Governor Jay Inslee Proposes Carbon, Capital Gains Taxes to Pay for Education: Inslee’s plan would raise $4 billion in new taxes by increasing some business and occupation taxes, reversing tax exemptions for bottled water and oil refineries, creating a new $25 per ton carbon tax, and creating a capital gains tax. The spending plan is meant to address the final big piece of the McCleary case: teacher salaries. Read the governor’s full plan here.
Republicans Already Hate It: Republican lawmakers immediately criticized Inslee’s plan Tuesday, the Seattle Times reports.
Jay Inslee and the Seattle Democrat’s absurd multi-billion dollar tax increase is DOA. You’re welcome taxpayers.
— Michael Baumgartner (@VoteBaumgartner) December 13, 2016
Amazon Makes First Drone Delivery: The company delivered a man in Cambridge, England an Amazon Fire TV device and a bag of popcorn. Watch the video.
“I Have Never Been More Convinced in My Life That Bill Gates May Not Be Human…” Sydney explains just why it’s so troubling that Bill Gates seems to be looking for the bright side of a Trump presidency.
Judge Says FBI Acted “Outrageously” Running Child Porn Site: Last year, the FBI used secret software to obtain identifying information about people who accessed the server hosting “The Playpen,” a dark-web child-porn site. A federal judge in Tacoma says the agents who took over and then ran the site “acted outrageously,” but the judge did not suppress evidence gathered in the process.
Bike Officer Hit by Trolley During Sounders Parade: The officer had non-life threatening injuries, but few other details were available. Q13 reports two people were also arrested for trying to board the trolleys players were riding in.
Two Victories for Anti-Growthers: First, a judge sided with a group of residents in Pioneer Square who say a proposed new apartment building is “out of scale” with their neighborhood. Then, the Queen Anne Community Council won its challenge to the city’s backyard cottages rule, delaying new construction of those apartments in single family zones.
Speaking of Single Family Zones: There’s a lot of talk about how allowing multifamily dwellings like duplexes and triplexes would ruin the “character” of single family neighborhoods. But a new analysis from the Sightline Institute shows Seattle’s single family zones are already home to thousands of duplexes and accessory dwelling units.
The Feds Can Retry Troy Kelley: “A panel of judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal by departing State Auditor Troy Kelley, ruling federal prosecutors can retry him on several tax-related felony charges stemming from his defunct real-estate reconveyance business,” reports Mike Carter at the Seattle Times. “The three judges unanimously rejected Kelley’s claim that retrying him on the tax charges would constitute double-jeopardy, or trying Kelley twice for the same crime.”
Bertha Reaches Belltown: The troubled downtown tunnel is now nearly 70 percent complete, according to the state transportation department. (LOL remember last time they said that?)
The Proposed Extension of the First Hill Streetcar Is in Limbo: “Support from Broadway businesses is lacking for the current design and the financial plan,” reports Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, “and with the neighborhood adjusting to the light rail station and the First Hill Streetcar, the Seattle Department of Transportation has stepped back from the extension with the intention to revisit the plan with stakeholders sometime in 2017.”
“Mount St. Helens Shakes 120 Times Within a Week”: I’m sure this is fine.
