http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/wa-news/ en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:29:58 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051715/posts A total of 24 states allow voters to change laws on their own by collecting signatures and putting initiatives on the ballot. It's healthy that the entrenched political class should face some real legislative competition from initiative-toting citizens. Unfortunately, some special interests have declared war on the initiative process, using tactics ranging from restrictive laws to outright thuggery. - Snip - The initiative is a reform born out of the Progressive Era, when there was general agreement that powerful interests had too much influence over legislators. It was adopted by most states in the Midwest and West, including Ohio and... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051715/posts#comment Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:29:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051565/posts Your daily routine -- switching on a light, cooking a meal, driving down the street -- would generate less greenhouse gases under a first-of-its-kind regional strategy to curb global warming unveiled Wednesday at the state Capitol in Salem. The strategy emerged from the Western Climate Initiative, an alliance of Western states -- including Oregon and Washington -- and Canadian provinces trying to jump ahead of any federal move to regulate greenhouse gases. Large utility companies and factory owners would feel the effects first, followed by fuel distributors, as they face limits on their greenhouse gas emissions. Individual Oregonians would not... OregonLive http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051565/posts#comment Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:45:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050882/posts Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack? Not in sections 311 and 312 at Safeco Field on Aug. 5 and Sept. 9. Those will be peanut-controlled zones on those days, the Mariners announced this week, cleaned thoroughly the night before and all peanut products will be banned on those games. Peanut products will not be sold at nearby concession stands. Tickets will be $10 each for those days. The Seattle Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050882/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:17:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050870/posts MONROE, Wash. – A would-be robber armed with a gun was no match for a husband and wife and their baseball bat early Thursday morning. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office says the 24-year-old Monroe man entered the home in the 21600 block of 164th Drive SE around 3:30 a.m. He apparently got in through an unlocked door. The crook allegedly confronted the couple in their bedroom with a handgun. The couple fought back, beating the intruder on the head with a baseball bat. The suspect was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious head injuries. Once released, he'll... KING5 TV Seattle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050870/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:59:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050574/posts TACOMA, Wash. – Diners at Pacific Grill, an upscale downtown Tacoma restaurant, were confronted by a man who was dining alone Monday evening. According to Tacoma Police, the man sat down and ordered beer, then got up, went into a private dining area and demanded money from the diners. He told them this was a robbery and demanded their wallets. "He comes in the room and says, 'I want your wallet and your cash'," recalled Dr. Charles Weatherbee who was seated with fellow doctors and drug reps. Another doctor handed over his wallet, but when he only found credit cards,... King 5 News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050574/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:33:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050233/posts EVERETT, Wash – A private school principal from Arlington has been charged for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old student. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office says the 37-year-old is charged with one count of third-degree child rape. Detectives have been investigating since June when the girl's parents reported her as a runaway. The sheriff's office says the girl's principal had allowed her to sleep at Heritage Christian School instead of reporting her whereabouts to authorities. Earlier this week, the girl told detectives she'd had sex with her principal while she was staying at the school. The principal was arraigned Wednesday... KING 5 TV (Seattle) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050233/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:48:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050080/posts Boeing Co. could lift a fast-growing Columbia River Gorge aircraft business to new heights, under a nearly $400 million acquisition announced Tuesday. Bingen-based Insitu’s 360 employees are giddy about the news, which could bring payoffs for many, thanks to a company plan that allowed employees to own shares of the private business, said spokeswoman Tabitha Orlando. Insitu’s acquisition is part of a larger Boeing plan to aggressively grow its presence in the unmanned systems market, said Chris Chadwick, president of Boeing Military Aircraft. Boeing and Insitu have worked together since 2002, when the two businesses jointly began development of the... The Columbian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050080/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:02:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049768/posts WASHINGTON – A Democratic senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee inadvertently explained why her colleagues have no intention of ending the moratorium on offshore oil drilling or increasing the areas open for exploration and production – no matter how popular the idea might be with gas prices soaring. In an interview with Bloomberg TV's "Money and Politics" last night, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., explained Democrats don't want to increase supplies of oil and gasoline because they want to wean Americans off of petroleum products. Asked point-blank if Democrats in the Senate would consider how increasing the supply of... WorldNetDaily.