The State's government is in crisis--but so are its people. Read up on today's headlines to see what fresh sorrow and bleakness you may have missed. more ›

Budget woes, medical marijuana's sad fate and oh, there goes the neighborhood. Good thing it's still SIFF and Beer Week--we need it. more ›

Money, money, money in today's news. Check in on the budget, 520 bridge, and the "Bad Hair Bank Robber." more ›

Olympia's sleepover party, SPD crackin' down (again), and avalanches over the pass. Just a preview of more news to come for your Thursday. more ›

State governments nationwide have never been the shining light amidst the total economic catastrophe that is the Great Recession (which is over, right?). Washington's short-term and long-term fiscal predicaments it turns out are worse than nearly any other state in the union. Olympia scores the bronze for the largest budget deficit in the 2011 Fiscal Year, set to end in June, the Wall Street Journal reports. That's not too reassuring. more ›

So what happened this week? Well, it was beautiful, and then it wasn't. It freakishly snowed and we collectively shook our fists at the sky. more ›

Gov. Gregoire released her proposed state budget on Wednesday, and (surprise!) much like the rest of the country, we’re hurting for cash. How much cash? Washington State needs to close an expected $2.8 billion budget shortfall. more ›

Reading through Lucas from Neighborlogs' coverage of a King County Metro budget meeting, we're left with the uncomfortable feeling that we read the phrase "deferred maintenance" one too many times. Besides fare increases (to $2.25) and bus service suspensions, Metro's Kevin Desmond says "Metro will greatly reduce the number of buses it purchases, and speed, reliability and asset maintenance programs will be cut." [Emphasis added] We know! Reads like a line cut from Drag Me to Hell, doesn't it? more ›

Not that kind of pew. It's a Pew Charitable Trusts report on how major cities are handling deficits, and Seattle, we think it's fair to say, is full of fiscal win: our one-year deficit of $44 million is just 5 percent of our general fund. For context, L.A. and Chicago stand at 12 and 13 percent, respectively. For even more context, we're tied with Baltimore, so don't get cocky. "Proposed service cuts are mostly targeting libraries, recreation facilities and aspects of trash collection." It probably makes budgetary sense, but it's really unfortunate, symbolically, that we're cutting library hours and increasing the size of our police force. more ›

Yesterday, we spoke up early against closed city council budget-cut discussions. Later that afternoon, the Times published an editorial agreeing with us--and this morning, they've published opposition to the meetings from the Seattle city attorney and the Washington state attorney general's office. The Times also tried to send a reporter into one of the closed meetings, and has this to report: "A Seattle Times reporter was denied entrance to a budget briefing on Thursday afternoon. Tom Von Bronkhorst, a legislative aide to Councilmember Jean Godden, physically dragged the reporter away from it by the strap of her bag." Holy crap. more ›

The city faces a $43 million budget shortfall. An unprecedented number of eyes (many of which belong to Seattle journalists and political watchdogs) are trained on the city's every budgetary move. We're just beginning what already smells like a contentious mayoral race towards elections later this year. What better time for Nickels and the city council to start meeting behind closed doors to work out the "very dull" budget-balancing process? Let media report on whatever they see fit, so the public can decide what's boring and irrelevant. That model works for hyperlocal blogs and it will work just as well for government. more ›

• Seattle Transit Blog is mad as hell about the legislature backing out on I-90 light rail funding and they don't think you should take it anymore. East side! West side! Let's make a light rail rumble!
• Will fancy eats joint Sitka & Spruce really move from Eastlake to Capitol Hill? CHS polls readers, fans flames of rumor.
• Publicola's Morning Fizz abandoned links and announced that a "dynamic woman" had joined the Mayoral race. April Fools!

• Schmudget analyzes the 2009-2011 House budget and compares it to the Senate's, released yesterday.
• MyBallard is concerned about tents on Shilshole and stolen trees.
• The Troll got tagged! Fremont Universe reports, and they have photos.

The Seattle Times discusses how the planned Senate budget cuts "roll back much of the party's agenda." Publicola has four "angry press releases" on behalf of service workers, NARAL, low income housing, and childen's health. And Schmudget lays out the cuts in the areas of education and health, pointing out that some cuts are so deep, they effectively cut twice, by losing access to federal recovery funds. more ›

• The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce asks what livability is and receives several thoughtful responses. We'd settle for a coffee and donut place on every corner. (h/t to Hugeasscity.)
• Rainier Valley Post has a hot tip about "close-your-eyes-and-sigh" good Eritrean cuisine on Rainier Avenue.
• The Capitol Record posted blow-by-blow reports on the Senate and House budget meetings today. Grim reading, but very informative.

