John Waite, the owner of Merlyn's in downtown Spokane, is making a third run for Spokane City Council. He announced his run today in a news release. Waite ran unsuccessfully for council in 2007 and 2009 in the city's northwest district. This time, however, Waite…
OLYMPIA -- In what may be a nod to Valentine's Day, two legislators announced they are introducing bills to legalize gay marriage in Washington state. State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, introduced SB 5793 in the Senate. Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancover, said he'll drop the companion…
OLYMPIA -- Wasting no time after being named to the open 4th District Senate seat Friday evening, Jeff Baxter was sworn in Monday morning in a brief ceremony before the day's session got underway. With his wife Diane holding the family Bible, Baxter took the…
OLYMPIA – As they do most years, legislators are considering possible changes to the state’s initiative system. That generates the usual shouts of alarm from populists who believe the process is a great bulwark of the citizenry, either against the Legislature’s inaction or its tyranny.…
Changes to the state’s unemployment insurance system that will stop tax increases for businesses and temporarily increase benefits for jobless workers were signed Friday as the first completed legislation of this session. With all sides applauding each other for bipartisan and bicameral cooperation, Gov. Chris…
Bulletin: Republican District Leader and small businessman Jeff Baxter was named to replace state Sen. Bob McCaslin this afternoon by Spokane County Commissioners. My colleague John Craig has full details here, but not everyone who reads Spin Control checks The Spokesman-Review's Web page, so we…
Sen. Mike Baumgartner talks with Sen. Randi Becker Friday on the Senate floor. OLYMPIA -- Spokane Sen. Mike Baumgartner is taking a fair amount of ribbing from colleagues today, not for a vote he took but for one that was taken on him, naming him…
OLYMPIA -- The State Senate overwhelmingly approved changes to the state's unemployment insurance system today, increasing benefits temporarily by $25 a week and expanding training programs for jobless workers. The bill, which follows approval earlier this week of a temporary halt of a planned rate…
OLYMPIA -- The state Senate will take up the unemployment insurance changes once again this morning. The temporary halt to the tax increase got wrapped up Wednesday in the House, but the Senate still needs to approve HB 1091, a separate proposal that gives an…
Before he became a honcho in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ron Sims was King County executive for three terms and was on the county council before that. So it's sometimes easy for folks to forget that he has Spokane roots. Sims,…
OLYMPIA – Spokane City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin was among victims of child sexual abuse urging the Legislature Wednesday to drop the statute of limitations that they say shields pedophiles from justice. “It took me years to be able to call what happened to me between…
OLYMPIA -- After some serious negotiating and head-counts on different options, the House unanimously passed a new version of changes to the unemployment insurance system. It provides businesses with rate relief, cancelling a planned increase in taxes. It's not really a tax cut, Republican leaders…
OLYMPIA -- Hearings today run the gamut from rules covering collecting signatures on initiatives to abolishing the death penalty to eliminating the statute of limitations for child sexual assault. A morning hearing at the State Government Committee generated familiar testimony for and against a plan…
OLYMPIA – Locally distilled liquor could be bought at farmer’s markets along with organic tomatoes and hand-made candles under a plan being considered by the Legislature. And customers in state liquor stores would be able to taste test some pricy or exotic brands before buying…
OLYMPIA – Washington state could collect about $200 million a year by legalizing marijuana, then regulating, taxing and selling it in state liquor stores, a legislative panel was told Tuesday. But the state could also wind up with no money and any liquor store employee…
OLYMPIA -- A heavy hearing day -- in more ways than one -- with no real floor action scheduled in either chamber. The House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee has a hearing on a bill to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. Don't expect any…
The process to fill an empty Senate seat in the Spokane Valley’s 4th Legislative District has resulted in “vicious personal attacks” aimed at himself, his family and “our constitutional foundations and Christian principles,” state Rep. Matt Shea, one of the candidates for the opening, said.…
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Health has a message for you for flu season: WashYourHandsington. The agency's campaign to get you to get wash up, cover your cough and get your flu shot is summed up in a slogan that puts "Your Hands" between…
Which was the worse pre-Super Bowl omission: Christina Aguilera leaving out a line from the Star Spangled Banner? Or the network leaving out whole sections of the Declaration of Independence? By now everyone knows Aguilera botched the national anthem, leaving out "O'er the ramparts we…
Whom do you hold responsible for the problems Washington schools have graduating kids who can read, write, calculate and be intellectually flexible enough to have a dozen careers before they retire? Put another way, whom do you blame for the fact that nearly one kid…
Although much legislative attention is being paid to solving the state’s budget problems, there is still time in Olympia for other weighty tasks. Such as what should be the state’s official rock? If you said Heavy Metal or grunge or indie, put your iPod earphones…
OLYMPIA -- The next debate over the state's supplemental budget won't be between Republicans and Democrats as much as between the Senate and the House. House leaders said Friday afternoon they will make changes to the spending plan the Senate sent them a few hours…
OLYMPIA -- House Democrats will not vote on the plan to block the unemployment insurance tax rate hike that passed the Senate Friday morning with a large bipartisan margin. Instead, they will likely vote Monday on a different plan, House Speaker Frank Chopp said Friday…
OLYMPIA -- A budget plan referred to as a $254 million installment in the state's fiscal crisis passed the state Senate this morning on a bipartisan vote. The plan achieves some of its savings by retroactively cutting support of smaller classes for kindergarten through 4th…
OLYMPIA -- The Senate approve a plan to block increases in the state's Unemployment Insurance rates for businesses, attempting to "beat the clock" on those rate hikes. With a 46-1 vote, the Senate approved the latest version of the unemployment insurance bill which would keep…
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