The online poll is open. Now it’s time for you and others to choose your favorite Archives treasure for July. The three candidates: #1) Historic photos and documents of North Cascades Highway. #2) Historic photos and documents of ferries. #3) Photos related to Olympic torch and Washington Olympians. The online poll below is open until Friday at noon, so don’t forget to vote! We’ll blog about the winner Friday afternoon. [poll id=”19″]
Washington’s PCO elections are on the verge of being back in business. A year after a federal court judge ruled state-run PCO elections unconstitutional in the context of the Top 2 Primary, the Legislature has approved a bill requiring PCO elections to be conducted during the state’s Primary Election, which occurs Aug. 7 this year. The House concurred with Senate amendments to House Bill 1860 sending the proposal to Gov. Gregoire for her probable signing. Precinct committee officers are local…
Consuls from 17 countries were honored guests today in the Capitol for the State of the State Address. Before the Governor gave her address, Lt. Governor Brad Owen, Secretary of State Sam Reed and legislators warmly welcomed the members at a reception held in the Lt. Governor’s office. Countries represented included: Hungary, Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Russia, Spain, Uganda, Uzbekistan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.
It’s true that the state and national economy are finally recovering, but consumers aren’t spending and unemployment keeps edging upward. That odd situation, dubbed a “revenue-less recovery,” today led the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council to slash another $760 million from the expected tax revenue for the next two-year period. State budget Director Victor Moore says the grim development means the Legislature and Governor Gregoire now have a budget hole of $2.6 billion to fill, just months after fixing a…
Governor Chris Gregoire is quoted as liking the idea of letting Washington voters decide whether to issue state bonds to help finance school construction projects. Details still are skimpy, so we’ll keep you posted if it gets off the ground. But the whole notion of submitting state bond measures to a statewide vote is as old as the hills — and pretty darned successful over time. Rummaging through the (online) storage cellar of the state Elections Division, we see (click here ) that…