Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News

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The Seattle Times

Seattle voters back two school levies

Yakima Herald Republic

Voting Rights Act passes committee vote

Auburn Reporter

Teens may get vote-registration privilege as House committee narrowly nods support

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AP

NRA increases pressure on Washington lawmakers

WA Senate panel closes investigation of Sen. Roach (Fraser, Frockt)

Lawmakers are about $1B apart on education reform (Hunter, Rolfes)

NRA increases pressure on Wash. lawmakers

Marijuana legalization raises safety questions

Wash. lawmaker wants wolves sent to rival district (Ranker)

WA Senate panel closes investigation of Sen. Roach (Frockt, Fraser)

'It's a stupid bill, and it's a waste of our resources' (Ranker)

NRA: 'Urgent' action needed to thwart state's gun control proposal

Obama proposals face quick opposition in Congress

Senate ends investigation of Pam Roach

Seattle passing $1.2 billion in school measures (taxing measures passing)

Obama proposals face quick opposition in Congress  

GOP warns Obama against tax increases, spending

Obama to pull 34K troops from Afghanistan

US Senate approves anti-violence against women act

NRA increases pressure on state lawmakers

450 attend marijuana forum

Seattle passing $1.2 billion in school measures

Washington National Guard wants to use Hanford

Aberdeen Daily World

Coming out of the woods: Growers getting into the legal pot industry

Bellingham Herald

NRA increases pressure on Washington state lawmakers

Blog:  Schools at bottom of class for open government

Columbian

Baird seeks answers for college challenges (new state higher-ed agency)

Editorial: In Our View: Mixed News in Higher Ed

The Daily News

450 attend marijuana forum in Spokane

Editorial: Washington's next elections era

Everett Herald

Aerospace group backs airline flights at Paine Field

Burbank: Show families real love with leave program  (Green, Sells, Kagi, Keiser, Shin, Harper)

Editorial: Malala: 'You see I am alive' (Education key to equality)

Kitsap Sun

SK voters approve school levy

Ecology-Port Gamble deal appears to be in trouble

Grapeview school bond falls just short of super-majority

News Tribune

Legislators want to use pot money for preschool program (Kagi, Hunter)

Op-ed: Callaghan: Governments not yet ready to enter naming-rights arena

Olympian (subscription required)

Blog: UPDATE: Panel discussion on Wednesday celebrates 100 years of women in the Washington Legislature (Fraser, Wylie)

Blog: Proposal to more harshly punish kids for having guns moves out of House committee

Blog: House committee passes fistful of elections bills on party-line votes (Hunt, Orwall)

Blog: Sen. Ed Murray introduces assault weapons ban (Murray, Kohl-Welles)

Oregonian

Rep. Liz Pike champions Budget Sunshine Act (Moeller, Stonier, Hunter)

Peninsula Daily News

State gun background check plan stirs NRA ire (Van De Wege, Tharinger, Hargrove)

Van De Wege: Legislator's wolf bill 'filed in jest' (Van De Wege, Tharinger, Hargrove)

Sequim approves two school levies — 'I feel great,' says school superintendent

'We have great support' says thankful Quillayute school superintendent as levy passes

Puget Sound Business Journal

Republican Sen. Becker on the fate of Medicaid expansion in WA

Puyallup Herald

Morrell op-ed: Medicaid expansion would benefit all in Pierce County

Seattle Times

House Democrats to propose $6 billion transportation package (Clibborn)

Op-ed: Get chlorinated Tris out of foam in Washington’s furniture

Column: NRA flunks former ally in Olympia

Blog: Wednesday politics: State of the Union, Pelz told to put on big boy panties, longer wait for divorce

Blog: Burgess, Staadecker lead January fundraising (Murray)

Blog: Gov. Inslee to announce jobs package on Wednesday

Letter: Guns legally present in Olympia

Letter: Expanding Medicaid

Skagit Valley Herald

Dairy Day at the Legislature

Spokesman Review

Vancouver Democrat introduces bill to allow sales of wine growlers (Wylie)

