Hopefully whiplash is covered by state employee health plans, as it must be a common complaint in Governor Jay Inslee’s office these days after the extreme environmentalists who normally dictate policy for the green governor have turned on the administration. That’s clear from the coverage in Sightline about the bill to ban natural gas (HB 1589), which Democrats jammed through the legislature in the middle of the night, with Governor Jay Inslee (as Shift noted) leading the intimidation crew securing votes for the bill.

Turns out that now the extreme greens are arguing that the bill doesn’t waste enough money on their ideas, and instead gives the ratepayer money to the foreign owners of Puget Sound Energy. You can read on to see how the “bill, initiated by Puget Sound Energy (PSE), Washington’s largest electric and gas utility, requires the utility to proactively plan for the transition from gas to clean energy. (but) gives too much” here… Sightline, Shift.

Police pursuits have been much in the news for the past few years, after Democrats banned police from chasing criminals fleeing the scene of a crime, leading to an increase in criminals fleeing their crimes. Fortunately a citizen initiative forced the legislature to accept that the public wanted police to pursue all criminals, not just the ones which liberals found objectionable, though Axios reports that Seattle leaders have rejected that solution and the city’s police “policies are and will remain more restrictive than state law.”

Read on to see how overjoyed the people of Seattle must be that their city will remain a haven for fleeing criminals here… Axios-Seattle.

The final obituary has yet to be written, but the rough draft of the demise of the liberal solution to the region’s homeless explosion is in place.  That seems clear from the Seattle Times coverage that “nearly all of the top-level executives at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority have left. Between June of last year and this January, more than a quarter of the agency’s staff quit or were laid off.”

It’s not that those “leaders” will be missed, given how badly they had botched the launch of agency. Read on to see how “some in the homelessness system are worried these departures are crew members abandoning a sinking ship.” … Seattle Times.

State Senator Karen Keiser has certainly learned from whence she came, after first being appointed to the state house last century, and then the state senate shortly after that, given her qualifications as someone who had been “communications director for the Washington State Labor Council.” Now, according to the Washington State Standard, she wants to make sure her replacement doesn’t have to be chosen by any pesky voters either, as “she’s penciled in an exit for early December, the midpoint of her current term and the 30-year anniversary of her arrival in the Washington state Legislature.”

Sen. Keiser’s entitlement to her legislative position certainly shines though as she “said waiting until December ‘will give plenty of time for people to decide what they want to do’.” By that she means giving her party time to decide who to replace her with, as opposed to the actual voters of her district.

But what else could you expect given the arrogance of someone complaining that “(W)e have the majority. It’s just sad that we didn’t take the opportunity that we should have” to raise taxes here… Washington State Standard.

Let’s face it, trees are far more important than housing to folks on the Left, even when you leave the city of Seattle. At least that’s the story coming from the Bellingham Herald, after more “than 50 people filled a Hearing Examiner meeting Wednesday night at Bellingham City Hall to oppose the suggested removal of hundreds of trees on the site of a proposed 67-unit townhome development.”

Of course, this being a liberal protest, folks “were dressed in shades of green and held signs” showing how much they really did not want more housing to intrude on the places they like.  Read on to see why activists think the “development will be a net loss for our city.” … Bellingham Herald.

Shift will leave with little note this item, from KUOW, about how Seattle city leaders just can’t figure out how to convince police officers to come work for the city, even though “they are still down to about 913 officers — the lowest level of police staffing since the 90s.”  Evidently respect is not one of the options, so more money is being considered here… KUOW.

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