant was written. Data shows the effects of these exclusionary actions still linger today. The rate of Black homeownership in Seattle has worsened in recent years, according to a recent report by Today’s Homeowner that analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data. Along with Seattle, the homeownership gap worsened in Tacoma, Renton, Federal Way and Kent. Those four Washington cities had a homeownership gap larger than the national average of 29.4%. A September 2022 Washington Department of Commerce report on housing disparity said more than 143,000 people of color would need to become homeowners to equal the white homeownership rate in the state. “The Black-white homeownership gap is worse today than it was in the 1960s when racial discrimination in housing was legal,” the report stated. Continue reading at Puget Sound Business Journal. (Getty Images)