In no sane world would removing four renewable energy-producing hydroelectric dams – which also provide a lower-carbon emissions route for our state’s abundant agriculture to travel from Idaho to the Pacific Ocean – be considered an environmental solution to a problem.  Yet that’s where the Everett Herald’s editorial board ended up, joining the far-Left chorus demanding that the lower Snake River dams be removed by relying on a new apocalyptic justification: “Climate change may now be influencing the decision that for the sake of all of the basin’s beneficiaries some dams — at least the four lower Snake River dams — may need to go; to ensure that salmon and other species can survive and that other dams can remain.”

That’s right – we just need to sacrifice these dams at the alter of climate change, so that all others may live, though it will get expensive, as the writers do admit “rail lines will have to be upgraded to ship what is now handled by barges. And new lines and pumps will be necessary for irrigation systems. Replacing the dams’ electricity is more complicated.” You can read more about how one study points out “replacing the power from the four lower Snake River dams would cost $15 billion in new generation sources” and how that does not cause West side media any problems here… (Everett) Herald.

It sure can get embarrassing for Democrats when the public gets a peek at their emails, as Pierce County Councilman Ryan Mello is being reminded today in coverage about his blackmail demands for a never-ending tax increase in exchange for supporting a homeless village. That’s the lesson to be drawn from multiple stories in the (Tacoma) News Tribune which link the two, reporting “Democratic Councilman Ryan Mello said he sought to ‘use the enthusiasm the Republicans have for this project’ to make the tax a reality.”

That 0.1% sales tax is “expected to generate roughly $20 million yearly” which is far in excess of what the county needs to support the new homeless village.  You can sadly read more of his own words to understand Councilman Mello’s thinking that “You really have to take advantage of moments like this” about his strong desire to raise taxes forever here… (Tacoma) News Tribune.

Perhaps the saddest truth about the scandal that is the mental health system in Washington State after a decade of Governor Jay Inslee is that all of the players involved – the governor, state bureaucrats, local elected officials, and judges – are more willing to waste taxpayer money on lawsuits against other government entities than they are in putting that money to work for a single person suffering from mental illness. That is what you can see from Crosscut’s report on “nearly two dozen Washington counties – including King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane – (who) are suing the Washington Department of Social and Health Services for not providing legally mandated behavioral health care.”

Attentive readers know this is a not a new problem, as “(D)espite two court orders roughly a decade ago requiring better care and hundreds of millions of dollars put into the system since then, the state has struggled to provide care for individuals with mental health issues.” Fortunately, you can see how the governor must be thinking up his latest excuse, as “Gov. Jay Inslee’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment” here… Crosscut.

We are now over a month into the state’s latest liberal experiment, this one the new payroll tax the state misleadingly calls “WA Cares”, and at least one writer is looking approvingly back at the decision to opt-out of the tax when that was an option. That’s the takeaway from an op-ed in the Spokesman-Review, with the writer concluding that “given all the unknowns about WA Cares’ solvency, how high its tax rate could ultimately go, as well as how the program’s qualifications might mean I will never see any benefit at all, private long-term-care insurance was the right choice for me.”

Whether you were one of the “nearly 500,000 people (who) came to the same conclusion” as the writer, you can read more how the “state’s misleading marketing campaign doesn’t so much inform how to use the program as it does try to convince the public to like a program they’ve been forced to join and want to opt out of” here… Spokesman-Review.

There is too much depressing and just wrong with this approach, so Shift will leave with little further comment this KING 5 story about a “vending machine providing fentanyl testing strips and opioid overdose reversal medication (that) is now available at a tiny home village on the Tulalip Indian Reservation.” You can read more about how the “unit is located at the tribe’s new pallet shelter village – a tiny home community where people are allowed to use drugs” here… KING 5.

The arrogance of the liberals running some of our state’s school districts if too often on display, but rarely does it reach the head-smacking levels shown in Marysville, north of Everett. That’s what can be learned from a KOMO TV report that money “troubles in the Marysville School District have now reached a crisis level, forcing it into financial binding conditions with the state. The district said it must borrow money from the county treasurer as it now faces a massive cash flow deficit, originally reported at about $28 million.”

The current Superintendent is clearly overmatched, ignoring his own existing spending problems, shifting blame to his predecessors, and gaslighting that “it is far-fetched and disingenuous to say that current budget challenges are due to anything other than a volatile financial landscape impacting schools and school districts across the state and nation”. That’s why it’s little solace that the “district says staff has been working to clean up any errors that may have been present and gone undetected and that has lead to a new budget proposal with a deficit of about $17M” here… (KOMO).

Another day, and another error-riddled email from everybody’s favorite explorer, Attorney General Bob Ferguson.  In this latest version, you can see how he has so little to promote his candidacy that he claims he is “the only candidate for governor” who has donors in all 39 counties – even though he can’t possibly know this, since that information is not required of all campaign donors. You can read more falsehoods that maybe Ferguson can get around to fixing after he is done “exploring” his race for governor here… Ferguson campaign email.

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