Washington
updated
9:03 p.m.
Contains only posts that are ID'd as local content. An explanation. Want to help improve our local content filter? Add keywords here.
Striking headline in a Tacoma News-Tribune editorial: “It took Richard Nixon to go to China, Bill Clinton to reform welfare and state Rep. Jeannie Darneille to push House Bill 2588.” It’s apt, and it could mark a breakthrough. DNA evidence is something relatively new on the civil rights screen, and complex to deal with. DNA [...]...
Ridenbaugh Press (Washington) - 1:23 p.m. - 8 clicks 
When Gov. Christine Gregoire signs same-sex marriage into law the week after next, Washington state will be catching up to that uber-liberal state known as Iowa. So when they heard the news, the Des Moines chapter of Drinking Liberally couldn’t resist teasing us a bit at the same time they sent a congratulatory message: ...
HorsesAss - 12:08 a.m. - 10 clicks
Dumb as he may be, Sherrif Dave apparently isn't as dumb as he might be... U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, will not run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell this year, a high-level Republican source said Thursday. ...
Upper Left - Thu 8:40 p.m. - 13 clicks
Senate Bill 6239 that legalizes same-sex marriage, passed tonight. The Senate was the big hurdle for this bill, pushed by Gov. Christine Gregoire as part of her final agenda as Governor. The bill passed 28 to 21. That’s quite a shift from two weeks ago, when only 23 Senators publicly supported it. Sen. [...]...
HorsesAss - Wed 9:49 p.m. - 12 clicks
Wonderful, wonderful news to celebrate tonight: After a debate that stretched for more than an hour and a half, and saw the adoption and rejection of more than a dozen amendments, Washington’s state Senate has voted to approve legislation making marriage equality the law of the land. The vote was twenty-eight to twenty-one. Four Republicans [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Wed 9:05 p.m. - 14 clicks
The Bellingham Herald's Jared Paben reports ... The bill that would suspend changes in the minimum wage during times of high unemployment failed to make it out of a state House of Representatives committee. The same goes for the bill that would allow restaurants to pay servers less than Washington’s minimum wage if they would make that amount counting their tips. Put it in the "Why majorit...
Upper Left - Wed 8:06 p.m. - 14 clicks
Back in August, we published a post —and an op-ed in the Seattle Times —arguing that Washington cities ought to be able to lower speed limits on non-arterial streets without costly red tape. Moderate reductions in speed save lives and make streets safe—for kids, elderly, pedestrians, bikers, and drivers. In the months since, a bill has emerged in Olympia, championed by Sta...
Sightline Daily Score - Wed 5:40 p.m. - 12 clicks
A few days ago, White House officials let it be known that President Obama would be stopping in Washington State again for a mid-February visit. They didn’t announce his itinerary or schedule, but we figured it wouldn’t be long before the campaign began sending out invitations to fundraisers with the President. Yesterday, the first invitations [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Wed 12:05 p.m. - 13 clicks
Big media wants you to know, that it doesn’t matter what you think that you know. And that’s about it. From the AP we are warned that – ‘Iran said greater threat, while al-Qaida declines‘. From the bowels of the Washington Post’s Greg Miller, we can smell that: ‘Iran, perceiving threat from the West, willing [...] ...
The Vigilant Lens - Tue 10:07 p.m. - 9 clicks
Earlier today, along with NPI board member Steve Zemke and NPI contributor Steve Breaux, I participated in a public hearing in support of House Bill 2499, prime sponsored by Representative Andy Billig. HB 2499 would require advertising for or against ballot measures in Washington to include the name and address of the entity paying for [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Tue 4:07 p.m. - 16 clicks
In a matter of hours, Washington’s Senate is set to take up Ed Murray’s bill, SB 6239, to make marriage equality the law of the land across the Evergreen State. At least twenty-five senators (including some Republicans) have already committed to vote in favor of the bill, so it is expected to pass. However, if [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Tue 4:07 p.m. - 17 clicks
One of our most important projects, which we’ve been investing a lot of energy into lately, is turning seven today: Pacific NW Portal, first launched on January 31st, 2005, has now been online for a grand total of eighty four months. Since the day it launched, it’s helped to bring the netroots of Washington, Oregon, [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Tue 2:01 p.m. - 13 clicks
The end of 2011 brought both good news and bad news for Spokane. The good news was that in late December, the city council voted to change Spokane’s municipal code to require that street reconstruction projects include pedestrian and bike infrastructure. The bad news was that this vote came during the last council meeting of the year. And with four of seven council members to be replaced in 2012, ...
