WA must double-down on its investment in sustainable aviation
For the first time since the pandemic, the Paris Air Show returned to Le Bourget last month with a focus on air travel’s next great challenge: sustainability. Washington state should get ahead of the competition by creating incentives for the development of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, with infrastructure grant programs and even more aggressive tax credits than we already have. The aviation industry aims to decarbonize commercial flying by 2050, and Washington state is taking advantage of its existing aerospace infrastructure to become a leader in developing the technology needed to get us there. Washington state has taken a big step in the right direction, but we’ve only just left the starting blocks. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Dominic Gates)

Why many judges in WA won’t order abusers to turn in guns
In June 2019, a woman lay on the floor of a trailer home in Kitsap County, struggling to breathe after her boyfriend, Dwayne Allen Flannery, allegedly beat and choked her. After a neighbor called the police, Flannery was charged with second-degree assault. The county’s Superior Court issued a no-contact order prohibiting Flannery from going near his girlfriend. The court also issued an order requiring him to immediately turn in his firearms. Four years later, Flannery has not turned in a single weapon. He claimed the weapons surrender order violates his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and self-incrimination, since turning in his weapons would mean admitting he had firearms that he wasn’t legally allowed to have under the no-contact order, which made it a felony offense for him to possess firearms. The Washington Court of Appeals agreed with Flannery, dropping the weapons surrender order in a November 2022 decision. State legislators attempted to clarify Flannery’s Fifth Amendment concern with a “Flannery fix” contained in recently passed legislation, but it’s unclear whether judges will find the change sufficient when the law takes effect in late July. Continue reading at WA State Standard. (Getty Images)

Cantwell, Murray Announce $1.2 Billion Federal Investment In Broadband Infrastructure For Washington
Last week, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that the State of Washington will receive $1,227,742,066 from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to help expand broadband access to areas that remain without high-speed broadband. “The COVID pandemic laid bare just how crucial fast and affordable internet access is for all Washingtonians. But for more than a quarter of a million households in the State of Washington, broadband remains inaccessible,” said Sen. Cantwell. “This major new broadband investment will help ensure that more Washingtonians – from patients booking a telehealth appointment, to students filing an assignment, to small business owners connecting with customers – are able to fully participate in our 21st Century economy.” Continue reading at Seattle Medium.