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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 19, 2012
Maybe it's too soon to say this year's session is out of control, but Republican leaders say it sure seems like all sense of discipline has gone out the window. Remember when people were saying that this year's session was all about the budget? So many other issues have popped up you have to wonder if they'll have time for it.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 19, 2012
State officials say they have a plan to make sure their new health exchange is a success -- by severely limiting competition from private insurers.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 16, 2012
There's a list-making craze at the statehouse these days as lawmakers ponder big reforms that might cause more faint-hearted Legislatures to choke.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 13, 2012
In a classic Catch-22, the state says the public can't object to the lucrative gas-tax deals the governor's office has struck with Indian tribes.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 13, 2012
Who said this session would have a narrow focus? A broad coalition throws down the gauntlet to the Washington Education Association.
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By: Washington State Wire | Jan. 12, 2012
There are high hopes for Washington's fledgling jet-biofuel industry, touted as a shining example of green technology. But environmentalists and others are opposing a plan to divert more irrigation water to its production.
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By: Washington State Wire | Jan. 11, 2012
Gov. Christine Gregoire offers a crafty transportation proposal that revives a taxing debate about fees and taxes and the two-thirds vote rule.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 10, 2012
If the opening-day speeches in the House were any indication, it's going to be a stormy 60 days. Or more. Many, many more.
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President Barack Obama pushed his “all-of-the-above” energy strategy Thursday, highlighting a record to boost domestic energy production that has come under increasing attack from Republicans.
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The Obama administration must not be allowed to unilaterally cancel the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository, say two Tri-Cities leaders. Congressman Jay Inslee and others ought to be speaking out against the move now, they say.
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The tax break that Iberdrola and other wind companies rely on, called the production tax credit, has been in place since 1992 but after repeated extensions is now scheduled to expire at the end of 2012.
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In Washington, there are six digesters. A seventh digester system is being built in Enumclaw.
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The commission, appointed two years ago by President Obama, warned on Thursday that finding a solution to the waste issue was urgent.
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As Northwest concerns build about global and local environmental issues in the Northwest, a small Oregon port gives its approval to exporting coal to burn in Chinese power plants.
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There are good biofuels and bad biofuels and the worst are as filthy as the foulest fossil fuels.
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Since President Obama took office, total U.S. oil and natural gas production has increased. This increase, however, has happened in spite of the President, not because of him.
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| By: Center for American Progress |
The article describes the highlights of President Obama’s proposal and the new Energy Information Administration information that reinforces their importance.
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| By: Washington Post Columnist |
The EIA report suggests three important conclusions. First, despite big gains in energy efficiency and increases in “renewables” (wind, solar, biofuels), fossil fuels will remain the mainstay of America’s energy system for years.
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Monday's hearings on this year's gay-marriage legislation drew standing-room-only crowds to the statehouse. In this photo, an overflow crowd watches the testimony from the galleries in the Senate chamber, as the TVW signal is projected on the wall -- sort of the Legislature's version of the stadium Jumbotron screen. Here, Chairman Craig Pridemore of the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee urges onlookers of all stripes to mind their manners. And so the debate begins on what is assuredly the most divisive issue of the session.
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Here's a typical street scene in the state's capital city, along Maple Park Avenue, after a sudden winter ice storm sent branches and entire trees crashing to the ground. Four days later, much of Olympia is still without power, and a cold, wet and miserable time has been had by all.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 27, 2012
The nastiest game of political tit-for-tat ever played before the state Public Disclosure Commission seemed to end Thursday with a complete rout for a conservative political group. Democrats had used their accusations against Americans for Prosperity to divert attention from a stinky campaign-violation case on their side of the aisle. But now a litigious 'progressive' attorney with a rep for dubious lawsuits has entered the picture. This one ain't over yet!
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By: Krista Norsworthy | Washington State Wire | Jan. 27, 2012
Now we finally know how badly those Discover Passes are selling -- or do we? The way things are going, the state will be short $38 million by 2013. But state parks officials are being optimistic about things and saying they'll only be down $24 million. Either way, sounds like trouble.
