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A Microsoft data center campus in East Wenatchee on Nov. 3. The rural region is changing fast as electricians from around the country plug the tech industry’s new, giant data centers into its ample power supply. (Jovelle Tamayo / The New York Times)

Opinion

Editorial: Meeting needs for data centers, fair power rates

Shared energy demand for AI and ratepayers requires an increased pace for clean energy projects.

Tina Ruybal prepares ballots to be moved to the extraction point in the Snohomish County Election Center on Nov. 3, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: A win for vote-by-mail, amid gathering concern

A judge preserved the state’s deadline for mailed ballots, but more challenges to voting are ahead.

FILE - The sun dial near the Legislative Building is shown under cloudy skies, March 10, 2022, at the state Capitol in Olympia, Wash. An effort to balance what is considered the nation's most regressive state tax code comes before the Washington Supreme Court on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in a case that could overturn a prohibition on income taxes that dates to the 1930s. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Opinion

Editorial: No new taxes, but maybe ‘pay as we go’ on some needs

New taxes won’t resolve the state’s budget woes, but more limited reforms can still make a difference.

Washington state's Congressional Districts adopted in 2021. (Washington State Redistricting Commission)

Opinion

Editorial: Lawmakers shouldn’t futz with partisan redistricting

A new proposal to allow state lawmakers to gerrymander congressional districts should be rejected.

Four people were injured in a suspected DUI collision Saturday night on Highway 99 near Lynnwood. (Washington State Patrol)

Opinion

Editorial: Numbers, results back lower BAC for Washington

Utah’s experience backs Sen. John Lovick’s bill to lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers to 0.05.

Institute for Tax and Economic Policy

Opinion

Editorial: ‘Millionaires’ tax’ can deliver fairness, revenue

The governor’s proposal should be placed on the ballot, allowing voters a chance to rebalance tax fairness.

CNA Nina Prigodich, right, goes through restorative exercises with long term care patient Betty Long, 86, at Nightingale's View Ridge Care Center on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: Skilled nursing care must remain state budget priority

The governor’s spending plan would claw back Medicaid reimbursements that pay skilled-nursing care staff.

In a gathering similar to many others across the nation on Presidents Day, hundreds lined Broadway with their signs and chants to protest the Trump administration Monday evening in Everett. (Aaron Kennedy / Daily Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: An opinionated look at 2025

A review of local, state and national events through the lens of the opinions of The Herald Editorial…

People listen as Rick Steves announces he has purchased the Jean Kim Foundation Hygiene Center property so the center can stay open on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025 in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: The message in philanthropic gifts large and small

Travel advocate Rick Steves is known for his philanthropy but sees a larger public responsibility.

A state Climate Commmitment Act map shows projects funded by the act's carbon auctions.

Opinion

Editorial: Climate Commitment Act a two-fer for Washington

Its emissions auctions put price on carbon and use that revenue for climate investments.

Water from the Snohomish River surrounds a residence along the west side of Lowell Snohomish River Road on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: Keep eye on weather and on FEMA’s future

Recent flooding should give pause to those who believe federal disaster aid is unnecessary.

One of the illustrated pages of the LifeWise Bible used for class on Monday, April 14, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: Everett Schools can stick with rules for Bible program

LifeWise, a midday religious class, wants looser rules for its program or has threatened a lawsuit.

FILE — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks alongside President Donald Trump during an event announcing a drug pricing deal with Pfizer in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2025. Advisers to Kennedy appear poised to make consequential changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, delaying a shot that is routinely administered to newborns and discussing big changes to when or how other childhood immunizations are given. (Pete Marovich/The New York Times)

Opinion

Editorial: As CDC fades, others must provide vaccine advice

A CDC panel’s recommendation on the infant vaccine for hepatitis B counters long-trusted guidance.

Customers look at AR-15-style rifles on a mostly empty display wall at Rainier Arms Friday, April 14, 2023, in Auburn, Wash. as stock dwindles before potential legislation that would ban future sale of the weapons in the state. House Bill 1240 would ban the future sale, manufacture and import of assault-style semi-automatic weapons to Washington State and would go into immediate effect after being signed by Gov. Jay Inslee. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Opinion

Editorial: Long fight for state’s gun safety laws must continue

The state’s assault weapons ban was upheld in a state court, but more challenges remain ahead.

Anne Sarinas, left, and Lisa Kopecki, right, sort ballots to be taken up to the election center to be processed on Nov. 3, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: States right to keep voter rolls for proper purpose

Trump DOJ’s demand for voters’ information is a threat to the integrity of elections.

Aleen Alshamman carries her basket as she picks out school clothes with the help of Operation School Bell volunteers on Sept. 24, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: Feeling generous? Your help is needed here, elsewhere

Giving Tuesday invites your financial support and volunteer hours for worthy charities and nonprofits.

Elizabeth Ferrari, left, hands her mom Noelle Ferrari her choice of hot sauce from the large selection at Double DD Meats on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Opinion

Editorial: Keeping the shopping fun and the money local

Small Business Saturday allows support of shops that are key to the local economy. And it’s more fun.

Story Corps

Opinion

Editorial: Political debate isn’t on Thanksgiving menu for most

A better option for table talk are family stories. Share them with the Great Thanksgiving Listen.

FILE — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau logo is seen through a window at the CFPB offices in Washington on Sept. 23, 2019. Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were instructed to cease “all supervision and examination activity” and “all stakeholder engagement,” effectively stopping the agency’s operations, in an email from the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Ting Shen/The New York Times)

Opinion

Editorial: Keep medical debt off credit score reporting

The federal CFPB is challenging a state law that bars medical debt from credit bureaus’ consideration.

A model of a statue of Billy Frank Jr., the Nisqually tribal fishing rights activist, is on display in the lobby of the lieutenant governor's office in the state Capitol. (Jon Bauer / The Herald.

Opinion

Editorial: Recognizing state history’s conflicts and common ground

State officials seek consensus in siting statues of an Indian rights activist and a missionary.