The address was delivered via video to Washingtonians and a remote Legislature.
From the Governor's medium page.
Text of message:
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. I am so appreciative of this chance to serve again. We are embarking on a truly historic third term and legislative session.
So let’s talk straight: The last year has been challenging in ways none of us have ever experienced. It’s the kind of moment where we are called upon to dig deep, to work together and to be resourceful like never before. Washingtonians are answering that call.
At the end of this legislative session alone, we will be able to say our state is more equitable; a state with more opportunities for careers and affordable housing; and a state that is more committed to fighting climate change than ever before.
We have big challenges that demand we take big steps. We are not going back to normal. We are going forward toward a new normal. We are on a path in this legislative session to a more just normal, a healthier normal. And we’re not just talking about the pandemic.
These halls may look empty, but when you scratch the surface, there’s a robust and incredible story about Washingtonians that’s still unfolding. I’ve been honored to be your governor for the past eight years, which have been part of the story that brought us here.
We’re already looking to the future. The aftermath of 2020 alone demands it. More than 3,500 Washingtonians have lost their lives to the pandemic. Many thousands more continue to struggle on their path to recovery from this virus. Families, business owners, workers and students have been through too much. There is still a palpable anxiety in the air.
However, beneath it all are the ingredients of relief, recovery and resilience.
And yet, no matter what has come our way, I am confident, because Washingtonians have risen to the challenge. We have seen remarkable heroism, diligence, and a stalwart commitment in our frontline workers; and we have seen it in all Washingtonians who know they are safer when every one of us is healthy. Washington is a resilient state. Washington knows how to recover. This is not going to stop Washington state’s eternal march of progress to a more just and equitable community.
A new year is often when this building’s marble corridors come to life with civic discourse. But the last eight years were pre-pandemic. When I first took the oath of office, with Trudi nearby, there was pretty much no elbow room in this rotunda. It was the same in the House chamber four years later.
We miss those shared experiences now. And in this era of the internet, we no longer share common sources of the truth as we once did. But this pandemic is as big as any shared experience, it gives each of us our own struggles, but a common challenge. Everyone has a COVID story, even if they or their loved ones were never infected. Everyone has their place in this struggle. We cannot be alone in our challenges.
We all share a thirst for more justice. The police-citizen violence we saw in 2020 alone has traumatized the nation. And we need not only conversations but action — action on truths that have been overlooked for far too long. Our collective consciousness is at a crescendo. Let’s ride that wave, head first. Let’s recognize our opportunities for growth, even in these dark times.
We will incorporate equity into how our laws are applied and how our institutions are run, including independent investigations and prosecutions. We owe it to countless Washingtonians who live with the realities of racial injustice every day, and who are less free because of it. We’ll also be working to incorporate an equity lens into health care, jobs, education, pollution and more.
Progress is what we’re known for. When I first took the oath in 2013, our state was trying to rebound from the Great Recession. In 2017, my second term began in the midst of one of the strongest economic booms for any state in the nation. Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic jarred our progress. The pandemic affected our health and our freedoms.
In Washington state, we know how to succeed. We’ve proven it. Why not do it again? It’s time to take back the torch. Our careers, our dreams, our lives: We are getting back on track.
Washington state has continued to lead during the coronavirus pandemic. Together, we have listened to the public health experts, wore masks, kept our distance from one another and we know that has allowed us to bend down the curve of this deadly virus. Let’s be clear: We have saved countless lives in Washington through what we’ve been able to do together. That’s not just the lives of COVID patients, but for anyone who has ongoing medical needs, because everyone’s health is at risk in a pandemic. These life-saving efforts will continue. We will not yield from that commitment.
And we know our state’s economy is poised to recover and what we do now, in the next four years, will shape the future for generations of Washingtonians. Our leaders in the business community proved their mettle in these tough times, like employee-owned Super feet in Ferndale.
