The Tacoma News Tribune takes a look at the correlation between Governor Inslee receiving millions in campaign cash from state worker unions while turning around and bargaining their contracts behind closed doors. Inslee’s office continues to claim that there is nothing to see here. If there isn’t a connection then why are Democrats in the Senate opposed to Sen. Rossi’s (R-Sammamish) bill which would have prohibited such contributions to gubernatorial campaigns.

Here’s a good primer of the big-ticket bills that are alive or dead after the Legislature hit a key deadline last week which forced each chamber to move bills off the floor that they wished to advance. Of the more than 2,700 bills that were introduced this session, just over 650 made the cut. Only two bills have made it all the way to Governor Inslee’s desk so far.

Spokane public schools’ change in their discipline policy has led to a massive reduction of arrests. The school resource officers are required to look to alternatives before arresting students so that they can try to de-escalate situations or provide alternatives, such as enrolling students in alcohol abuse classes, before arresting them. The number of students arrested from the beginning of the school year until the end of February has dropped from 467 to 58 this year.

A Seattle streetcar lost power and went barreling down First Hill on March 1st, and the department is still trying to figure out how to prevent the incident from reoccurring. The car burned through four different kinds of brakes as it slid out of control. SDOT has not released a restart date, but hopefully they plan on adding brakes that work as a part of the $135 million downtown expansion that is still racing full-speed ahead.

West Point Treatment plant is still sending hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater into the Puget Sound. April 30th is being pinned as the recovery date, but that is only after tens of millions of dollars in repairs are done. The plant is having issues with the water bugs that are vital to the treatment process and has already spent almost half a million in trying to fix the problems caused by the bugs not working.

Moses Lake City Council may allow wheeled all-terrain vehicles on the city streets. The vehicles would have to meet requirements, the driver licensed and a waiver signed to prevent the city, state or county from being liable for any potential damages. 35 mph would be the maximum speed allowed. Wenatchee is one of the only other cities where this is legal in Washington State.

Demolition has resumed at Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland after being halted in late January after radiation was detected on the site. Deconstruction must be finished by September 30th to meet a Department of Energy deadline.

Gov. Jay Inslee visited Eastern State Hospital in Friday and commended them for reducing wait times after a federal court handed down a ruling saying they had to evaluate criminal defendants within seven days of arrest. Inslee claiming, “We have finally given you the tools to do the job,” is a disservice to the people in Olympia who negotiated $40 million for the hospital into the budget passed in 2015.

Downtown Spokane may raise height limits along Spokane Falls Boulevard. “In my overall opinion, getting buildings in our downtown is a more important value than having no shade on some of Riverfront Park,” City Council President Ben Stuckart has said. Currently, there is a set of requirements to follow for buildings taller than 100 feet along Spokane Falls Boulevard that mandate they follow a “wedding cake” tiered appearance. The measure would negate this mandate.

“If Hillary had won (presidency), I was ready to go home,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday of vacating her position in Congress. All we can say is that we, too, were ready – and point out that she still can go home. And should.

Federal judge in Seattle is not ready to rule on whether or not Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit applies to President Trump’s latest travel ban. As we know, Ferguson has been using the travel bans as a way to pull the spotlight onto himself in preparation for his bid for governor to show that he is actually working after almost an entire term in office of remaining silent. The travel ban is scheduled to begin on Thursday and we are betting Ferguson will have plenty to say so that he can remain in the headlines – whether or not the federal judge in Washington moves forward to rule on the ban.

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