In Brief - March 14th, 2007

Here is today's quick news digest:

• Recommended reading for today: Eric dePlace has a must-read post at Sightline's Daily Score taking apart what he calls the "equity argument" (that whatever we decide to do with the waterfront and Alaskan Way should not discriminate against workers).
• Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire today became the first congressional Republican to call for the resignation of Attorney General dishonest Bush crony Alberto Gonzales, bucking his party.
• At TPMcafe, Mark Schmitt has authored a thoughtful piece on campaign finance reform and clean elections. As Schmitt notes, "Since there will always be some loophole, chasing loopholes increases the value of whoever controls the loopholes that remain. And even if you could close every potential loophole, that's an undesirable result -- too much other speech would be accidentally and inappropriately fall under a regulatory rubric."
• The Senate last night passed SB 5164 (prime sponsored by Senator Ken Jacobsen), which would transform the state’s volunteer "Veterans' Conservation Corps" into more of an apprenticeship program for veterans returning from combat. The Spokesman-Review has an informative overview with more on the bill.
• Today at 5:00 PM marked the third cutoff of the legislative session, as it was the last day to consider bills in the chamber of origin. Bills that didn't make it out of the House or Senate to the other are effectively dead for the year. One victim in the House was a bill sponsored by Representative Maralyn Chase that would have added new protections for tenants displaced when developers convert their apartments to condominiums. The Senate, meanwhile, passed a family leave bill, with 32 voting in favor and 17 against. SB 5659 gives workers in Washington five weeks of paid leave to care for a new child or a sick parent. It would take effect in 2009.

The Seattle Times has a great summary of what made it past the deadline which appears in tomorrow's newspaper.

Oh, and if you haven't heard about Steve Jobs' latest revolutionary product...

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