Halftime of the first 30-day special session was yesterday, but lawmakers have gotten no closer to reaching a budget deal. The current budget expires on June 30^th – leading us all to hope that lawmakers will come together in agreement sooner rather than later.

Democrats now want to charge you a 6.5% sales tax for online purchases . They’re claiming this additional tax would help to fund education as well as help businesses in the state, who deal with sales taxes in their brick-and-mortar stores, to compete with online retailers.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is expected to announce today that he will not be seeking re-election. Murray has yet to file his campaign paperwork and is currently facing a slew of allegations that, while he has been denying, have undoubtedly taken a toll on his re-election chances.

State Senator Bob Hasegawa (D-Beacon Hill) has stepped into the Seattle mayoral race, saying he wants to, “rebuild political power for the people that was kicked off by the Bernie campaign last year.” Hasegawa would be barred from fundraising until the legislature convenes, which he says will help to “be the lesson of this campaign.” People will need to get involved because, “you can’t just throw money at it and call it good.”

Park-and-Ride lot closures have begun, and people aren’t happy. By the end of May, 741 parking stalls in Park-and-Ride lots will have been removed to make room for light-rail construction, effectively cutting many drivers off. However, liberals seem to have forgotten that people will still need to commute to work between now and when the light-rail construction is completed – five years from now.

26 people arrested during demonstrations against JPMorgan Chase banks in Seattle yesterday. 13 bank locations were disrupted when protesters demonstrated inside of banks, refusing to leave by locking themselves together in two branches. The protests were against the loans Chase bank has made to oil-pipeline projects.

Feces in the Puget Sound are costing some shellfish farmers $10,000 a month. The Department of Health traced 40 illnesses back to a norovirus outbreak in shellfish from the Puget Sound, pointing to fecal coliform pollution as the main cause. Contamination can be caused by wastewater treatment plant failures, among other scenarios.

Bellingham’s Post Point Wastewater Treatment Plant experienced flooding this weekend when from a broken pipe. The plant had to shut down secondary treatments and was in emergency operations as of Sunday, but is still providing basic treatment to wastewater for now.

Washington State Ferries are now required to carry more life rafts. 70 rafts will be added over the next 2.5 years, ensuring ferries are self-sustaining should they need to deploy life rafts.

A $13 million settlement was reached after veterans were denied preference in hiring and promoting within the Washington State Patrol agency. The lawsuit was filed in the Spokane County Superior Court and is said to be the largest settlement of veterans’ employment rights.

Eastbound I-90 is now seeing lane reductions out of Spokane as West Company Inc. begins its $1.6 million state contract to repair bridge expansion joints and concrete panels on the freeway. Construction is expected to continue until June 22, with a hiatus for Memorial Day weekend.

WSU is getting $106 million in redesign and construction upgrades, for their Paul G. Allen School of Global Animal Health building and a Plant Sciences Building. The board of regents also approved a Doctor of Medicine degree path for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at the WSU Spokane campus.

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