All told, research indicates that increasing the minimum wage has no impact on employment or hours, does not lead to labor substitution (replacing "low skilled" workers with "high skilled" workers) and has a small impact on business operating costs and consumer prices while decreasing turnover, increasing productivity and lifting low wage workers out of poverty.

For someone without a car, or in my case someone who has difficulty driving more than short distances, having alternative means of transportation is not a nicety, its a necessity.

In Spokane, that translates to roughly 40,000 employees in the civilian workforce who don't have access to paid sick, safe or family leave. These employees are more likely to be poor and people of color, living in communities that lack the same resources as middle class suburbs.

To many, these seem like "isolated incidents" from fringe groups that don't warrant our attention, but to the communities being targeted, they are another reminder that hate lurks everywhere, and violence is only a neighbor away.

When I hear someone say, "I don't vaccinate my kids because it is no one else's business," I cringe.

pokane is home to a vibrant, resilient trans community. Every single one of them deserves the same dignity, respect and safety that we ask for ourselves.