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The federal governments response to the pandemic and economic collapse has, to Rayans eye, amounted to $1,200 checks and little else for those hit hardest by the twin disasters. But she says the upwelling of kindness and care sparked by the catastrophes has been inspiring.The community response to this has been amazing, Rayan says. No matter what the government does, it cant destroy that positive community energy.By any measure, the 2020 political season does not want for energy, or consequence. Early ballot counts show a record number of Washington voters have already returned their ballots. After a summer shaped by the coronavirus and racial justice protests, voters are ready to weigh in on their elected leaders, President Donald Trump most of all. Andrew Hong, a field organizer for Kirsten Harris-Talleys campaign, hands off campaign flyers to Sharada Rayan, a first-time political volunteer, on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Seattle, Wash. Jovelle Tamayo for Crosscut Even before the pandemic, Washington states political landscape was shifting, to the detriment of the Republican Party. Now some veteran pols are arguing that 2020 will signal a lasting political realignment.Jim Sannes own political realignment began more than a decade ago at a gun rights rally in Olympia.The self-described Navy brat and longtime Aberdeen resident, like most of his neighbors on the Washington coast, had always been a Democrat. Looking back, he cant explain why. His parents were Democrats, so was he.Sannes, now 59, says he found himself drawn to the constitutionalist stance put forward increasingly by the Republican Party. It was confusing at first, realizing that his politics didnt match his party. Leaving was painful.I just believe in our right to live a free life, Sannes says. Ive got quite a few friends on the Democratic side, and Ive lost a few of them. And that hurt.A recovering cocaine addict, Sannes had been a vocal opponent of programs in his community like needle exchanges that, as he sees it, enable drug users to continue using. But he hadnt considered joining a political campaign until meeting Loren Culp, the Republican challenger to Gov. Jay Inslee, during a Harley ride.Sannes says hes seen spitefulness in Inslees handling of the pandemic, a disdain for those who dont share his politics. He believes mask mandates and shutdown orders, both opposed by Culp, are governmental overreach.As far as Im concerned thats against my constitutional rights, Sannes opines. Its your right, whether you do or you dont wear a mask.Sanness shift away from the Democratic Party is emblematic of a long-burning trend in Washington politics. Rural areas, including coastal communities once key to Democratic control of the Legislature, have been turning red while urban and suburban areas, like once solidly Republican Bellevue, have gone blue.Rob McKenna knows from experience what those shifts amount to Republican losses.Running against Inslee in 2012 to replace Gov. Chris Gregoire, McKenna, a popular state attorney general, was one of the last Republicans to hold a top-tier statewide office in Washington. He lost to Inslee by 94,557 votes, a margin he attributes to lopsided support for Inslee in and around Seattle. Since McKennas run, Democrats have won races for governor, the U.S. Senateand state attorney generalby at least 9 percentage points.Im like most Washingtonians Im proud of the fact that I can name Democrats that Ive voted for, McKenna says. People still come up to me and say, Youre the only Republican Ive ever voted for. Its kind of a point of pride in our state.Republican gains in the few rural counties McKenna lost to Inslee dont amount to much compared withDemocratic gains in Seattle and its suburbs, which have larger populations and vote more consistently, McKenna says. He and others point out that Republicans no longer hold any King County legislative districts, a reality that makes it impossible for the GOP to hold power in Olympia.The situation isnt helped by Trump, who has turned off some chamber of commerce Republicans. McKenna says hes not supporting his partys candidate for president for the first time, a man McKenna describes as a misogynist never qualified for the job, in part because of Trumps botching of the pandemic response.There will always be people, including people reading this article, who will say, Youre not really a Republican if you didnt support Trump, McKenna says. Well, my Republicanism isnt defined by one person. I was a Republican before Trump, and Ill be a Republican after Trump.In that, McKenna stands apart from his old Republican partner on the King County Council, Chris Vance.Vance, the former state Republican Party chairman and 2016 challenger to Sen. Maria Cantwell, is Washingtons leading Never Trumper. His party, he says, has left him.Active in the Lincoln Project and other bastions built by anti-Trump conservatives, Vance describes his former party as a permanent protest movement animated by isolationism abroad and nativism at home, and a desire to protect white Christian culture.The base of the Republican Party loves Donald Trump, Vance says. They love himand, most importantly, they agree with him.Because Vance cannot, he left the party he had worked with for 37 years.Vance recalls a conversation with Slade Gorton, the last Republican to represent Washington in