In Brief - April 15, 2008 (The Tax Day Edition)

It's tax day, have you filed your taxes yet?

If you're an elected official in Washington, it also happens to be F-1 day. Have you filed your F-1 form with the PDC? For those who don't know, the F-1 is the annual financial disclosure form that elected officials must file with the PDC, listing their assets, sources of income, liabilities and any gifts accepted over $50 from lobbyists or others during the past year.

Around the Northwest

• The Chief Administrative Officer of the Port of Seattle is leaving his post to become the Executive Director of the Washington Education Association.
• Save our Sonics? Former owner Howard Schultz is considering suing new owner Clay Bennett to "recover the team from Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett." At issue is what Schultz says is an agreement he had with Bennett, for the new ownership group to make a good faith effort to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Recent e-mails appear to show Bennett's intent to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City all along.
• The three remaining Presidential candidates were interviewed by the Idaho Statesman regarding their positions on breaching dams and saving salmon on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Go see how they responded to this important issue for our region.
• The kids are alright. In Canyon County, Idaho, the second largest county and a Republican bastion, the youth are supporting Barack Obama.

Around the Nation

• Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Washington, D.C. today in his first official visit to the United States.
• Not surprisingly, a new federal study shows that the American health care system is inadequately prepared for the growing number of aging baby boomers.
• Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines have agreed to a merger that will create the largest airline in the world. The deal is subject to shareholder and government approval.
  

Around the World

• With food costs on the rise, the potato is getting a second look as the crop of choice.
• Silvio Berlusconi has become the Italian Prime Minister for the third time.
• Amnesty International has released its annual statistics regarding the use of the death penalty worldwide. It's shocking to see that 3 countries put children to death for crimes they had committed.

This Day in History

• 1912 - The RMS Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg.
• 1947 - Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier, played his first Major League Baseball game.
• 1989 - The death of former Chinese General Secretary Hu Yaobang started a chain reaction of events that led to the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests.