Moments ago, the Washington State Senate took yet another significant vote, this time concerning transportation revenue. By an overwhelming four-to-one margin, the Senate voted to approve SB 5987, which would raise the gas tax and vehicle weight fees to pay for a long list of highway projects, a shorter list of rail, bike, and pedestrian […]
Monthly Archives: June 2015
FREEDOM WINS!!! U.S. Supreme Court makes marriage equality law of the land nationwide
This morning, in a historic and groundbreaking decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that states may not prohibit couples from marrying on the basis of their sexual orientation. The court’s majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges means that marriage equality is suddenly and finally the law of the land in all fifty states […]
Tim Eyman’s paid signature drive for I‑1366 is done — so why is he still fundraising for it?
For the past four days, initiative promoter Tim Eyman has been sending out daily emails asking his followers to give generously so he can make a final payment to his associates to finish the signature drive for Initiative 1366, his latest attempt to sabotage Washington’s cherished tradition of majority rule. I‑1366, as regular readers will recall, […]
The party of government shutdowns is at it again
If there’s one thing you can count on when Republicans control one part of government and Democrats control the others, it’s that Republicans will force a government shutdown. We saw it in Congress in the fall of 2013 when John Boehner shut down the federal government in an attempt to defund the Patient Protection and […]
White supremacist guns down nine at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Horrifying and repulsive doesn’t even begin to describe how awful this news is: A white gunman killed nine people during a prayer meeting at one of Charleston’s oldest and best-known black churches Wednesday night in one of the worst mass shootings in South Carolina history. Heavily armed law enforcement officers scoured the area into the […]
Everything you need to know about a state government shutdown
Judging by the news today, the public is starting to become aware of the possibility that Republican intransigence over the budget could cause a shutdown of the Washington state government. If a budget isn’t approved by June 30, then starting on July 1, many state government operations will slow or cease. As a public service, the […]
Coalition fighting Tim Eyman’s incredibly destructive Initiative 1366 is gaining strength
For the past few months, we’ve been sounding the alarm about Initiative 1366, the most cynical, mean-spirited, destructive initiative that Tim Eyman has ever sponsored (and that’s saying something!) and asking organizations committed to the defense of Washington’s values to join us in opposing I‑1366. We are happy to report that our efforts have been […]
DelBene, Kilmer, Larsen planning to vote for fast-track; McDermott, Smith, Heck opposed
As many readers of the Cascadia Advocate may have heard, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote tomorrow on controversial “trade promotion authority” legislation that would grant President Barack Obama the power to fast-track the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership. This legislation has already made it through the Senate and is now awaiting a vote […]
Comcast suffers major DNS outage; affected areas include Puget Sound and Bay Area
A large number of customers of telecommunications giant Comcast are reporting tonight that they cannot connect to the Internet, reportedly because of a widespread DNS (domain name system) server outage. Affected areas include Puget Sound and the Bay Area. The Domain Name System, for readers who don’t know, is like the Internet’s phone book. It […]