Jim West hospitalized...
Former Spokane Mayor and longtime state lawmaker Jim West is hospitalized in Seattle with serious complications from recent cancer surgery, West's attorney told the S-R's Jim Camden.Read more here.
Eye On Olympia
TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2006
FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2006
Listening Tour results...
Some data from Gov. Chris Gregoire's recent pulse-taking town-hall meeting in Spokane:What people thought was not working well in state government:-Unfriendly business climate-Too much money and attention spent on west side of state-Higher gas tax, "but roads on the east side are worse than ever"-License…
THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2006
From arms-length to arm-in-arm...
Remember in January, when a Republican political group mailed out "SEX OFFENDER NOTIFICATION" postcards announcing that "This violent predator lives in your community"?As it turned out, the man pictured on the cards lived in Gig Harbor, not in Vancouver, Walla Walla or the other far-flung…
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2006
State agrees to settle pay-disparity lawsuit for $30 million...
Washington has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a six-year-old class-action lawsuit based on pay disparities between workers doing the same sorts of jobs, according to an attorney for the workers.Largely as an artifact from old personnel boards, state workers in virtually identical jobs…
MONDAY, JULY 3, 2006
Neo-Nazi group to demonstrate today...
A neo-Nazi group planning to rally on the steps of the state capitol today said Saturday that its members plan nothing more than a peaceful demonstration."We are not here to instigate any problems whatsoever. You have my word on that," said Nigel Fovargue, a Los…
THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2006
State boots 848 felons from voting rolls...
Even as the state battles in court over whether it can ban some felons from voting, it's booting other felons from the rolls.On Thursday, Secretary of State Sam Reed announced that Washington has cancelled the voter registrations of 848 felons."We are upholding the law," Reed…
MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2006
Trooper on guard...
Okay, we'll write it first: There's a new Trooper on patrol at the governor's mansion in Olympia.Gov. Chris Gregoire and her family have a new shiba puppy to replace former First Dog "Franz", the family's longtime pomeranian. Franz was struck and killed by a car…
MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2006
Oh, that Vancouver...
In another bit of international diplomacy, Gov. Chris Gregoire and top staff are headed tonight to Victoria, British Columbia, for a dinner and day of meetings with BC Premier Gordon Campbell and his staff.On the agenda: border security, mutual aid in emergencies, public health and…
FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2006
President visits Seattle, stumps for Reichert...
President George Bush swooped into Seattle’s “Gold Coast” Friday, headlining a $1,000-a-person Republican fundraiser at an Internet millionaire’s mansion in the tiny city of Medina.“I’m excited and honored. He has had a really wonderful week,” said state GOP chairwoman Diane Tebelius, ticking off recent news,…
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2006
Taking a little bite of the Apple...
State insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler has fined Apple Computer, Inc. $100,000 for selling tens of thousands of service contracts in Washington without registering.Under a seven-year-old law, any company that sells a service contract -- a promise to repair or replace a computer, appliance or other…
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2006
Judge throws out tax-limiting I-747...
Breaking: King County Judge Mary Roberts has just thrown out 2001's Initiative 747 as unconstitutional. The measure had imposed a 1 percent cap on property tax increases, unless voters approved more.The lawsuit was brought by environmental, welfare rights, citizens groups and Whitman County.Reached by phone,…
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2006
And to find out what happened to that sparkling-cider bottle after the press conference...
For more on the collapse of Eyman's referendum, read our print story from this morning's paper.Some church leaders said Tuesday evening they might try again – but this time, probably without Eyman."It's almost inconceivable to me that we can't get 112,000 signatures, when we can…
TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2006
Eyman's running late as the clock ticks down...
Tim Eyman, who said yesterday that he'll be turning in his Referendum 65 petitions today at 4 p.m. now says he's running late. He'll be turning them in "closer to 5" he said in a phone call. Mike Fagan, flying in to Sea-Tac after gathering…
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006
"Feel like you've been duped this morning? Well, you have."
It was the best-covered non-event in Olympia Monday.Tim Eyman, who'd announced in an email last week that he'd be "bringing down petitions" to the Secretary of State's office Monday, showed up Monday as promised. Reporters figured "bringing down" petitions meaned "turning in" petitions, as did…
THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2006
Update...
Tim Eyman says that, yes, he'll drop off petitions for Referendum 65 on Monday at 11 a.m. at the Secretary of State's office at 520 Union Street in Olympia. (CORRECTION: Eyman said he'd be "bringing down" petitions.)
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2006
The GOP's "big tent" shows some strains...
The very conservative "Reagan Wing" of the state GOP won't be setting up its booth at the Republican convention in Yakima this weekend after all.In a statement posted on his website and similar press release, blogger and Reagan Wing president Doug Parris blasts new state…
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006
ACLU asks for an investigation of phone-records data collection in this Washington...
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday asked the state Utilities and Transportation Commission to look into whether telephone companies here "have regularly shared consumer telephone records with the National Security Agency without legal authority."The request was prompted by a May 11th article ("NSA has…
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2006
Spam, spam, spam, spam...
Two California firms who allegedly "blanketed" computers at the Seattle School District and elsewhere in 2004 with junk e-mails have agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements in the state's first lawsuit under the federal anti-spam act. A judgement in the case…
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006
Moderates, swine or "Decepticons?"
Moderate Republicans, who met near Seattle last weekend, say they can offer two critical things – campaign help and electability – to a GOP bruised in both Washingtons."We have a special place in the political spectrum," said Alex Hays, executive director of the Mainstream Republicans…
Times enters political blogosphere...
Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman, who cut his blogging teeth with real-time dispatches from the Wenatchee election trial that decided the governor's race last year, has a new blog: Postman on Politics.Interestingly, Postman has largely unplugged from the print version of the paper…
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2006
They go well with Dos Equis, we understand...
Oh, the geoduck, snorkeling in the muck with its long, um, snout. A state icon of sorts. The official mascot of The Evergreen State College. (College fight song: "Go, Geoduck, Go!" Really.)This week, government and company officials from Mexico's Baja Peninsula arrived in Olympia to…
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2006
NASCAR making another lap...
Proponents of the Northwest's first NASCAR race track faced a decidedly lukewarm reception from the Legislature earlier this year. Even with the prospect of Superbowl-sized tourist draw, statehouse budget writers made it clear that they weren't inclined to shell out tens of millions of dollars…
State trooper romantic liaison in a guardhouse at the governor's mansion?
The Seattle Weekly pulls that bizarre story -- and a few more -- from Washington State Patrol disciplinary records.Click here to read the Weekly's story, entitled "Cops in Love."The cadet involved in the romance denied that anything sexual occurred on duty, the Weekly says: "His…
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2006
Sen. Karen Keiser: We've got the refineries -- and the high gas prices?
Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, is calling for Attorney General Rob McKenna to investigate whether oil companies selling in Washington are price-gouging.Washingtonians have seen gas prices rise 29 percent in three months, Keiser said, despite what should be minimal transportation, refining and blending costs. After…
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2006
Port and biodiesel company to announce big new refinery at Aberdeen...
Imperium Renewables, the parent company of Seattle Biodiesel, is slated to announce later today that it's inking an agreement with the Port of Grays Harbor to build a 100 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel refinery on port property in the Aberdeen area.According to a company spokesman, the plant…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.