Trying to get a weekend story done, so I'll let others do the talking:-Joe Turner, on why big tuition hikes at Washington's state colleges may be in the works,-Rich Nafziger, on why that would be a bad, bad idea,-Jim Camden, on how Peter Goldmark is…
Stan Marshburn, a longtime state official, has been named interim head of the state Department of Social and Health Services. Marshburn takes over Jan. 5, when the agency's current chief, Robin Arnold-Williams, switches hats to become the new director of Gov. Chris Gregoire's stable of…
It will be a happier new year, at least for some Washington workers.Tomorrow, Washington’s minimum wage will rise to $8.55 an hour from $8.07, a full $2 an hour higher than in neighboring Idaho.“Washington’s is still the highest, followed by Oregon, California and Massachusetts,” said…
Rep. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, died Sunday, about a year after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He would have turned 64 next month.A farmer and rancher from the Franklin County town of Mesa, Hailey was elected on his second try in 2006, narrowly beating fellow…
Gov. Chris Gregoire has declared a state of emergency in Washington due to winter storms."Snowfall has reached record or near-record level in 30 of the state's 39 counties," Gregoire said in a written statement released Christmas Eve." With Eastern Washington and other parts of the…
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, a festive Festivus, wonderful Winter Solstice, etc. to all of us. And may it be a happy new year.
From tomorrow's paper:Citing the state's budget woes, prison officials want to close Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women, Washington's only women's prison east of the Cascade Mountains.As early as next summer, the state would start transferring roughly 350 inmates to a prison near Vancouver. About…
The largest state-workers' union, the Washington Federation of State Employees, filed a lawsuit today against Gov. Chris Gregoire for not including workers' cost-of-living increases in her budget proposal.This fall, Gregoire's office negotiated cost-of-living increases averaging about 2 percent a year for workers over the next…
"Compact snow and ice" is a familiar cautionary refrain to winter drivers, but in Seattle, it's apparently what city road crews are striving for.The Seattle Times has a story about this today, quoting a city transportation official as saying that the goal in hilly Seattle…
Several state offices have shut down today, as the Olympia area is blanketed with dense wet snow from yesterday and several previous days. Of the four capitol reporters who made it in to my office this morning, three got their cars stuck in the parking…
As my son rejoices at the closure of school for the day, I am thinking about the people in the homeless shelters and using food banks, and the families who created the longest line ever for the Christmas Bureau sponsored annually by the Spokesman-Review. So…
Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget plan doesn't include the money to pay for an initiative approved by voters just last month. I-1029 -- like the governor herself -- was heavily supported by members of the Service Employees International Union. Here are the details, from the TNT's…
Washington Federation of State Employees president Carol Dotlich had some words of advice for fellow union members at a recent banquet in Spokane:"When you see that budget, I don't want you to overreact to it," she reportedly told the crowd. "I don't want you to…
From the print paper:Think back to the last time you renewed your driver’s license. Do you remember the shoes on the person behind the counter?Of course not. But you probably paid for them. Taxpayers provide a $97-a-year “shoe allowance” for the 330 folks working at…
As newspapers shrink staff, the number of reporters covering state government has shrunk dramatically, both across the nation and here in Olympia. We joke that soon the only one watching government will be the robotic cameras of TVW, the state's public affairs network. And no…
In Friday morning's paper: Before unveiling her budget plan Thursday, Gov. Chris Gregoire glanced around the crowded room. “Before we begin,” she said, “I'd like to ask all of you to remove your shoes and take them outside. Particularly boots.” That was the first and…
Gov. Chris Gregoire's two-year budget plan, released Thursday, suggests closing a $5.7 billion budget shortfall with deep cuts. Here's a look at some of the biggest cuts, local cuts, and some new local spending: Education: -do away with cost-of-living raises for teachers and other school…
Here's the list:Lake OsoyoosBrooks MemorialBogachielTolmieFay BainbridgeFort OkanoganWenbergFort WardJoemma BeachKopachuckLake SylviaOld Fort TownsendSquilchuckNolteand the Camp Moran environmental learning program.
In the hubbub around Gov. Gregoire's budget proposal today, one of the dissenters was from a lawmaker close to Gregoire: Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown. Brown was unhappy that Gregoire's budget assumes about $1 billion from the feds, calling the assumption a "glaring flaw" that…
From my snowbound colleague Jim Camden, helping out from Spokane: Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposal to close a projected budget deficit without raising taxes drew praise from Republicans and “wait and see” comments from fellow Democrats Thursday. If it holds up through a process that will…
-2,400 fewer jobs -and a 13 percent across-the-board cut to the state's four-year colleges and 6 percent for community and technical colleges.
Among the cuts: -no cost of living increases for state workers or teachers. -a 24 percent cut to class-size reduction money in schools. -reducing nursing home reimbursement rates, mental health services. -doing away with state payments under the General Assistance-Unemployable program, which provides health care…
Cuts, by area: K-12: 5.6 percent Public safety: 6.3 percent Early learning: 6.4 percent Higher education: 7.6 percent Health care and human services: 12.2 percent Natural resources: 12.2 percent
In Thursday morning's paper:Think back to the last time you renewed your driver’s license. Do you remember the shoes on the person behind the counter?Of course not. But here’s a little known fact about those shoes: you probably paid for them.Washington taxpayers provide a $97-a-year…
Someone has made off with an atheist sign put up in the Illinois state capitol, according to the (Springfield, IL) State Journal-Register.The same thing happened recently in Olympia early one morning, although the sign -- apparently bent in half by the thief -- was recovered…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
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