Cheryl Murfin

Being a parent is nonstop hard work, making it challenging to stay on top of news that impacts families in Washington state. This Hits Home is your weekly hit of news, commentary, and, occasionally, opinion. Want to have a say? Look for the “Take action” prompts. Here’s the update for the week of June 29-July 5.

Duct tape. I remember the days of my childhood and youth when my Grandpa Tom discovered something that needed fix’n in the house and gleefully reached for the duct tape. That sticky silver solution could be seen all around the house — wrapped around fraying cords, on books, on pleather seat cushions to fix a rip, on window frames to stop a draft …

The bottom line: You may need to do a little explaining about the Pharaoh’s wife and have a chat about sibling jealousy and slavery, but once that’s done, Taproot Theatre’s staging of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is a camp-load of fun for kids age 10 and up and their designated adults.

This week: Life skills class, tracking vitamin K refusal, new Healthy Youth Survey, the case for curbing child removals and lots of duct tape.

Fifteen states on Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent millions of dollars in cuts to school-based mental health funding.

In 2025, 15% of 10th graders in the survey statewide reported having been bullied in the last month – a significant decrease from 2010. However, that percentage was about twice as high among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

The 2025 Healthy Youth Survey found one in eight 10th graders had gambled in the past 30 days: more than the number who said they’d used drugs or alcohol.

About 75% of public schools in Washington state have implemented some limitations on cell phones. Gov. Bob Ferguson would like to see limitations at all of them.“From the first bell to the last, students will not have access to their cell phones. In our schools, digital distractions are causing kids to miss what’s written on the whiteboard. They’re focusing more on memes than on math,” Ferguson said at a

Graphic novels help kids build vocabulary, visual literacy and a love of reading. A Seattle librarian explains why they absolutely count as reading.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown says the KIDS Act could weaken state protections for children online and limit oversight of Big Tech.