The state’s economy is growing – so we should be adding to emergency reserves, not spending them, says State Treasurer Duane Davidson. Unlike Gov. Inslee, who wants to spend a big chunk of our reserves, we think the state’s rainy day fund is something that should be saved for, well, an actual rainy day. (Tri-City Herald)

“It’s 451 additional lane miles of highway… $115 billion,” to reduce congestion between Everett and Seattle according to Inslee’s Transportation Secretary Roger Millar, who provided the numbers to the House Transportation Committee yesterday. But don’t worry, this is just a hypothetical – WSDOT has no plan to improve congestion, and doesn’t plan to have a plan. (MyNorthwest)

“Bob Ferguson picked me for publicity,” former Seattle Seahawk Sam Adams told the Seattle P.I. recently. He says he was falsely accused of tax fraud by the Attorney General’s Office in such a severe mistake that Adams was stuck in a conceptual “debtor’s prison” for two and a half years before Ferguson dropped the charges. (Seattle P.I.)

Despite having yet to hear the results of how the latest bikeshare companies performed in Seattle, two of the private companies are attempting to get the city to buy into electric bikes as their next move forward. (MyNorthwest)

Restaurateurs are already coming up with ways to work around Seattle’s sweetened beverage tax. A man who owns restaurants in both Seattle and Kirkland told KIRO that he plans on having, “everything (the Seattle location needs) ordered to the Kirkland location and… (then they will) deliver it ourselves to the Seattle ones… it’s either that or we pass it on to the customers.” (MyNorthwest)

The next UW provost is Mark Richards, a geophysicist from UC-Berkeley. UW President Ana Mari Cauce called him “an outstanding academic leader. The provost is the #2 position at the public university. (The Seattle Times)

The Vancouver Port Commission voted 3-0 to defeat the $210 million Vancouver Energy project that was proposed to bring oil from North Dakota and Montana to the West Coast refineries. (The Seattle Times)

A 20-year Spokane city clerk was fired for campaigning using public resources on behalf of his daughter, who ran for Spokane Valley City Council recently. Bob West said he “did not do any campaigning at all,” while City Administrator Theresa Sanders signed a letter where she declared he had violated the city policy regarding using public resources to benefit a campaign. (The Spokesman Review)

A U.S. District Court judge has approved the plan to release more water into the Columbia and Snake Rivers via eight different federal dams. “Increasing the proportion of spill is vital for the protection of salmon and steelhead, and for fishing businesses and communities across the Northwest,” executive director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association said. (The Spokesman-Review)

Spokane firefighters will be getting two new air compressors after the Spokane City Council approved a $160,000 emergency purchase of the machines due to a contamination leak found in their existing compressors. (The Spokesman-Review)

Spokane City Council overrode Mayor David Condon’s veto on legislation that creates new rules and regulations for campaign financing in Spokane. “I can’t wait until the next election cycle, so we can find out where the dark money is coming from,” City Council President Ben Stuckart said. (The Spokesman-Review)

Do you like The Morning Briefing? Forward this to a friend! It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected].

If you don’t want to receive this email each morning, click here to opt-out of The Morning Briefing.