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049768/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:48:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049740/posts As the military prepares to close Fort Lawton, an Army Reserve base nestled in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood, a city proposal to develop a 200-home subdivision that includes housing for the homeless angers some residents. ___ A newly released city plan to redevelop the soon-to-be-closed Fort Lawton in Seattle calls for building a 200-home subdivision of market-rate and affordable housing on about 18 acres. At a final community meeting Saturday at Fort Lawton, those living near the Army Reserve base said they didn't oppose housing for the homeless, but they worried that the total number of homes proposed and the percentage... Seattle Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049740/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:07:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049730/posts This Los Angeles conference has been both sobering and encouraging. Sobering because the pace of change in our industry is faster and the nature of that change more extreme than any of us imagined. Hearing from specialists in electronic/digital media organizations other than newspapers has made it crystal clear that whatever we have done to this point is dangerously inadequate. If we don't change more dramatically and faster, there will not be an industry to support the sort of value-driven journalism that is at the heart of our craft. The encouraging news is that the tools we need to make... The Spokane Socialist-Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049730/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:33:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047731/posts TACOMA - A key participant in the 2001 arson that destroyed the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison. Jennifer L. Kolar, 33, of Seattle also was ordered to pay more than $7.1 million in restitution in connection with the fire, which also destroyed priceless research projects and endangered plants. The sentencing, by U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess, came after Kolar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson, two counts of arson, one count of attempted arson and using a destructive device during a crime of violence. Kolar was part... KOMONews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047731/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:25:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047693/posts Police need more evidence, state justices saySupporters of marijuana decriminalization celebrated Thursday's decision by the state Supreme Court restricting police from arresting passengers simply for being in a car smelling of pot. Seattle Post-Intelligencer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047693/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:17:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047587/posts Only five groups have attempted Mount Rainier's scenic, 93-mile Wonderland Trail this year, and all have turned back because of snow..... Snowpack levels in the Cascades and Olympics are at their highest since 1999, according to data from the National Weather and Climate Center. Seattle Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047587/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:40:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047013/posts SEATTLE — After spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle is calling it quits. One of San Francisco’s toilets, which, officials say, always need maintenance adjustments. In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the city’s most destitute people refused to step inside them. The units were put up for sale Wednesday afternoon on eBay, with a starting bid set by the city at $89,000 apiece. The dismal outcome coincides with plans by New York,... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047013/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:45:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046972/posts All Desiree Carpenter wanted was a chance to succeed. As a young woman Ms. Carpenter (not her real name) had been subjected to repeated physical and sexual assaults, losing her eyesight during one attack. Her assailant did hard time, but now he was back on the streets and vowing to track her down. Her only hope was to flee to another state, assume a new identity, and start over. Washington was the best place to begin anew, since the state had passed tough anti-stalking laws. So she packed her bags and hopped on the train with her two children in... Ifeminists.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046972/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:44:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046386/posts The U.S. Justice Department has asked a Seattle federal court to revoke the citizenship of a Washington state resident accused of serving the Nazis. Tuesday's complaint alleges that Yugoslavian-born Peter Egner, 86, in April 1941 joined the Nazi-controlled Security Police and Security Service in German-occupied Belgrade, Serbia, a Nazi mobile killing unit that participated in the mass murder of more than 17,000 Serbian civilians during World War II. According to the complaint, Egner has admitted volunteering to serve in the Security Police and Security Service and guarding prisoners as they were being transferred to concentration camps. Egner also admitted serving... JTA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046386/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:48:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046384/posts Seattle, Washington - The number of immigration violators deported from three Pacific Northwest states surged nearly 40 percent when compared to the same period last year, according to statistics released today by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the first nine months of fiscal year 2008 (Oct. 2007 through June 2008), ICE returned 7,345 illegal aliens to their home countries who had been living in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. During