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By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Jan. 26, 2012
Labor and the Associated General Contractors are pushing a $1 billion-or-more bond proposal that aims to jump-start the ailing construction industry. Think of it as a minute on the lips, forever on the hips. It's just that it's dinnertime, and there are plenty of hungry people at the table.
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By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | 01.26.12
Do we have to continue to talk about what's going on in the real world, the demands being placed on future generations of students, the drag on success created by 20th century education unions, the desire of most educators to do the right thing, and the current lack of courage by Washington's elected to step up?
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By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | 1.19.12
SB 6369 simple states that where there are “gaps” in the evidence don't worry about it, just go ahead with the plan. In a world of DOE staff looking for every opportunity to prove their worth to certain constituencies this is a free pass.
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By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | 1.18.12
Next, do we need a bill to modernize a statute? Probably, because...you guessed it, modern words for modern technology. Excuse the word functionality. The drafters and advocates must think that the state EPA actually works, you know, functions.
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By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | 1.17.12
I've tried "Scout" for a few days. After waiting for my “scout” to recognize me as an “agent” by scanning my “targets” there is still no “distribution”. The folks at TVW were kind enough to return calls today and tell me they are not quite ready.
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Dems Reject GOP Move to Force Public Vote
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| By: Andrew Garber/ Seattle Times |
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Remember the Man Who Was Too Fat to Hang?
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| By: Alexis Krell/ The Olympian |
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Would Make it Easier to Force Local Elections by District, Rather Than At Large -- Court Challenges Would be Enabled
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| By: Stephanie Kim/ Seattle Times |
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McKenna Takes Action Against Delaware Company
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Tradeoff Urged for Big Billion-Dollar Bond Plan
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| By: Brad Shannon/ The Olympian |
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Protective Order Might Have Offered Law Enforcement Protection
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| By: Alexis Krell/ The Olympian |
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Americans for Prosperity is Exonerated of All Charges
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| By: Mike Baker/ Associated Press |
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Lawmakers Hope to Make Passes Transferable Between Cars
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| By: Jim Camden/ Spokesman-Review |
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Op-Ed: Obama Administration's Politically Motivated Decision to Cancel Repository Was Clearly Illegal, but Overturning Decision Will Require Congressional Support
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| By: Bob Ferguson and Bill Lampson/ Seattle Times |
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Church Denied Use of Heritage Park for Baptism
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| By: Brad Shannon/ The Olympian |
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This policy brief explores some of the major ideas being discussed to restructure Medicaid and the competing arguments.
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| By: Robert Woods Johnson Foundation |
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The proposed legislation would add a mid–level provider to today's dental team. The new therapist would be like a nurse practitioner is to a doctor.
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Health insurer WellPoint Inc. plans to improve primary care doctor payments and start reimbursing for care management it doesn't currently cover as a way boost treatment and save money.
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Some Washington state wheat farmers have thrown their support behind legislation requiring labeling of genetically modified foods, giving food safety advocates fresh hope that lawmakers also will get behind the bill.
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Wednesday, HHS released a list of some insurance products in each state that could serve as models, but while the document included names of plans, it did not indicate what benefits are covered by those plans or what benefits it would like to see in future plans.
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Obamacare makes massive changes to the program. Obamacare contains more than 160 provisions for Medicare that increase government’s control over the delivery of care, hit doctors with unsustainable payment cuts, and leave taxpayers with higher deficits.
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Although nearly two-thirds of adults continue to support reform, among nonsupporters there has been a marked shift from a neutral position toward opposition (17.0 percent opposed to reform in 2006 compared with 26.9 percent in 2010).
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Pitts pointed to several health policy ideas that are likely to be in the plan, such as giving the tax break for health insurance to the employee instead of the employer, medical liability reform, creating high-risk medical “pools” and allowing insurers to sell across state lines.
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Workers who put in an average of at least 11 hours per day at the office had roughly two and a half times higher odds of developing depression than their colleagues who clocked out after seven or eight hours.
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Negotiators are far apart in how to cover the $160 billion it would cost to maintain the cut, extend expiring unemployment benefits and avoid deep cuts in fees to doctors treating Medicare patients.
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