They make insoles and footwear, but when COVID hit, they announced they would use their expertise in 3D printing to make 30,000 pieces of personal protective equipment. Then, they blew that estimate right out of the water: They made close to 50,000 respirator hoods for their local hospital network and others nationwide, then they supplied 450,000 medical gowns to health facilities. This kind of entrepreneurial leadership happened in communities across our state.
We want community-minded entrepreneurs to continue to pursue their dreams in this new world, and we’re going to keep helping them. It’s why I want to reduce increases in the unemployment tax on businesses that never foresaw the mass layoffs that came with this pandemic, while fighting the federal government for more funds and working with the Legislature early to get more money into people’s pockets.
We all have to come together if we’re going to do right by the people suffering most in these times.
That’s why we’re going to keep supporting small businesses with every resource at our disposal. And when workers lose pay because they’re sick or laid off, we’re going to help see their struggles don’t spiral. We’re going to get these businesses open eventually, we’re going to get people back to work, and in the meantime we are preparing for that day when we can fully reopen the economy.
At the end of the day, Washington, we aren’t alone; we have each other.
It’s in Washingtonians like Cindy Franck, a registered nurse at St. Michael Medical Center in Bremerton, on the front lines of our society’s struggle against COVID-19. She and her colleagues didn’t know what to expect when COVID first hit, but they’ve been fighting ever since. Even being shorthanded when dozens of her colleagues were out due to COVID quarantine, she kept working, night and day, caring for a floor of 28 patients with limited staffing.
We have to take care of our medical professionals so they can take care of others. Our wellbeing is at the heart of what makes us free.
And our medical professionals are not alone. We are in solidarity. That’s why my administration is committed to serving them and reimagining public health for the future. We’re going to remove politics from our public health system and make sure local health professionals can focus on people’s well-being.
All of our frontline and essential workers have been heroes in this effort — grocery clerks, bus drivers, teachers who are already back in the classroom and educators who have shown such innovation in remote learning. We’re going to make sure people like Cindy will get the resources they need to provide those essential services to all.
And we knew before the pandemic this important fact: Our state’s behavioral health system is outdated. Behavioral health is health care and supporting the wellness and health of Washingtonians is crucial. The impacts of the pandemic demand we improve this system.
We’re going to make sure people have access to jobs by strengthening the new approaches to career training we know work. The old way of doing things limited people’s pathways to good jobs. My administration has created more pathways to better livelihoods through our Career Connect program.
More Washingtonians will have stories like Leela Cohen, who participated in Career Connect and will soon get her certified medical assistant credential. She’s already working in a Kaiser Permanente clinic in Bothell right now, where she’s needed and much appreciated.
Career Connect helps people like her find opportunity when pathways seemed closed. It’s for anybody regardless of age or where they’re at in their studies or job search. Leela’s not done yet. She wants to continue to advance her career in the medical profession and one day open her own clinic.
We want all our children to have a career, not just those who go to college. That’s why we need Career Connect.
And that includes our young people. We’re going to get students back into the classroom, and make sure it’s in safe and healthy settings. And we’re going to keep at some of the glaring disparities in our education system. We’re going to continue expanding early childhood education. We will not go backwards.
We will continue our student financial aid commitments. We have the most generous college financial aid program in the country. As long as I’m governor, we’re going to keep our commitments so that more people can earn degrees, certificates or apprenticeships to get into great jobs and careers.
I also look forward to working with you to remediate the impacts our students have suffered because of this pandemic. This is hard for young people, and no one knows that better than our parents and our educators. No one has a single answer, but we must provide the supports that students need, whether it’s academics, mental health, or nutrition.
There are more issues important to our health as well. We live in a time of great housing insecurity. Tenants and small landlords are facing unprecedented economic challenges. At the same time, home prices continue rising, keeping quality and affordable housing elusive for far too many Washingtonians.
That means too many people in Washington state are living in fear. We should stand in solidarity with people who live in unsafe or inadequate housing, because we know our fellow Washingtonians are more likely to succeed when they have stable housing.
