In Brief - August 23rd, 2006

Here is today's quick news digest - haven't done one of these in a while:

• College campuses across Washington State are leading the way in becoming more environmentally friendly. From composting to constructing green buildings, the faculty and students of major educational institutions are breaking ground in creating a more sustainable society. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Christine Frey has more in this must read article.
• Joel Connelly points out several of the grave consequences that our region faces if we do not act to stop global warming in a powerful column this morning.
• Incumbent Alaska governor Frank Murkowski lost a primary battle last night, continuing what hasn't been a good month for incumbents. Murkowski, a Republican, has pledged to support his party's nominee in the general election (Sarah Palin) against Democrat Tony Knowles. Knowles was beating Murkowski solidly in recent polls, but with a new opponent he'll have a tougher matchup.
• DemfromCT has a nice post on DailyKos about reading Dubya's approval ratings - and what that means for this year's midterm elections.
• Two right wing business groups have formed their own committee to back Initiative 920, splitting off from Dennis Falk's group, the Committee to Abolish the Washington State Estate Tax. The two groups, the Association of Washington Business and the National Federation of Independent Business/Washington, refused to comment on the matter, according to David Postman.

Finally, here's a cartoon from Andrew Wahl that sums up the many staggering challenges that America is facing.



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