There will soon be a place to showcase the 12th Man flag every day -- your car license plate.

Specialty plates featuring logos of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders FC will go on sale this January under a bill signed into law today by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Senate Bill 5152 creates specialty...

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Sometimes the simple questions are the trickiest for political figures.

Such seemed the case Wednesday when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder went in front of the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about recent investigations.

Among the hot topics was the recent revelations of his department's probe of reporter phone records.

In time the conversation evolved into...

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Add fans of clam chowder -- or at least those who enjoy Ivar's product -- to those hoping lawmakers approve a plan to raise billions of dollars on transportation projects

"Chowder lovers need you to pass the transportation bill," Ivar's Inc. president Bob Donegan says on a video message emailed to lawmakers today. He says the number of daily deliveries of chowder from Mukilteo to Kent has dropped from three to two because of increased congestion...

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Democratic Congresswoman Suzan DelBene is not a sponsor of the farm bill put forth today by House Republicans.

But the Medina lawmaker did get her proposal to boost job training for food stamp recipients included in the legislation offered up by Republican Congressman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma.

"After months...

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Anti-tax promoter Tim Eyman has loaned $250,000 to his latest initiative campaign which would make tax hikes expire after a year unless tougher rules for raising taxes are written into the state constitution.

Eyman obtained the money by taking out a second mortgage on his Mukilteo home. He did the same thing in 2010 to propel Initiative 1053 to the ballot. That debt was paid off earlier this year, he said.

"It...

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Gov. Jay Inslee today signed into law the only significant gun-related measure to pass the Legislature in regular session.

Republican Rep. Mike Hope of Lake Stevens, the prime sponsor of the bill, was the lone lawmaker to attend the signing.

Under

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Gov. Jay Inslee completed his makeover of the Washington Student Achievement Council on Monday by naming four appointees to replace the quartet he kicked off the panel last month.

Inslee's nominees are Jeff Charbonneau, a Zillah High School teacher recently chosen as National Teacher of the...

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Republican Rep. Dan Kristiansen of Snohomish is the new House Minority Leader following a vote of the GOP caucus this morning.

Kristiansen will succeed Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis who stepped down April 17 due to health issues. He will serve...

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Everett Education Association president Kim Mead won election Friday night as the next president of Washington's powerful union of public school teachers.

The Washington Education Association first announced the news on Twitter and Facebook.

Mead will serve a two-year term as leader of the 82,000-member association. She will succeed...

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The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility will announce Monday if it will take its fight for tighter background checks on gun sales to the ballot this fall or next year.

Alliance members will reveal their plans at a 9:30 a.m. news conference in Seattle's Town Hall.

Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick and several religious leaders will be taking part in the event.

Members...

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A plan by House Democrats to hike the gas tax hike and car tab fees to fund new transportation projects is on hold until an expected special session, its chief architect said this afternoon.

"I have support to move the package but it just won't be before the special session," said Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Medina, who is chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee.

Clibborn said she has enough votes in the...

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With no votes to spare, the state House today approved a measure to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue by eliminating tax breaks and making permanent a tax hike on professional services set to expire in June.



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Democrats steered an $8.4 billion dollar transportation package out of the House Transportation Committee today. The proposal relies mostly on higher car tab fees and a 10-cent gas tax hike to pay for roads, bridges, ferries and transit services throughout the state

And they also inserted a provision allowing for another gas tax increase in the future to pay for the new Highway 520 bridge.



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Initiative promoter Tim Eyman of Mukilteo today announced a new measure aimed at adding a supermajority requirement for raising taxes into the state constitution.

What he didn't say today is whether he will hurry to put the initiative on the ballot this November or shoot for the fall of 2014.

"I will not announce the timing today but will announce very soon," he said in a phone interview.

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Democrats in the state House today begin their much-anticipated conversations on raising billions of dollars for public schools and transportation projects.

The House Finance Committee began a hearing at 8 a.m. on a bill to generate $1.06 billion by...