Whether it’s a commitment to our youth who experiencing homelessness, or providing mental health or chemical addiction treatment to young folks, we’re committed to addressing these obvious challenges.
We cannot let the short-term crisis of COVID-19 blind us to the long-term health cataclysm that is climate change. Pollution and climate change also hurt our health, from respiratory disease to new infectious vectors, to threats from natural disasters directly linked to a changing planet. There was no shortage of evidence for that in 2020. It was one of our worst wildfire seasons on record, fueled by blazes of an intensity previously unseen by our firefighters, in places like Bonney Lake and in Malden, where 80 percent of the town’s buildings were destroyed and where recovery continues.
Both the virus and climate change have fatal results. Both can be solved through science and ingenuity. We can — and we will — pursue solutions to both at the same time.
Washington’s roaring economy of the last eight years was built on innovation in technology, aviation, agriculture and clean energy. But climate change threatens to unmake the state we know and love, from the growing number and intensity of our wildfires to the acidification of our waters and the evaporation of our snowpack, which can hit our communities with the double whammy of flooding early in the year followed by drought. Climate change is creating extremes that cannot be denied or ignored if we are going to continue to prosper.
And we are going to recommit ourselves to the cause of environmental justice, to address the suffering of disenfranchised communities that take the brunt of the immediate impacts of pollution. We’re going to see to it that the future of our economy is bright, led by a clean and renewable energy sector. Our air will be healthier to breathe and our waters will not be acidified. We will create jobs. Machinists, engineers, electricians — all have a role to play. We will have more people making family wage jobs and we will have a safer, healthier and sustainable environment for our posterity.
This will be led by Washington business owners. The Seattle Kraken are building an all-green arena and practice facilities. They’ll have the first carbon-neutral hockey arena in the world — covering 94,000 square feet — and Washingtonians made this economic and environmental victory a reality. When you see this stunning building, you’re going to see that we can save our environment and prosper at the same time.
Moments of great stress reveal things in people, and the people of Washington have shown their strength. We have what it takes to get through these times. We have a tried and true competency for leading change. As we eventually move beyond the coronavirus pandemic, life itself will still be different, but we will have more control over our future. We should embrace what we’ve learned together. Because we have a choice: We can do things the old ways that we know don’t work, or we can embrace and unleash the knowledge we already have that can accelerate Washington’s dynamic future.
The pandemic has also revealed this: The pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on people of color, from health care to business, labor and education. If we can’t help more people, fewer of us will enjoy the blessings of freedom.
Our Latino communities were disproportionately exposed to COVID-19. Our Black communities have demanded equal justice for generations, yet our systems still haven’t addressed it.
We have work ahead of us in the next four years to undo the racial inequities that remain in our economy, in our democracy and in our system of law and justice.
In conclusion, our place in the world as Washingtonians will be remembered by what we start to build here and now. Lincoln said, “the fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.” I have total confidence this generation of Washingtonians will take their place in history’s halls of honor. I know this because we are vested with a commitment to change, and constant improvement.
Let this new era be a time that lifts our hearts; that renews our dreams and ambitions; and that lets us as Washingtonians finally embrace the future we’ve been building up to now. We all share this struggle, and we will also reap its benefits. Out of the darkness and anxiety of 2020, will come the relief of a new era. Our recovery will be robust and equitable.
Last year reminded us what matters: Love for our families, our communities, and each other. And we will go forward, Washington, because we are resilient, and we are in solidarity.
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(2) AG FERGUSON: SHAM CHARITY MUST PAY $95,000 TO BE DONATED TO LEGITIMATE VETERANS’ CHARITY.
Press release issued 1/12/21
Healing Heroes Network spent less than one percent of its revenue on veterans’ medical care
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that a sham veterans’ charity is legally required to pay $95,000 to Washington state. Healing Heroes Network Inc. deceived donors into believing most of their donations would help provide medical care for wounded veterans. In fact, it spent less than one percent of individuals’ donations on veterans’ medical care. For example, in 2016, the charity received $2.7 million in donations nationwide, yet spent only $1,128 to fund veterans’ medical care.
