Puget Sound talk-radio-monitor Blatherwatch -- Slogan: "Listening to talk radio so you don't have to." -- notes that former 9th District Democratic candidate for a state House seat Caitlin Ross will be filling in for a couple of days on her dad's talk-radio show in…
Washington's highest court yesterday upheld Spokane serial killer Robert Lee Yates Jr.'s death sentence for killing two women in Pierce County, as I wrote yesterday.Writing for the 8-1 majority, Justice Susan Owens addressed one of Yates' key arguments: that it's unfair for him to get…
Former and perhaps future Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi resigned from his Forward Washington Foundation more than two weeks ago, the group said in an email to supporters minutes ago."The announcement was delayed until today in order to give the foundation enough time to find…
On Olyblog, a lively and intensely local blog here in the capital city, writer stevenl makes an impassioned plea to declare the newly discovered giant white worm of the Palouse the "official state worm."Steven notes -- I missed it at the time -- that he…
Tucked away under some 57 acres of arid land between Moses Lake and Ritzville is a decades-old Titan missile complex, according to owner Bari Hotchkiss.And for a mere $1.5 million, you can buy it."Ten minutes to Interstate 90," reads Hotchkiss' listing on eBay. "1 1/2…
Holly Armstrong, for the past two years Gov. Chris Gregoire's top spokeswoman, will leave in November."It was a very difficult (if not gut-wrenching) decision, but, ultimately, the best one for me," she wrote in an email to staffers and capitol reporters this morning.Armstrong said she's…
Only days after longtime gubernatorial chief of staff Tom Fitzsimmons said he's stepping down, Gov. Chris Gregoire has picked seasoned Olympia hand Cindy Zehnder to be her new chief of staff. Zehnder starts her new role Oct. 1.Zehnder is a statehouse veteran. A Teamsters' driver…
The business-backed Washingtonvotes.org website, a more reader-friendly site re: legislative stuff than the state's official one, is adding staff.Ad is here.(Re: "business-backed," I stand corrected by the site's John Barnes: "As a separate entity within Washington Policy Center, it’s funded entirely by individual contributions and…
State Auditor Brian Sonntag says that the state's nine educational service districts -- regional organizations set up to provide training, technical help and other support to schools -- could get an extra $15 million in savings and revenue over five years, as well as helping…
Washington – which gets a 50 percent match from the feds – is trying to provide state-run health coverage to kids in families earning up to 300 percent of poverty by 2009. But a recent ruling by the federal Department of Health and Human Services…
Washington State Democrats chairman Dwight Pelz is urging party supporters to approve Referendum 67, this November's ballot face-off over insurance."Voters will finally have the opportunity to hold the insurance industry accountable," Pelz wrote in an email sent out Thursday. "...As Democrats, we must stand together…
Postman's got a good post today re: trial lawyers' deep unhappiness with Referendum 67 ads implying that they're overly litigious.The ads -- backed by insurance companies opposing a triple-damages provision when they wrongly deny a policy-holder's claim -- are causing "irreparable damage" to the public's…
Now, back to work.Democrats continue to pre-emptively pummel Republican maybe-gubernatorial-candidate-by-the-end-of-the-year Dino Rossi for what they say is a stealth campaign: the public meetings and speeches his foundation organizes.Here's a YouTube video looking at the similarities between Rossi's 2004 campaign statements and what he's saying now:
Three years after a business-backed group called the "Voters Education Committee," ran TV ads blasting then-candidate Deborah Senn's run for attorney general, the state's highest court ruled this morning that Washington's campaign watchdog was within it's rights to order the committee to disclose its donors."As…
More than 1 in 20 companies doing business in Washington either pay less than their fair share of state taxes or pay nothing at all, state officials said Wednesday.All told, tens of thousands of businesses in Washington are underpaying their state taxes by about $457…
Just days after local attorney Steve Eugster torpedoed his own lawsuit involving a massive roads-and-transit tax plan in Puget sound, proponents are launching TV ads on local cable stations (and, of course, YouTube) today."Industry delayed in tranporting goods. Parents struggling to get kids to daycare.…
From our print edition today: A look at why Spokane attorney Steve Eugster dropped his own case only hours before oral arguments Thursday:With a two-sentence, handwritten note to the chief justice, Spokane attorney Steve Eugster on Thursday scuttled his own case just hours before arguments…
According to the state Supreme Court clerk's office, Spokane attorney Steve Eugster has withdrawn his appeal regarding the Puget Sound transportation ballot measure.UPDATE:"Mr Eugster called around to the various counsel this morning, saying that he would like to drop his appeal if the other parties…
Former U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, a well-known Republican congresswoman from the Bellevue area, died Wednesday after suffering a pulmonary embolism at her Virginia apartment, the AP is reporting."She will deeply be missed and celebrated for an extraordinary career that changed the future for women in…
The Associated Press is reporting that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is reconsidering his decision to quit on Sept. 30 over allegations that he tried to solicit a Minnesota airport police officer in a men's room."It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing…
State Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-West Seattle, is leaving the Legislature to go to work for the industry group representing the state's 28 public power and water utilities.Poulsen is an evironmentalist who helped hammer out an unlikely water-rights truce two sessions ago with Eastern Washington farm-…