(And thanks to the helpful person who compiled this for me.)28: Number of sign-in sheets required for the standing-room-only crowd that testified in a House committee Thursday.197: Number of people who signed in.43: In favor of the bill, which would grant domestic partners virtually all…
With unemployment levels nationwide at the highest rates since 1992, Washington’s House of Representatives on Friday voted to temporarily boost benefits for jobless workers by $45 a week.“An extra 45 bucks can mean a meal’s on the table for the kids,” said Rep. Maureen Walsh,…
Back on Tuesday, more than 150 advocates for saving adult day health programs fanned out around the capitol campus to make the case for preserving the centers. These are places where elderly or otherwise frail adults can go to take part in activities, meet people,…
Rich Nafziger, Senate Democrats' chief of staff, does a good job of capturing the headlong feeling of a legislative session, with 147 lawmakers trying to make sense of a thousand or more bills spiraling through the capitol at once.In general, for most of the legislative…
Rather than try to shoehorn my lengthy print story into a blog post, here are some quotes from yesterday's standing-room-only hearings on the "everything but marriage" law for state-registered domestic partners in Washington.“You may not consider my family a family, but I know in my…
From the print paper:OLYMPIA – For nearly two years, Dan Joy says, his boss at a Spokane grocery store badgered him and other employees to go to the boss’ church.It would, they were told, help their careers.Joy declined, over and over. He said his boss…
From the printed paper:OLYMPIA – Fred Watley’s need for a liver is changing state law.A year ago, the Spokane man nearly died while waiting for an insurance-law loophole to expire so he could get the liver transplant he desperately needed. His insurer finally relented.On Thursday,…