In the hotly contested State Senate race in Pierce County’s 28^th Legislative District, Democrat T’wina Nobles is receiving strong support from those who want to spread Seattle’s failed policies to the rest of the state.  These endorsements, from special interest groups who financially benefit from higher taxes and bigger government being forced on Washington citizens (and the usual assortment of high-ranking Democrats), demonstrate that Nobles is out of touch with the needs of the suburban district. While her opponent, Senator Steve O’Ban, has been fighting for the 66% of the district who supported I-976 (lower car tab fees), Nobles takes the opposite approach and stands with the Seattle special interests who fight for higher taxes. (Shift)

Last Friday’s Newsmaker Interview was with the University of Washington’s premier Atmospheric Sciences professor Cliff Mass. The professor literally wrote the book on local weather patterns (“The Weather of the Pacific Northwest”), yet he is best known by many for his skirmishes with members of the liberal academia and the “cancel culture” who want to silence his scientific findings and viewpoints because he does not subscribe to liberal orthodoxy on all things climate.  Recently Mass was fired from public radio station KNKX, not for his scientific failings, but for a blog post he made regarding the deteriorating condition of downtown Seattle and the on-going violent protests. Last week, Mass again made headlines for refuting Governor Jay Inslee’s assertions that the wildfires were caused by climate change.  In his interview with Shift, Professor Mass discusses the false climate change declarations, fear in academia, and the dangers of the cancel culture. (Shift, Amazon, Cliff Mass Weather Blog, and KVI Radio)

Governor Inslee uses climate change as an excuse for his administration’s failings.  Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, the governor says the recent wildfires plaguing the state were caused by climate change.  Yet the primary culprit appears to be poor forest management, which provided the conditions that enabled fires to rapidly spread.  After the devastating 2014 Carlton Fires, the state set out to thin/manage 200,000 acres a year.  Yet in the past five years, the state has only thinned 65,000 acres – total.  Even Democrat legislators are questioning Inslee’s non-science-based claims.  Representative Brian Blake (D – Aberdeen) responded to the governor’s comments by stating, “I think he’s focused on his personal political beliefs.”  (Capital Press and Shift)

Because Governor Inslee and the Democrat legislative leadership stubbornly refuse to call for a special session to repair the state’s budget, and resolve funding issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Washington State school districts are being forced to lay off or furlough bus drivers.  Normally state funding for bus transportation is based on the number of riders, yet there is currently little, or no bus service being deployed since most districts are instructing their students remotely.  Districts are uncertain of the funding the state will provide, and thus many have laid off or furloughed their bus drivers. This could be one of several issues settled by a legislative special session. By Governor Inslee and Democrat legislative leaders don’t care – what Representative Blake said applies here as well: they are a bit too focused on their “personal political beliefs”, not what’s good for the state. (Everett Herald)

A petition has been signed by nearly 35,000 residents asking that Fall high school sports be allowed to take place as originally scheduled.  Yet, in order for any type of Fall schedule to occur, five things will need to take place; 1) Governor Inslee needs to recommend sports to return; 2) the Washington State Department of Health needs to approve health guidelines for each sport; 3) School leaders need to approve; 4) Coaches would need to approve; and, 5) the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Executive Board would need to approve schedules.  (MyNorthwest and Change.org)

Mayor Jenny Durkan is under attack from all sides as the Trump Administration labels Seattle an “anarchist jurisdiction” (due to the city ceding six blocks to protestors and the on-going violent attacks against police officers) and the ultra-liberal Seattle City Council ignores her concerns about defunding the police.  Perhaps more telling for Mayor Durkan is that her long-time friends in the Democrat establishment have failed to stand with her in the biggest battle of her political career.  Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and even Washington State Democrat Party Chair Tina Podlodowski have remained silent as Mayor Durkan has battled with the city council over who controls the parts of the city they have not ceded to “protestors.” Evidently, they are a bit focused on their own “personal political beliefs”, and do not want to antagonize the extreme Left-wing which appears to be taking over Democrat party. (Seattle Times)

Meanwhile…King County Executive Dow Constantine is placating the extreme Left-wing by reducing felony incarceration and defunding the sheriff’s department, while crime rates in the county are climbing.  (There is no word as to whether Constantine will reduce the funding of the “security detail” he uses as his personal Uber service when he’s out meeting “voters”.)  In Constantine’s proposal, fewer felons will be incarcerated, as they will instead be referred to “community-based services” (i.e. programs run by liberal special interest groups spending taxpayer money originally intended on actually reducing crime). (MyNorthwest)

There are national media reports stating that Boeing will consolidate its 787 assembly activities in South Carolina.  The company has recently announced that it was reducing the monthly output of its newest aircraft from 10 planes to six, and was looking at the feasibility of other cost-saving measures. This would be bad news for local officials who are attempting to keep the assembly activities (and the jobs) in Everett.  No official word is expected from the company until next month.  (Q13 News)

An annual job review of the embattled Mill Creek City Manager outlines many areas where Michael Ciaravino needs to improve, most of which revolve around communicating better with the city council, city workers, and the public.  Ciaravino recently received a no confidence vote from the union representing city workers and was the subject of a complaint letter signed by over three dozen residents.  Recently the mayor, the public works director, and finance director had resigned (the finance director has since agreed to return to work).  Even with the poor performance, the city council supported giving Ciaravino more vacation days. Because, after all, it’s not their money they’re giving away. (Everett Herald)

The Pierce Transit Board has chosen “Stream” to be the name of its future rapid bus system. Construction of the $95 million system will begin late next year (with expected completion in 2024) and will initially connect downtown Tacoma with Spanaway. (News Tribune)

Governor Inslee has again revised guidelines for agritourism businesses,  allowing those within “modified Phase I” counties to operate under restrictions which were previously set for “Phase II” counties.  This is welcome news for businesses in Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, and Yakima counties, which previously faced serious financial losses during the normally profitable Fall months. Fortunately, it appears Jay Inslee’s war on pumpkin patches, hay rides, and corn mazes has ended. (Inslee Press Release)

Because of the significant reduction on new COVID-19 cases, the Kennewick School District will allow all students to return to partial in-person instruction in schools starting October 12^th. Half the students will come to school on Monday and Tuesday, and the other half will be on campus on Thursday and Friday. This follows last week’s recommendation from the Benton Franklin Health District to allow students to return to hybrid learning. (YakTriNews and Benton Franklin Health District)

A reduction in plant breeding research could threaten our food supplies.  The decline of research is caused by reduced funding, and a Washington State University review says this could impact our food security in the future.  A WSU spokesperson said, “New pests, new diseases appear on the horizon annually really, if you think about it.  And we know that we are having changing climate issues as well, so we need to be thinking ahead and plant breeding is one of those techniques that enables us to deal with some of these problems as they occur.” (Pacific Northwest AG Network)

The Washington State Democrat Party has sent out a fundraising email stating that Governor Inslee has given “us the cleanest energy grid in the United States.”  Are the Democrats really saying that our current governor is responsible for the state’s hydroelectric dam system (many constructed in the 1930’s and 1940’s) and the nuclear power plants (constructed in the 1970’s and 1980’s) that provide Washington residents with clean energy?  This is just another factual error from the State Democrats, who previously sent out many emails claiming there is a “Chavel County.”  Since none of the nuclear power plants or dams are within the walking distance of the CHAZ, we can once again blame the Democrats’ ignorance of things outside Seattle city limits for continuously providing fictitious information in their email blasts. (Washington State Democrat Party fundraising email)

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