A cross-country skier goes past the state capitol and state insurance building in Olympia on Dec. 22, 2008. (Rich Roesler / The Spokesman-Review)
Several state offices have shut down today, as the Olympia area is blanketed with dense wet snow from yesterday and several previous days. Of the four capitol reporters who made it in to my office this morning, three got their cars stuck in the parking lot. (The fourth is a sturdy native Idahoan at the wheel of an old four-wheel-drive Nissan.)
The weather has hampered staffing at state offices since the middle of last week. On Thursday, the Employment Security Department temporarily closed its two call centers that field requests for unemployment insurance claims, saying that snow and ice made it too hazardous for employees to get there to man the phones. (Most workers can also file a claim online at www.esd.wa.gov.)
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
