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After decades of Democrat control, Washington can’t even keep its bridges standing—yet they’re still hiking your gas taxes for the privilege of sitting in traffic.

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Washington’s Broken Roads, Broken Budgets, and Broken Promises
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A new Pew report confirms what most drivers already know: Washington state is crumbling—literally. With a $1.4 billion shortfall just to maintain existing roads and bridges, the state is failing at one of government’s most basic responsibilities. Nearly 5.5% of bridges here are structurally deficient, and the century-old Fairfax Bridge had to be closed entirely, forcing residents to drive an extra hour. Nice work, Olympia.
Despite this mess, Democrats’ solution was predictable: raise the gas tax. July’s hike will bleed another $1.4 billion from taxpayers, but somehow still leave drivers dodging potholes and crossing aging bridges that haven’t seen real maintenance in 40 years.
The “Revive I-5” project will shut down northbound I-5 in Seattle multiple weekends this summer to fix a bridge deck so neglected it’s needed over 200 emergency repairs since 2019. But sure, let’s pretend this is all part of a master plan and not the result of decades of mismanagement and spending priorities that put pet projects and progressive fantasies ahead of basic infrastructure.
Bottom line: Democrats have spent billions growing government, but can’t be bothered to preserve the roads that hold it all together. Welcome to Washington—pay more, drive worse. Read more at Center Square.
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Aged, Broke, and Still Woke: Washington’s Budget Blows Up
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Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has turned into a spending monster, ballooning from $9 billion in 2015 to a whopping $25.4 billion today — a 182% increase. What’s driving it? Long-term care spending, which now eats up half of the department’s budget. Apparently, aging is expensive… especially when Democrats are running the tab.
While Washington’s aging population is indeed growing, so is the state’s overly generous Medicaid coverage. As one healthcare analyst put it, “Washington is super generous with what it covers” — translation: if you breathe, you qualify. Meanwhile, actual nursing home usage is dropping. So where’s all that money going?
And as billions pour into long-term care, funding for public mental health — a system supposedly in “crisis” — is somehow lower than it was a decade ago. Priorities!
Also worth noting: spending on developmental disabilities has doubled, and the state still finds $150 million to shower on illegal immigrants. Because in Democrat-run Washington, fiscal responsibility gets less attention than a seven-person sidewalk protest.
So yes, Washingtonians are getting older. But it’s the Democrats’ budget management that’s really aging like milk. Read more at Center Square.
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Destroy the Evidence, Destroy the Accountability: OSPI’s Shameful File-Shredding Policy
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Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has quietly decided it’s totally fine to destroy records of special education complaints after just six years—because nothing says “accountability” like shredding files about violations of students’ rights.
Republican Sen. Paul Harris wasn’t having it, calling the policy “crazy and stupid.” He’s right. Parents and advocates of children with disabilities rely on these records to spot patterns of abuse, neglect, or discrimination in schools. But OSPI, under no legislative directive, took it upon itself to make those files vanish just as students age out of the system.
OSPI defends this nonsense by pointing to vague “efficiency” standards and claiming they’re just following Secretary of State guidelines. But the Secretary of State’s office says OSPI alone decides what records to destroy. So basically, OSPI wrote its own permission slip to erase evidence that might reflect poorly on public schools.
Even disability advocates are demanding new legislation to stop this cover-up, rightly calling it an equity issue for families who can’t afford lawyers. Because for Democrats, it’s not enough to fail students with disabilities—you also have to make sure no one can prove it.
This is the kind of bureaucratic garbage that thrives in a state where Democrat-led agencies dodge oversight, erase records, and hope no one notices. It’s not “student-centered,” it’s system-centered—and it needs to end. Read more at Center Square.
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Seattle’s $60 Uber Ride: Brought to You by Progressive Price-Gouging
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Seattle has officially earned the crown for the most expensive Uber rides in the country, with a 30-minute trip now averaging a jaw-dropping $60. And no, it’s not inflation—it’s regulation. The city’s 2020 “Fare Share” ordinance, sold as a compassionate way to protect gig workers, has done exactly what every Democrat-backed regulation does: raise costs, distort the market, and punish both drivers and riders.
Under Fare Share, Uber and Lyft are forced to pay drivers a rigid per-minute and per-mile rate, regardless of rider demand or traffic flow. Add on Seattle’s signature tax-on-top-of-a-tax model—a 51-cent surcharge to fund everything from housing subsidies to bureaucratic “dispute centers”—and you’ve got a rideshare system engineered for inefficiency.
The result? Fewer rides, longer waits, and drivers making less despite the government-mandated “living wage.” A simple ride to Sea-Tac that used to cost $35 now sets you back $70. That’s not equity—that’s economic sabotage.
And let’s not forget history: Seattle tried the same nonsense with taxi medallions, propping up an artificial market that collapsed the minute Uber arrived. Instead of learning from failure, the city doubled down on its command-and-control fantasies, and now wonders why prices are skyrocketing and gig workers are protesting.
Turns out, when progressive politicians tinker with market forces, you don’t get fairness—you get a $60 Uber ride and a lecture on “worker justice.” Read more at the Washington Policy Center.
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The Seattle Times and the Seven-Person Circus: Journalism Dies in “Good Trouble”
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Only in the delusional world of The Seattle Times can “about seven protesters” waving upside-down flags on a sidewalk be spun into the next civil rights movement. As KTTH’s Jason Rantz points out, this wasn’t journalism — it was a love letter to left-wing cosplay masquerading as activism.
The Times, desperate to make anything anti-Trump seem heroic, dove headfirst into parody. Seven lonely activists become moral giants. A photo showing all of them (yes, all seven) is paired with lofty quotes from John Lewis, like we’re witnessing Selma 2.0. Please.
Any serious news outlet would have filed this event under “nobody cares.” But when you’re the PR team for Seattle’s activist class, even a pitiful turnout is cause for poetic grandstanding — as long as it hates Trump enough.
Meanwhile, CNN of all places had to call out Rep. Pramila Jayapal for her convenient outrage over the Epstein investigation — silent for years, suddenly concerned now. But don’t expect the Times to mention that. They’re too busy manufacturing news from sidewalk tantrums.
If this were a conservative protest, they’d call it dangerous, fringe, or “rooted in white nationalism.” But when it’s a progressive cause, a half-dozen people is enough for front-page fawning.
As Shift readers know, this isn’t a paper — it’s a progressive propaganda rag. And the Seattle Times isn’t covering news. It’s writing fan fiction for the activist Left. Read more at KTTH.
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