Spawned by one too many Mary Kay Letourneau-like stories coming out of the state, a new bill is waiting for Senate approval in Olympia. The "Student Protection Bill" would expand the crimes for which Washington State teachers could lose their certification. The proposed bill also seeks to encourage more oversight at the local level, asking school districts to report teachers who have displayed "boundary issues," which would not necessitate legal action. It also hopes to......

photo by Flickr Contributor lachance This weekend the Washington State Senate narrowly passed a bill approving remote cameras to take photos of speeding drivers. A single one of these cameras, so-called "photo cops," can issue as many citations as 25 police officers. Washington State is eager to approve more uses for police cameras, as the installation of four red-light cameras in Seattle have brought in more than a million dollars of revenue in their......

This week the Washington State Senate is deciding whether to make Washington to the first state in the nation to ban the fire retardant deca-BDE [ESHB 1024]. (The House, where Jamie Pedersen was a sponsor, passed the bill this February.) [UPDATE: Rep. Ross Hunter writes to point out that he's the bill's primary sponsor -- there are over 50 "We're with ya, Ross" sponsors, including Pedersen and some guy named Upthegrove. In Ross's honor,......

For the second straight year, the Washington State Senate failed to vote on a billl that would require the phasing out of PBDEs. (We've written previously about PBDEs, which are accumulating steadily in breast milk, and are implicated in the impairment of childhood development. They're also reaching alarming levels in wildlife.) The bill had the votes to pass, but a few senators blocked the bill from coming to a vote. (They didn't include that part......

Much like that wacky, lasagna-loving Garfield, we hate Mondays. Unlike that darn cat, we dislike the first day of the week mainly out of fear our annoying office mate will once again say 'Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays' while chuckling to herself about her wit. We are, however, a little excited about this upcoming Monday because according to our beloved Washington State Senate, Monday is KEXP Day. According to Senator Ken......