Washington State’s minimum wage will rise thirty-seven cents an hour to $9.04 beginning in January, the Department of Labor & Industries announced today. Initiative 688, which voters overwhelmingly passed in 1998, requires the Department of Labor & Industries to adjust the minimum wage annually to account for inflation. (I‑688, which NPI’s Steve Zemke was involved […]
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Poll Watch: Where do things stand in the Republican presidential race?
The 2012 Republican presidential race has been nothing if not entertaining, as the writers for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will undoubtedly attest. A new poll commissioned by Roger Ailes’ Fox Noise network, conducted from September 25–27, finds that Mitt Romney is now the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. The poll showed Romney at […]
Bank of America announces $5 monthly penalty for debit card use
Bank of America Bank of Greed, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, announced today that it will begin charging customers who use a debit card tied to their checking account a $5 monthly penalty. (BofA is calling it a fee, but of course it’s really a penalty). BofA is planning to introduce […]
Fred Finn announces retirement; two Democrats announce plans to seek his seat
Democratic State Representative Fred Finn, who has represented Washington’s 35th LD since 2008, announced recently that he will not be running for reelection in 2012, leading two Democrats to announce their intention to seek his seat. Finn’s district includes Mason County as well as parts of Grays Harbor, Kitsap, and Thurston counties. He served as a […]
President Obama arrives in Seattle for first (and maybe only) visit of 2011
Following a four and a half hour cross country flight from Joint Base Andrews, President Barack Obama touched down in the real Washington late this morning to begin a multi-day Left Coast fundraising tour. This is Obama’s third official visit to the Evergreen State as President; he made two trips out here last year (in August […]
Three more unions endorse Richard Mitchell for King County Council
King County Council hopeful Richard Mitchell, who pulled off a very strong showing in the August winnowing election thanks in part to the enthusiastic support of the Democratic Party, has just received the support of three key unions with significant membership in King County, his campaign announced today. Several weeks ago, the Amalgamated Transit Union […]
Governor Chris Gregoire calls special session to deal with latest revenue shortfall
Governor Chris Gregoire will call a special session of the Legislature beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving to deal with Washington’s latest revenue shortfall, her office confirmed this morning. The session could go for as long as thirty days. “Congressional gridlock, the European debt crisis and high unemployment continue to take their toll on consumer confidence and […]
Georgia executes Troy Davis after U.S. Supreme Court refuses to halt his killing
Troy Davis, the Georgia man convicted of murder on questionable evidence two decades ago, has just been executed by state prison officials, we’re hearing. Attorneys for Davis, who abolitionists have been fiercely rallying to save, had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and grant an eleventh-hour stay only hours ago. Sadly, the court refused, […]
Governor Gregoire steps up to mediate negotiations to end Tacoma teacher strike
After seven days without school for thousands of Tacoma students, Gov. Chris Gregoire has stepped up to mediate talks between Tacoma Public Schools and the Tacoma Education Association. After failing to reach an agreement today, the governor called for school district officials and members of the teachers union to negotiate in her office. Members of […]
Iran frees Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal — two U.S. hikers it has imprisoned since 2009
Iran’s autocratic regime today freed two American hikers that it has held in prison for more than two years in a move it called a “humanitarian gesture”. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both twenty-nine, were allowed to leave Iran’s infamous Evin prison and taken by a diplomatic caravan to an Iranian airport. They were then […]
NPI urges City of Redmond to adopt resolution opposing Tim Eyman’s I‑1125
Editor’s Note: What follows are the remarks I prepared for tonight’s city council meeting in Redmond, NPI’s hometown. Redmond has been in a leader in opposing Tim Eyman’s harmful initiatives — the city was among the jurisdictions that adopted a resolution opposing I‑695, Tim Eyman’s first destructive anti-tax measure, which sought to wipe out the […]
Netflix announces its DVDs-by-mail business will now be called “Qwikster”
Two months after it announced that it was separating DVD rentals and streaming into separate plans (and automatically raising prices for customers who did not act to cancel one or the other), Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has finally admitted the company did a poor job handling the announcement. In a blog post and in a […]
Elizabeth Warren to make Massachusetts U.S. Senate bid official tomorrow
Consumer advocate and bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren, who recently formed an exploratory committee to consider a U.S. Senate bid in Massachusetts, has decided to make her candidacy official, according to a spokesperson. Warren will formally announce that she’s running tomorrow in communities across the Commonwealth. Her campaign says stops are planned in Boston, New Bedford, […]
In memoriam, ten years later
Today is the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, which destroyed New York’s World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Americans. In honor of those who died that day, we’re republishing a poem that we post annually here on The Advocate. Two thousand one, nine eleven Two […]