the U.S. Senate before narrowly losing to Cantwell in 2000. Gorton, Vance says, told him to weather the shift in political wind. Vance didnt believe his party would be returning to what he calls shining city conservatism any time soon all hes seen since the pandemic began has reinforced that impression.Youre seeing the kind of national craziness, with QAnon and everything, seep into the Washington state Republican Party, the party of Dan Evans and Slade Gorton and Jennifer Dunn, says Vance, listing centrist, chamber of commerce Republicans elected in decades past. Now its the party of Loren Culp. Its madness.Gorton was Eric Earlings kind of Republican he worked at the senators Bellevue office for 3years. So was George W. Bush Earling served in the Department of Education during President Bushs second term.Trumps elevation had already pushed Earling out of the Republican Party, but wasnt enough to make him a Democrat. Earling says it was the Trump administrations mismanagement of the pandemicthat took him from opposing Trump to supporting Biden.Its one thing to disagree about the role of government in everyday life, says Earling, speaking from his home in Boise, Idaho. With a deadly global pandemic, you start to get to some much more fundamental issues about why the government exists, to protect life and property.Do I expect to agree with everything Joe Biden does as president No, he continues. Do I think the No. 1 issue of the day is the pandemic Yeah, and I think Joe Biden is going to be way better at that than Donald Trump.For Ndidi Opara, the pandemic has been a lesson in Americas political division.The pandemic should not have been politicized in the first place, but it has been, says Opara, a high school senior living in Seattles east suburbs. Its really highlighting this flawed sense of freedom and individualism among Republicans.Opara wont be voting shes 17 but has been increasingly involved with community organizations like the Kirkland Youth Council and Eastside Change Coalition, whichaim to shape public policy. Calls for racial justice following the police killing of George Floyd in May animated her advocacy on issues like anti-Black economic discrimination more than the pandemic.Though Opara says she sees most electoral politics as inherently corrupt, she decided to get involved this season. Like Rayan, she is volunteering for the campaign of Kirsten Harris-Talley, who is running against Chukundi Salisbury for an open state House seat in the 37th Legislative District, which includes Seattles Central District, Capitol Hill and much of the Rainier Valley. Sharada Rayan, a first-time political volunteer for Kirsten Harris-Talleys campaign, stands for a portrait before distributing campaign flyers to South Seattle voters on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Seattle, Wash. Jovelle Tamayo for Crosscut The coronavirus response threw Annie Kelley-Kamps political work into overdrive.Kelley-Kamp, 36, was an on-again, off-again activist before Trumps election in 2016. By the 2018 midterm elections, she was signing petitions and sending text messages encouraging voters in swing congressional districts as a member of Seattle Indivisible, the area chapter of a national progress movement.Dismay over the coronavirus and fear about what a second Trump term would bring motivated Kelley-Kamp to make activism her focus as Election Day approaches.It is such an ego show right now, Kelley-Kamp says. Its not fun to wear a mask. Its not fun to socially distance. This sucks. But to have someone who wont do what other Americans are doing, it just really shows how out of touch Trump is.Kelley-Kamp says shes come to realize that being a white, cisgendered North Seattle resident had insulated her from much of the pain that governmentaction and inactioncan bring to people. In recent weeks, she has spent hours corresponding with people elsewhere in the country who struggle just to vote. Shes trying to convince them that voting is worth their time.Sannes of Aberdeen is also a big booster of voting. Hes proud that all five of his children are now registered to vote, and keeps a stack of voter registration forms in his home. He says he pushes them on anybody, whatever their politics.Like most interviewed for this story, Sannes lamented political divisions that have become increasingly difficult to bridge. He describes being yelled at by another shopper at an Olympia Walmart upset that Sannes, as is his habit, had a holstered pistol on his hip.I cant hardly have a conversation with a Democrat today because theyre so angry, he says. If they dont agree with everything you stand for, then youre just not a good person.As Election Day approaches, frustration is in ample supply all around. Rayan sees the lightly masked crowds cheering on the president and wonders why Americans are risking their lives, as she sees it, standing for hate.At first, I get angry because Im like, Do you guys not see what this is doing Rayan says. Im angry, Im confused. But then a big part of me views it as an expression of insecurity or self-hate.This fall, Rayan has spent her off hoursdoing basic political legwork. She has a car so she spends a lot of her time delivering signs to supporters. Seeing them populating yards and windows around her neighborhood, she says, lifts her spirits during a trying time.Its cool to see that work paying off. Topics: Coronavirus, Election 2020, Elections

