Businessman and Air Force veteran Andy Rathburn is challenging marijuana grower and five-year incumbent Karen Stratton for Spokane City Council.  Stratton has received her largest contributions from government employee unions and those involved in cannabis businesses. Her connection to the marijuana industry has many people concerned.  (ShiftWA)

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant proposes 37 more taxpayer-funded homeless encampments in residential neighborhoods. Sawant wants the City of Seattle to select your new neighbors and make you pay for their indefinite stay. (ShiftWA)

Three observations from Inslee’s campaign’s latest email in which the Governor condemns Donald Trump’s recent interaction with federal agencies.

• Inslee continues to dream he is running against Donald Trump. The email only references federal agencies (National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and no mention of state agencies. Is this because Inslee’s Department of Corrections, Department of Transportation, and Department of Social and Health Services are embroiled in controversies, investigations, and lawsuits?
• Inslee asks people to support NOAA scientists who are “fighting to tell the truth.” Does Inslee support the NOAA biologists who state that tearing down the Lower Snake River dams is not necessary for salmon recovery and does nothing to help the Puget Sound orca  population?
• Inslee states he is against making NOAA and the Weather Service “political pawns.” If this is true, then why does he write about the agencies in a divisive political fundraising appeal for an office that has no jurisdiction over those two agencies? (Inslee Campaign email and Washington Association of Wheat Growers)

Bob Ferguson pulls the Attorney General’s office out of providing oral arguments at the Washington Supreme Court after revelations that Sound Transit was using the wrong tables to assess motor vehicle tax.  Ferguson also confessed to the Court that the A.G.’s written arguments contained “inaccurate factual statements.”  The case before the court is on whether Sound Transit wrote unclear ballot description for the ST3 package that was approved by the voters. (Ferguson Notice to Washington Supreme Court and Washington Policy Center Blog)

After going on national television calling Boeing “blackmailers” and “muggers” for negotiating a tax deal with the state, Inslee pulls a no-show at a hearing dealing with the tax breaks.  Inslee made his accusations when he was attempting to garner anti-corporate left-wing support for his failed presidential campaign.  At the hearing of the Citizens Commission for Performance Measurement of Tax Preferences, Inslee did not show, and his staffer made no references to the Governor’s statements of felonious behavior of the state’s largest employer. (Everett Herald)

Seattle’s elected officials’ attitude toward the police has just cost Seattle taxpayers over a million and a half dollars.  Mayor Jenny Durkan released a $1.6 million-dollar plan to recruit new officers to Seattle.  Recently the city has seen a flight of many officers due to the belief the police force is not supported by elected officials.  (Seattle Times)

A proposed marijuana processing plant unifies many groups to be against the facility in Whitman County.  Educators, business leaders, parents, physicians, and farmers come out against growing and processing cannabis in their community.  A WSU chemistry professor warns of “aerosolized marijuana particles” that could drift onto neighboring farms and could impact Cougar Gold cheese.  (Inlander)

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