The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

During my interview with Representatives Terry Nealey and Maureen Walsh on March 24, we spent more than half our time talking about the supplemental state budget the legislature failed to agree on during this year’s regular session. That discussion was covered in-depth in last week’s issue.

Since then, the legislature has passed a supplemental budget that adds $191 million in spending for such things as homelessness, mental health and alleviating a state-wide teacher shortage. The House and Senate also agreed to take $190 from reserves to pay for extra costs due to last year’s wildfir...