Week in Review: Police reform, Covid-19, and zoning

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut staff reporter Hannah Weinberger, Seattle Times senior investigative reporter Patrick Malone, and Seattle Channel host and producer Brian Callanan.

The Office of Police Accountability recommended suspensions for the two officers who shot and killed a man who was carrying a knife on Seattle’s waterfront last year. The Seattle police watchdog said the officers failed to first try to defuse the situation or use other defensive strategies before resorting to using deadly force.

Interim Chief Adrian Diaz upheld the OPA findings and recommendations, imposing a one-day suspension without pay against Butler and a three-day suspension without pay against Jared, the more senior officer. How was it a violation of the de-escalation policy. What changes are being considered in new police reform laws in Washington state?

Scott Lindquist, the state epidemiologist, said to not get too worked up about the omicron subvariant because every variant has a subvariant, and this subvariant doesn’t seem to be any more dangerous that the original. Washington state ran out of free Covid tests, again. And the pandemic has changed school enrollment for the long-term, and it’s hard to know exactly what that impact is.

State education spending has decreased by $900M as enrollment dropped during the pandemic. State education spending has decreased by $900M as enrollment dropped during the pandemic. Why is this happening?

Also, a bill that adds to the Legislature’s ability to curtail Gov. Inslee’s executive powers through a State of Emergency proclamation has passed out of committee hearing. The bill checks a State of Emergency after 90 days, where it is reconsidered by House and Senate leadership. What are the pros and cons to this bill?

Gov. Jay Inslee is taking aim at local zoning restrictions that prevent the construction of housing such as duplexes, fourplexes, townhomes and courtyard apartments in many neighborhoods, including in parts of Seattle. Those types of denser housing are banned in many residential areas that right now limit new construction to single-family homes. He wants to set statewide standards for housing density, arguing that letting local officials make those decisions isn’t working. How much upzoning are we talking about?

The state legislature is considering a measure where babies born into poverty (and thus on Apple Health, our state Medicaid system) would receive a $3,200 trust fund they could access from ages 18-30 for an investment in secondary education, home ownership, or investing in a business (after a financial literacy class is taken). It has some bipartisan support--invest money now rather than paying for expensive social services later in life. How would that work?