Governor Inslee With the Smackdown: "Washington lawmakers adjourned their 60-day legislative session Thursday night without passing a supplemental budget," the Associated Press reports, and Gov. Jay Inslee immediately called them back for a special session to complete their work and followed through on a threat to veto bills." The vetoed bills dealt with marijuana research licenses, industrial hemp, and regulations on pharmacy assistants.
Mike McGinn's Advice to Inslee on Climate Change: The former mayor's advice is two-fold: Sign an executive order opposing or requiring strict regulatory review of any expansions of fossil fuel infrastructure; swiftly divest the state from investments from fossil fuel companies, including pulling $259 million from Exxon—"a company that knew almost forty years ago that fossil fuel-caused global warming was going to have 'catastrophic' impacts in the first part of this century."
Fourteen Percent of Car2Go Users Have Given Up Their Car: That's according to a new city study of the car-sharing service, as Seattlish explains. "Not only do Cars2Go take up less space on curbs, they also sit on the street for less time than personal vehicles. Plus, they are easily integrated with existing transit; because you can leave a car behind, you can take another kind of transit in a different direction." More car sharing options are likely on the way.
Seattle Mayor With a New Plan to Cut Vehicle Emissions: Ed Murray's "Drive Clean" initiative aims to halve the city's fleet emissions by 2025 and triple the number of fast charging stations by 2017, KING 5 reports.
Folks Behind Vancouver Safe Injection Site Will Visit Seattle: They'll give a presentation on their highly successful clinic to a new City-County task force on heroin, KING 5 reports. The clinic prevents overdoses by giving drug users a safe, regulated place to use in an environment where they can receive additional services and counseling.
Seattlites Have Given More Than Half a Million Dollars to Bernie Sanders: Making Seattle number one among the 50 largest cities for per-capita contributions to Bernie Sanders, according to an analysis by the Seattle Times' Gene Balk. San Francisco and Portland come in second and third.
Jury Unanimously Acquits Teacher Accused of Rape: "The jury returned its verdict after one day of deliberation," Seattlepi.com reports. Darcy Smith, a well-liked teacher whose reputation was shattered by the allegations, was acquitted of charges brought by King County Prosecutors on all counts.
Puyallup Neighbors Lament "Welcome Beacon" for Homeless: "This week's city council meeting was packed with people who told the council that they're tired of the homeless camps, trash, drug needles, feces and bottles of urine," KIRO reports, without bothering to talk to any homeless people or the operators of the resource center about the alleged problems.
Today's Blabbermouth, Our Week-In-Review Podcast: Includes dueling arguments from City Council Member Lorena Gonzalez and State Senator Reuven Carlyle over fencing the "Jungle," as well as a remembrance of Stranger art director Aaron Huffman. Listen here.