Tri-City Herald

Richland school bond passing with 65 percent

Pasco school bond just shy of 60 percent needed to pass

New state senator from Tri-Cities proposes renewable energy bill

Wenatchee World

Old DOT drone project gets a new spotlight

Yakima Herald Republic

Raising awareness just one step fighting birth defects

Editorial: State’s voters can help make an excellent system better

BROADCAST

KING 5 TV (NBC)

Governor Inslee to release Washington jobs plan

Outrage over spending for accused Seattle cop killer’s legal bills

Washington becoming destination for same-sex weddings

State superintendent of schools pushes lawmakers to change initiative

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)

Eatonville boy in ‘kill list’ incident had access to guns

KPLU FM

Washington lawmakers consider immunity for minors with alcohol poisoning  (Liias)

Washington Governor Inslee's calendar reveals his first days in office

Climate change pushing water system upgrades

MyNorthwest.com (KIRO FM)

State lawmakers work to crack down on gun-toting kids

NW Public Radio

Governor Inslee: "No Immediate Plans" For A Price On Carbon Emissions

Q13 TV (Fox)

Prosecutor wants student with ‘hit list’ to undergo mental health exam

WEB

Adelante con Demócratas

Diputada Cody recibe el más alto honor de la AMA (Cody)

Una solución buscando un problema (Kagi)

The Capitol Record

House panel OKs bill that would toughen law for kids with guns (Jinkins)

Video - Panic alarms in schools, liquor bills and foster kids on ‘Legislative Review’

Crosscut

State Republicans seek weakening of clean energy rules

Senate decides it has no Pam Roach problem (Frockt, Fraser)

Drone warfare: Olympia vs. robot

'Are you rich?' Pam Roach plays hardball on I-1185 (Hasegawa, Fraser, Conway)

Publicola

Isn’t it weird that? (Chopp, Murray)

On other blogs today: increasing taxes, cutting taxes, and protecting women (Eide, Habib)

Opinion: The myth of Democratic resistance to K-12 accountability (Sullivan)

Seattle Weekly

No, Really: Proposed Bill Would Set Guidelines For Weed 'Inadvertently' Left at Stores (Hurst)

Slog

Seattle Times Urges Lawmakers to Spend Nothing on K-12 Education

AP Memo Says People in Gay Marriages Are "Couples or Partners"

Quote of the Day

“One of the biggest challenges facing lawmakers in Olympia this session is how we’re going to generate needed revenue for schools. We simply cannot meet our responsibility to education through cuts to vital programs.”

Rep. Marcie Maxwell -Deputy Majority Leader for Education and Opportunity.

Story of the Day

Rep. Kathy Haigh

Haigh dropout prevention bill receives support in House hearing

Members of the House Education Committee heard testimony from students, parents and educators alike in favor of Representative Kathy Haigh’s (D-Shelton) landmark dropout prevention legislation.

“No school in Washington has been immune from the dropout epidemic,” said Rep. Haigh. “Rural or urban, east or west, small or large- every school in Washington has seen a student fall through the cracks.”

Rep. Haigh pointed to data from her own district. Last school year Shelton Senior High School’s adjusted on-time graduation rate was about 76 percent.

Similarly, South Kitsap High School and Bremerton High School both had about 80 percent of students graduating on-time.

The bill provides families, schools and communities with the tools they need to increase the number of on-time graduations.

“The prevention system we’ve developed will target the high schools struggling most, as well as the elementary and middle schools that feed into these dropout hot spots,” said Rep. Haigh.

“Graduation coaches, professionals trained in this field, will be put to work to ensure that these kids are getting the opportunity to succeed in the classroom and beyond.”

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will be tasked with identifying the neediest schools.

While chronically low graduation rates will be the primary consideration, a school must also demonstrate a readiness to benefit from graduation coaching.

In drafting the bill, Rep. Haigh partnered with Kim Klint, Executive Director of Mason Matters- a nonprofit organization based out of Shelton.

Mason Matters has been working to reduce the number of dropouts through Building Bridges.

“We have seen some very promising results using the same strategies employed in Kathy’s legislation,” said Klint.

The prospect of using these methods to benefit communities not only in Mason County, but across the state, is very exciting.”

The House Education Committee is expected to take executive action on House Bill 1424 in coming days.