Local ski area operators are currently working with state health officials to ensure their seasonal business is not negatively impacted the same way agritourism businesses were after Governor Inslee’s office caused confusion, due to utilizing a poor process to develop the guidelines.  It took the governor’s office three attempts to set guidelines for Central Washington agritourism businesses, mainly because the governor’s staff failed to include operators in their random rule-making process.  This has caused unnecessary and costly confusion among agritourism businesses in modified Phase I counties (Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, and Yakima).  While waiting for the final guidelines from the state, ski area operators are planning to limit capacity, regularly test employees, reduce size of instruction classes, and use current food service guidelines. (Seattle Times)

“Pandemic pods” of students brought together to receive instruction are popping up around the state as families develop solutions to reduce the cost of instructing and caring for their students, and also allowing the parents to get back to work.  The pods consist of a small number of students, who either receive instructions virtually from their teachers or hire a teacher/tutor to instruct them in-person.  (The Olympian)

A Snohomish County councilmember posted a picture on Facebook of a cross stich project that favorably depicted the use of Molotov Cocktails as being “the LIGHT you want to see in the WORLD.”  Even though Democrat officials  across Washington State have refused to condemn the multiple physical attacks on local police officers (which have included having Molotov Cocktails thrown at them), Snohomish County Councilmember Megan Dunn went one step further by using the homemade incinerating device as an inspirational symbol.  Obviously, local police officers and citizens were outraged over the Democrat councilmember’s actions.  The Everett Police Officers Association called on Dunn to resign and stated, “Promoting violence/murder against our (law enforcement) professionals and destruction of our communities is NOT acceptable from anyone. It is a crime.” Dunn has since deleted the post and ignorantly claimed she thought she was simply posting a picture of a “counter-culture cross stitching project.”  We have not found any reports of the councilmember apologizing for her offensive behavior, nor any other Democrat official condemning her actions.  (MyNorthwest)

Seattle Interim Police Chief said the continuing violence from “protests” is hampering the department’s ability to respond to crime around the city.  Police Chief Adrian Diaz said the Seattle police will continue to support peaceful demonstrations, but he has instructed officers to “arrest as many individuals as we can who engage in criminal behavior” at the protests. Meanwhile, Democrat elected officials (Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, nearly all Democrat state legislators, etc.) remain silent over the repeated attacks on police officers and Seattle businesses, and the increase in criminal activity within the city. (Seattle Times)

In the latest example of a government entity dramatically failing to meet is stated environmental goal, the City of Seattle has only reached 43% of its goal for electric cars in the city.  The city’s stated public goal is to have 30% of the cars in Seattle running on electricity by 2030, and its benchmark for 2019 was set for 3.5%.  Yet a recently released report shows the city was only at 1.5% electric cars so far.  The city then used its best Orwellian phraseology to declare this significant failure as being “near target.”  If the city council does pass its future “green deal” legislation, the members should keep their copy of Orwellian phrases handy, for we can expect even more dramatic failures attempting to meet the environmental promises made to their backers. (BTW, if the city does make progress on having more electronic cars on the road, it will likely be due to the actions of private companies [like Amazon] adding more non-fossil fuel vehicles to their fleets, and not because of some costly government program.) (City of Seattle)

With the number of regional air passengers expected to double in the next 30 years, local officials are attempting to identify which current airport should have its capacity significantly increased to meet the demand.  The Puget Sound Regional Council (consisting of officials from King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties) has selected four existing airports for consideration. The council’s draft report has identified Everett’s Paine Field (which already has limited commercial flights), Arlington Municipal Airport, Bremerton National Airport, and Tacoma’s Narrows Airport as possible locations for new passenger service. (Everett Herald)

The next expensive mass transportation project that has many greedy individuals salivating is the Cascade Corridor high-speed train, which fancies connecting Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Portland.  A committee formed to develop the strategy to make this boondoggle a cash-cow reality is co-chaired by former Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire.  The group recently released a study that outlines the train’s proposed construction, and the need for smaller Western Washington communities to greatly expand and serve as “outlying hubs” for the Puget Sound area.  News reports of the study did not contain the near-certain reality that like almost all local large transportation projects, Cascadia Corridor would end up costing taxpayers billions more than originally estimated and the environmental benefits will be a small fraction of what is promised. (Bellevue Reporter).

If the City of Seattle chooses to replace the West Seattle Bridge with another span, Coast Guard regulations could force the new roadway to be even higher, which increases construction costs by an estimated $150 million.  This would also eliminate the cheaper alternative of simply replacing the cracked central span and the two connecting spans.  Mayor Durkan is expected to announce on October 21^st her recommendations for repairing or replacing the bridge. (Seattle Times)

While conflict between urban environmental groups and rural ranchers make the headlines over the problems associated with re-introducing wolves into Washington State, a group is working to develop long-term solutions.  The Northeast Washington Wolf-Cattle Collaborative has learned from other states where wolves have been reintroduced, and the group has implemented many “deterrence methods” which members believe will keep the wolves from attacking livestock.  Yet, the group believes, “If the bulk of the financial burden of implementing practical wolf deterrence methods is placed on ranchers, there will be less use of these methods, and most likely less collaboration.” (Western Landowners Alliance)

Yakima County health officials have proposed guidelines and a schedule for bringing students back into the classroom.  Once the national hotspot for the coronavirus, Yakima now consistently reports low daily numbers (often in the teens) of new cases.  Health officials state that grades K-5 may return to in-person instruction by October 12^th, grades 6-8 by November 2, and grades 9-12 by November 23^rd. (YakTriNews)

Retired General and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis returned to Central Washington University to visit with 35 current cadets of the school’s Army ROTC.  Mattis, who graduated from CWU in 1971, thanked the students for their service to the country and “encouraged them to be curious, humble, stable adults.” (Quick additional note on General Mattis.  Many people are crediting his ad promoting the use of masks as one of the leading factors in convincing Central Washington residents to adapt to health guidelines which has brought about a sharp decline in the number of COVID-19 cases.  While Governor Inslee had lost credibility with many residents due to his obviously partisan decisions, Mattis is a well respected who provides credibility to any cause he supports.  (Ellensburg Daily Record and Washington State Department of Health )

Since the general election contest to replace Representative Denny Heck in the 10^th Congressional District has two Democrat contenders (due to Washington State’s Top Two primary system), the race provides us with twice as many curious comments from the candidates.

First, Marilyn Strickland claims she is the subject of the “GOP’s recent power grab” and that she is the target of attacks from Republican special interest groups.  This despite the fact there is not a Republican candidate on the ballot. (Marilyn Strickland fundraising email)

Second, predictably Beth Doglio regurgitated the unscientific false claim that the recent wildfires were caused by climate change in a recent fundraising email.  Of course, if Doglio had followed the science behind the wildfires, she would not be able fundraise from the facts. (Doglio fundraising email and Shift Newsmaker interview with Professor Cliff Mass)

Last week’s Newsmaker Interview was with the President of the Discovery Institute, Steve Buri.  Discovery recently made national headlines for bringing needed attention to the Progressive’s Critical Race Theory.  Buri states this dangerous viewpoint “is a philosophy that replaces personal responsibility with grievances against the ‘system,’ and it has made its way from universities into many of our most sacred institutions, including even the military. Left unchecked, this has dire implications for the nation. The policies also represent a clear and present danger to the millions of residents living in these cities.” (Shift’s Newsmaker Interview)