Is the mask order a rule or a suggestionSince the end of June, Washington has had a statewide mask mandate. Every Washingtonian is required to wear a face covering that covers their mouth and nose while in a public space, both indoors and outdoors. The indoor rule applies to most situations when youre not at home. The outdoor rule applies when proper social distancing cant be maintained. You may remove your mask while eating or drinking as long as you are 6 feet away from others who are not part of your household. When walking around the neighborhood, running or doing other exercises outdoors, masks are not required, as long as you stay at least 6 feet away from others.Masks are required every time you go into a store and the people who work there are supposed to refuse to serve customers if they disobey this order. Business owners canget in trouble if they do not follow these rules. People who dont want to wear a mask in public places have another option in Washington state: They can stay home.What phase are we inEvery county in Washington is in either Phase 2 or 3.In Phase 2, where King, Snohomish and Pierce counties find themselves, social gatherings areallowed only with five or fewer people from outside your household per week. Those gatherings must include physical distancing of 6 feet or more. Many businesses are allowed to operate, but generally at a 25 capacity.In Phase 3, social gatherings should not exceed 10 individuals from outside your household per week. Many businesses are allowed to operate at a 50 capacity.So can I invite my friends over to hang outIf you choose to hold a party or a family gathering that involves more than the suggested limit on social gatherings, the police wont come knock on your door. That is, unless you are breaking local noise regulations and your neighbors call 911. What health officials want people to considerwhen they hear about Gov. Jay Inslees stay home orders is: What can you do to keep yourself, your family and your neighbors safeAs epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said repeatedly: Wearing masks, washing your hands, using hand sanitizer and having fewer interactions with people not in your household will stop coronavirus from spreading further. When we bend the rules, we bend them for everyone we spend time with.How can a county advance to the next phaseCounties can apply to move to the next phase if they show improvement under a few key metrics. But there is no hard-and-fast rule about what it takes to pass the test, which counties can do even if they miss one of the key metrics but are close. For example, state health officials are looking for 25 or fewer new cases of coronavirus per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period before graduationto the next phase. The states risk assessment dashboard tracks how the state and the counties are doing. As of the beginning of October, the two-week average for King County, for example, was 93.5 new cases per 100,000 people. The state is also looking for a decrease in the number of positive tests over a week. King County is still averaging over 2 the goal is to be 2 or less. But the county has been doing well on two other metrics: percentage of treatment beds occupied by COVID-19 patients and general hospital occupancy rates.What new activities are allowed nowAt the beginning of October, the governor announced several ways the rules are being loosened, slightly. Libraries and movie theaterscan now allow up to 25 capacity in Phase 2 counties and 50 in Phase 3. Museums were reopened with similar numbers earlier.The rules around recreational sports have been relaxed slightly, but tournaments and crowds are still not allowed. Indoor family entertainment, such as minigolf, bowling alleysand arcades are still prohibited.Live entertainment is still prohibited, except performances for members of the same household where social distancing of a minimum 10-foot distanceis always maintained from the entertainers and everyone wears facial coverings.People are allowed to get a drink at a restaurant, tavern, brewery, winery or distillery until 11 p.m., but they cant drink while playing pool or darts or video games. And they need to sit at a table with no more than six people underPhase 2 and eight people in Phase 3.What about weddings and funeralsAs of Sept. 16, weddings and funerals are allowed indoors or outdoors, with occupancy limited to 30 guests or 25 building capacity in Phase 2 and50 guests or 25 building capacity in Phase 3.Receptions are allowed in either phase but limited to three hours for the same number of people. Alcohol service is allowed. Guests,servers and other workers are required to wear face coverings except when theyre eating and drinking. A lot of the same rules that apply to restaurants and bars also apply to wedding and funeral receptions, such as the rules involving seating.What are the rules for religious organizationsReligious organizations are allowed to hold services, but with capacity limitations in Phases 2 and 3.Indoor religious services at 25 capacity or up to 200 people, whichever is less, are now allowed in Phase 2, but there needs to be 6 feet of social distancing between households in all directions. Cloth face coverings are required for all participants. Religious organizations are also allowed to hold outdoor services on their property or an adjacent property, if permitted by local jurisdictions, for up to 200 individuals, with housholds physically distanced in all directions. Cloth face masks are still required outside. Religious organizations are also allowed to hold in-home and in-person meetings with up to five people, each wearing cloth face coverings.The same rules apply in Phase 3, but the limits are 50 of room capacity or 400 people. In-home services can be held with up to 10 people.Religious weddings and funerals do not follow this guidance. They are supposed to follow the specific instructions, as detailed in the previous question.When can public schools reopenSchool reopening decisions are mostly local choiceswithin the wider state health guidelines around coronavirus. The Office ofSuperintendent of Public Instruction has created a long, complicated document to guide school districts in making reopening decisions, but districts around the state are making different decisions that meet their local realities. If you want to try to figure out or predict your own school districts actions, you might want to check out this 22-page guide created by the OSPI.When does the statewide eviction moratorium endThe eviction moratorium has been extended through Dec. 31. But that doesnt mean a landlord cant kick out a bad tenant, and it doesnt stop landlords from selling their property and effectively evicting renters in that way. The governors guidance requires a 60-day notice if an owner intends to occupy a rental or sell it.The eviction moratorium was designed to stop landlords from evicting tenants who cant pay their rent because of a direct or indirect impact of the COVID-19 virus. The governors office says it isworking on an amendment to the moratorium to make it more clear that other reasons for not paying rent do not apply to this protection. Topics: Coronavirus, Health, Washington State

