A second special session began June 12 - House and Senate leaders are meeting to find agreement on the 2013-15 operating budget.
The Capitol Buzz is a daily summary of online news clips from across the state, discussing policies and politics affecting Washington state.
Today's Capitol Buzz
AGRICULTURE & WATER
- Walla Walla sweet onion harvest begins (AP/Kitsap Sun)
- Wheat scare leaves farmers in limbo (The Seattle Times)
- Judge: 650+ farm workers entitled to know wages (AP/Kitsap Sun)
- Federal judge: Lower Valley farm workers wronged by farm owner, labor contractor (Yakima Herald Republic)
BUDGET & TAXES
- Revenue windfall could end stalemate (The Spokesman-Review)
- A sudden $321 million windfall prompts a startling go-home offer from the Senate (Washington State Wire)
- State lawmakers receive $120 million forecast bump (AP/Yakima Herald Republic)
- Positive revenue forecast may help avert state shutdown (The Everett Herald)
- Big revenue boost could break budget logjam in Olympia (NW News Network)
- Revenue boost puts Legislature closer to budget deal (The Seattle Times)
- BLOG: $231 million revenue jump could help break state budget stalemate (Andrew Garber/The Seattle Times)
- BLOG: Could $231 million in additional revenue break the budget stalemate? (Christina Salerno/TVW)
- EDITORIAL: The clock keeps ticking for our legislators and state (Tri-City Herald)
BUSINESS, LABOR & ECONOMY
- Oregon company bringing 50-plus jobs to Winton (The Wenatchee World)
- OPINION: Boeing’s exodus from Washington state (State Sen. Mike Hewitt/The Seattle Times)
COURTS, CRIME & LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Former Washington State Penitentiary counselor charged with inmate sex (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
- EDITORIAL: Quit paying salary of SPD union president (The Seattle Times)
EDUCATION (K-12) & SCHOOL SAFETY
- Too many teachers, too little quality (AP/Yakima Herald Republic)
- State’s trainers of teachers criticize new national rankings (The Seattle Times)
- Legislative delay could cost state schools $45 million (The Olympian)
- EDITORIAL: Education loses when ideologues hold up budget (The Olympian)
- EDITORIAL: Reading is fundamental (The Seattle Times)
ENERGY & UTILITIES
- Coal plan boosted by corps decision (McClatchy/The Spokesman-Review)
- Army Corps won’t do overall study of coal exports (AP/Kitsap Sun)
- Federal decision hands coal ports a big victory (Crosscut)
ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES
HANFORD
- Energy secretary to visit Hanford (AP/The Spokesman-Review)
- Report faults Washington for lax oversight on Hanford cleanup (Tri-City Herald)
- EPA report critical of Wash. oversight at Hanford (AP/ The Olympian)
- EDITORIAL: Moniz’s Hanford baptism (The Everett Herald)
HEALTH CARE
- Cuts to Guilds’ School stir criticism (The Spokesman-Review)
- Peace Health, UW collaboration eases continuing care, training (Nancy Steiger, CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center/The Bellingham Herald)
- EDITORIAL: State must give higher priority to mentally ill (The Olympian)
- EDITORIAL: Organ scarcity’s the real transplant dilemma (The News Tribune)
HIGHER EDUCATION
- Former WSU Tri-Cities employee awarded $100,000 in lawsuit (Tri-City Herald)
- Walla Walla Community College among few selected to school reform network (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
- BLOG: WSU makes honor roll, but most teacher prep programs get low marks (Katherine Long/The Seattle Times)
IMMIGRATION
LEGISLATURE
- Revenue forecast halts lawmakers’ worker’s comp reform efforts (Yakima Herald-Republic)
- Local governments spend big to lobby Legislature (The Seattle Times)
- COLUMN: Welcome to the state of Rodney Tom (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)
- EDITORIAL: Government’s moral test (The Everett Herald)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
- Puyallup sets rule for offender homes (The News Tribune)
- Bellingham will again consider rental licensing, inspections in 2014 (The Bellingham Herald)
- Kate Reardon resigns as Everett city spokeswoman (The Everett Herald)
- COLUMN: Train Wreck: Can ‘Seattle Process’ learn from the Monorail? (Knute Berger/Crosscut)
MARIJUANA
- Part of congressional delegation asks feds to respect Wash. law on pot (AP/The Columbian)
- Washington’s senators nudge Justice Department on marijuana (Puget Sound Business Journal)
- DOJ urged to avoid pot showdown with state (The Seattle Times)
- Pot license suggestions (The News Tribune)
- BLOG: Washington’s members of Congress ask AG Eric Holder to respect voters on marijuana (Rob Hotakainen/The News Tribune)
- COLUMN: Marijuana legalization: What a long, strange trip it has been (Bruce Ramsey/The Seattle Times)
MILITARY
POLITICS
LOCAL
TRANSPORTATION
- Temporary I-5 bridge opens to traffic (The Seattle Times)
- U.S. House plan offers no money for CRC (The Columbian)
- U.S. House bill would make funding for the Columbia River Crossing even tougher (Willamette Week/Crosscut)
- OPINION: Highway robbery: WA’s economic advantage going the way of old roads (Tom Albro, Port of Seattle Commission; Don Meyer, Port of Tacoma Commission; John Odland, vice-president of MacMillan-Piper; and Vince O’Halloran, president of the Puget Sound Ports Council/Crosscut)
Read our policy on which stories we include in this daily service here.
Washington State House Republican Communications
www.houserepublicans.wa.gov
455 John L. O’Brien Building
P.O. Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504-0600