Today’s consent decree, filed in King County Superior Court, resolves Ferguson’s lawsuit against the Florida-based charity and its directors, Stacey and Allan Spiegel, for misleading donors. Thousands of Washingtonians made donations to Healing Heroes Network, also known as the Injured America Veterans Foundation. Consistent with the donors’ intent, Ferguson will donate the $95,000 recovery to a nonprofit that legitimately helps veterans receive medical care.
“Few illegal acts are more appalling than exploiting the sacrifice of wounded veterans to line your own pockets,” Ferguson said. “My office will continue to hold accountable perpetrators of sham charities — and we will continue standing up for Washington’s veterans.”
Washington will donate the full recovery amount to a legitimate charity that helps veterans nationwide, including veterans in Washington, receive medical care. This charity will be confirmed at a later date.
The consent decree requires Healing Heroes Network to permanently stop soliciting donations. Healing Heroes ceased its operations in 2018 after learning of the states’ investigation, but this judgment ensures the charity will remain closed. Its owners, Stacy and Allan Spiegel, are also now legally prohibited for five years from overseeing or managing any nonprofit organization.
This consent decree resolves both Washington’s lawsuit and a multistate investigation into the sham charity’s practices. Washington led a multistate investigation into Healing Heroes Network in partnership with Florida, Ohio, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, California, and Virginia.
Case background
The company received many of its donations through telemarketing campaigns. Nearly 4,000 Washingtonians donated to Healing Heroes Network from 2015 to 2017 through its telemarketing alone.
The charity’s main claim in its promotions was that it helped veterans receive medical care. One of its telemarketing scripts claimed that it referred veterans to a “nationwide network of providers” and “provides financial assistance for services not covered, or delayed under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits.”
Healing Heroes maintained a list of 164 providers in 34 states. Most were chiropractors, massage therapists, hyperbaric oxygen specialists or acupuncturists. However, some providers reported that they rarely received a referral from Healing Heroes. Of the reported eight providers listed in Washington, two never received a single referral and three stopped practicing by 2017. One provider’s office was unaware of Healing Heroes.
One Washington massage therapist billed Healing Heroes for $1,200 worth of massages for a patient. The same provider eventually received a check for $300. Healing Heroes advised the provider to consider the remaining $900 balance her donation.
In some years, the charity did not provide any medical assistance to any Washington veterans at all, even as it raked in donations from thousands of Washingtonians. From 2015 through 2017, the sum total of services provided to wounded Washington veterans consisted of one tablet computer given to one veteran.
Healing Heroes spent the vast majority of its revenue on fundraisers, advertising, salaries, rent, insurance, t-shirts and decals to sell, office expenses and accounting services. It claimed in its 2016 reporting to the Internal Revenue Service that it spent $250,000 on “program expenses,” which included advertising and “community outreach” such as pub crawls it organized as advertising.
From 2015 through 2017, Healing Heroes bought at least $533,000 worth of T-shirts and decals from Charity Resources, also known as Spiegel Outfitters — a company owned by Neal Spiegel and Benjamin Spiegel, Stacey and Allan Spiegel’s two sons. Stacey Speigel then sold this merchandise for profit under a new company, “Hero Giveaways.”
Stacey Spiegel formed the new company immediately after Healing Heroes dissolved under pressure from the states’ investigation. She sold the merchandise on the Hero Giveaways website, claiming that proceeds would benefit wounded veterans. In fact, Ferguson’s suit asserts, Stacey Spiegel’s new operation was a for-profit business that has given nothing to wounded veterans or any other charity.
Ferguson’s lawsuit asserts that this conduct violates the Charitable Solicitations Act, which prohibits false or misleading solicitations for charitable donations. The suit also asserts Healing Heroes Network violated the Promotional Advertising of Prizes Act in one of its promotions: a sweepstakes letter to consumers that failed to properly inform consumers of the odds of winning the sweepstakes prize.