At last count, 161 people deemed too mentally ill to stand trial are waiting in county jails across Washington, despite legal requirements that they be quickly transferred to a hospital. Roughly 200 other defendants are waiting outside of jail. The result is a likely worsening of their condition and a longer road back to true rehabilitation, attorneys say.The No. 1 reason that thats concerning is that every one of those people is probably someone whos experiencing an acute mental health crisis and every one of those people is stuck in limbo, said Chris Carney, a Seattle-based civil rights attorney.The state has never fully complied with a 2015 federal court decision, known as Trueblood, to quickly provide inmates with mental illness treatment before they stand trial. But since the beginning of the pandemic, that poor compliance record has worsened, as the list of incarcerated people waiting to be transferred grows.If a person is found to be not competent to stand trial, they must be transferred for so-called competency restoration treatment to help them understand the charges against them at a mental health facility within seven days of the determination. Before this year, that requirement was met just 24of the time on average, according to state data filed in federal court well short of the requirements the court set out.But since the start of the pandemic, that number has plummeted to below 7 and in some months as low as 2. Out of 753 orders for treatment between February and August, only 55 people were transferred within the required timeframe. In May, only oneof 58 inmates deemed not competent to stand trial was transferred for treatment in time.For the rest, their attorneys have been routinely warned that it could be months before their clients were moved to a facility for competency help. Quarantine protocols at state hospitals, combined with COVID-related construction delays, caused the monthslong bottleneck over the summer.Frankly, just looking at it, you know its got to be a living hell for the folks who are there and for their families, said Mary Kay High, chief deputy of Pierce Countys Department of Assigned Counsel.State officials say admissions are improving, but they are still experiencing what Nicholas Williamson, an assistant attorney general, called during a recent court hearing a COVID hangover. The net result is a story thatsfamiliar in the days of the pandemic: an already failing system made worse by COVID-19.We have hundreds of people who are waiting in jail to get into treatment, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman told the state at a court hearing in August. Ive expressed before that hospitals should be able to respond to patients its supposed to treat. I understand COVID is a problem, but youve got to do better. There are too many people who are deteriorating in custody.Debbie Kirby knows what her clients have gone through because shes been through it herself. Struggling with addiction and in an abusive relationship, Kirby saw her physical and mental health deteriorate. In what she believes was an effort to exert some control over her life, she turned to frequent shoplifting and was arrested numerous times.For Kirby, this was all years ago, before a court demanded the state address mental illness more quickly. But had it been today, Kirby said, she believes she would have landed in the class of people for whom being held in jail for long periods is unconstitutional.Kirby now works as a peer specialist for people discharged from a state hospital or jail, helping them establish themselves and gain independence. Theworkreminds her of her own struggles, and shesees the impact that jail time can have on someone with mental health challenges.They isolate the very mentally ill, and theyre in cells and are in 23-hour lockdown, she said. It only exasperates their illness. It makes it worse. They get more psychotic, more depressed.The 2015 Trueblood decision put the weight of the federal judiciary behind an intuitive reality: staying in jail makes mental illness worse. Keeping people waiting to receive mental health services is unconstitutional, Pechman concluded a violation of their constitutional right to due process. The state was given 14 days to evaluate inmates and seven days to transfer them to a hospital for treatment.Even in its best month in the past five years, the state transferred only 41of inmates in time. Generally, the number has hung in the 20 range or lower.I have yet to, in my practice, have somebody transported within the time limits of Trueblood, said Cassie Trueblood, an attorney whose last name has become shorthand for the broader case. Zero people.But since the onset of COVID-19, both Eastern and Western State Hospitals have struggled to contain the coronavirus, slowing admissions or even cutting them off completely. According to Dr. Thomas Kinlen of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, the two state hospitals Currently have two positive cases each. Western had a larger