Living Like King: What is a Legacy?
Nicholas Tucker, News Editor
January 22, 2020
Calls for peace, freedom and unity could be heard across the CWU campus on Jan. 16 as students celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy. This was the 11th annual celebration, hosted by nine different departments and student organizations. Students, faculty and community members made sign...
Gov. proposes permanent vape ban
Nicholas Tucker, News Editor
January 22, 2020
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has proposed legislation, SB 6254, which would make the current statewide ban on flavored vaping products permanent. The current ban was originally proposed as a temporary stopgap until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) completed an investigation into multiple ...
What’s going on in the Middle East? Is it WWIII?
Nicholas Tucker, News Editor
January 16, 2020
What do students know? The dominating news for the early weeks of 2020 has been the ongoing tensions and military conflict between the United States and Iran. When CWU students were asked for their knowledge on the situation, nearly all heard that the United States is sending troops to the Middle...
Minimum wage increased to $13.50
Nicholas Tucker, News Editor
January 15, 2020
The Washington state minimum wage has been increased to $13.50 from $12.00 per hour, raising the wages of over two thousand student employees. The wage increase happened on Jan. 1 in accordance with Initiative 1433 which was approved by Washington voters in 2016. The initiative increased the minimum wage by between $1 and $1.50 at the start of every...
S&A responds to FIRE letter
Amy Morris, Scene Editor
January 15, 2020
The Services and Activities Committee (S&A) listened to a proposal to defund student media at a meeting on Nov. 20, 2019. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) became aware of this and sent S&A a letter in hopes that the committee would not further entertain any proposals to defu...
Inslee proposed $3.2M for campus security enhancements
Mariah Valles, Managing Editor
January 15, 2020
Gov. Jay Inslee proposed giving $3.28 million dollars to CWU’s main campus for security enhancements. $1.8 million would go towards installing electronic locking systems on buildings, $622,000 towards a campus-wide video security system and $820,000 towards upgrading the light emergency towers. ...
Tobacco age limit raised to 21
Will Ortner, Staff Reporter
December 6, 2019
On April 5 Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law that raised the age restriction of buying tobacco products to 21 years old. This law, Engrossed House Bill 1074, would go into effect on Jan. 1 2020. Inslee believes that this is a way to keep young adults from smoking tobacco products. “We know that 95% of smokers start that da...
CWU janitors sweeping the streets
AJ St. John, Staff Reporter
December 6, 2019
Custodial workers are part of the CWU crew. These workers dedicate their time to ensure that the campus remains clutter free as students carry on throughout their busy days. Although custodians mainly work indoors, the service workers at CWU also maintain the landscape at CWU, keeping the school clea...
Charities serving Kittitas County
Amy Morris, Staff Reporter
December 6, 2019
As the holidays approach, there are many organizations in Ellensburg that take donations. Donations are an important part of nonprofits because they provide the resources to carry out their mission. Hopesource, Habitat for Humanity and the Friends and Services for Humanity (FISH) are all some of the orga...
Students protest ICE contract
Nicholas Tucker, News Editor
December 4, 2019
Local immigration advocates have been protesting on and off the Ellensburg CWU campus for over a year against a contract between the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The contract allows the sheriff’s office to house ICE detainees at the Kittitas County Correc...
Organizations to give back to during the holidays
Amy Morris, Staff Reporter
December 4, 2019
As the holidays approach, there are many organizations in Ellensburg that take donations. Donations are an important part of nonprofits because it provides the resources to carry out their mission. Hopesource, Habitat for Humanity and the Friends and Services for Humanity (FISH) are all some of the org...
Board of Trustees student representative proposed defunding student media
Kyle Wilkinson, Photo Editor
December 4, 2019
Editor's Note: The Observer stands by the accuracy of its previous reporting on the content regulation issues first outlined for its readers in the Nov. 7 issue. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The CWU Board of Trus...