OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to sign tax increases today at 1:30 p.m.

There's the $1 per pack cigarette tax plus the tax package that backs up the rest of the supplemental budget, which includes higher taxes on beer, soda, bottled water, candy and gum, and an increase in the business and occupation tax for most service industries as well as hikes in taxes for out-of-state companies that do business in Washington.

Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers wants the Boeing Co."to demand an end to human rights abuses in Columbia as an essential pre-condition for the passage of any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with that country."

Anyone else think this request would be much more effective if they spelled the name of the country, Colombia, correctly?

And Youwager.com, a Web site that offers odds on just about anything anyone can dream up, is making Calilfornia the favorite to decriminalize marijuana by Dec. 31, and is rated at even money. Washington is listed at 5-to-2 odds (psst: that's a sucker's bet because that bill died in the Legislature, which has gone home, and the only hope for that happening around here is a November initiative.)

No decriminalization by Dec. 31 is the smart bet, although it's going off at 1-to-3.

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