Just because it's a headline you don't see every day...
Man Will Not Be Charged in Death at Screaming Yak.
Man Will Not Be Charged in Death at Screaming Yak.
"Outraged" by the recent release of dozens of felons due to a shortage of space, Gov. Chris Gregoire took the rare public step this afternoon of publicly blasting her own corrections secretary, Harold Clarke.The prisoners who were let out of jail had been arrested again…
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Sen. Chris Marr is running into some political headwinds in his push to change the law so all sex crimes against children can be prosecuted until the day the abuser dies.Consider:•A week after Marr, D-Spokane, had more than half the state Senate signed on as…
Everett horticulturalist Steve Sarich suprised everyone Tuesday by showing up at a Senate hearing with a small cardboard box that I think said "raspberries" on the side.Raspberries they were not.Sarich, there for a hearing on a bill (SB 6032) to toughen the legal protections for…
More than 1,000 people showed up today for "Equality Day," lobbying lawmakers and holding a noon rally to call for legalization of gay marriage, or, at least, a state-run domestic partnership registry. The latter bill is moving ahead, legislative leaders say, although so far, no…
After a century of second-city sulking for the Lilac City, I'm pleased to report that finally, Spokane's ticket to undying fame and much-deserved respect is in a little clause tucked away deep in Senate Bill 5318, as amended.First, though, some background: the bill would require…
Attorney General Rob McKenna has memorably described the slow creep of exemptions to public disclosure laws as a coral-like "accretion" that grows slowly, steadily -- and is very hard to get rid of.Former state Rep. Toby Nixon, an outspoken proponent of open government, has compiled…
The Humane Society of the United States, the prime mover behind the 2000 initiative that banned "body-gripping" animal traps, has spent virtually every year since then defending the measure against repeal by an unlikely alliance of suburban Democrats and rural Republicans.The ruralites have always hated…
"I will expect a level of decorum appropriate for being delivered into someone's living room."That's Rep. Ross Hunter a few minutes ago, warning the standing-room-only crowd -- both fans and foes -- at a NASCAR speedway hearing that they're on live TV.Here are some samples…
Calling it the most important economic development proposal he’d seen in 31 years in Olympia, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen today urged skeptical lawmakers to back a $368 million NASCAR track on the Olympic Peninsula.With the jobs, taxes and tourist dollars the track could bring, Owens…
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More than a dozen House lawmakers want to make it illegal for employers to discriminate against smokers based on their use of tobacco off the premises and during non-working hours.Two years ago, Washingtonians overwhelmingly banned workplace smoking. Nothing in state law, however, bans an employer…
That's freshman Sen. Chris Marr, after the Senate overwhelmingly passed his bill to add tens of thousands of low- and middle-income kids to state-subsidized health coverage over the next two years.Click here to read the full print story.
Valentines' Day promotions:-Sen. Janea Holmquist, who yesterday introduced a bill "to reinstate the voters' first and true love: the blanket primary." (SB 6048) The bill would reinstate the vote-for-anyone-in-any-party primary the state had for decades until a party lawsuit torpedoed it. To avoid a repeat,…
These characters drew plenty of attention yesterday as they strolled the capitol grounds in a steady rain. "Your guilty!" one passerby shouted at them. "Yes, very guilty," agreed the larger-than-life Dick Cheney head.Inside the costumes were Eastside Fellowship of Reconciliation director Linda Boyd, dressed as…
In a last-minute appeal, three Yakima-area Republican lawmakers are calling on Gov. Chris Gregoire to reject the proposed gambling compact between the state and the Spokane Tribe of Indians.The compact, they note, is "the most generous" one so far, allowing the Spokanes to have 900…
The state House of Representatives voted unanimously Monday to establish an Eastern Washington state veterans cemetery in Spokane County, capping a years-long push by local veterans and the state Department of Veterans Affairs."This cemetery reflects our duty to honor our veterans and their families," said…
Social conservatives are trying to appeal to an even higher-net-worth power, it turns out.Joe Fuiten, president of the politically-active group Positive Christian Agenda, has sent out an alert to members asking them to immediately take action on Senate Bill 5336:"WE DO NOT HAVE THE VOTES…
After years of often-rancorous negotiation with a Kansas-based rail operator, the state has agreed to buy a 108-mile stretch of rail line between Cheney and Coulee City.The purchase price is about $5.6 million, according to Mark Blazer, senior vice president for the western region of…
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress. - John Adams
For the past couple of weeks, one of the people who's been turning up in one hearing after another has been a Woodinville man named Mike Dunmire. Dunmire, a wealthy, retired investor, has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into intiatives run by promoter Tim…
As a lot of western Washingtonians discovered last month, when the lights go out, so do the gas pumps. Wind storm damage that left some neighborhoods without power for a week left some drivers desperately searching for powered stations to fuel up their cars."There was…
State officials are planning to spend millions of dollars on more than 100,000 doses of a new vaccine that helps prevent cervical cancer, Washington state Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said Monday. The state hopes to distribute enough of the free human papillomavirus vaccine to…
"I'm not interested. I'm not interested. I am not interested."---Gov. Chris Gregoire, when asked what she thinks of some lawmakers' proposal to delay not just the graduation requirement that high schoolers pass the math portion of the Washington Assessement of Student Learning, but the reading…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
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