Sightline Daily Score - Tue 12:04 p.m. - 13 clicks
…so help Charles Pierce … ...there is nothing important about Willard Romney as a candidate that has changed at all. He is still an unprincipled opportunist, incapable of telling the truth about his own record, and utterly without conscience when it comes to lying about someone else. ...
Upper Left - Tue 1:29 a.m. - 14 clicks
The Seattle Times has a roundup of presidential campaign activity in Washington state, which often – with its relatively late March 6 caucuses – isn’t a big factor in presidential nominations. If the battle for the nomination is still alive then, though, Washington could be a hotbed. In some ways, it’s a national mirror. The [...]...
Ridenbaugh Press (Washington) - Mon 11:00 a.m. - 16 clicks
In the '60's, Stan Freberg recorded this spoof of the Lawrence Welk Show as it existed in the late 1950s, early 1960s. Welk, who was the purveyor of pure midwestern corn set to treacly music with an orchestra led by......
BlatherWatch - Sat 7:41 a.m. - 24 clicks
If you're out to raise money for transportation projects, one of the more clever methods is the so-called "barrel fee" that is the centerpiece of Governor Gregoire's new transportation package . It's structured in such a way that it minimizes impacts on Washington by effectively off-loading the costs to oil companies and out-of-state drivers. In fact, my back-of-the-envelope estimate is that for ...
Sightline Daily Score - Jan 26 - 10 clicks
A significant change in status that doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of attention yet. To this point, when Washington state officially talks about its “state universities,” it means the University of Washington and Washington State University – those two and no others. (Similarly, the only official “state college” is the Evergreen State College [...]...
Ridenbaugh Press (Washington) - Jan 25 - 4 clicks
Here’s a look at the latest coal report from the US EIA, taking us up through the third quarter of 2011. In this chart, you see the past 15 years of quarterly data. I’m showing Customs Districts here, not ports. The Port of Seattle does not move coal. But some coal does get exported out of the Seattle Customs District region by way of the rail crossing at Blaine, Washingt...
Sightline Daily Score - Jan 24 - 5 clicks
Dearest Occupy Seattle. “We do have a grand strategy, Nonviolent movements shift power by attacking the columns that hold the power structure in place. Those columns are the military, police, media, business, workers, youth, faith groups, NGOs and civil servants. Every time we deal with the police, we have that in mind. The goal is not to hit them, hit them, hit them and weaken them. The ...
ArtistDogBoy - Jan 24 - 6 clicks
Great news this afternoon: We finally have the votes to pass marriage equality in the Washington State Legislature! Minutes ago, Senator Mary Margaret Haugen – who had previously said she was only willing to support putting the issue on the ballot for a public vote – reversed her position and decided to join the forces [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Jan 23 - 3 clicks
Remember when radio news mattered enough that they actually hired a full newsroom? Here's a 710 KIRO promo from about 1982. Notables making appearances: Besides Jim French, Bob Blackburn, Andy Ludlum, Dave Stone, Chris Rose, Jim French, Terry Rose and......
BlatherWatch - Jan 21 - 3 clicks
Microsoft Corporation, the most successful big business in the Northwest, spoke out yesterday on a piece of Washington state legislation (which is within a single legislative vote of having enough for passage) which it said would help its business, and it got five other businesses to go along in the announcement. The legislation happens to [...]...
Ridenbaugh Press (Washington) - Jan 20 - 4 clicks
Governor Chris Gregoire proclaimed a winter storm emergency this morning, following a series of events that have forced schools and offices to shut their doors and made many roads impassable. “This is purely a precautionary measure,” Gregoire said in a news release. “So far, we haven’t received any requests for state assistance – but we [...]...
Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog - Jan 19
So far 26 Washington House members (all Democrats to date) have signed on with House Bill 2463, which would impose a capital gains tax – but with a twist: Just capital gains over $10,000, amounts below that being exempted. Washington doesn’t have a capital gains tax at all, which sets it out from the other [...]...
Ridenbaugh Press (Washington) - Jan 17 - 9 clicks
I-502 co-sponsor Salvador Mungia addresses the media while pro-502 campaign director Alison Holcomb (left) and Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (middle) listen. I-502 opponents hold signs in the background. (Photo/Washington Secretary of State) Here’s a hot procedural fight in the making: House Bill 2500, introduced by 10 House Democrats, is intended to put a leash on [...]...
Ridenbaugh Press (Washington) - Jan 14
