Health, News

What’s Washington Doing to Stem Our Whooping Cough Epidemic?

A little over a month since whooping cough crossed the epidemic threshold in Washington State, political officials seem persuaded that the nagging cough is not going to go away on its own. Last week, Governor Gregoire announced that she’d be making available, along with $210,000 already allocated from the Department of Health, an extra $90,000 from the emergency fund to combat pertussis. Continue reading What’s Washington Doing to Stem Our Whooping Cough Epidemic?

News, Politics

Seattle Weekly Tries Soft-Pedaling the Whole Juvenile Prostitution Thing

Last year, Seattle Weekly ran some eight or nine stories up the flagpole, alternately attacking misleading statistics and moralists, and defending their right to free speech and libertarian profit motive. Opposed were the City Council’s Tim Burgess, left, and Mayor Mike McGinn.

The last Weekly-written piece seems to have been in August 2011, but VVM has not given up the fight. PubliCola notes their unsigned editorial claiming that New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has gotten his facts wrong, too. Continue reading Seattle Weekly Tries Soft-Pedaling the Whole Juvenile Prostitution Thing

Health, News, Politics

Gregoire to Feds, on Medical Marijuana: Reclassify It!

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee are requesting that the FDA reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance, from the Schedule I position it now holds.

The two governors argue that although 16 states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical reasons, the Federal position remains that marijuana, like LSD, PCP, MDMA, and heroin, has “a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use,” as Seattlepi.com points out. The medical establishment disagrees. Continue reading Gregoire to Feds, on Medical Marijuana: Reclassify It!

Education, News

How Do You Grade Teachers and Principals?

SB 5399 (from senators Tom, Litzow, Hill, Hobbs, King, Hargrove, Sheldon, Shin) instructs public schools to ensure “that teachers who do the best work are the ones who keep their jobs when budgets need to be cut, by basing reduction in force policies on the evaluations the legislature has outlined for measuring teacher performance.” Typically, the schools use a last-in-first-out policy, which is now construed to mean protection for teachers with seniority, rather than what it does, which is kick the last person off the bus who got on. Continue reading How Do You Grade Teachers and Principals?

Education, News, Politics

Will Control of Tuition Save Washington’s Public Universities?

House Bill 1795 passed by wide margins in the House and Senate, and Governor Gregoire has said she’ll sign it. For the next four years, from 2011-12 to 2015-16, the schools will be able to set tuition as they see fit. The bill does require the schools to provide financial aid to lower-income students, paid for out of the tuition increases, and sets a minimum of 4,000 students for the University of Washington’s in-state freshman enrollment, beginning 2012-13. It also allows the schools to price degrees differently, to account for the disparity between the cost of a liberal arts major and any field that will allow you pay back student loans. Continue reading Will Control of Tuition Save Washington’s Public Universities?

Health, News, Politics

Ecotopia Redux: Feds “Warn” Washington on Medical Marijuana Law

Governor Gregoire fired back at the Obama administration today, saying, “They can take our medical marijuana when they pry it from our cold dead hands,” and putting the Washington National Guard on alert. The Governor gave her press conference in front of a hastily constructed flag that read “The Soviet of Washington.”

That’s what I’d like to tell you happened anyway. The above was not meant as a factual statement. I don’t think anyone believes we elected that kind of governor. Continue reading Ecotopia Redux: Feds “Warn” Washington on Medical Marijuana Law

News, Politics, Transportation

Op Ed: Do You Remember Electing a Democrat as Governor?

Here’s Governor Gregoire in the New York Times: “Social engineering works in some places, like banning cigarettes in some places,” said Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat. “Telling people you no longer can ride in your car isn’t going to work because this city is going to grow.” Continue reading Op Ed: Do You Remember Electing a Democrat as Governor?