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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Olympia archive for Jan. 2008

THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2008

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30, 2008

Liberal talk radio loses a voice...

Less than a week ago, www.horsesass.org blogger and Seattle liberal talk-radio host David Goldstein wrote: So why hasn’t KIRO fired me? Well, perhaps because I bring them raw talent with a lot of upside, a virtual lock on local liberal talk in this very liberal…

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Eastern Washington lawmaker has cancer...

State Rep. Steve Hailey, a legislator from Eastern Washington, announced this morning that he is undergoing treatment for colon cancer.Hailey, R-Mesa, said he was diagnosed shortly before the legislative session started Jan. 14th. He last week began chemotherapy, he said, an is planning to continue…

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TUESDAY, JAN. 29, 2008

FRIDAY, JAN. 25, 2008

On the fly: airline passengers' rights bill...

With some significant tweaking, the Senate consumer protection committee on Friday gave a thumbs-up to Sen. Ken Jacobsen's "Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights."The bill, which originally would have mandated cash refunds to passengers stranded for long stretches on the tarmac, has been "watered down" --…

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More on UW's stadium bid...

More on the UW stadium proposal, from a story I had in this morning's paper:House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, said that not a single one of the House's 97 other lawmakers has asked him to support the proposal."That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?"…

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THURSDAY, JAN. 24, 2008


Fight, fight, fight...

Numerous Washington State University Cougar fans are not happy at the prospect of taxpayers shelling out $150 million to help build a new stadium for arch-rival University of Washington, according to serious Cougar fan and Tri-City Herald reporter Chris Mulick.To get a feel for the…

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23, 2008

TUESDAY, JAN. 22, 2008

Family Leave: an update...

One of the most interesting discussions in Olympia between now and mid-March is likely to be how lawmakers decide to pay for a program they voted last year to launch in October 2009.A paid family leave program patterned loosely on California's, it would give a…

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FRIDAY, JAN. 18, 2008

Long-distance lobbying by the planeload...

In a statehouse where competing interests clash for a limited amount of state cash and legislative time, Spokane-area business groups, universities, city and county officials and community groups have painstakingly learned a key lesson in recent years: it helps to be singing in chorus.Nearly 80…

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16, 2008



State of the state -- how it went

And so it begins.If anyone had any doubts that the looming election won't heavily overshadow this year's legislative session, look at last night.For most of an hour, Gov. Chris Gregoire touted her three years in office and a series of Democrat-led initiatives and reforms: a…

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TUESDAY, JAN. 15, 2008

Other interesting reads...

Runner-up for poet laureate: UW lobbyist ("state relations director) Randy Hodgins, with these lines in a recent blog post:So let’s have a final systems check. Shoes are polished, tie is straight (for now), shirt tucked in and two pens clipped inside the coat pocket. Time…

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Democratic response...

Democrats, not surprisingly, were underwhelmed. In a statement sent out to reporters minutes after Rossi's streaming-video "Real State of the State" speech, state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz called it an: "online gimmick which offered zero substance or even variation from his tired stump speech…

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MONDAY, JAN. 14, 2008


Initiatives blooming in the January rains...

Ballot measures are blossoming this year, with more than two dozen potential initiatives to the people filed so far.Among them, of course, are former Gov. Booth Gardner's death-with-dignity assisted suicide measure and Tim Eyman's anti-traffic-congestion proposal.Less known so far is the proposal by Steilacoom's Michael…

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 9, 2008

Gardner files measure...

Former Gov. Booth Gardner returned to the statehouse Wednesday, again facing a bank of news cameras for what he called his "last campaign": a battle to allow terminally ill people to have a doctor's help in ending their own lives.Gardner, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in…

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TUESDAY, JAN. 8, 2008

Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.



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