Politics
New suicide prevention hotline aims to divert callers from police
Starting in mid-2022, people will be able to dial 988 instead of 911 to access different types of services in a mental health crisis.
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
What it means for Juneteenth to be an official holiday
The U.S. and Washington state are now formally celebrating June 19 to mark the end of slavery.
Politics
Joe Nguyen challenging Dow Constantine for King County executive
Nguyen, a state senator from West Seattle, says Washington's most populous county needs a change in leadership.
News
A year after George Floyd’s murder, what’s changed in Washington state?
Last year’s Black Lives Matter protests fueled major actions on police accountability, tax reform and environmental justice. But no one thinks the work is done.
Politics
3 WA families on how new police laws could have helped their loved ones
The state's new accountability laws might not have happened without the advocacy of people whose family members were killed by police.