seattle

6 people shot at a high school in Seattle, Washington: Another tragedy with little to no response from a public grown inured to the horrors of daily gun violence.

By raising its minimum wage to $15, Seattle is leading a long-overdue movement toward a living wage. Most minimum wage workers aren’t teenagers these days. They’re major breadwinners who need a higher minimum wage in order to keep their families out of poverty.

A former community college professor who won a surprising citywide election was sworn in Monday as the first socialist City Council member in Seattle's modern history. Kshama Sawant of the Socialist Alternative party took her oath and served in her first hearing, then gave a speech to throngs of supporters in a ceremonial swearing-in at a packed City Hall.

As previously reported, SeaTac, a small town outside of Seattle, voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour on Nov. 5. The victory was confirmed Tuesday after a recount and will go into effect after a corporate-backed lawsuit over the wage is resolved. Now working family activists in Washington State are hoping to ride the success of the SeaTac vote to Seattle, and they’ve found support from the mayor and the majority of City Council members.

Remember when Papa John’s, Darden Restaurants and that one Denny’s franchise owner said they were going to pass the costs of health care reform on to customers? Welp, one Seattle company tried to go that very reputation damaging route earlier this year when Paid Sick Leave came to pass.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Seattle kickoff of 350.org's Do The Math tour, which will highlight the imperative for action to keep 80 percent of the fossil fuel industries' tar sands, coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground, or the climate is toast.