Monthly Archives: May 2015

Posted inAppreciations & Remembrances, Public Service

Beau Biden: 1969–2015

by Andrew Villeneuve

For­mer Delaware Attor­ney Gen­er­al and Delaware Army Nation­al Guard Major Beau Biden, the son of Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden, has died after suc­cumb­ing to brain can­cer, the Vice Pres­i­den­t’s office has announced. He was only forty-six. “It is with bro­ken hearts that Hal­lie, Hunter, Ash­ley, Jill and I announce the pass­ing of our hus­band, brother […]

Posted inElections

Militant Republican legislator Elizabeth Scott to challenge Suzan DelBene in 2016

by Andrew Villeneuve

Last night, it was report­ed that Repub­li­cans have found a chal­lenger to run against Demo­c­ra­t­ic Con­gress­woman Suzan Del­Bene in 2016: the gun-tot­ing, back­ground check-denounc­ing Eliz­a­beth Scott, who cur­rent­ly serves in the Repub­li­can minor­i­ty in the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Repub­li­cans have not defeat­ed a Demo­c­ra­t­ic incum­bent for fed­er­al or statewide office in Wash­ing­ton for […]

Posted inBreaking News, Civil Liberties, Policy Topics, World Commmunity

Nebraska lawmakers abolish executions, overriding Republican governor’s veto

by Andrew Villeneuve

Joy­ous news to report on today. Law­mak­ers in the reli­ably con­ser­v­a­tive state of Nebras­ka today took a coura­geous stand for human rights and dig­ni­ty by over­rid­ing Repub­li­can Gov­er­nor Pete Rick­etts’ veto of leg­is­la­tion that would per­ma­nent­ly abol­ish exe­cu­tions. With no votes to spare, the uni­cam­er­al Nebras­ka Leg­is­la­ture vot­ed to make the Corn­husker State the nine­teenth state […]

Posted inCivil Liberties, Policy Topics, Technology

U.S. Senate adjourns after failing to take any action to reform or renew the unPatriot Act

by Andrew Villeneuve

Well, that was real­ly some­thing. Just min­utes ago, the Unit­ed States Sen­ate adjourned for an extend­ed Memo­r­i­al Day week­end recess after hav­ing failed to pass any leg­is­la­tion to reform or renew expir­ing pro­vi­sions of the (un)Patriot Act — which means that the Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Agency and Fed­er­al Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion will need to start winding […]

Posted inMedia & Culture

Big Bird or Big Oil? Mismanagement is jeopardizing the future of Seattle’s KCTS

by John de Graaf

Edi­tor’s Note: John de Graaf is a respect­ed doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er and pro­gres­sive activist with decades of pub­lic tele­vi­sion expe­ri­ence. He was the keynote speak­er at NPI’s 2010 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala and is a val­ued sup­port­er of NPI’s work. In this post, he explains what has been hap­pen­ing recent­ly at KCTS Seat­tle, and what we as […]

Posted inElections, Series & Special Reports

Poll Watch: Jay Inslee holds sizable lead over Andy Hill and Bill Bryant, PPP finds

by Andrew Villeneuve

Respect­ed pub­lic opin­ion research firm Pub­lic Pol­i­cy Polling has just pub­lished the results of a poll it recent­ly con­duct­ed in Wash­ing­ton on 2016 races and vot­er atti­tudes towards back­ground checks on gun sales, mar­i­jua­na, and mar­riage free­dom. It finds that both Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee and Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray are in excel­lent shape for reelec­tion, leading […]

Posted inElections, Legislative Advocacy

Join the coalition opposing I‑1366 — Tim Eyman’s most destructive initiative yet

by Andrew Villeneuve

This Novem­ber, in addi­tion to choos­ing lead­ers at the city, coun­ty, and port lev­el, Wash­ing­to­ni­ans will very like­ly be decid­ing the fate of the most destruc­tive ini­tia­tive that Tim Eyman has ever pro­posed: Ini­tia­tive 1366. I‑1366 is a clone of last year’s I‑1325, which failed to make the bal­lot because Eyman was­n’t able to find […]

Posted inElections

Steve Fields files to run against John Marchione for Mayor of Redmond

by Andrew Villeneuve

It’s offi­cial: We have a con­test­ed may­or’s race here in Red­mond! Ear­li­er today, busi­ness­man and gov­ern­ment effec­tive­ness enthu­si­ast Steve Fields, a long­time res­i­dent of the Bicy­cle Cap­i­tal of the North­west, filed his can­di­da­cy to run for may­or of NPI’s home­town, chal­leng­ing incum­bent John Mar­chione. “Red­mond is chang­ing very fast. We are build­ing every­where. We have […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, World Commmunity

Bill to fast-track Trans-Pacific Partnership blocked in U.S. Senate (for now)

by Andrew Villeneuve

Divi­sive trade pro­mo­tion author­i­ty leg­is­la­tion the White House is seek­ing to put the Trans-Pacif­ic part­ner­ship on a fast-track to pas­sage ran off the rails today, with the Unit­ed States Sen­ate vot­ing most­ly along par­ty lines not to invoke clo­ture on the bill. The leg­is­la­tion could still come up again, but at least for the time […]

Posted inElections

Faye Garneau, Suzie Burke, NECA keeping Tim Eyman’s initiative factory lubricated with cash

by Andrew Villeneuve

Thanks to a mix of new and old wealthy bene­fac­tors who have been fill­ing his cam­paign cof­fers with megabucks, Tim Eyman appears to have all the mon­ey he needs to buy his way onto this Novem­ber’s bal­lot with the destruc­tive, hostage-tak­ing ini­tia­tive that he tried and failed to qual­i­fy last year. Reports just filed with the […]

Posted inElections, Series & Special Reports

Filing Week 2015: A look at who’s filed in key races as of Monday afternoon

by Andrew Villeneuve

Wel­come to Fil­ing Week 2015! Today through Fri­day, elec­tions offi­cials around the state will be accept­ing for­mal dec­la­ra­tions of can­di­da­cy from Wash­ing­to­ni­ans who have decid­ed they want to run for office at the local lev­el (and, in a cou­ple leg­isla­tive dis­tricts, the state lev­el). There are many impor­tant con­tests with­in King Coun­ty on the bal­lot this year, […]

Posted inLegislative Advocacy, Policy Topics, World Commmunity

President Obama unwisely ratchets up feud with Senator Warren over fast-track, TPP

by Andrew Villeneuve

In a just-pub­­lished inter­view with polit­i­cal colum­nist Matt Bai, who now writes for Yahoo, Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma has unwise­ly cho­sen to ratch­et up his feud with Sen­a­tor Eliz­a­beth War­ren of Mass­a­chu­setts over the Trans-Pacif­ic Part­ner­ship (TPP) and fast-track leg­is­la­tion that would require a final ver­sion of the TPP to receive an up or down vote […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, Public Planning, Public Service

Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl to retire next year after University Link opens

by Andrew Villeneuve

One of the most trans­for­ma­tive, dynam­ic, and capa­ble civic lead­ers the Pacif­ic North­west has ever seen will soon be step­ping down, leav­ing behind a great lega­cy, but also giant-sized shoes in need of fill­ing. Joni Earl, six­­ty-one, has been at the helm of Sound Tran­sit for near­ly a decade and a half. Under her direction, […]