OLYMPIA -- A hearing on a bill to penalize teachers for one-day strikes featured a walkout by Democrats, questions of legal authority and denunciations of the education unions by conservative think tanks. And it was all upstaged by a 10-year-old who said "We need to support our teachers. They should get paid for their strike days."
Michael Alderman said “Bridge to Hookerville” 30 times last night in front of dozens of people and on public access television.
Gov. Jay Inslee said today the Legislature should be able to reach a deal on the 2015-17 budget thanks to several hundred million dollars of extra revenue that may come in. Senate Republican leaders said it should be able to reach a deal, thanks to the new revenue. But the road they describe to reach the deal was very different.
Shahram Hadian, the Spokane-area pastor who speaks about the dangers of Islam but insists he's not anti-Muslim, was a candidate for governor of Washington in 2012.
The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.
