WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House official says President Barack Obama will make a three-day West Coast swing next month. The president's trip will start in Seattle on Sept. 25. He will also make three stops in California: San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles.…
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is on the record supporting the Community Development Block Grant program, yet she voted for a bill in February that would have slashed that spending by about 62 percent. Why? We were unable to interview her or her spokesman yesterday…
OLYMPIA – Washington officials are trying to come up with a way to decide whether it makes good economic sense to let someone else run wholesale liquor operations in the state. About the time they’re ready to make that decision, the voters might take it…
OLYMPIA -- The 2012 Washington governor's race may have seemed pretty quiet this month to the voters who will decide it. But it remains on top of the list of gubernatorial contests compiled by Politico. The likely matchup between Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna and…
OLYMPIA -- As retail giants pour money into an intiative campaign to get the state completely out of the liquor business, a special state committee meets today to discuss cutting loose just a part of it. The Liquor Distribution Advisory Committee has an 11 a.m.…
When Mayor Mary Verner made a point last week of explaining the process for selecting the city's Employee of the Month, she not only released the four-page set of rules, but the list of members on the selection committee. Two members have indirect connections to…
A unified regional animal control system won important, though qualified, support tonight from city leaders. The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 to endorse Mayor Mary Verner’s stance on a proposed nine-year county property tax that would pay for a new animal shelter for the Spokane…
City leaders tonight agreed for the second time this year to a deal that keeps Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy Plant open another three years. The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 to approve an operating contract with Wheelabrator, the Waste Management subsidiary that has operated the plant since…
AP photo Hoquiam's annual city festival, Loggers Playday, is generating more than usual interest this year because of a T-shirt that's being sold as a fundraiser. The shirt, Osama Bin Loggin, features a drawing of an extremely muscular logger, American flag tattoo on his right…
The Centers for Disease Control released its annual ranking of what kills Americans, which is grim reading at best, and the No. 1 killer -- again -- is heart disease. Because of the time it takes to compile data from all over the country, it…
If you're headed out for a camping trip in Washington this weekend, and wondering about the fire danger levels in the place where you'll be pitching a tent, the state Department of Natural Resources can tell you with the click of a mouse button. It…
OLYMPIA – Whether she realized it or not last spring when wielding her “partial veto” pen, Gov. Chris Gregoire has prompted a hodge podge of pot laws around the state and a fair amount of confusion among the cities. In Seattle, where possession of a…
OLYMPIA – About half of the 15 members of the Spokane-area legislative delegation have volunteered for the same level of pay cuts the imposed on state workers. That’s a level slightly better than legislators statewide. Many who have done it, like Rep. Kevin Parker, R-Spokane,…
OLYMPIA -- Andrea McNamara Doyle, an attorney who has held posts on several environmental boards for the state, was named executive director of the Public Disclosure Commission Thursday. McNamara Doyle will succeed Doug Ellis, who has been interim director since March 2010, when Vicki Rippie…
So what's the Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the supercommittee, doing two weeks after it got set up? Tons of stuff, according to co-chairpersons Patty Murray and Jeb Hensarling. Engaging in serious discussions. Deciding on the rules.Setting a schedule. "And exploring how to build…
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' office released a full schedule of public meetings she'll have over the next week, finishing with a town hall meeting on Aug. 31 in Spokane. Before that, she'll be having smaller meetings her staff calls "Coffee with Cathy" in Walla…
OLYMPIA – This year’s ballot measure to get state government out of the liquor business is shaping up as another multi-million dollar fight that will pit one of Washington’s largest discount retailers against alcohol wholesalers. Also taking sides are the state’s grocery stores, with some…
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers will hold a town hall meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 31 in Spokane. The Eastern Washington Republican's staff, which said it has been working for several days to nail down a time and place, announced this afternoon the meeting…
The Federal Communications Commission announced this week it is purging its books of all outdated and unused rules. Among them is the Fairness Doctrine, which ceased being a doctrine some 20 years ago. In days of yore, the Fairness Doctrine was something that required a…
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich might not be thinking of running for Congress in Washington state if he gets redistricted out of his seat in Ohio. Then again, he might. The Ohio Democrat was in Seattle over the weekend, speechifying at a popular progressive venue. Hempfest.…
OLYMPIA -- The death of a Mason County commissioner has created a wrinkle in the usual process for filling an opening. Jerry Lingle, who died over the weekend, was elected last November after listing his preference as Independent Party. But there's no established Independent Party…
Washington state got an F in initiatives last week. Not that the state enrolled in Ballot Measures 101 or anything. We graduated with a degree in initiatives and referendums in 1914, when state residents added that power to the constitution. But the Ballot Initiative Strategy…
The Spokane City Council President race would appear to be a toss up, particularly in many North Spokane precincts where a clear favorite has yet to emerge. No duh, you might say, considering that winner Dennis Hession got only slightly more than a third of…
(Click on map to enlarge) Not much changed between the votes counted on election night and the later tallies of ballots that were mailed in or dropped off in ballot deposit boxes at the beginning of the week. Mayor Mary Verner continues to lead all…