Despite the cold, Washington's tulips will arrive on 'their schedule, not ours': Today So Far

• Washington's "tulips are always on time, because it's their schedule, not ours."
• Life in, and out of, Washington state's Native boarding schools.
• Now that Washington's Supreme Court says the state's capital gains tax is A-OK, Democrats are giving high fives around Olympia as they plug the tax into their budget plans.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 27, 2023.

Pam “Twoyah” James-Sinix was sent to a Native American boarding school as a child. She often ran away with her siblings, sometimes making it all the way home in Eastern Washington, only to be taken back by police officers or school officials. But one summer, that all changed.

The United States had programs between 1819 and the 1970s that forcibly took Indigenous children from their homes and placed them into boarding schools. Many were operated by the Catholic Church, such as the one that James-Sinix was sent to with her siblings. She recalls the beatings, the names, and the abuse by Catholic officials at the school. A cycle of abuse, running away, and being captured happened a few times, until her grandmother came to visit the school. Monthly visits from family were common. On one visit, grandma waited for the nuns to be distracted before rushing her kids into a car and making a run for it.

The kids went to live in a camp in the mountains near Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation. This time, when officials came looking for them, they only got as far as grandma on her porch, with her coffee, tobacco, and a 30-30 rifle. Grandma knew a thing or two about how the boarding schools worked — she had to escape them herself.

That's just part of the story that James-Sinix relates to KUOW about her life in, and out of, the United State's boarding school program. Read more here.

Now that Washington's Supreme Court says the state's capital gains tax is A-OK, Democrats are giving high fives around Olympia as they plug the tax into their budget plans. But not everybody is happy about the decision.

The state Senate Republican leader says this is a "warning shot" for future tax increases in the state.

"How will the Democratic majority use this ruling to expand the capital gains tax to additional Washingtonians?" Senate Republican Leader John Braun said. "I think that what this ruling does, is encourage the Democratic majorities that they have a friendly court."

The Association of Washington Business echoed the GOP leader following the court's decision, saying the capital gains tax is "unnecessary."

"Instead of constantly looking for ways to raise more taxes, we encourage lawmakers to consider ways to invest in the economy," AWB President Kris Johnson said in a statement.

The court's opinion comes at an opportune time. State Democrats want to collect the capital gains tax in April and put it toward education funding. Right now, proposals aim to use $3 billion in new spending for education. The capital gains tax is expected to bring in about $500 million. Big picture as state lawmakers craft the budget: State revenue is likely to grow, but at a much slower rate than expected. Read more here.

While most of the planet has the usual four seasons, I like to say that Washington has in-between seasons, like the one we're in right now. This is when it's sunny, then freezing again, then raining, maybe some hail, then sunny and 60s, more rain, and so forth. It's a tug-of-war between weather conditions as winter ends and spring emerges. The recent cold snaps may have some worried about our region's annual tulip festival, expected in April, but as KUOW's Natalie Newcomb found out, the cold could be a good thing.

"They're a cold weather flower ... they have to have the cold to set themselves and reproduce properly," Cindy Verge, executive director of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, told Natalie. "The tulips are always on time, because it's their schedule, not ours."

About 40,000 people are expected to attend this year's tulip festival; more than in recent years now that border restrictions have eased up between the U.S. and Canada. The tulips are slated to bloom for about 2-3 weeks in April. Thanks for the info Natalie!

Note for TSF readers. This week will be brief for this newsletter. In short, I'll be making a long overdue pilgrimage to various Star Trek filming locations around Hollywood. Just so nobody thinks we forgot to send out TSF later this week.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Small housing providers Rizwan Samad (Left), Ayda Cater (Center), and Jim Yearby (Right) at Seattle City Hall on Wednesday March 22, 2023. Between July 2018 and August 2022, developers in Seattle built nearly 11,000 new apartments in large apartment buildings. During that same time period, small landlords owning less than 20 units — and many owning just one rental home — were pulling their units off the rental market. More than 11,000 rentable homes owned by small landlords left the market during that period, effectively erasing the gains from large buildings. (Joshua McNichols / KUOW)

DID YOU KNOW?

We've been talking a lot about cherry blossoms around Seattle, but we're not the only city to lovingly feature this Japanese tree. And Seattleites aren't the only people to have come to their defense. On March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Taft was joined by Viscountess Chinda (the Japanese ambassador's wife), and together they planted two Yoshino cherry trees (the same variety in Seattle) along the north side of the Potomac River.

That year, Japan sent 3,020 cherry trees to the USA as a gift, featuring about a dozen varieties. This was actually a second attempt at a cherry tree gift from Japan. The first gift, a couple years before, had an insect infestation and had to be destroyed. The second round proved more successful and many cherry trees were planted around DC, including where the Jefferson Memorial is located today, which was later constructed in the 1930s and 1940s. When construction began on the memorial site in 1938, rumor got around that the cherry trees at the site would be cut down. About 150 women wore their best furs and chained themselves to the trees, preventing any work, and protesting their demise. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the site and assured the protesters that the trees were to be transplanted, not cut down. He said the notion that the trees would be cut down was "newspaper flimflam."

In 1941, days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, an unknown person, or persons, cut down four of the trees. After World War II, the United States took cuttings from its collection of cherry trees, originally gifted from Japan, and sent them to Tokyo. American bombs had destroyed much of that city, including its collection of cherry trees. The US cuttings were used to help restore Tokyo's cherry trees.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

A principal is fired, invited to Italy after students are shown Michelangelo's 'David'

After a Florida charter school's sixth grade art class viewed an image of Michelangelo's "David," some parents complained, equating it to pornographic material. The school's principal was forced to resign. Now, the mayor of Florence, Italy, and the director of the Galleria dell'Accademia, where the sculpture is housed, has invited the former principal, school board, parents, and student body to come view the "purity" of the statue in person.

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