February 22, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 11:44 am
Following Saturday’s town hall in the 43rd district, House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43) sat down with students from the University of Washington—who had shown up in full force to make the case for higher ed funding—and deflected their assault by laying out a “How To” guide to save the UW, which faces serious financial problems [...] read more →
February 21, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 9:59 am
Proof that the 43rd District—Capitol Hill, the U. District, Wallingford—exists in a happy liberal bubble? Yesterday’s town hall meeting at the First Baptist Church. Rep Frank Chopp, Sen. Ed Murray, and Rep. Jamie Pedersen were subjected to a lovefest on Saturday, as opposed to the anti-incumbent free-for-alls we’ve come to expect from town halls in [...] read more →
February 16, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 10:09 am
[This post has been updated with an account of the Tea Party activists' meetings with legislators.] The official crowd estimates from yesterday’s competing rallies at the State Capitol in Olympia are in. The liberals rallying for tax increases to fund state programs like health care and senior care brought out 5,500 people. The conservatives, the [...] read more →
February 3, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 8:40 am
The University of Washington’s student administration held a budget cuts town hall last night for students and administration officials. Things got heated when one student took his alloted 30 seconds for questions to simply call the administration “racist,” suggesting the simultaneous tuition increases and financial aid cuts were targeting minorities. University President Mark Emmert responded [...] read more →
January 28, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 5:41 pm
Yesterday afternoon, in a testy hearing (my dispatches from yesterday’s action here) pitting pro-vs.-anti-choice factions in Olympia, Democratic state legislators introduced legislation that would require “limited service pregnancy centers,” frequently operated by religious groups, to disclose the fact that they don’t provide abortions, their religious affiliations, and the fact that they’re primarily nonprofits, not medical [...] read more →
January 20, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 10:50 am
Teo posted this survey of UW students about tuition hikes on Monday. We’re reposting it today because there’s a hearing this afternoon in Olympia on North Seattle State Sen. Ken Jacobsen’s (D-46) bill to allow the UW to hike tuition. In an attempt to involve students in what will likely be a devastating budget year [...] read more →
January 14, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 3:05 pm
“The best show in Olympia so far,” quipped a legislative staffer standing with the crowd on the side of the packed hearing room. This is the consensus among staffers about yesterday’s public hearing in the House public safety committee on bills to decriminalize marijuana and to legalize marijuana. The “pot bills” drew a motley crowd [...] read more →
By Teodora Popescu at 1:22 am
“The best show in Olympia so far,” quipped a legislative staffer standing with the crowd on the side of the packed hearing room. This is the consensus among staffers about yesterday’s public hearing in the House public safety committee on bills to decriminalize marijuana and to legalize marijuana. The “pot bills” drew a motley crowd [...] read more →
January 13, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 1:40 pm
Planned Parenthood rolled out their legislative agenda today with HB 2837 and SB 6452, requiring more transparency and accuracy from “crisis pregnancy centers” or—as Planned Parenthood calls them—”limited service pregnancy centers.” Sponsored by Mercer Island Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-41) and Bellevue Sen. Rodney Tom (D- Bellevue), HB 2837 and its partner SB 6452, responds to [...] read more →
January 11, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 5:41 pm
Today’s Comment of the Day goes to Fat-tailed for his/her insightful (if a little juvenile) critique of Morning Fizz, where we poked fun at Seattle liberals for jumping on the Republican anti-public-employee bandwagon. As Fat-tailed pointed out, there’s a big difference between frontline workers and top managers, leading us to think Democratic leaning labor unions [...] read more →
January 6, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 11:23 am
The University of Washington is known as an environmentally conscious campus—so much so that in its last report, the National Sierra Club ranked the UW the second most sustainable school in the nation. However, a large portion of UW’s environmental and sustainability projects, (like the UW’s Green Purchasing Program, mandate to use only 100 percent [...] read more →
January 4, 2010
By Teodora Popescu at 8:25 pm
The press surround Mayor Mike McGinn after he’s sworn in at City Hall today. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llCUIJrmm60[/youtube] read more →
