In announcing the official filing of the city’s lawsuit to overturn I-976, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan tweeted that “We will fight I-976 and require that the rights of Seattle voters be respected.”  This tweet implies that Seattle voters are more special than other Washington voters when it comes to determining state laws. The initiative was passed by Washington voters with a 53% – 47% margin. (Twitter)

In a presentation to the Bellevue City Council, the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) stated that 71.6% of the 2,000 participants in a year-long study favored replacing the current $0.49 a gallon gas tax with a 2.4 cent per mile Road Usage Tax (RUT).  There are still many questions with the RUT – the biggest is how to determined the number of miles a vehicle is driven on state roads?  The WSTC will vote on recommendations it will make to the legislature at its December 17^th meeting. (Bellevue Reporter)

Redmond City Council candidate Varisha Khan believes her opponent (Hank Myers) should have denounced claims made by others and that there was an “Islamophobic narrative that was being spun” around her campaign.  Khan’s blanket statement (apparently aimed at anyone who opposed her) did not provide any specific Islamophobic acts.  Meanwhile Khan has yet to distance herself from Linda Sarsour who Khan calls “my personal hero” but whom the Democrat National Committee, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Women’s  March have all condemned for holding pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic views. Khan and Myers are locked in a tight vote count which will likely go to an automatic re-count.  (Crosscut and Varisha Khan’s Twitter)

The Tacoma City Council voted 8-0 to impose a $25 tax on the sale of guns and a $0.02-$0.05 tax on ammunitions sales. Council member Catherine Ushka said, “It gives a signal to other municipalities that it’s something that they can do.” The tax is expected to raise $30,000 annually. The measure included language that a future review of the tax and its impact on businesses will take place to determine whether to repeal the tax. (News Tribune)

The student government at the University of Washington (ASUW) has passed a resolution to bar professors from demanding a physician’s note to excuse absences.  Even though very few professors enforce this requirement, the ASUW’s resolution stated that those seeking these notes may overstate their symptoms which “may then lead to tests and procedures that incur risk and/or are physically harmful.” (MyNorthwest)

A bus rider captures video of individuals attempting to smash car windows in downtown Seattle in the middle of the day. There were over 11,600 reported car prowls last year in Seattle which were a leading factor in the record-high property crime rate.  With the new city council in place that does not prioritize fixing the crime problem, we can expect more of the same in the years to come. (Christopher J. Rufo Facebook Post)

A Thurston County Superior Court judge dismissed three claims by environmental groups regarding how the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) conducted its process to lethally remove wolves that were threatening livestock. The court agreed with the attorneys for WDFW that the department followed the law in making its decisions to remove the predators. (Washington AG Network)

In the tight race to become the new Spokane City Council President, Breean Beggs has opened a 326-vote lead over Cindy Wendle. This currently provides Beggs with a 0.49% lead, which is barely short of the one-half-of-one-percent margin required to avoid an automatic recount.  No count has been provided as to how many more votes are left to tabulate.  (Spokane Elections)

Adding to the City of Wapato’s legal troubles, the city’s former Treasurer-Clerk has filed an $1.5 million wrongful termination lawsuit against the city.  Kimberly Grimm says she was terminated by Mayor Dora Alvarez-Roa for bringing up financial abnormalities to her superiors.  When these problems were not handled internally, Grimm brought them to the attention of the Wapato Police, Yakima Sheriff, Washington Auditor, and the Washington Attorney General. (Yakima Herald)

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