While we don't know if Mayor Greg Nickels' latest proposal to ban concealed weapons on city lands will ever become law (we imagine a little thing called the Constitution and this little group called the NRA might have some problems with that one), hundreds of new laws will take effect in Washington this Thursday. At midnight this Thursday, 280 new laws will be on the books. Over a hundred of the new laws will......

It's been quite a debacle, but last year, Oregon gained on Washington in the diversity column by announcing, come the New Year, same sex couples could enjoy full domestic partnerships. Starting today, gay folks in Oregon get access to 500 rights, like making health care decisions, suing for wrongful death, being buried next to their partner, accessing their partner's death certificate, and obtaining "personal effects from their deceased partner's body." It's absurd that there......