Assistant Attorneys General Craig Rader and Ben Brysacz are leading the case for Washington.
Operation Donate with Honor
Today’s judgment is part of Operation Donate with Honor, a nationwide effort against veterans’ fundraising fraud coordinated by the Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of State Charities Officials. Attorneys General and other state agencies from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa are joining the project by leading more than 100 education and enforcement efforts.
Other lawsuits part of this initiative include one against Fallen Hero Bracelets, which resolved in November 2020 when a Pierce County Superior Court judge ordered the sham charity to pay nearly half a million dollars to legitimate veterans charities.
Scammers can use charities to prey on generosity. Do plenty of research before donating money. To make sure a charity is legitimate:
Ask for detailed information about the organization, including an address, phone number and name
Ask the organization what percentage of donations benefit the actual cause
Check if the charity is registered with the Washington Secretary of State
Visit ftc.gov/charities for more information on how to avoid charity scams.
Consumers affected by these charities’ deceptive conduct, or any other charity or business, may file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office at https://www.atg.wa.gov/file-complaint.
IN OTHER STATE HEADLINE NEWS:
CHARITY CAN PAY VETERANS BACK WAGES AS A RESULT OF $1 MILLION PAYOUT IN AG LAWSUIT.
TACOMA — As a result of Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit, non-profit organization Veterans Independent Enterprises of Washington (VIEW) has received $1 million — the maximum allowed under its insurance policy — to pay its creditors, including 74 veterans who are owed wages. The employees’ claims range from $192 to $48,925 in unpaid wages, totaling $310,489.37.
Commissioner Hilary Franz Unveils Sweeping Wildfire and Forest Health Funding Proposal--DNR
Bill would make transformative investments in wildfire response, forest restoration and community resilience
Ferry ridership at lowest level in nearly 50 years
SEATTLE – Annual ridership aboard Washington State Ferries plunged by nearly 10 million customers in 2020 – a drop of 41% from the previous year – to roughly 14 million. Stay-at-home orders, remote work and decreased tourism because of COVID-19 are the main reasons for the system’s lowest yearly count since 1975.--WSDOT
TAKE A GUIDED SNOWSHOE HIKE THIS WINTER AT LAKE EASTON STATE PARK.
OLYMPIA – Jan. 13, 2021 – Washington State Parks invites the public to enjoy guided snowshoe hikes this winter at Lake Easton State Park.
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(3) OUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTES FOR IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP.
Editorial comment:
No surprise that our Congressional delegation voted for the second impeachment of President Trump. Now if any of our delegation grew a spine, and voted against this impeachment, that would be truly worthy of headines. So, the headlines in our local establish media the Peninsula Daily News, wasn't at all surprising.
PDN: Congressman Derek Kilmer reflects on historic impeachment.
I suspect this had more to do with the Speaker of The House, Nancy Pelosi's irrational hate, and fear toward President Trump. Trump didn't condone what happen what last week Jan.6th. He called for peace!
Here is the latest statement from President Trump after the impeachment from the House.
Video from the White House:
But nevertheless here are their reasons for their vote.
Congressman Kilmer:
Rep. Kilmer Statement on Supporting Today’s Article of Impeachment
Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) released the following statement after voting to support H.Res. 24, which passed the House with bipartisan support 232 to 197:
“When the history books write about the failed insurrection of January 6, 2021 that was incited by the President of the United States, there is a threshold question that we must answer. What do we want the next paragraph to say?
I do not believe that the next paragraph should say that Congress did nothing and that there were no consequences for the riot or the actions that incited it. I do not want that next paragraph to say that Congress allowed the president the ability to use the remainder of his term in office to threaten our republic. I do not want the lesson to my kids – or to any Americans – to be that actions like these are acceptable and can happen without consequence.
As most people know, I did not come to Congress to impeach a president. I came to Congress because I want to provide more economic opportunity for the folks I represent, and I want government to work better for them.
