Questions are rising over the partisan and divisive Western Governor’s Pact that Governor Jay Inslee continues to tout as the best way for Washington re-start the economy that Inslee shut down in March. Inslee and his two fellow Democrat West Coast governors, when announcing the pact on April 13th, claimed that one of the agreement’s three founding principles was that “Health outcomes and science – not politics – will guide these decisions.” Yet it is becoming increasingly apparent as the pact’s membership grows that this is a partisan Democrat political organization.  On Monday, the pact added two more Democrat governors (from Colorado and Nevada) while not including Western states with Republican governors (Arizona, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming). Beyond not including our border state of Idaho, it is also curious that Alaska (with a Republican Governor) has not joined the pact considering its position on the West Coast and strong trading partnership with Washington (nearly all products that house, clothe, and feed Alaskans originate from Washington State’s ports).    (Inslee Media release and USA Today)

After multiple protests in Eastern Washington and in Seattle, Governor Inslee has flip-flopped again and will join the other 49 states which allow citizens to participate in recreational fishing.  Inslee finally agreed with health experts from across the country that fishing is an activity that can easily be pursued while employing “social distancing” techniques.  To try and hide just how out-of-step the governor has been on this issue, he included lifting recreational fishing restrictions in a package that also included removing some restrictions on hiking, hunting, and golfing. (Northwest Public Broadcasting)

A News Tribune editorial points out that Oregon was able to manage the coronavirus outbreak by simply placing a few restrictions on outdoor activities and not completely banning them as Gov. Inslee imposed on Washington State.   The editorial encourages Washington residents to comply with social distancing restrictions, as our state allows residents to resume hiking, fishing, hunting, and golfing next week.  People taking part in these activities will be closely monitored and their actions will determine how soon commercial activities can resume. (News Tribune)

Out-of-touch liberals and so-called progressives continue to use the financial suffering of others to promote false arguments for their greedy and self-serving political agenda.  Liberals, who have long sought to impose a state income tax on Washingtonians to pay for their goal of increasing the size and power of government, are now using the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak to push for – you guessed it – a state income tax.  Anti-capitalist activist Katie Wilson (who laughingly labels those who want to raise taxes as “champions”) believes everything would be better if we just created a new tax to pay for all her pet projects.  Fortunately Wilson admits that the state’s courts (even the current extremely liberal Washington State Supreme Court) continue to rule that an income tax is unconstitutional and that both the legislature and (more importantly) Washington voters stand in the way of liberals obtaining their utopia of raising workers’ taxes. (Crosscut)

While keeping on the payroll nearly all government employees during the first six weeks of Governor Inslee’s emergency orders, King County is facing significant budget shortfalls and will likely need to start laying off workers.  King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn said the budget shortfall could be $20 million, further elaborating on the county’s financial situation which he first discussed with Shift last Friday.   (MyNorthwest and Shift’s Newsmaker Interview)

In proving that not all extreme left-wing wackos reside within Seattle city limits, the Kitsap Sun ran an op-ed column that is filled with socialist speak and buzz phrases that push for government-control agenda items in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Like nearly all liberal responses to the current health crisis, the author called for an increase in taxes and larger government, yet she disguised it by saying “resources need to be distributed equitably.”  Not only does the author state that the inmates at “Northwest Detention Center should be released,” but we should also pay for their housing and increase their government assistance.  The author also believes we should increase our financial support for those in the country illegally (since many do not pay taxes, they did not receive the federal stimulus checks).  (Kitsap Sun)

Whatcom County is seeking business leaders and workers to serve on its Business Support Task Force, which has been assigned the task of developing ways to safely re-open area businesses. Those interested in applying can click here and will need to email their application by 5:00 PM on Thursday, April 30^th.  (Bellingham Herald and Whatcom County)

Housing costs in the Seattle region were rising faster than any other metropolitan area in the country, except for Phoenix, prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus.  Because of Governor Inslee’s stubborn refusal (until he flip-flopped under pressure last Friday) to allow residential construction to continue, we can expect the state’s housing costs to remain higher than the rest of the country due to Washington being the only Western state to restrict housing construction and thus limit the supply of available housing units on the market. (Seattle Times)

Sound Publishing, the owner of the Everett Herald and 42 other Washington newspapers, announced it was laying off 70 employees (out of approximately 350) due to a 70% drop in ad revenues.  Other local newspapers have also seen a dramatic drop in advertising as Gov. Inslee’s emergency orders continue to restrict local businesses from operating.  The Seattle Times has been able to weather the loss in revenue, in part, by receiving a small business loan that was made available through the federal CARES Act. (Everett Herald)

Liberal Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs believes the best way to help private industry get back to work is to make Spokane city government larger.  Despite federal health officials, state health officials, and county health officials all stating the same social distancing techniques, Beggs considers the best use of federal CARES money in Spokane would be to allow city government to spend it on hiring even more health officials to provide even more of the exact same advice (oh, and the new government employees will also be paying union dues, which will undoubtedly eventually end up helping Beggs’ re-election campaign). (Spokesman-Review)

The Vice President of the Washington State Hay Growers states that the coronavirus outbreak has not impacted his industry’s ability to move its product to market.  Andrew Eddie stated, “All of the things that we need to do our jobs are still open and available.  Not too much has changed, there’s a little bit of a shift and uncertainty about where things are going to go, but for the most part we’re just doing the same job that we did before everything broke out.” (Washington AG Network)

The Yakima School District will transition from its current method of checking out computer hardware to students to a system where the computers will be handed out to each student.  Currently the district allows its 15,000 students to check out 3,700 available computers.  The new program, along with district-wide Wi-Fi availability, is scheduled to be in place by August. (Yakima Herald)

Big Bend Community College officials have already decided that the school will only offer online classes this fall.  The Moses Lake school’s administration believes social distancing restrictions will still be in place in September.  Yet administrators did state that the school will be able to conduct in-person instruction for required lab/shop/clinical activities while following health guidelines. (iFIBER One)

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