Josh Cohen

Why Washington's income tax ban won't block a millionaire tax A new proposal is testing how durable Washington's income tax ban really is.

By passing a ban on income taxes two years ago, Washington state lawmakers actually guaranteed their ability to consider an income tax on millionaires this session. www.axios.com/local/seattl... #waleg

Join The 51st The 51st is a worker-led nonprofit news source for D.C. Our reporting is rooted in our conviction that local journalism is meant to make people’s lives better — no paywalls, ever. But that's only…

6/ The Post has lost over 375,000 subscribers in just over a year. If 10% of those readers subscribed to The 51st instead, we could hire 10 reporters and five editors, dramatically scaling our coverage of the city at this critical time. 51st.news/signup

lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · 49m I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated. Quote lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Jan 25 Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.

INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.

Photojournalists across America preparing to apply to one of the only staff photo jobs available

Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Thousands pack the streets of #Seattle in protest of #ICE

Thousands in #Seattle march in protest of #ICE

Georgia Fort, an independent journalist and vice president of the Minnesota NABJ chapter, was also arrested by federal agents this morning

I was sent this video of agents at her door:

Climbing into the car felt too personal. Like walking into a person’s bedroom, Shoreline resident Chris Megargee said. The detritus of fatherhood was everywhere: scattered toys and a neatly packed bag of apple slices, crackers and a juice box on the passenger seat. On the floor was a bag of tamales Ivan Guzman, a local cook, had just bought for that day’s lunch, still warm. “I’m a dad. It was the stuff of family life. Of a dad,” Megargee, a local activist, said. “He should still be in the car.” Megargee was tasked with driving Guzman’s car to his workplace after federal agents detained him about 8:30 a.m. Sunday. Guzman was driving his son to day care before work when four unmarked vehicles surrounded his car, blocking two lanes of Aurora Avenue near North 163rd Street. Masked and armed federal agents emerged and arrested Guzman. They left his 2-year-old son sitting alone in the back seat for about 40 minutes, eyewitnesses said. The arrest quickly drew concern from community members and passersby. Five days before, ICE agents detained a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota. A photo of him went viral, showing his scared eyes staring out under the brim of a blue, bunny-ear hat while an agent held onto the back of his Spiderman backpack.

Federal immigration agents detained a man in Shoreline, leaving his 2-year-old son sitting alone in the back seat for about 40 minutes. Here's what the activists saw:

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

ICE Unloads Immigration officers speak out: “Fuck this.”

I interviewed over half a dozen ICE and Border Patrol agents who describe an agency that sounds like Reno 911!

“I thought federal agents were supposed to be clean cut but some of them pass around a flask as we are watching a suspect,” one told me:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/ice-unloads

The memorial to Alex Pretti has grown here at Harborview.

Hospital staff say it's important to speak out against what they say is police violence and injustice in Minneapolis.

" It's just to the point where it's intolerable, says Kyla Haggith, a nurse here, "it's too much."

Happening now: nurses and staff at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle are holding a vigil for Alex Pretti. Some are out here in their scrubs. People have brought flowers and are writing notes to add to the candles.

Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted The Border Patrol chief was the public face of a traveling immigration crackdown on cities governed by Democrats.

BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Meet Mexico City's Biggest Seattle Seahawks Football Fan "My personal American Dream is to go to the United States and see a Seahawks game.”

somebody get this man to the super bowl www.seattlemet.com/news-and-cit...

NYT video analysis confirms victim’s gun was removed before he was shot. So he was unarmed. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html

Oh wow! I missed the news you'd left OPB. Looking forward to seeing what you two are cooking up.

"All law enforcement operations — including those conducted by ICE and Customs and Border Protection — are governed by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects all people in the country from unreasonable searches and seizures."

Beware The "Trump Won't Use Force in Greenland" Headlines The transatlantic crisis is hardly over. Trump is so psychotic that Mark Carney is telling the truth about the 'rules-based international order.' PLUS: Three podcasts I guested on!

You're going to read a lot of headlines out of Davos that misleadingly suggest that a transatlantic crisis has passed. But if you listen to Trump's entire speech, it sounds like the crisis is just getting started.

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Many are saying the journalism industry is doing bad.

Hah. That's excellent.

I'm working on rebuilding my professional website and looked for the first time in years at the profile I wrote about Nick Licata after he left the Seattle City Council. Turns out there are recurrent themes in progressive political leadership ... www.thenation.com/article/arch...

I dunno how I missed Cafe Paloma all these years in Seattle. Wasn't on my radar at all until last night. Cute spot in Pioneer Square, tasty Mediterranean food, highly recommend.

FBI raids home of Washington Post reporter in ‘highly unusual and aggressive’ move Agents searched Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home and seized devices in inquiry tied to a classified materials case

Horrifying www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

ICE searched WA driver’s license data into November, report finds • Washington State Standard Despite vows to restrict immigration agents' access to Washington license information, the data sharing continued, researchers said Thursday.

Despite pledges to block access, ICE and CBP searched Washington driver’s license data at least nine times Aug–Nov via a law-enforcement data network, UW researchers found. The state says ICE access ended mid-November, but gaps remain.

washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/01/08/i...

Thanks, Guy! Appreciate that

Can Katie Wilson Build a Movement in City Hall? Katie Wilson looks to put her experience as an organizer to work.

I profiled @mayorofseattle.bsky.social Katie Wilson for the upcoming issue of Seattle Met magazine. We talked about her aspirations for Seattle, how her career as an organizer shapes her approach to city leadership, and the political moment we're having locally. www.seattlemet.com/news-and-cit...

Lots of chants and cheers after Mayor Katie Wilson finished taking the oath of office

Katie’s husband Scott Myers, Seattle’s new First Gentleman, opens up the ceremony

Packed house for Mayor Katie Wilson’s inauguration ceremony this morning at Seattle City Hall

Seattle Transit Riders Union Wants Businesses to Pony Up for Buses Employee hours tax (EHT) could provide $30 million in additional funding for transit agency each year.

I'm working on a Mayor Katie Wilson story and was curious exactly when I first interviewed her. Pretty sure it was this 2015 story that--in very appropriate fashion--was about a TRU campaign to get the council to levy a payroll tax on big biz to fund bus service. nextcity.org/urbanist-new...