Camas city officials proposed a $78 million bond levy to build an extravagant community center to replace a 64-year-old pool that would have cost $2 million to renovate. Voters shot down the bond measure by a 90%-10% margin and voted out the mayor with a last-minute write-in campaign. (ShiftWA)

On January 1, the state minimum wage will increase from $11.00 to $12.50 an hour and consumer prices will increase.   With more money being charged for goods and services, businesses will have higher gross receipts.  Since the Washington state B&O tax is based on gross revenue (not on “net” revenue like federal income tax) businesses will be required to pay higher state taxes. (Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business)

On Monday Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee plan to sign a “letter of intent” to build a new I-5 bridge connecting Portland and Vancouver.  It is not known what the document says regarding the funding of the new structure, which has been the major roadblock to the numerous previous attempts to construct another bridge over the Columbia River.  Thus far Washington has paid $35 million to move the project forward while Oregon has contributed $9 million. (Vancouver Columbian)

An investigation is taking place on why the Seattle Post Office failed to deliver political mail on-time that should have been received by voters prior to the election.  In hotly contested races for SeaTac city council, mailers from the Rental Association PAC supporting conservative candidates were delivered after the November 5^th election.  A couple of the council races were determined by less than 300 votes.  (MyNorthwest and King County Elections)

Instead of continuing to drive passengers all the way into Seattle, both Sound Transit and Community Transit are proposing to drop off over 13,000 daily commuters at the Northgate light-rail station.  Once at the station, the passengers will need to transfer and wait for the next train.  The transit agencies are proposing these changes due to traffic congestion between Northgate and points further south in Seattle. (Seattle Times)

In a national satire article, Seattle’s policies were made light of in a piece with the headline “Seattle man found with 8 lbs. of heroin in plastic bag, arrested for possession of plastic bag.” Even the drug dealers were scornful of the suspect’s actions with one proclaiming, “That’s just irresponsible. That guy needs to take a long look at his life, his decisions, and how they impact others.” (The Glorious American)

There is the possibility that former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart could be appointed to fill the vacant 2^nd District seat of new incoming council president Breean Beggs. Stuckart, who recently lost to Nadine Woodward in the Spokane mayor’s race, has not commented on whether he would be interested in the appointment.  Yet, Councilmember Lori Kinnear appeared uncomfortable with the possibility saying, “It would be awkward, and I would imagine that he would want to move on. He’s been on the council for eight years, that’s a long time.”  The vacancy will be filled by a vote of the remaining six members of the council. The new councilmember will serve out the remaining two years of Beggs’ term. (Spokesman-Review)

$10 bus rides from Spokane to Seattle will be available beginning this Thursday.  FlixBus is entering the Pacific Northwest market and will have service from Spokane & Couer d’Alene to Seattle & Tacoma and down to Portland and Eugene. (YakTriNews)

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