Blue-collar workers identifying as Democrats have declined. An NBC survey found that drop over the last decade was by 8 percentage points, while the number who call themselves Republicans has increased by 12 percentage points. That trend is not limited to white workers.

We have a hammer problem with policing. As in, “when every problem is a nail, every solution is a hammer.” We have asked the police to do too much. Or to put it another way, we send police to deal with stuff that is better dealt with by other people using other methods.

“Viruses are spread by people’s movements,” the association warned in a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Japan’s top Olympics officials. “Japan will hold a heavy responsibility if the Olympics and Paralympics work to worsen the pandemic, increasing the number of those who must suffer and die.”

The mills are long closed, but the battle is not ended. Cheered on by the Alaska delegation, the Trump Administration last year rescinded, in the Tongass, the Carter-era “Roadless Rule” which blocked construction of new roads into unlogged national forest land. The move was designed to open 186,000 acres of old growth forest to commercial logging.

She describes how she happened to write the book, beginning with a phone call that arrived shortly after she was sworn in as a new U.S. senator in 2008. A pharmacist at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis called asking for help: the price of a life-saving drug used to treat premature babies had suddenly increased astronomically in price.

It looks like Harrell will survive the August 3 primary election, and a real race is shaping up for the other slot (with Gonzalez the leading candidate). The non-council candidates are too tightly bunched.

The structural bones are still there, but the terminal has been opened up and modernized by popping the ceiling way up so the original structure is now a low-lying frame.

When the bill got to the House, tribal lobbyists got lawmakers to install some teeth. A new subsection required that projects “must be paused or ceased” if a tribe finds it would “adversely impact cultural resources, archaeological sites, or sacred sites.” It was part of a series of changes in the bill designed to win over environmental justice advocates. That spooked Inslee into vetoing this section.

“Bones of Hilo” brings out the personal and group conflicts arising between the preservation of Hawaiian culture and the overwhelming forces of development and tourism.

Among the criticisms of the spending plan: transportation gets a short end of the stick, and the money is spread thinly over a series of councilmembers' pet projects. All get a slice of the pie, but there are no big, transformative ideas.

The ARRA has showered resources on the country. On Thursday, Biden read off a list of Republican lawmakers who voted against the Recovery Act but have subsequently claimed credit for money bestowed on their states. A notable example was crusty Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

Echohawk is positioned as the most likeable of the candidates, but that adds blandness to her liabilities along with inexperience at city hall. Farrell may be the best campaigner (specific programs, candid answers, broadened appeal) of the group, and she is starting to draw differences from the council insiders (Gonzalez, Harrell, Sixkiller) who have failed to solve big problems.

“Private Property” was a concept that European immigrants to America brought with them, but which was alien to American Indians. Euro-Americans kept trying to get Indians to “settle down” and farm a particular plot of land. Though some did, it was alien to their culture, at least to the Nez Perce culture.

There is no indication when the Canada-U.S. border will reopen to recreational and non-essential travel. The current closure lasts until June 21, But the crossing ban has been automatically renewed on the 21st of each month.

San Juan's modern county charter allows for a ready path to modifying it. Voters may soon get to vote on environmental and equity issues.

Warren's core insight: Big money has corrupted the republic. In her words: “This corruption has delivered untold profits to a handful of billionaires and corporations – and it may cost us our future . . . Corruption stands in the way of every single policy that would help us build a more just America. Corruption is a cancer that is eating away at our democracy.”

The fact that a whole year has gone by, during which the public has heard and seen nothing, and a committee to “advise” on the future of Bumbershoot is only now being formed -- is an indication that there’s no creative spark at the center of this reinvention.

Five former Seattle City Councilmembers penned an op ed attacking the Charter Amendment proposal. Another former councilmember, Tim Burgess, fired back.

Progressives should pause and consider that there will be different outcomes when the Republicans come to control the Senate. In exactly half of the congressional sessions since 1989 to the end of Donald Trump’s term, they were the majority party in the Senate.

To get the votes for two major climate bills on energy, Democrats had to agree to a future gas-tax increase for roads infrastructure. It was an awkward linkage, and Insleee's veto pen blew up the deal.

The Facebook group’s small clan of idealistic detectives, amateur oral historians, and thrilled descendants of farmworkers offers quite a contrast to the usual news coming out of Facebook’s much-criticized “groups” feature in recent years.

The new audiences raise an old anxiety for local arts groups, which is how they maintain a distinctive local focus.

These tiny house villages are a small dent in what continues to be a very vexing problem in Seattle, and many other American cities.

Oregon has a governance crisis, directly related to becoming a one-party state. The history of single-party domination is often that of drifting to the fringes of left or right. Oregon is no exception. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is widely disliked in rural areas; she is generally seen as the typical Portland liberal.

As Trump gears up to revive MAGA rallies and make endorsements, anti-Trump Republicans are going nowhere fast. Trump remains triumphant in his hold over the party of Lincoln.

The guard is changing at a time of increasing challenges for news organizations including issues of diversity, economic survival and retention of staff, especially of women and people of color. All these struggles come amid the ongoing attacks on media over so-called “fake news” and questions about credibility and trust as audiences splinter and turn to only like-minded social media.

The Federal Writers’ Project provided over 10,000 jobs for Americans during the Depression. Those workers found, recorded and revitalized much American history.

The totem is a gift from the Lummis -- Lhoq'temish (people of the sea) -- to President Joe Biden. Carved from a 400-year-old red cedar tree, the totem will be displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Here in the Northwest, two liberal mayors, Jenny Durkan of Seattle and Ted Wheeler of Portland, are following the DeBlasio trajectory and reaping the backlash from all the protests and plywooded stores.

It is very important that you eat as many ripe strawberries as you can; there is cereal and dessert and then there is the best: random grazing. Unlike the poseurs, a ripe home-grown strawberry is not crispy and needn’t be chewed; usually you can simply crush one against the roof of your mouth with your tongue and quiver with delight.