An executive order penned by Mayor Lisa Brown to streamline permitting and development processes is a step in the right direction. But it's just that: a step. 

Measures to clean up the primary gateway into Spokane are positive first steps to making our city more welcoming to those who enter it and to getting our more vulnerable population the help it needs. 

A trio of new interstate compacts that enable greater mobility for some professionals are essential steps in giving employers the needed flexibility to fill positions in a persistently challenging labor market. 

Unemployment insurance is intended to replace wages for workers who have lost their jobs, not those who have decided not to work for whatever reason. Proposed state legislation that would provide jobless benefits to striking workers goes against the intent of the program and should be struck down by the state's elected leaders. 

As Ignite Northwest's 25 + 5 event approaches, we're reminded of how the Inland Northwest's entrepreneurial ecosystem has matured and diversified in such a way that it has performed well, overall, through a tumultuous few years. 

Washington state legislators would be wise to revisit some of its policies. If not, Washington residents will have an opportunity to do the job themselves. 

Spokane voters should maintain their track record of supporting K-12 education by approving the Spokane Public Schools' bond and levy measures on the Feb. 13 ballot.

Pacific Northwest federal legislators and their peers should consider carefully a call to safeguard  economic development tools with a trio of tax-code revisions that could aid expansion and create more jobs. 

The Clean Buildings Act will cost Washington property owners millions of dollars in the coming years. State regulators should tap the brakes on broadening the law’s impacts, and state lawmakers should look at ways to ease its effects.