TWN
THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER
Happy Holidays!
December 2021
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Legislative interns prepare for coverage Coverage of the state Legislature will once again be provided by the WNPA Foundation when the Legislature convenes in January. Two students, one from Washington State University and one from the University of Washington, were selected by faculty members and WNPA Foundation for the program. Overseeing the work of the students is WNPA Executive Director Fred Obee and their faculty advisors Ben Shors from WSU and John Tomasic from the UW. As was the case in past years, the students will divide coverage of the Legislature among themselves. The stories they produce will be distributed to WNPA members for publication in print and on their websites. Stories also will appear online at wastatejournal.org. The interns selected are: • Brooklynn Hillemann from Washington State University. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in multi-media journalism, has a perfect 4.0 grade point average and has been a staff member of the Daily Evergreen for the past two years. Juan Morfin, from the University of Washington, is a graduate of Sunnyside High School and graduated with honors from Yakima Valley College
in Grandview before continuing his education at the Univeristy of Washington. Azeb Tuji immigrated to Hillemann the U.S. from Kenya when she was two years old and is the first of her family to graduate high school and college. Morfin She graduated from Shoreline Community College before continuing her education at the UW. She has broad experience in media, Tuji community engagement and the arts, including time at KUOW radio and the Seattle International Film Festival. Legislative internships are named for Wallie Funk, the former publisher of the Whidbey News-Times, South Whidbey Record and the Anacortes American, and Kris Passey, former publisher of the Marysville Globe.
This photo was taken during the devastating fire that swept through Eastern Washington destroying entire towns. This photo, taken by Roger Harnack of the Cheney Free Press, won a first place in the Breaking News category in the 2021 Better Newspaper Contest.
Legislators to propose reducing newspaper B&O tax to zero It looks like newspapers could get a tax break from the 2022 state Legislature. Two legislators say they plan to introduce companion bills that drop the business and occupation tax for newspapers to zero. The tax would not be permanent under the proposed legislation. Just how long it will last is yet to be determined. The promise to introduce companion bills grew out of meetings by The Joint Legislative Audit and Review
Committee, which reviewed the rates for printing and publishing newspapers last week at its final meeting before the coming 2022 legislative session. JLARC chairman Rep. Gerry Pollet (D-Seattle), and immediate past chairman Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah), agreed to introduce companion bills in 2022 to reduce the B&O tax rate. The proposed bills grew out of a study done by JLARC and the Citizen Tax Commission. Sen. Mullet, who initiated
the idea, and Rep. Pollet, who has been looking for ways to aid local journalism, are seeking co-sponsors from both parties and both houses of the Legislature for their respective bills. Rowland Thompson, Executive Director of Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, said the effort to reduce and extend the tax preference for newspaper printing and publishing will be his primary focus in the 2022 session.