Spokane Mayor David Condon is being recognized for his administration's efforts to clean up the Spokane River through innovative public works projects. Condon is the recipient of the 2015 National Environmental Achievement Local Public Service Award, which is awarded by the National Association of Clean...
OLYMPIA -- A House committee continues with its second day of hearings on an omnibus marijuana bill and a Senate committee hears about Spokane med school plans.
OLYMPIA –A House panel rolled 18 different proposals to change Washington’s marijuana laws into a single wide-ranging bill Monday, hoping to address at least some problems with the state’s medical and recreational pot systems. As currently written, the bill includes some contradictory provisions.
OLYMPIA -- The potpourri of issues in committee hearings today includes pot, and a whole lot more.
Sen. Pam Roach showed her love for Idaho in an unusual way last week.
OLYMPIA – Openness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder for government officials. This is clear in the discussions – some might call them grumblings – of proposed raises for state employees included in Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed budget after contract negotiations between his staff and the heads of the employees’ unions.
OLYMPIA -- Legislators are honoring the Washington National Guard for its members' service, and the Seattle Seahawks for their season thus far. Many of them are in some form of Seahawks attire, as the dress rules have been loosened for the day.
OLYMPIA – Government agencies failed to react fast enough to smaller fires that grew last July into the largest wildfire in state history, Central Washington residents told legislators. While DNR supervisors defended efforts to battle the Carlton Complex, Okanogan officials accused them of being disorganized and ill-prepared.
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee and Lt. Gov. Brad Owen have made bets with their counterparts on the outcome of the Super Bowl. If you care, click on the story.
OLYMPIA -- A House committee takes up questions about the state's early response to the fires that turned into the Carlton Complex and the full House votes on Joel's Law.
Envision Spokane, a wide-ranging initiative that twice failed at the polls, will be before voters again, after a decision today by a state appellate court. A unanimous decision by the court ruled today ruled against the 2013 decision by a Superior Court judge to remove...
OLYMPIA – Eastern and Western Washington are so different they should be two separate states, says a new bill that would set up a way to split them apart. Sound familiar? Maybe that's because legislators from east of the Cascades have been saying it – and trying to find a way to divvy up the state – for at least 100 years.
OLYMPIA -- Concealing the source of a campaign contribution would be a felony under a bill up for a hearing in a House committee. A group of Eastern Washington legislators suggest splitting the state in two.
Who said political columns can't start internet movements? OK, probably no one said that, but it happened here. It turns out a tongue-in-cheek column by our own Doug Clark has inspired a group of conservative Spokanites to launch an "8th Man" Facebook page. Clark's piece...
Yesterday, we brought you the story that Liberty Lake had lifted its moratorium on recreational marijuana. Here are the locations where pot shops/farms/processors could locate.
A letter from Joint Base Lewis-McChord has begun arriving at marijuana stores around the state, telling owners that service members are banned from their premises.
The laws governing where recreational marijuana businesses can locate in Spokane County were made permanent Tuesday with a unanimous vote by the Board of County Commissioners.
OLYMPIA – Rob Chase wouldn't have been elected Spokane County treasurer under changes the Legislature is considering to the state’s write-in candidate laws. He got about 2 percent of the vote as a write-in against Skip Chilberg; a new proposal would raise the threshold to 5 percent.
From the city: Business and Developer Service Director Jan Quintrall, who has led improvements to customer service and investment in the city, announced today that she will leave the City of Spokane. Mayor David Condon named Scott Simmons interim director to replace Quintrall, whose responsibilities…
Spokane Mayor David Condon appeared on the MSNBC show Sports Matters to discuss the Seahawks, the Super Bowl and Spokane's pride in the team from the other side of the state. Condon appears about four minutes in: Condon was on the show with Mayor Rodney...
OLYMPIA -- University of Washington doesn't object to another medical school in Spokane, as long as Washington State University doesn't get to keep nearly $6 million in state money for the current program, UW officials told legislators this morning.
OLYMPIA -- A bill that would give Washington State University the authority to have its own medical school gets a hearing in the House Higher Education Committee this morning.
OLYMPIA – Raising Washington’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2019 was described Monday as too much for some businesses and not enough for some workers.
OLYMPIA -- Adding return postage for the state's all-mail balloting system could cost about $2.7 million over the next two years. But supporters say it may remove a barrier that keeps the poor from voting.
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