Rachel La Corte, Olympia reporter for the Associated Press, brought home the Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. “La Corte’s ongoing efforts to open up the state legislative process have already produced one positive ruling and have sparked efforts to force the Legislature to simply make clear in statute that they are subject to public disclosure laws,” the AP’s Northwest News Editor Chris Grygiel wrote. (Society of Professional Journalists)

The Wall Street Journal notes a state employee in Olympia who has been trying to opt out of his union, to no avail. “Mike Stone, a child-support worker in Olympia, Wash., has been trying to stop paying dues to the Washington Federation of State Employees since the court’s decision in June. The union has denied his request, he says. The catch is that he signed a union card in March and didn’t notice that he had agreed to pay dues for the next year. ‘It was very small print, and unfortunately I missed that part,’ says Mr. Stone, 35.” (Wall Street Journal)

There are few certainties in Washington’s primary election, but Dino Rossi is sure of one thing: “No matter which one of these three come out, it doesn’t matter, it will be the most far left-wing opponent I have ever had, and I’ve run against Patty Murray.” Rossi added that one of his potential opponents is so far left that The Stranger wouldn’t even endorse her. (My Northwest)

A congressional candidate challenging Rep. Adam Smith (D) is trying to follow the path of New York socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez, arguably most well known for her economic illiteracy, defeated Joe Crowley in New York earlier this year, shocking the political world. Candidate Sarah Smith hopes to have similar success trumpeting Venezuelan economic policies/progressive platitudes. (My Northwest)

The Sound Transit board’s executive committee approved a plan to power Link light rail almost entirely from renewable energy sources. Of course, they could just buy regular electricity through Seattle City Light, which is almost all renewable hydropower (yes, that’s renewable energy to most of us). But who cares, it’s just taxpayers’ money anyway, right? Paying more for electricity is “leadership.” (Seattle Transit Blog)

Fire officials called for evacuations of up to 100 homes as the Silver Lake fire continued to grow. Roughly 11 fire agencies responded with about 100 firefighters, who battled the fire in weather above 90 degrees. “One of our priorities is to keep this fire small,” said Guy Gifford, spokesman for the state Dept. of Natural Resources. “That’s why we had the resources re-allocated.” (The Spokesman-Review)

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