In minutes, the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will predict that general fund revenue will be down $529 million for the remainder of this biennium and the next one.Gov. Chris Gregoire will tell her budget office to find an additional $200 million in savings…
ER, FC.The state's Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will meet later this morning to peer into the crystal ball and forecast the state of the state's treasury over the next two years.Looking at the headlines over the past several days (Wamu? Hello?), it's hard to…
As attention from Wall Street's financial firefight turned to the federal bailout of American International Group Wednesday, Washington insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler said the companies insurance clients shouldn't be sweating things."Many policyholders have expressed concerns in light of the recent news surrounding AIG," Kreidler said…
At the urging of state workers, Gov. Chris Gregoire has agreed to let hundreds of them in nine state agencies switch to four-day work weeks.The move -- which means working four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days -- is intended to reduce energy use,…
The northeastern Washington legislative faceoff between longtime legislative aide Shelly Short and architect Sue Lani Madsen is looking a lot like a grudge match.Short got slightly more votes in the primary than Madsen: 26.7 percent to 26.4 percent in a five-way, all-Republican primary. Both are…
With only weeks to go before Election Day, one of the deepest-pocketed political players in Washington is in trouble.State regulators on Monday decided that a subsidiary of the Building Industry Association of Washington and another builders' group “committed multiple apparent violations” of the state's election…
Arguing that his lawyers were ineffective and that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, serial killed Robert Lee Yates Jr. on Monday asked Washington's highest court to stay his Sept. 19th execution while he appeals further.He's also asking for a court-appointed attorney to help…
The Humane Society of the United States said this morning that its state director, Inga Gibson, filed a complaint with the state Department of Corrections and Department of Fish and Wildlife over reported mistreatment of pheasants being raised at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla.An…
It's not what I said, it's what I meant.That, in essence, was the case made Thursday in the state's highest court by proponents of a ballot measure that would require more paid training for home health-care workers.In what could turn out to be a very…
In an op-ed piece in the Seattle P_I today, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, take umbrage at the suggestion that state-employee support for Gov. Chris Gregoire is driven by the substantial pay increases that many workers have received…
From the Department of Natural Resources this afternoon:"Subject: BNR Approves Hamma Hamma Balds NAP"Duly noted.
As Republicans on the stage in Denver are giving speeches saying they plan to cross party lines and vote for Obama, in Washington state, Republican gubernatorial candidate is apparently hoping to get some Democrats going the other way.Rossi will be airing this video on network…
Forty five minutes before Barack Obama takes the stage in Denver, his campaign has sent out excerpts from his prepared remarks.He talks about his background, about the nation's promise that hard work and sacrifice, each can pursue his or her dreams. But this is "one…
Catching up...My colleague Jim Camden has worked his political-mapping skills and come up with a couple of graphics in the governor's race.The upshot: the late-arriving ballots have been tilting slightly to Republicans."Dino Rossi has been gaining a bit of ground in the gubernatorial vote tally…
(and yes, the state Supreme Court's office building is really called the Temple of Justice.) Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown is doing something that would make many a politician squirm: going to court to make it easier to raise taxes. A 15-year-old law declaring that…
After an afternoon of phone calls and emails with political consultants, campaign managers, etc., it's nothing but day-after sunshine and candies. Everyone I talked to claimed to be happy -- usually very happy -- with the results. Incumbents said challengers fell short of expectations, and…
Another very close race to the north, where it looks like Shelly Short and Sue Lani Madsen will face off in November.The race in the rural northeastern Washington district is a rare five-way legislative battle with only Republicans in the ring. Three of them --…
A surprisingly sharp open-seat battle between Republicans Mel Lindauer and Kevin Parker seems to have ended with Parker facing off in November against Democratic incumbent Rep. Don Barlow.Parker got 28 percent to Lindauer's 21 percent in tonight's returns, a roughly 1,500-vote gap that will be…
As expected, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, steamrolled independent challenger John Moyna, a night janitor at a hamburger eatery in Spokane. The two will face off again in November, but the early returns show Brown with 78 percent to Moyna's 22 percent. In the…
Rossi 46 percent, Gregoire 48 percent.In a press release a earlier this hour, Rossi called that a "strong showing" and pointed out that he got just 34 percent of the vote in 2004. (Note: Although in 2004, Democratic turnout in the primary was spurred by…
Democrat Peter Goldmark, who's led incumbent Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland in campaign fundraising for months, is neck and neck with Sutherland: 49 percent to Sutherland's 50 percent. (It's closer than it sounds, due to my rounding of these percentages.)As expected, urbanites seem to…
Longtime Justice Charles Johnson is also holding strong over two challengers. Johnson's getting 58 percent to C.F. (Frank) Vulliet's 11 percent and James Beecher's 31 percent.
Now Rossi's up by a fraction of a percent: 47.49 percent to Gregoire's 46.5 percent.He's been helped by heavy leads in rural, sparsely populated counties, primarily east of the Cascades. But Gregoire's up by nearly five percentage points in Snohomish County -- a populous battleground…
Incumbent state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, seeking a fourth term, is drawing about 44 percent in the first batch of ballots. Her main opponent in a six-way race is Randy Dorn, a former lawmaker and head of a union representing rank-and-file school workers.…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
| Dec. 2008 | Nov. 2008 | Oct. 2008 | Sept. 2008 |
| Aug. 2008 | July 2008 | June 2008 | May 2008 |
| April 2008 | March 2008 | Feb. 2008 | Jan. 2008 |
