Seattle, facing a budget crunch so bad that there are proposed cuts to the Fire Department, is funding almost $5 Million in "climate pollution" grants. Looking deeper; most of these grants appear to be paying to replace natural gas appliances with electric ones inside nonprofit ran shelters, using the (detrimental) JumpStart tax to fund it. @komonews 'Seattle awards $4.6M in grants to cut climate pollution in affordable housing' Article: komonews.com/news/local/seat…

Each one of those marker on the ground is from a shell casing...

"There is going to be a bill to authorize a 75 year low interest loan for Sound Transit." Legislators told attendees at the Ballard Sound Transit meeting this week that they will again be pushing SB 6148, which would extend the loans Sound Transit can borrow from 40 years to a lifetime long 75 years. This is because Sound Transit doesn't know how to budget...much like the legislature that wants to bail them out with loans your adult grandchildren would be paying on. As if this wasn't bad enough; Dow Constantine told the Ballard audience that they are looking at the year 2060 for their Light Rail, unless more funding is approved by taxpayers. Then it would be "as early as" 2042. For context, the Ballard line was supposed to open in 2035 and cost $4.2 Billion. Now the cost is expected to be north of $20 Billion with a laughably far completion date. @JackieKentNews | @komonews 'Seattle's multibillion Ballard light rail extension still unfunded as leaders target 2042 start date' Article: komonews.com/news/local/ball…

If you have not received your ballot by now, reach out to your county elections office immediately.

On this Future 42 Gas Price Friday... To give you an idea of how much more expensive Washington state's gas prices are than most states in the US; We have the 3rd highest average at $5.34, while our neighbor Oregon is the 5th highest at $4.90. A 44 cent difference, explained primarily by our carbon tax. The only states with more expensive gas than us are the (island state of) Hawaii, and California...which has made its own gas prices artificially higher than everyone else through bad policies like us. We also happen to be one of only four states in the country with a gas price average that still starts with $5. Even with all of this knowledge; Governor Bob Ferguson continues to ignore calls from the working and middle classes of WA to suspend the (useless) Climate Commitment Act carbon tax, at least until gas prices drop. (It's not like the CCA is doing anything for the environment anyways..) Washington state gasoline taxes: $0.96 per gallon WA vs Nation Average: +$1.07 Roads Condition Rank: 48th Gas Price Rank: 3rd highest Washington State fuel tax breakdown per gallon WA Gas Tax: $0.565 WA Carbon Tax: $0.32 WA Hazard Tax: $0.04 WA Low Carbon Fuel Tax: $0.04 Source: AAA

Sound Transit has begun the process to buy or use eminent domain to acquire, 63 properties in the way of the West Seattle light rail line. @HeySamCampbell | @fox13seattle 'Sound Transit to vote on West Seattle light rail'

Washington state's Paid Family and Medical Leave tax rate will hit the maximum allowed 1.2% next year, up from 0.4% when the program began in 2019. Even with the tax hike, the program is expected to run a deficit beginning in 2029. Emily Makings | @WRCresearch 'Paid family and medical leave tax rate will increase to 1.2% in 2027' Article: researchcouncil.org/paid-fam…

"It's been SIX YEARS of this!" The King County Homelessness Authority loses yet another $17 Million dollars in "unrecoverable" taxpayer money, and Ari Hoffman points out that most King County and Seattle leaders continue to remain silent after years of failures like this one. (Probably because they don't want to lose those sweet federal dollars the agency brings in for them) @thehoffather | @570KVI 'Financial review of the King County Regional Homeless Authority found $17 million is unrecoverable'

"We identified about 10 youth that were previously charged with Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, that were then later charged with Assault in the First Degree or Murder." King County Prosecutor's Office spells out how dangerous our state's current juvenile gun possession law has become. Currently a child's "1st possession of a gun up to their 5th possession, is only punishable by up to 30 days of detention." And many times, they are released while awaiting trial, where they go on to commit other crimes. Last session, HB 1536 (supported by KCPO) would have fixed this. It proposed a strict intervention requirement for the 1st gun possession, and then would make a 2nd gun possession charge a First Degree Felony, with much more serious consequences. This was a bipartisan bill, but because our state is unserious about public safety; it wasn't even given a public hearing. HB 1536: app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?… @BillWixey | @KCProsecutor | @fox13seattle 'King County officials discuss challenges of handling crime involving young suspects'