It's probably a good thing that the most interesting headlines this morning have to do with flowers. It means soldiers survived the night, no heinous crimes were public enough to catch the attention of journalists, and the economy still exists. Up in Kitsap County, intrepid blogger Josh Farley investigated recent anecdotal reports of graveside flower thefts and concluded, "It appears for now that such theft isn’t a problem. Vandalism in cemeteries, I should add, is an appalling crime, and I’m sure happens once and awhile." The deer are eating the flowers. News! And down in Olympia, the capitol grounds will plant fewer flowers this year than last, and the flowers will be more daffodils than the traditional tulips, because they last in the landscaped patterns longer. more ›

(via Publicola, who stick their noses into politics so we don't have to) more ›

Seattlest reader Nick would like to know what Seattle has to offer in the way of budget recording studios. We imagine he's asking for the best value, not just someone with a walk-in closet and fuzzy microphone. We used Jackstraw way back in the '90s for a project. They seemed reasonable, and it worked out well. What else you got? Also, if you have a second, why not vote for a Seattle entry in the "America's Best Restrooms" competition. Finally, if you're between the ages of 16-25, HotDish on Facebook is holding a competition for eco-warriors. Ends May 3. more ›

• Jobs are difficult to find, but not so scarce that P-I staffers aren't feeling free to turn down Hearst's online operations job offers. "Bottom line: An online-only P-I is not a done deal. At least not yet," says Publicola's Sandeep Kaushik.
• Southlake reports on a man shot in the butt, and Queen Anne View has a kickass firefighter who won a stair-climbing competition.
• Over at Schmudget (caution: policy wonkstrosity ahead), they're talking about sub-prime lending in Washington state all week long. Today, their angle has to do with the depressing racial disparity in the mortgage market. Best of all, the post includes an infographic!

First, check your smoke detector. The Bellevue woman who died in last night's fire had her smoke detector battery in backwards. Next, check with your supervisor: Boeing workers get their pink slips today. That's another 1,100 people who won't be working or shopping much, exacerbating Washington State's projected $8 billion budget shortfall. Check your credit limit, too. Do you really think it' a good idea to be buy all that new Ken Griffey merch? more ›

When the inevitable anti-tunnel initiative was filed, Governor Gregoire said she'd be disappointed if there was a delay. (A delay? Dealing with the viaduct? Pshaw.) The governor is in a hurry to disburse that estimated $2.8 billion, conjured up for a design that's said to be one percent complete. (Here we pause to admire the precision of knowing what one percent of a plan looks like.) more ›

King County Exec. Ron Sims is cutting everyone's budget to try to cover the $93 million dollar county deficit, and it's starting to get ugly. This morning's showdown is between Sims and King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, who says that the budget cuts will mean her office is forced to--among other discontinuations--stop investigating property crimes under $10,000 (most car theft, for example). Dozens of troopers currently assigned to unincorporated King County will have to be contracted to specific cities, Sound Transit, and Metro, leaving already-isolated residents without needed patrol. more ›

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about Metro bus service ("Report Says Metro Runs on People"), we've tracked down two other commentaries. ECB over at the Slog has some illuminating boarding cost numbers to share: "Because so many suburban buses still run virtually empty (while urban buses are crammed past capacity), the cost per boarding in outlying areas is significantly higher—$7.27 in the East subarea, and $4.79 in the South, compared to $3.64 in the West." The Seattle Transit Blog mentions Metro's defense, that the "cost-per-passenger-mile is relatively low." more ›

A lot has happened since November 4; we decided to spend $1.4 billion more than we thought we would on November 3, for one thing. State legislators learned of the new $4.6 billion estimate this morning, says the P-I. In response, Governor Gregoire has asked state agencies to look at cuts of up to 20 percent across the board. You already know what the Republicans will say about this, so we turned to the plucky third-party GOP candidate, Dino Rossi. Whoops, nothing there. So back to the Republicans. Nothing there either. It's like these people only care about budgets when there's an election. more ›

King County has eight count 'em eight amendments on the ballot this year, and it's not always easy to tell what they are going on about. We've fielded a few emails from people who wondered what we thought, and we offer you the fruits of that conversation. A caveat: we didn't overthink these. If there wasn't a compelling reason to be fer it, we were agin it. more ›

The Seattle Times reports that a whopping 400 county government jobs will be cut in King County Executive Ron Sims' 2009 budget. The cuts are part of Sim's plan to reduce county expenditures by $93 million for the next year, a significant belt-tightening. Sims did say that he's trying to delay budget cuts in health and human services, but still....400 jobs gone translates to a lot of men and women who will be looking for work soon. Anyone hiring? more ›

New York recently passed a state budget that requires Amazon.com (and other online retailers) to start collecting NY state sales tax. Amazon doesn't have any brick-and-mortar presence there, but NY argues that because Amazon has affiliates in the state, the company is obligated to start collecting the sales tax on purchases made there. more ›