Spring has often been called the season of renewal, and we’ve always thought it’s as good of a time as any to recalibrate and reorganize. To that end, each March, before we file our yearly report with the Secretary of State’s office, our board holds its annual meeting. The principal business of this meeting is […]
Monthly Archives: March 2014
U.S. House passes ill-conceived bill to gut the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to designate national monuments
Acting as if they don’t have anything better to do (and they certainly do!) the Republican “leadership” in the U.S. House of Representatives today engineered a vote on a bill that would gut the Antiquities Act, legislation dating back the early 1900s that allows presidents to designate national monuments. As Ken Burns and his team […]
President Obama signs emergency declaration for Washington State to help mudslide victims
Good news. This just in from the White House: Today, the President declared an emergency in the State of Washington and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from flooding and mudslides beginning on March 22, 2014, and continuing. The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland […]
News helicopter shared by KOMO and KING crashes near Seattle Center, killing two
Awful, awful news this morning: Two people were killed and one was critically injured when the KOMO News helicopter crashed and burst into flames Tuesday morning on Broad Street only yards away from the Space Needle. Emergency personnel immediately rushed to the scene as thick smoke poured over the city at the height of the […]
Washington legislators reject Arne Duncan’s demand, refuse to force schools to teach to the test
Yesterday the Washington State Legislature adjourned without taking action on two bills that would have tightly linked teacher evaluations to student test scores, despite plenty of evidence doing so is a bad idea. Legislators faced an enormous amount of pressure to pass these bills from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who threatened to revoke the state’s […]
State Representative Chris Reykdal to speak at NPI’s 2014 Spring Fundraising Gala
This evening, we are pleased to announce that one of our state’s brightest and hardest-working lawmakers will be the opening speaker at our 2014 Spring Fundraising Gala on April 25th: State Representative Chris Reykdal. Since his election to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2010, Chris has served his constituents in the 22nd District […]
Mark Miloscia launches Senate campaign as a Republican — but he’s still a Democratic PCO
Last night, we reported here on the NPI Advocate that ex-Democratic State Representative Mark Mloscia had filed paperwork to challenge his former colleague Tracey Eide for state Senate… as a Republican. This morning, Miloscia officially launched his campaign and announced endorsements from State Republican Party Chair Susan Hutchison, King County Republican Chair Lori Soetelo, unsuccessful […]
Mark Miloscia files paperwork to challenge Tracey Eide as a Republican in the 30th LD
Desperate to solidify their tenuous hold on the Washington State Senate, top Republicans have once again recruited into their ranks a candidate repeatedly elected to the Legislature as a Democrat with Democratic volunteers and donations. Mark Miloscia, who previously served several terms in the state House as one of two of the 30th Legislative District’s […]
G‑7 democracies suspend participation in G‑8 summit in Sochi to protest invasion of Ukraine
If Vladimir Putin and his entourage were betting that the G‑8 summit could still go forward without the participation of the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom in the wake of their invasion of Ukraine, they were mistaken. The White House has announced that the other three G‑7 countries (Germany, Italy, and Japan) […]
Ukraine asks NATO, UN for help as Russians move in; new government mobilizes military
The news out of Ukraine just keeps getting worse. In the wake of the Russian parliament’s vote to endorse (or rubber stamp) Vladimir Putin’s already scripted invasion of its neighbor, the new Ukranian government is appealing to the international community for help and mobilizing its military, fearing that Putin has designs on more than just the […]