Many political and media personalities can be accused of fomenting a venomous environment, but political leaders have access to the largest megaphones, none more so than the nation’s leader. This is true across all forms of government, from democratic republics to theocratic autocracies. 

In “How America Recovers from All This,” David Brooks suggests that the nation is ripe for a “humanistic turn” that champions dignity, virtue, and communal repair.

Welcome to our new weekly roundup of news from across the Puget Sound region. Not comprehensive, these are stories that caught our eye this week.

This story begins in January of 2017, when Grant County farmer Ron Fode was vying for a nod from Ecology to irrigate his fields in lieu of owning the groundwater rights to do so.

While the Washington State Supreme Court has already ruled on and affirmed in subsequent cases over nearly a century that income is property, the court is very likely to take up this question again and rule on it anew.

Unusual refueling with super-cooled natural gas augurs sea change in Alaska cruise market. But some fossil fuel critics see “false promise.”