“I thought I had the answers to every question and I don’t have [an] answer to that,” Inslee clumsily conceded to the CNN Town Hall audience. “But next time we meet, I’m going to have a better approach. I know that I have a team of people who are looking for options on this.” The question that stumped Inslee was related to how he, if elected president, would get foreign countries to participate in a broken recycling system. Considering he’s running a single issue campaign, you’d think he would have been prepared for a basic question related to his on issue. (MyNorthwest)

The Freedom Foundation appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling issued by the state supreme court related to local labor reform initiatives. The initiatives intended to make collective bargaining negotiations between the cities and their employees more transparent, which city leaders denied representation on ballots. “This is clearly a freedom of speech issue,” said Freedom Foundation Senior Litigation Counsel Eric Stahlfeld. “Even the justices who ruled against us conceded the wording of the Fair Campaign Practices Act concerning when an initiative becomes subject to the law is ‘at odds with’ local initiative procedures.” (Washington State Wire)

Rep. Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake) returned to work at the Legislature Thursday after experiencing some dizziness on the House floor. “Initially there was speculation I had a heart attack. That is not the case. They ran numerous tests, including a CAT scan, which revealed my heart is in good condition,” he said in the release. Dent added that for the past couple of weeks he has been working while recovering from a case of walking pneumonia. (Yakima Herald)

The federal government granted Sound Transit approval to extend the light rail to Federal Way. The approval indicated that hundreds of millions in federal grants could be headed to Sound Transit as well. “What you’re signaling is that you’re ready to partner,” Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff said. “They won’t advance projects to engineering if they don’t think they’re going to get to the full grant agreement.” Great, even more taxpayer dollars for Sound Transit to squander. (Seattle Times)

Staring down a budget shortfall of $31 million, one out of every 12 employees at Spokane Public Schools could be without a job. “This is a difficult time for SPS, one that is playing out statewide following the unprecedented change to the mix of local and state funding,” said Superintendent Shelley Redinger. Notifications of potential layoffs went out yesterday morning. (Spokesman-Review)

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