OLYMPIA, Wash. - They've been cold, wet and weary, but after five days and 50 miles, participants in "The People's Walk" say if they get Washington state lawmakers' attention, it was worth the effort. Labor groups, students, social justice advocates and others trekked from Auburn to Olympia on foot. Tax Day weekend was chosen because it's when everyone is required to pay their share of taxes.

Jeff Johnson, a walker who is president of the Washington Labor Council, says Auburn was the starting point because it's the headquarters of the international forest products company Weyerhaeuser, a firm he says paid no federal or state taxes in 2010. He adds that the walkers have been warmly received along the route.

"People are really jazzed up about it. Like right now, we're walking through a residential neighborhood; people mowing their lawns or up on the porches are waving, people are honking their horns. It's been very gratifying."

Johnson says he and some others are walking on behalf of individuals who are not physically able to participate, and the group also includes people who are homeless or receive state assistance that could be cut.

"We all know that there are going to be tremendous budget cuts, but that the sacrifice made can't just be from poor and vulnerable people, can't just be from students. The corporations have to step up and do their share. Corporate America had its most profitable year, last year, in recorded history."

He says their goal is to keep lawmakers focused on closing tax loopholes to bring more revenue to the state and prevent further cuts to education and social services. Today they'll be part of an all-faith church service, and then begin a five-day fast to protest what they're calling "immoral" budget choices by the Washington House and Senate.

The group is expected to reach the State Capitol about noon today. The walkers include members of the Washington Federation of State Employees, the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans, and Washington CAN.




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BISMARCK, N.D. - A portion of American Rescue Plan funding sent to North Dakota has yet to be divvied up. Groups that want to improve the child-care system say the state shouldn't miss an opportunity to boost access and affordability.

Some of the funds North Dakota received from the federal pandemic-relief package in March already have been spent or set aside, but there's still room to distribute roughly $700 million of the aid. April Fairfield, a member of the North Dakota Children's Caucus. saod dedicating substantial funding for child care should be a priority.

"Many areas, many communities, rural and urban in North Dakota, lack accessible and affordable child care," she said. "So, we are looking at the American Rescue Plan as a way to fortify that and to really try and get North Dakotans back to work."

She said more aid would help with worker shortage issues.

Next week, legislative committees will hold more meetings on what to do with the remaining funds. Gov. Doug Burgum's priorities include matching grants for employers who offer a child-care benefit, but Prairie Action ND has said his plan commits only 2% of funding to address the crisis and looks to the Legislature to change that.

Xanna Burg, the Kids Count coordinator for North Dakota, said the statewide average child-care cost for an infant is 13% of a family's budget. She said she thinks that's a good place to start in committing federal funds.

"We're really calling on the state to think about investing that same amount - 13%, or $130 million - towards child care, to really address better access for families, making child care more affordable for families, and also helping child-care businesses pay their workers more than poverty-level wages."

She said failing to boost child-care workers' pay could force more providers to close, creating economic harm to the state. Earlier this year, a Kids Count report said 14 North Dakota counties meet less than 60% of the child-care demand for working families. Votes are expected during next week's committee meetings to advance proposals for the Legislature to consider in special session.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Gov. Mike Parson is facing calls to get the Missouri Cybersecurity Commission off the ground after it was created by the Legislature earlier this year.

This month, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter exposed a major flaw in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's website that, before it was resolved, had put hundreds of thousands of educators' personal information at risk.

State Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said Missouri needs to beef up its cybersecurity. She noted that the new commission is meant to identify vulnerabilities and recommend solutions, but the governor has yet to appoint any commissioners.

"What I believe needs to happen in Missouri to allow for more transparency into the state of our cybersecurity program," she said, "is for this commission to be filled, and for them to get to work and start advising the governor on what needs to be done."

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and experts recommend multi-factor verification for all accounts and devices, creating unique passwords and only using sites that begin with "https" when online shopping or banking.

After learning of the problem, the Post-Dispatch alerted the Department of Education, which promptly took its pages down. When the story broke, Parson announced a criminal investigation, saying the reporter was trying to expose state information. But lawmakers, including Aune and members of the governor's Republican Party, have defended the reporting, saying it was important that the problem was identified and solved.

"Over 100,000 Social Security numbers were potentially exposed, and that's just a drop in the bucket," she said. "So as a state, cybersecurity absolutely has to be a priority, in terms of where we spend our money and where we spend our efforts."

She added that insecure data not only threatens individual Missourians but also can hurt taxpayers' pockets since preventing breaches is less expensive and more efficient than resolving cyber threats after they happen.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A new report found a U.S. Senate bill would expand eligibility for unemployment benefits to nearly 600,000 Ohio workers.

The Unemployment Insurance Improvement Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, would lower the threshold for how much workers must be paid in order to qualify for benefits if they lose their job.

Michael Shields, researcher for Policy Matters Ohio, explained Ohio has one of the strictest earnings tests among states: To qualify, a worker must be paid at least $280 a week and work at least 20 weeks of the year.

"A lot of folks end up getting left out of coverage, and that actually does include a lot of people who are very highly attached to the workforce," Shields outlined. "The typical person who would be newly covered by this measure worked 37 weeks in 2019 and worked a median of 26 weeks per year."

To qualify for unemployment under the bill, workers would need to be paid at least $1,500 in a year and $1,000 in at least one quarter, compared with a minimum in Ohio of $5,600 in a year.

The bill's sponsors are pushing for it to be included as an amendment in the Build Back Better social spending package currently being debated.

The measure would extend coverage to four in five Ohio workers currently not eligible for unemployment insurance.

Shields noted it would also make coverage more equitable in Ohio by reducing current disparities.

"For instance, women have to work on average two and a half more hours than men in order to qualify for benefits," Shields observed. "And Black Ohio workers have to work four hours more than their white counterparts in order to be covered by unemployment benefits if they were to be laid off."

The report also found it would expand unemployment qualifications for those in some of the industries hit hardest by the pandemic, including accommodations and food services. Currently, about 44% of those workers are excluded from benefits, compared with 15% of workers overall.

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.