Washington state has the sixth best structure for business taxes in the country, the Tax Foundation said. In its annual report on state tax "climates", the foundation gave Washington high marks...as it usually does. This may surprise people who have heard the business community complain…
OLYMPIA -- Members of the public employees' unions gathered on the arched walkway over Capitol Boulevard at lunchtime today with signs calling for an end to the federal government's partial shutdown.
Columbus Day may not be as big of a holiday as it once was: Fewer people have the day off with pay. There aren't any local parades. The weather's a bit nippy for picnics. And then there's that whole legacy question about whether we should…
Nearly 4 million Washington voters will be mailed ballots this week as county elections offices begin sending them to the post office on Wednesday. Voter information pamphlets should also be arriving, if they haven’t already. Unlike the primary, which was kind of hit or miss…
A look at the Official Records most days shows some same-sex couples from other states come to Spokane to get married, and some gay rights advocates have suggested there’s a chance to capitalize on Washington’s status as one of a handful of states that allow…
OLYMPIA – Supporters of Initiative 517, which may be struggling as the other initiative on the November ballot, tried to get some traction last week with what they said is a “shocking trend” in Washington politics. This fight for attention is a tough one .…
OLYMPIA – If you want the surest sign that telephone that hanging on your wall or resting on your desk is on the way out, this may be it: Washington regulators may soon allow CenturyLink, the state’s biggest provider of home phone service, to charge…
Time Magazine is reporting Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, has been selected by House Speaker John Boehner to negotiate Thursday with President Barack Obama on the partial federal government shutdown. Obama originally invited all members of the House of Representatives to 1600 W. Pennsylvania Ave.…
Carol Holt, Robert Martin and Barbara King count petitions whild Kate Ayers shuttles stacks of I-594 to a storage box. OLYMPIA — Sponsors of a proposal to expand background checks for gun purchases turned in 250,000 signatures Wednesday to qualify it as an initiative to…
Sponsors of an initiative to require background checks for more gun sales will turn in some of the signatures Wednesday that they need to send the measure to the Legislature next year. Members of the Initiative 594 campaign said Tuesday they plan to turn in…
A legislator, a member of a youth volunteer organization and a major league pitcher will host a town hall meeting on human trafficking Wednesday evening in North Spokane. Rep. Kevin Parker, R-Spokane, said the meeting is designed to discuss what the state is doing to…
OLYMPIA – More than 165,000 people have visited Washington’s website designed to help them find medical insurance, and about 9,400 individuals or families have enrolled in some type of plan. After some computer problems in the opening days that resulted in long delays for both…
One reason the shutdown remains so intractable is a core of House Republicans who signalled in August they wanted to eliminate the federal health care reforms. In a letter to Speaker John Boehner, 80 House Republicans said they supported using the "power of the purse"…
This was a pretty accurate, although not comprehensive, list. It was much better than the over-the-top music video segment on the shutdown featuring Miley Cyrus as Michelle Bachmann. (Note: This clip comes from the NBC website, so it contains a very long commercial at the…
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers hears lots of angst about Obamacare in Eastern Washington. At least, that's what she says in a USA Today guest column defending the House Republicans in their move to link continued funding of the federal government to some changes in the…
OLYMPIA -- Governors of the two states that legalized marijuana last year are asking federal regulators to find a way that businesses licensed to raise and sell the drug can use banks. Govs. Jay Inslee of Washington and John Hickenlooper of Colorado sent a letter…
Washington National Guard units canceled monthly training this weekend because of the federal government shutdown. A Guard spokeswoman said some 8,000 members of Army and Air Guard units across Washington will forego their drill weekend -- and the paycheck from the federal government that goes…
Spokane activists upset about the federal government shutdown that began Tuesday are taking a page from Martin Luther. Fliers from the left-leaning organization MoveOn.org were plastered on the walls outside the Congressional offices of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., earlier…
Dwight Pelz, a former state senator and King County councilman, will step down as chairman of the state Democratic Party in February. Pelz notified party officials Monday that he plans to resign after eight years as chairman, allowing the central committee to pick a new…
OLYMPIA -- Washington state will debut its web site to help people find medical insurance under Obamacare on Tuesday even if the federal government is forced into a shutdown over health care reform, Gov. Jay Inslee said. Some state workers might be furloughed, some job…
Signup for the Affordable Care Act begins tomorrow, but Saturday Night Live offered its take over the weekend on why health care reform is so necessary. Included is a cameo shout out to the final episode of "Breaking Bad", which in a sense was the…
OLYMPIA – The political tempest blowing through the Puget Sound last week is the cautionary tale of Michael King and his apparent raids on the treasuries of political action committees set up to elect Democrats to the state Senate. King was charged last week with…
Spokane’s alleged Fast Food Bandit won’t get a new trial because of a problem with the instructions the jury received before it convicted him of robbery and kidnapping in 2003. Benjamin B. Brockie was accused by police of being responsible for a string of fast-food…
The opening salvo in the battle over the proposal to label genetically modified foods includes ammunition that hit the mark last year in California: Food you buy for Rover would have to be labeled if it contains those products, recent commercials for opponents say, but…