Northwest briefly: Gregoire, Rossi to debate Oct. 1 in Yakima

Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican challenger Dino Rossi are scheduled to debate on Oct. 1 in Yakima.

They’ll take questions from reporters and other citizens at Capitol Theatre.

The event, presented by the Yakima Herald-Republic and KYVE-TV, will be carried statewide on PBS stations.

It will be rebroadcast on TVW, the Washington state public affairs channel.

Olympia: Some WASL tests will get shorter

The WASL tests for elementary and middle school students next spring will be shorter.

Washington education officials also say there will be fewer open-ended questions and more multiple choice answers.

The Legislature told the state Office of Public Instruction to redesign the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to make it less costly.

But there are no plans to shorten the reading and writing WASL given to high school students as a graduation requirement.

The state uses the WASL to follow the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Seattle: Suit filed over care at nursing homes

A Milwaukee-based company has been accused of cheating thousands of residents out of the care they were promised at 15 nursing homes in Washington.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday against Extendicare Homes Inc. on behalf of Howard Steele, father of the late Lee Ann Steele, a former resident of Aldercrest Health &Rehabilitative Center in Edmonds.

According to the case brought in King County Superior Court, she died of brain damage from lack of oxygen after her windpipe closed while she was left alone for hours following a stroke.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status for all Extendicare residents in the state since 2004.

@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Governor, union agree on tentative pay raise

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration has tentatively settled on pay raises with one of the nearly two dozen unions negotiating new state contracts.

The preliminary agreement with the Washington Public Employees Association calls for a 1.6 percent general pay raise in 2009, followed by a 1.7 percent raise in 2010, The Olympian newspaper reported Friday.

The agreement still needs approval from union members and financing from the Legislature.

The current contract had 3.2 percent raises last year and 2 percent raises this year.

Gregoire’s top negotiator, Diane Leigh, said most of the unions representing state workers are still in talks for new two-year contracts.

Associated Press

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