Yet again, the State Government is looking for ways to cut the deficit, and yet again, they are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid having to raise taxes or close loopholes. more ›

You made it! It's Friday. Here's what to talk about over happy hour. more ›

Here at Seattlest, we care about our readers. But more than our readers, we care about the city's most influential people, like politicians and journalists and public figures that are also hot messes. In fact, we care about them so much that we've come up with a list of Halloween costume suggestions for them that we think the masses would really enjoy. Also, because it is Friday afternoon, we decided to write a nice, fluffy softball article of no real relevance. more ›

Remember way back in April when Gregoire vetoed huge chunks of SB 5703? The law would have granted additional protections for medical marijuana patients and practitioners, but the veto rendered it useless at best. The City Council tried the best it could for dispensaries to be legal, taxable businesses under city law. Three months later, only 68 out of 105 of the city's operating medical marijuana dispensaries are following those city guidelines, the city's business licensing division tells Cienna over at the Slog. Keeping with the city's tradition of not prosecuting marijuana offenses, despite some occasional computer errors to the contrary, the city is contacting the dispensaries to gently remind them, but the question remains: did the dispensaries not know the law, or do they just not care? more ›

Here are a few of our suggestions for celebrating Farmers Market Week (August 7-13th). more ›

In today's ridiculously long morning headlines: the Space Needle pride flag, the City Council race, Gregoire signing a lot of things, how screwed we are in an earthquake (still), officer-involved shootings, and more. Plus, an adorable video of a lioness failing to eat an adorable human baby. more ›

It's official: Gregoire is not seeking a third term. more ›

We're still waiting to here what Gregoire's "big announcement" is, but we have our theories. more ›

A slow news weekend results in just a handful of headlines today, including resolution to one of the City's oldest cold cases, the bizarre shuttering of three restaurants and Christine Gregoire's big announcement. more ›

Few among us would consider Governor Christine Gregoire to be a "fun" governor. Recently, we mostly know her for the things she vetoes, or partially vetoes/ruins entirely. Also, her trademark snarl. However, she could soon be replaced by someone even less fun. more ›

It's not 2012 yet, but that hasn't stopped pollsters and journalists from trying to read the tea leaves. Here's an overview of what the insiders are saying: more ›

The Barefoot Bandit gets handed even more charges, Starbucks is in legal hot water over a little person and Christine Gregoire closes the budget gap by allocating millions to job training for airplane construction. more ›

Sarah dives deeply into what Gregoire's piecemeal veto really means--and it's not good. more ›

Although Governor Christine Gregoire vetoed a bill providing medical marijuana provisions on Friday, the cause has many supporters in both state and city government--the fight is far from dead, even in this legislative session. more ›

In a press conference earlier today, Governor Christine Gregoire stood with City Council President Richard Conlin, King County Executive Dow Constantine and others to back their view that the tunnel referendum is non-referrable -- i.e., not subject to a public vote. Nearly 29,000 signatures were turned in on Tuesday that would put the SR-99 deep-bore tunnel on the August primary ballot. more ›

Mayor Nickels, speaking of the tunnel for which no cost overruns can be foreseen, noted that, "The design work and engineering on the 'mile in the middle,' which has been the controversial part, will go forward in about two years." Does that mean what it sounds like? Is the most controversial part really undesigned? (The Weekly's Damon Agnos has some terrific quotes from someone who looked like the Mayor speaking out strongly against a tunnel a little while ago.) more ›

So we've been reading in the Seattle Times that Governor Gregoire thinks a 28 percent tuition hike over two years is firm but fair, the editorial board seconds the motion (Ryan Blethen is a Cougar, we note in passing), and the UW's Mark Emmert praises this kind of "flexibility" on tuition because the UW is currently "one of the best bargains in the country." The actual tuition price would shoot up between $1,300-$2,000 over two years, though there's the usual promise of financial aid to defray, etc. We want to point out two things: 1) student loans don't make things less expensive, they make them more expensive, and 2) it's awesome that the primary stakeholders here, the students, are being circumvented in this discussion. more ›

