Whenever a jackpot in one of the nation’s state-sanctioned numbers games, officially known as lotteries, approaches the stratosphere, reporters are asked to explain the odds of winning. Being notoriously bad at math, we often find some college professor to explain the formula then turn it…
OLYMPIA – ‘Tis the night before Christmas, plus about 18, and all through the statehouse not a creature is stirring with complaints about how Washington is waging war on the holiday. Thankfully. The Association of Washington Business Holiday Kids Tree went up in the Capitol…
The somewhat erratically executed Spin Control Files feature today travels back to 1982 to remember the Troglodytes. Read about it here.
OLYMPIA – The Legislature may direct medical schools to expand the number of physician residencies in Eastern Washington to provide more doctors for rural communities and family practice. Rep. Larry Haler, the top Republican on the House Higher Education Committee, Friday told representatives of the…
Rumors of a high-ranking Spokane city official trying to organize the ouster of the city's downtown business organization's president boiled over into the Spokane Journal of Business today. Jan Quintrall, head of the city's Business and Development Services, denies in the story trying to remove…
Spokane's Human Rights Commission has requested the Spokane Police Department do more to inform the public on the military-grade equipment it buys. In a letter dated Monday, Blaine Stum, chairman of the five-member city commission tasked with battling "unjust discrimination" in the community, asks Spokane…
OLYMPIA -- A source who asks to remain nameless looked at the House Republicans lineup of leaders and noticed something he found interesting. The House GOP named Reps. Matt Shea and Matt Manweller as assistant floor leaders. Does that mean they will be nicknamed the…
OLYMPIA -- Like a college student keeping a watchful eye on the GPA, the Secretary of State's office successfully argued for a higher grade and got an A on its voter guide. The grader in question, Ballotpedia, had to admit it missed a feature worth…
You may have been subjected in Civics Class to the cartoon "I'm Just a Bill" from Schoolhouse Rock! with its earworm-catchy song. Recently Saturday Night Live revised it to account for President Obama's executive order on immigration.
OLYMPIA -- Volunteer state workers hoisted the Association of Washington Business Holiday Kids’ Tree onto its stand in the middle of the Rotunda this afternoon after decorating the top half of the 34-foot noble fir. Note that the tannenbaum, donated by Winkleworld's Tree Farm in…
OLYMPIA -- Ritzville Republican Mark Schoesler was elected the Senate majority leader Monday for the upcoming 2015 session. Officially, Schoesler will head the Majority Coalition Caucus, a group of 25 Republicans and one Democrat who will control the chamber. Schoesler, 57, a wheat farmer, has…
A pair of Spokane legislators will propose legislation to put the state's second medical school in Spokane under the control of Washington State University. Rep. Marcus Riccelli, a Democrat, and Sen. Mike Baumgartner, a Republican, will unveil legislation on Tuesday that would change a nearly…
Spokane voters will get a chance to weigh in on the mayor’s salary next year, but City Council members say a change to the city charter may complicate other potential ballot measures that will seek money for schools and an expanded transit system. A proposed…
Rick Bocook, a perennial figure at Spokane City Council meetings, has just a few issues he rails on at City Hall. Freedom for street musicians. The tyranny of the city's sit-lie ordinance. Sidewalk chalk drawings. Bocook, AKA Harpman Hatter, was in fine form on this…
Voters have a way of complicating the state’s revenue forecast by changing the laws on things that provide revenue. After they passed a law abolishing the state’s monopoly on wholesale and retail liquor sales, the state coffers saw a big bump in booze taxes. In…
OLYMPIA -- Legislators may be asked to split the state into districts to elect the state Supreme Court justices, an idea that got a sometimes friendly, sometimes skeptical hearing Friday before the Senate Law and Justice Committee. Jason Mercier, of the Center for Government Reform,…
OLYMPIA – Someone please give Senate Republican budget writers a new metaphor for hyperbolic parsimony. Looking at the state’s less than cheery prospects of matching income to outgo last week, the chief GOP Senate budgeteer deployed the well-worn image of personal thriftiness, the squeezed toothpaste…
Why do we have to wait so long for our results? some Washington candidates and campaigns whine every Election Night. Why can’t we be like Oregon? Washington counts ballots it receives that are postmarked by election day, regardless of when they arrive. Oregon requires them…
OLYMPIA -- House Republicans re-elected their top leadership today, returning Dan Kristiansen as their leader for the 2015 session.. Kristiansen, of Snohomish, was named to the job earlier this year after Rep. Richard DeBolt stepped down for health reasons. Joel Kretz of Wauconda was re-elected…
OLYMPIA — A Pasco-based government watchdog made a pitch Friday for district elections to the Supreme Court and two Spokane Valley law enforcement officers told legislators about rising arrest numbers for driving under the influence of marijuana. That would be fairly normal fare for a…
Troy Bruner, head of the Spokane's Ethics Committee, said City Council President Ben Stuckart's leak of a confidential email had the ability to hurt the city, but there was no evidence of it doing so. “Certainly there was a potential for harm to be done…
Spokane City Councilman Ben Stuckart was fined $250 for violating the city's ethics code, but committee members said his action did not financially harm the city. Stuckart was referred to the committee for leaking what city officials called a “highly confidential email regarding a pending…
In today's paper, I wrote about the proposed demolition of two historic buildings on Spokane’s storied auto row, part of the conceptual master plan by the Larry H. Miller Group to build a large downtown campus for its auto dealerships. The buildings to be razed…
OLYMPIA -- Washington legislators will have a bit more money in the coming fiscal years than they expected when they adjourned in March, but not enough to cover the projected costs of current programs. Increases in the number of school children, Medicaid recipients, along with…
OLYMPIA -- House Democrats had their numbers shaved in this month's election but voted today to stick with most of last session's leadership. Seattle Rep. Frank Chopp was re-elected speaker, a position he has held by himself since 2002, and shared as co-speaker in 1999,…
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