outbreak earlier in the pandemic.At the same time, 40 new beds at Western State Hospital were delayed by the governors orders halting construction. Even since that order was lifted, construction crews have not reached full capacity.In an interview, Kinlen said the state has started to increase admissions again to the hospitals, an improvement from when they were all but closed. But its delicate.New patients must quarantine and the number of people allowed in a given ward is much fewer in orrder toenable social distancing. When new cases crop up, the state is forced to again slow admissions.Its a little bit of a stop/start, if you will, to make sure we dont have a large outbreak at either hospital, said Kinlen.Earlier this year, wait times for some inmates were as high as six months. That number has come down recently, but for attorneys with clients in jail, the whole system remains wildly unpredictable.Prior to COVID, you could predict 30 to 50 days to get your client admitted, said Sarah Tofflemire, a public defender with Pierce County. But now its completely unpredictable because youll get an estimate thats sixmonths, and they might get a bed sooner than that or they might not.The effects of the delays can be catastrophic on the inmates health. Jails are not equipped to provide treatment or support for people with mental illness. Often, say attorneys, their clients are separatedfrom the rest of the jail population, which can result in near-total isolation for up to 23 hours in a day.Even for those who have been released from jail while they await trial, the long delays are hard on their families, who are usually ill-prepared to handle the severe disabilities of their family members.For a system thats theoretically intended to rehabilitate people, it makes the path to recovery longer, said Carney, the attorney.To me, its destructive to everyone involved.Its destructive to the people in a mental health crisis, and its worse for society because its going to be harder and more expensive to give them treatment to bring them up to a baseline, he said.After Ronni Batchelor spent time in jail, she retreated inward, isolating herself even further than she had before. Batchelor was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at a young age and became addicted to medication, as she dealt with chronic pain. She spiraled downward, she said, and became homeless for a time.A self-described fighter, she got into trouble for reacting to whatever was put in front of me at the time, she said. When youre homeless, its either fight or be killed when youre a woman out on the street.After her arrest, her mental state deteriorated further. For at least a week, she fought suicidal thoughts. The entire system seemed cold toward her mental state and she felt deep shame.If your mental health isnt stable and youre not able to wrap your head around it, you can lose yourself, she said.Decades after her first arrest, Batchelor is now a peer support specialist, similar to Kirby, drawing on her personal experience to help those exiting the system.I dont bring shame, I bring game, she said.In the years since the federal courts handed down the Trueblood decision, the number of people eligible for competency treatment has increased dramatically, said DSHSsKinlen from about 3,000 in a year to closer to 6,000 now. Kinlen couldnt say with certainty why thats the case. But the result is a treadmill of sorts where just avoiding going backward takes enormous effort. Constructing new beds is never going to catch up with demand, at least not at the current pace in the current system.The solution, then, comes back to the larger discussions unfolding in the wake of the summers protests: What will it take to cut out jails and law enforcement from the mental health system entirely As part of settlement related to the Trueblood lawsuit, the state is required to invest in upstream alternatives. The efforts are rolling out in phases, county by county.One new program is fromDSHS. So-called navigators are assigned to people found not competent to stand trial to help them both through the court process and,when they are released,connect them with necessary services.If we are able to stabilize their lives and get them wrapped with the services they need, this will reduce their recidivism and reduce the number of people coming through the competency system in the state of Washington, said Jason Karpen, the administrator of the new program.Transferring people with mental illness to state hospitals is vastly preferred to keeping them in jail, but attorneys acknowledge that such transfers address only a persons symptoms. It is common for the same people to cycle through the system multiple times.The only real option, attorneys say, is to jam the revolving door.The only way this problem is ever ultimately going to be solved, said Carney, the attorney, is by creating better supports for people in the community and diverting them out of the criminal system in the first place. Topics: Law & Justice