The news today that the state budget crisis is than originally projected is like one of those expensive studies you read about that finds a wholly predictable result, such as that pretty people get helped more when they fall down or that women in bikinis lead straight men to make stupid choices. It's a giant collective "duh" moment, where our fearless politicos in Olympia finally come out and admit the reality that existed a few months ago but is finally "official," even though everyone with half a brain and a moderate attention span knew it then, much as they know things are going to continue getting worse. more ›

For those of you interested in why the hell everyone thinks a tunnel is such a hot idea, Gov. Christine Gregoire will be on on KUOW 94.9 FM this afternoon at 1 p.m. She'll (hopefully) have to explain her controversial decision to spend billions on a tunnel that doesn't increase traffic capacity (and decreases for the entire period it's under construction, between 4 and 10 years) while cutting budgets across the state government even as the public need for government services increases. more ›

Phew, what a week. We've had the two Port resignations, all the school closure hullaballoo, Noemi Lopez' killer landing in custody, and--late yesterday--a breakthrough in the viaduct arguments. To be honest, we'd like nothing more than to laugh about all of this. Enter, stage South End: Sable Verity's eminently LOL-worthy guest column on the Rainier Valley Post, in which she imagines the weekend wrap-up conversation between the governor, the mayor, the school district superintendent, and the county executive. It is hilariously spot on, and exactly the dose of intelligent humor we needed to get us through a rainy Friday. more ›

From President-elect Obama's weekly address this morning: more ›

Rossi is on TV right now conceding the governor's race to Christine Gregoire, saying "The voters have a right to hold her to [her] promise." He's bloviating about his vote margin and his level of contributions. He'll be back in the business world, will "see what business opportunities there may be." He's "very comfortable in the business world." He "doesn't need a political career." He'll "be home for dinner tonight...tomorrow night, too." And he's thanking everyone who's helped out, asking the Dinocrats to not be disillusioned. more ›

Jesus, we feel so much better already. Landslide. We like the sound of that. Now we just need Governor Gregoire to hang in there. more ›

Thank you all for participating in our Seattlest Vote 2008 Polls over the last week! Though the polls were informal, they still give us a fairly good reading on how the Seattlest community will be voting today. more ›

The Seattle Times Blethens have endorsed Dino Rossi (R) for Washington State Governor, saying "he can best be trusted to erase the state's huge projected deficit without raising taxes." The Seattle P-I endorses Christine Gregoire (D), pointing out, "Especially for uncertain times, she's a much more proven leader than her Republican rival, former state Sen. Dino Rossi." The Seattle Times, under Blethen leadership, has laid off about 20 percent of its staff this year, so we're a little dubious about their powers of prognostication when it comes to dealing with huge projected deficits. more ›

ANNOUNCER VO: First, Governor Gregoire tried to visit a bar...WITHOUT a valid ID. Now she's been ticketed for parking ILLEGALLY. A lawyer should know better. Christine Gregoire. She can't get served. She can't talk her way out of a parking ticket. Is she right for Washington? A Republican governor wouldn't put up with this shit. (Thanks to Tessa over at waking jonas for the picture of Governor Gregoire's parking ticket, and accompanying story.) more ›

There are two weeks until Election Day, and two issues in our state's gubernatorial race (three if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

We just ran across the Seattle Times comparison of Gregoire's and Rossi's positions on the environment, largely cribbed from our exhaustive Seattlest coverage of the same topic. Republican Dino Rossi says maybe human activity is to blame for climate change, so operating on the theory than an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, "He...wants to spend $15 billion to expand highways and reduce traffic congestion, which he argues would reduce emissions." Seriously. He also thinks you should fix your leaky water hose by buying a much larger one and leaving it running all the time. more ›

There are three weeks until Election Day, and three issues in our state's gubernatorial race (four if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

• West Seattle Blog has what could at least be construed as good news for your wallet--the cost of gas is down $1 from its peak prices this summer.
• You've savored her crepes at local farmer's markets, and now you can support Anita and her delicious crepes at her brand-new Ballard restaurant.
• The Big Blog wonders why the Seattle P-I's website is blocked in Thailand.