OLYMPIA -- The state Senate will vote on its version of a budget to carry the state through the end of June, a plan that will likely keep several social service programs Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed cutting, Majority Leader Lisa Brown said today. At a…
OLYMPIA -- Splitting the legislative districts in half, so that a different state representative is elected in each half, would increase the contacts with constituents, the sponsor of the plan said. But it would also cut in half each voter's representation in the House, and…
OLYMPIA -- A delegation of about 90 Spokane folks continue their blitz of the state Capitol today, with their big goal scaring up money for a proposed medical school building at the Riverpoint campus. As reported yesterday, the $70.8 million project isn't on Gov. Gregoire's…
OLYMPIA -- Washington drivers who smoke in a car with children would be liable for a traffic ticket under a bill being discussed in the state Senate. The proposal, which had its first hearing Wednesday in the Senate Transportation Committee, wouldn't allow law enforcement officers…
OLYMPIA – A new medical school building in Spokane is not on the list of large construction projects being proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire for the next two years, a group of government and business leaders from Eastern Washington was told Wednesday. Marty Brown, the…
OLYMPIA -- Legislators were sporting bright orange ribbons on their lapels in memory of a state worker killed earlier this month by a falling tree. The orange loops -- a shape made familiar during the first Gulf War and the same one used for the…
OLYMPIA -- State legislators won't spend much time on "the floor" today, but have a full slate of hearings on everything from foreclosures to college efficiencies to smoking in cars with kids. Meanwhile, members of the Greater Spokane Inc. delegation is scheduled to hit town…
Mayor Mary Verner told the Spokane City Council on Tuesday that she will reconvene a committee that will help form policy on paving streets and select opportunities to focus "complete streets" efforts. For the most part, the city's 2004 street bond has been used only…
If you get an e-mail from the IRS asking for your name, address and other information so the agency can check its records, promising you a $50 reward for being so helpful...don't respond. Don't open the attachment. Don't do anything except hit the delete button.…
Being watched almost as closely as what President Obama says tonight are the locations of where the honorable members of Congress will sit. Put another way: Who's your date for the State of the Union? Traditionally, the Democrats sit on one side of the House…
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire urged legislators to move quickly on proposals to cancel planned increases in unemployment insurance taxes, saying she needs a bill in two weeks. At a press conference this morning, Gregoire repeated a call for legislators to keep rate hikes that…
OLYMPIA -- Members of the House have begun their first real votes of the session, taking up the supplemental budget. First up are amendments: On a unanimous vote, the House stripped out provisions to let the Transportation Commission set ferry rates. Sponsor Ross Hunter said…
OLYMPIA -- The first floor debate on budget cuts this session is scheduled for this morning as the state House of Representatives takes up a portion of the 2011 supplemental budget. This is the budget that gets the state through June 30 -- although not…
OLYMPIA – Ever since the voters decided public records should be, you know, public, public officials have complained about the unfairness of being forced to produce some of those records when a member of the public has the nerve to ask for them. Such requests…
When tragedies occur like the shootings in Tucson or potential disasters like the bomb found Monday in downtown Spokane, state Rep. Kevin Parker tries to remember the lessons of Columbine. Among the most important, the Spokane Republican said, is to trust your instincts and use…
OLYMPIA — With a photo of Bob McCaslin propped up near his old desk and his family in the gallery, the Washington state Senate’s most senior member was praised for his ability to make his colleagues laugh with a well-timed joke and keep them on…
OLYMPIA – The proposed state budget would “mothball” the Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane and another facility in Tacoma, shutting out the public and possibly running afoul of federal law on Native American artifacts, a legislative panel was told Thursday. Directors of the…
OLYMPIA -- The state could make about $50 million over the next 10 years by setting up a system of licensing and registering medical marijuana users and dispensers, a state study said Thursday. The state Office of Financial Management, which determines the fiscal impact for…
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and state Rep. Kevin Parker will hold a town hall meeting Saturday to discuss public concerns over the bomb found along the parade route in downtown Spokane Monday. The one-hour forum, “Understanding threats in our community”, will allow area residents to discuss…
OLYMPIA -- Cue Steppenwolf. It's Black Thursday on the Capitol Campus, the day when members of ABATE come to lobby their legislators. ABATE stands for A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments, and pushes for legislation it prefers on motorcycles, including an end to the state requirement…
OLYMPIA -- Legislative committees have a potpourri of issues today, including hearings on bills that would do away with the requirement to put art in public buildings if those buildings are prisons or the facility for sexual offendersat McNeil Island. That's in the Senate Human…
Spokane Valley City Councilman Bob McCaslin was in satisfactory condition Wednesday evening at Deaconess Medical Center after having his leg amputated earlier in the day. A hospital spokeswoman listed the former legislator's condition as satisfactory, the best of three one-word conditions in the limited information…
At the risk of sounding like an old Abbott and Costello routine, Hu's coming to dinner at the White House, and Gov. Chris Gregoire is invited too. Who's coming to dinner? Hu's the president of China. I don't know who's the president of China but…
OLYMPIA -- An animal protection organization wants voters to order farms go give chickens more room while they're laying eggs. Washingtoninans for Humane Farms submitted an initiative proposal this week to the secretary of state's office that would require "egg-laying hens have enough room to…
OLYMPIA -- Republican leaders say they may offer an alternative to House Democrats' supplemental budget, which is itself an alternative to Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal. At a noon press conference, House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis said Republicans have enough differences with the Democratic…
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