But the very first thing I do in this job is raise my right hand and swear an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
In my view, there is no question that the president’s actions were impeachable. Like many, I believe that the president should resign. Absent that, I believe Vice President Pence and the cabinet should remove him. They have failed to uphold their oaths – but I will not fail to uphold mine. With that in mind, I voted to support the article of impeachment.”
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Sen. Patty Murray:
Murray Statement on House of Representatives Vote to Impeach President Trump
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on the U.S. House of Representatives vote to impeach President Trump.
“As I’ve said, there can be no looking away from what played out before our eyes last week. We owe it to our country today and for the future to make it unequivocally clear: any elected official who stands up for the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office. The President encouraged and incited insurrection, which was intended to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. Now that the House has rightly moved to impeach him, we should act quickly in the Senate to convict President Trump, remove him from office, and bar him from holding office again.”
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(4) IN OTHER HEADLINES...
WORLD NEWS:
Step up action and adapt to 'new climate reality', UN environment report urges.
Though countries have made progress in planning for climate change adaptation, there are significant financing shortfalls in getting them to the stage where they provide real protection against droughts, floods and rising sea levels, a new UN environment report has found. --UN NEWS CENTER
Four UN peacekeepers killed, five wounded in attack in Mali.
Four United Nations peacekeepers in Mali were killed and five others wounded in an attack by unidentified armed elements on Wednesday, the UN mission in the country has said. --UN NEWS CENTER
Insecurity and bureaucracy hampering aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Nearly three months after the start of conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, hundreds of thousands of people have yet to receive assistance, the United Nations reported on Wednesday, citing information from its humanitarian coordination agency, OCHA.--UN News Center
NATIONAL:
Joint Chiefs Stress Service Members' Commitment to Constitution.
In an unprecedented message, the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told service members that the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol was an attack on the Constitutional process of the nation.--DOD
Texas Woman Indicted for Transporting Minor for Female Genital Mutilation
A Texas woman has been indicted for transporting a minor from the United States to a foreign country for the purpose of female genital mutilation (FGM).--DOJ
Office for Civil Rights Delivers Annual Report to Congress Highlighting Major Milestones and Achievements in Protecting Students' Rights--Dept. of Education
U.S. Department of Education Announces Additional College Scorecard Updates, Providing Greater Transparency on Borrower Repayment Progress and Postsecondary Costs--Dept. of Education dated 1/12/21
BUSINESS & FINANCE:
Restaurant Chain Manager Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Fraud
Caused Tax Loss of More Than $1.5 Million--DOJ
IRS reminds taxpayers to make final estimated tax payment for 2020.
WASHINGTON − Taxpayers who paid too little tax during 2020 can still avoid a tax-time bill and possible penalties by making a quarterly estimated tax payment now, directly to the Internal Revenue Service. The deadline for making a payment for the fourth quarter of 2020 is Friday, January 15, 2021.
National Taxpayer Advocate delivers Annual Report to Congress; focuses on taxpayer impact of COVID-19 and IRS funding needs.
WASHINGTON — National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins today released her 2020 Annual Report to Congress, focusing on the unprecedented challenges taxpayers faced in filing their tax returns and receiving refunds and stimulus payments during a year consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report also finds that a roughly 20% inflation-adjusted reduction in the IRS's budget since fiscal year (FY) 2010 has left the agency with antiquated technology and inadequate staffing levels to meet taxpayers' needs.
Developer of Popular Women’s Fertility-Tracking App Settles FTC Allegations that It Misled Consumers About the Disclosure of their Health Data.--FTC
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/01/developer-popular-womens-fertility-tracking-app-settles-ftc
Bible Teaching Is Important and Relevant to You.
Are you seeking spiritual guidance and direction in your life? Do you have serious questions about spiritual teaching and issues? This free study provides relevant Bible answers!---Gospel Way.
https://www.gospelway.com/bible/bible-importance.php
