WASHINGTON, USA —
WA Cares paycheck deductions begin July 1
Workers in Washington state eligible for WA Cares exemptions must apply by June 1 to avoid the paycheck deductions beginning in July.
Beginning July 1, employers in Washington state will start deducting premiums from paychecks for the WA Cares Fund, the state’s new long-term care insurance program. Workers will pay 0.58% of every $100 earned to fund the program. Some workers are eligible to receive an exemption from the paycheck deductions, like workers who are unlikely to be able to use the benefits.
According to the state’s Employment Security Department (ESD), more than 200,000 workers in the state may still be eligible to receive the exemption but must apply before the deadline on June 1. Read more
Forty-three Washington State Patrol (WSP) vehicles lined the roads at the state Capitol Wednesday. Each one was driven by a new Washington State trooper.
The agency is still short 139 troopers and overall vacancies number between 200 and 250.
As the WSP looks to refill its ranks, the agency is also trying to have its troopers reflect Washington’s changing demographics, a point of criticism the WSP has struggled to address.
Currently, the agency’s staff is almost 83% white. But this incoming class is a little over 57% white, and is the second most diverse class in the agency’s history. Read more
Police are warning parents after two different instances of suspected luring in the Renton Highlands area.
The first was on May 15 between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. A female student from McKnight Middle School was hanging out with a friend after being dropped off by the school bus around Edmonds Avenue North and Northeast 4th Street. When the friend left, a white Ford sedan with tinted windows approached the student and the driver, described as a man with short black hair wearing a Hawaiian shirt, asked the student if she wanted a ride and told her to get in the car.
The second incident occurred early Tuesday morning near Northeast 4th Street and Monroe Avenue Northeast. Renton PD said it was notified by a parent that a suspicious subject in a light gray/silver sedan with a broken rear-passenger right window, had approached her daughter on the way to the bus stop. Read more
If you were in the West Seattle area Tuesday you may have seen an interesting phenomenon: Orange water.
A photo from viewer Roger G Bigney captured orange water near Lincoln Park in West Seattle on Tuesday. This phenomenon was caused by a Noctiluca bloom, according to the Washington Department of Ecology. The agency said it did not find the blooms last week, but they have been getting reports of Noctiluca in the last few days.
The blooms that can cause orange water are seasonal and can be exacerbated by excess nitrogen and other nutrients entering the water from humans, according to state officials. Read more
A Western Washington man just completed climbing the Seven Summits, which includes Mount Everest. The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.
Travis Van Overbeke is a dad, and husband, and owns a small construction company in Lake Stevens. Now he can say he is also one of the people who have completed the seven summits. He just returned from his trip to Mount Everest two days ago. He started on the journey of completing the seven summits more than 15 years ago
“I started in 2007, climbing Aconcagua, and that really just inspired me to set out on an adventure and see the world,” said Overbeke. Read more
RELATED: Western Washington Forecast
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