Welcome to a new edition of the CW Stars Tweets & Grams Of The Week check out what your favorite CW Stars were up to last week View this post on Instagram DAY ONE 7 months after we were supposed to start filming but it was worth the wait. SupermanAndLois A post

GET READY TO HOWL Host Elizabeth Stanton Popstar This Week is joined by the panelists and special guest Garret Clayton as they observe animals doing the funniest things ever caught on video. On todays show weve got a pampered pooch, some spooked Sharpeis, swimming monkeys, confused pugs, and a deer whos decided to make

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Following last weeks proposed deal to sell a combined $1.8 billion in missile systems and other equipment to Taiwan, the three contractors were threatened with sanctions by Chinas foreign ministry.

The company has had to stay nimble as it deals with ripple effects from social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic.

If theres one technology CEO who can appreciate what the leaders of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are going through as they brace for antitrust action, its Bill Gates. The co-founder and first CEO of Microsoft famously weathered an attempt by Washington to break up the software and computer giant.Speaking on CNBC earlier this month, Gates admitted he had been naive leading up to the governments action against Microsoft two decades ago. He led the company from 1975 until 2000, a year before

I have no problem with the contents of Ice Cubes Contract. My problem is with his timing and his approach to selling it that gives a few Black men an excuse for not voting without telling them not voting is a way of supporting Trump. The post Dont Be Confused appeared first on The Seattle Medium.

Across the country, Black voters are turning out in huge numbers. The stakes this year are especially high, they say, and nothing less than their health and safety is on the ballot.The post Black Americans Are Fired Up And Flocking To The Polls appeared first on The Seattle Medium.

Our courts are deteriorating quickly to an anti-worker mindset. Over the past four years, two very conservative Supreme Court justices have been appointed, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, moving the Court further to the right and further away from protecting our rights. And a third anti-labor judge will likely be railroaded through in advance of the election.The post November 3: So Much At Stake In This Election appeared first on The Seattle Medium.

BOSTON AP Judge Juan Torruella, who served nearly four decades on the Boston-based federal appeals court and took part in such high-profile rulings as the tossing of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaevs death sentence, died Monday at the age of 87, the court said. Susan Goldberg, circuit executive for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court

The college football world has no idea what to expect from Rutgers anymore. Heading into the start of Greg Schianos second stint as coach, no one would have been surprised if the Scarlet Knights went winless in a schedule consisting of nine games against Big Ten Conference opponents. After all, Rutgers had one of the

BRIGHTON, England AP Karlan Grant scored his first goal for new club West Bromwich Albion to secure a 1-1 draw at Brighton in the Premier League on Monday. Brighton took the lead five minutes before halftime when an attempted clearance from Branislav Ivanovic rebounded off Jake Livermore and into the back of the net.