that same period last fiscal year, ICE removed 5,256. This year’s statistics reflect a 39 percent overall increase in the volume of deportations from the three-state area. Of the... Imperial Valley News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046384/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:43:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046379/posts SEATTLE (AP) - The Justice Department asked a federal court Tuesday to revoke the citizenship of an 86-year-old Bellevue man, saying he served in a Nazi unit that slaughtered 17,000 Serbian civilians during World War II. Peter Egner, a native of Yugoslavia, served as a guard and interpreter with the Nazi-controlled Security Police and Security Service in Belgrade, Serbia - then Yugoslavia - from April 1941 to September 1943, said a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Egner did not divulge that information after he immigrated to the U.S. in 1960 and applied for citizenship, the complaint... Komonews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046379/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:39:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046368/posts Vets for Freedom, a military group in support of finishing the mission in Iraq, released its second ad today. This time the veteran's group pounds those who wanted to see Iraq fail. "Some in Washington" Video at link YouTube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046368/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:18:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045914/posts How far can an administration go in destroying its country's environment, harming the citizens to which it is (in theory) beholden and dooming the future not only of its own people, but spreading the harm across the world? We won't know for sure until President Bush leaves office, but his record, and that of his administration, borders on criminal. On Monday, Bush lifted the ban on offshore drilling -- a move we hope Congress can block -- plundering the oceans for a paltry sum of oil (less than three years' worth), which won't even be available for a decade --... Seattle P I http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045914/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:30:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045910/posts AUBURN, Wash. – For some, the game of golf can be strict, but on Sunday at the Auburn Golf Course, one golfer not only broke the rules, he broke the law. Auburn Police say a golfer used a 6-iron to assault another golfer, hitting the victim so hard he broke the club. "There's a lot of rules in golf and if you break the rules some people tend to take it really seriously out here, so I'm not really surprised someone got assaulted," said golfer Ryan Aker. "There was a group of golfers ahead of another group of golfers and... KING 5 (TV) Seattle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045910/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:21:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045440/posts ONE of "the most contaminated places on Earth" will only get dirtier if the US government doesn't get its act together - clean-up plans are already 19 years behind schedule and not due for completion until 2050. More than 210 million litres of radioactive and chemical waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford in Washington State. Most are over 50 years old. Already 67 of the tanks have failed, leaking almost 4 million litres of waste into the ground. There are now "serious questions about the tanks' long-term viability," says a Government Accountability Office report, which strongly criticises... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045440/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:24:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045428/posts Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- Voters in Washington state head to the polls in November to decided whether to make it the second, after Oregon, to legalize assisted suicide. In the coming months, they'll likely see a one-sided campaign in favor of I-1000 because the backers of the initiative have a nearly 12-1 advantage in fundraising.The numbers should light a fire under pro-life advocates, patient and disability rights groups and medical professionals who don't want euthanasia to expand.Backers of the assisted suicide proposal turned in more than enough signatures earlier this month to likely qualify for the ballot.And when the debate... Life News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045428/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:04:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044949/posts Washington state wildlife biologists who conducted a "howling survey" believe a gray wolf pack may be living in western Okanogan County. Washington state wildlife biologists who conducted a "howling survey" believe a gray wolf pack may be living in western Okanogan County. Biologists conducted the survey in the area on July 7. They made wolf-like howls in several areas, and heard both adult and juvenile howls in response. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says that if confirmed, it would be Washington's first known resident wolf pack since the species disappeared from the state in the 1930s. While individual wolves... Seattle Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044949/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:01:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044849/posts When it comes to physician-assisted dying, Teresa Grove wears her politics on her refrigerator door ­­— and on her chest. Grove works as a hospice nurse. For the past 14 years, she has been involved with the Oregon group Compassion in Dying (now Compassion and Choices), which sponsored the 1994 Oregon Death With Dignity Act. She chaired its board of directors for 10 years and still serves as a client volunteer. An advance directive, also known as a Physician’s Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment, is affixed to her refrigerator. The tattoo on her chest — impossible to be missed by emergency... The Columbian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044849/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:05:37 GMT