KUOW News

Efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act are ramping up again. Some GOP leaders are hoping for a vote this week on their amended plan to replace Obamacare. And that has Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler worried.

Seattle officials have committed themselves to trying to adopt the city's first income tax. Monday, the City Council passed a resolution to start the process. But the city faces legal uncertainty in this area. That's because the state Supreme Court once ruled an income tax unconstitutional, and no city or county has approved one ever since.

There are a lot of names for the the communities south of Seattle including Renton, Kent and Auburn. What name you use really depends on how you see this area - which happens to be the second-largest distribution zone on the West Coast, a place where recently-arrived immigrants get their start in Seattle, and where the Green River twists and turns.

The Green River hasn’t flooded in more than half a century. It used to all the time. Every other year or so, the valley filled with water and turned into one long lake, from Auburn, Kent, and Renton up to Seattle. Now the area holds the largest collection of warehouse and manufacturing jobs in the state, worth billions of dollars. Someday, it will probably be under water again.

This is a story of a war between farmers. Farmers in Kent and Auburn were frustrated because their valley was constantly flooding. And that made it difficult to farm in their beautiful, very fertile valley. That led those farmers to do some naughty things.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's proposed soda tax will now include diet beverages. Murray's original plan only included sugary drinks and received pushback. He said Thursday that the addition of diet drinks comes out of a desire for equity.

When you’re out marching on May Day in Seattle on Monday, remember how the tradition began: as an attempt to get workers an eight-hour day. And then think about this: Some labor advocates say the eight-hour day is under attack in Congress.

Many refugee resettlement agencies have been in limbo since the travel bans came out.

Environmentalists concerned that lobbying and polite marches have failed to weaken America’s reliance on fossil fuels have started turning to more confrontational approaches.

Airports were in chaos in January, hours after President Trump issued an executive order barring people from seven Muslim countries.

"I had NEVER hugged a white man in my whole life. And now I'm like hugging these guys and saying 'I love you, brother.'"

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen is giving Seattle $30 million to house homeless families. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced the partnership Wednesday, saying that the city will add another $5 million to the project.

Seattle's billionaires are changing the world. Sometimes for the better, but sometimes it's a threat to democracy. “Bill Gates has raised a lot of alarms,” said author David Callahan said. “Bill and Melinda Gates helped orchestrate this movement to the Common Core across the entire nation.” Callahan continued: “I don’t want to suggest that Bill Gates is evil at all. I think he has the best of intentions, but I think that it’s pretty alarming stuff seen from a certain vantage point.”

Thousands of young people in Washington state go to sleep each night without a stable home. Now communities in King, Pierce and Spokane counties are taking on a 100-day challenge to reduce youth homelessness. They are racing to get hundreds of youths off the streets by the end of July.

A federal district court judge in San Francisco has blocked the White House from withholding federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities, which includes Seattle.