On the surface, a pair of murders in our state nearly two months ago don’t have anything in common except for each occurring in mid-October and resulting in the arrest of a young man.

One occurred in north Seattle, the other in Spokane — far from our corner of the state. Yet it’s a local prosecutor, Lewis County’s Jonathan Meyer, who sees two common denominators. 

Our state’s Democratic legislators have a long list of tax dreams. It’s safe to say a state income tax is at the top of their list, even though Washington voters have repeatedly said no to one over the past 90 years.

Even so, according to recent news reports, an income tax is a hot topic of discussion among Democrats and their political allies ahead of our 2026 legislative session, which is only about six weeks away.

Democrats have a new buzzword: “affordability.”

Many believe that word made the difference in helping socialist Zohran Mamdani and others on the political left to win elections back east. That means we should watch for Democrats in Olympia to jump with both feet onto the affordability bandwagon as well.

I have spoken many times about the importance of giving people a second chance to get on a better path. It usually comes up when the topic is our state’s management of juvenile offenders. I never had a reason to consider whether that should also extend to billionaires.

The line about “insanity” being defined as doing the same things over and over, and expecting a different result, is sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein. 

Taxpayers would rightfully be outraged if a state agency handed someone almost $350,000 in public funds to put toward the purchase of a $425,000 home, simply because of that person’s race and a family connection.

It’s easy to find examples of how years of one-party rule have made living in Washington less safe, less affordable and less beneficial for our children — but here’s one that doesn’t fall neatly into any of those three columns.

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, especially in our state, it’s how children benefit from attending school — socially, emotionally and academically.

Those behind the shutdown of the federal government had to know how their actions could be especially painful at a national level for low-income women with children, the elderly and our military women and men.

There’s a lot in common between the security and safety issues at Green Hill School, the harm being done to our state’s children by fentanyl, and the staggering cost of financial judgments and settlements due to mismanagement by the executive branch of state government.

One of the most enduring lines in conservative politics came from President Reagan’s campaign debates — the “there you go again” reply that so effectively called out his Democrat opponents when they made misleading or hypocritical claims.

Out of the 1.1 million students in Washington’s K-12 schools, the number who met grade-level standards in English and mathematics continues to be down by around 100,000 compared from 2019, pre-pandemic.

Charlie Kirk brought his formidable debating skills, love of country and strong faith in God to the University of Washington’s Seattle campus in May 2024. The popular young conservative leader did the same this past April at the Pullman campus of Washington State University.

One of our state’s most prominent employers, Microsoft, recently had to call police to remove several anti-Israel protesters who had taken over the company president’s office in Redmond.

Two recent public meetings about the water contamination situation stemming from the Bob Oke Game Farm in Centralia bring to mind the warning not to confuse motion with action.

A colleague of mine was recently told by his teen’s drivers-education school to expect a larger bill this fall because of the “crazy tax hikes signed by the governor.” In this case it’s the new law that will force even more businesses in our state to collect sales tax, starting Oct. 1.