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Senate Republicans today revived two controversial education reform ideas hours after it appeared House Democrats had buried them for this session.

Measures to assign schools a letter grade based on various performance metrics and to collect data on student suspensions and expulsions are part of an omnibus bill introduced today by the...

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Republican Rep. Richard DeBolt of Chehalis announced today he is stepping down as minority leader due to health concerns but will continue serving in the state House.

"After talking with my wife, father and doctor, this is the right decision," DeBolt said in a press release. "It will be hard leaving a job I love and have done for...

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Those repeatedly arrested for drunken driving could face longer sentences and more difficulty getting behind the wheel under legislation introduced today.

Gov. Jay Inslee teamed with Republican and Democratic lawmakers in crafting an 80-page bill which is set for hearings in House and Senate committees Thursday.

The governor...

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Democrats in the state Senate say they are going to try to seize control of the chamber and pass controversial bills dealing with college aid for children of undocumented immigrants and abortion insurance.

They didn't say when. And it's likely they will fail when they do.

Democratic leaders today said they will undertake a procedural maneuver known as the Ninth Order to immediately pull the bills to the Senate...

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House budget writers apparently didn't get the memo that the Dream Act is dead this legislative session.

They've included $100,000 for implementation of House Bill 1817 which would make undocumented immigrant students eligible for state financial aid. You can find it on page 167 of the budget bill.

The

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Freshman Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., announced today she's going to return a portion of her monthly paycheck as across-the-board cuts take effect in federal agencies.

DelBene said she will return 8.2 percent of her earnings to the U.S Treasury, the same percentage cut faced by...

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The Senate Majority Coalition is counting on roughly $170 million earned from timber sales on public lands to help balance the next state budget.

But it turns out the Senate already earmarked those same dollars for building schools. That happened in February when the Senate overwhelmingly approved a

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While leaders of the Senate Majority Coalition are mum on when they will release a budget proposal, it appears pieces of their plan are showing up online today.

Bills to divert money from the Public Works Assistance fund into education, expand Medicaid and

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Senate transportation leaders say they intend to release their budget proposal Wednesday morning.

The rollout is penciled in for 9 a.m., according to Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, who are the co-chairs of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Neither expects their bipartisan proposal to make waves because there are not a lot of new or extra dollars to spend on projects. Most of...

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Twenty-five state senators, including the majority leader and one Republican member, issued a letter this morning committing to vote for a controversial abortion rights bill if it reaches the floor of the chamber.

Release of the letter turns up the heat on Senate Republicans who dominate the Majority Coalition Caucus and have not said whether they will allow the bill known as the

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With her words and actions, the Republican leader of the Senate Higher Education Committee appears to be putting the kibosh on a bill allowing illegal immigrants bound for college to receive financial aid from the state.

Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, has not scheduled a vote on the bill known as the

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A group of House Republicans think Washington can create a lot of jobs and generate a bunch of revenue by getting makers of ammunition and firearm parts to set up shop in the state.

A bill introduced today calls on the state to "encourage the manufacture of smokeless propellant, small arms primers, cartridge cases, and small arms ammunition and firearm parts and...

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Gov. Jay Inslee will grab the spotlight Thursday when he identifies tax breaks he wants to end in order to generate more money for the state's education system.

The big reveal will be made at 11 a.m. when he intends to release a broad blueprint for balancing the next state budget and pumping as much as $1 billion more into public schools in the coming two years.

His news conference can be watched online on

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When it comes to improving the achievement of students in public schools, Washington lawmakers aren't making the grade.

And when it comes to funding the system they are nearly flunking.

That's according to a report card issued today by the League of Education Voters, a Seattle-based group which is pushing

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As a controversial bill giving principals greater power to hire and fire teachers creeps along in Olympia, the statewide teacher's union is targeting a few of its supporters in hopes of changing their minds.

This Friday the House Education Committee plans to hold a hearing on Senate Bill 5242 which would give school administrators...

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