Politics
WA’s next Speaker of the House will 'almost certainly' be a woman
Seattle’s Frank Chopp is stepping down after two decades as House speaker. So far, women are the ones lining up to permanently replace him.
Melissa Santos
Melissa Santos is formerly a Crosscut staff reporter who covered state politics and the Legislature. She came to Crosscut from The Seattle Times editorial board, where she wrote columns and opinion pi
Latest work
Politics
Teens caught sexting in WA will no longer be treated as criminals
Teens who send nude selfies will no longer face felony sex charges that carry a requirement to register as a sex offender.
Politics
WA nears a first: Offering a public option for health insurance
Lawmakers have already moved to protect people with pre-existing conditions. Now they may make Washington the first state to offer a public health care option.
Politics
Fight over safe injection site in Seattle threatens opioid treatment bill
A last-minute attempt to pull funding from agencies that run safe-injection sites is complicating things in Olympia.
Politics
How a WA lawmaker used a fake kidnapping to sway a vote
Sen. Tim Sheldon cited a Mexican kidnapping as an argument for keeping certain info about state and local politicians offline. One problem: it never happened.