In a startling moment on the Senate floor, a bill to allow child care workers to collectively bargain with the state was largely gutted Monday night after lawmakers instead turned the bill largely into a study."Was it a surprise? Yeah," said Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane,…
This has nothing whatsoever to do with politics, and yet I'm quite confident it will be my best-read post of several today:Plagued by ground squirrels at Spokane's Finch Arboretum, the city's parks and recreation folks have strapped on their Rodenator Pro, a device that pumps…
Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, this morning introduced HB 2344, which would do away with the existing 7 percent limit on tuition increases at the state's four-year colleges.Under the bill, lawmakers would set tuition levels every two years when they write the budget.Haigh suggests that higher…
A new poll re: possible tax increases to support state parks comes back with these results:-$5 fee to park at parks and trails? 55 percent support, 43 percent don't.-an (unspecificed) tax on motor homes and campers? 52 percent support, 43 percent don't.-A 1-cent-per-$1,000-value property tax…
Alan Parmelee, an inmate at the state penitentiary at Walla Walla, has filed a large records request for "any and all records in any format, from any agency and/or person, relating to the prospective and subsequent passing, directly or indirectly, of HB 1181 and SB…
Washington's Secretary of State's office has been pretty innovative in bring yellowed-paper archives out of their boxes in cool storage and into the digital age. The state's Digital Archives has scanned in -- and hand-indexed -- years of territorial newspapers, old marriage and other personal…
Sen. Tim Sheldon, who's also a county commissioner in rural Mason County, told the local weekly that he felt that his well-armed constituents would dampen the effect of proposed budget cuts at the county sheriff's office.“There is no bag limit. There’s always an open season…
This morning, Sen. Karen Keiser and Sens. Brown, Prentice and Tom introduced Senate Bill 6158, which would delay for three years a planned $250-a-week stipend for workers who take time off to bond with a new child.These payments, which were championed by Brown and other…
...which this morning hit its 100th question. The site has also logged nearly 4,000 votes for best question.Perhaps not surprisingly, the most popular question asks for more details about a possible state income tax being floated by Senate Democrats:"Can you describe your vision for how…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
