"Gay marriage support increasing in Wash.; State Legislature to debate bills to make it legal" by Rachel La Corte | Associated Press, January 22, 2012
OLYMPIA, Wash. - The last time same-sex marriage was debated in the Washington state Legislature, lawmakers voted to ban it. Fourteen years later, the issue is before the Legislature once again after a multiyear effort that has incrementally increased rights for gay and lesbian couples in the state.
And this time around, it looks like Washington could very well become the seventh state plus the District of Columbia to legalize same-sex marriage.
Sorry, I've moved beyond the issue and have raised the white flag on it. Just grant it to them and let's move on. Or like Ron Paul says, let each state decide. I'm against it, but I live in a state that sanctions it and I accept it. Next issue.
Gay marriage has won the backing of several prominent Pacific Northwest businesses, including Microsoft Corp. and Nike Inc., and just last week a conservative Democrat who once opposed same-sex marriage said he will now vote for it.
Bills to legalize same-sex marriage have been introduced in the House and Senate, sponsored by two gay lawmakers who have pushed for gay rights measures in past years. The bills will have their first public hearings tomorrow, before a Senate committee in the morning and a House committee in the afternoon. While gay marriage bills have been introduced in Washington state before, this is the first time the issue will receive a public hearing.
“If there’s one word to sum up where Washington is on marriage equality, it’s momentum,’’ said Michael Cole-Schwartz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.
Same-sex marriage is legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. Lawmakers in New Jersey and Maryland are expected to debate it this year as well.
Washington state, along with several others, including California, Oregon, and New Jersey, have laws that either recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships that afford same-sex couples some or nearly all of the rights to marriage.
The debate over same-sex marriage in Washington state has changed significantly since lawmakers passed Washington’s Defense of Marriage Act in 1998. The constitutionality of the act was upheld by the state Supreme Court in 2006, but earlier that year, a gay civil rights measure passed after nearly 30 years of failure, signaling a change of mindset in the Legislature.
The quick progression of domestic partnership laws in the state came soon after, with a domestic partnership law in 2007, and two years of expansion that culminated in 2009 with the so-called “everything but marriage law’’ that was upheld by voters after opponents filed a referendum to challenge it.
That strategy was spearheaded by Democratic Senator Ed Murray, a gay lawmaker from Seattle who has led the push for gay civil rights and domestic partnerships and who is sponsoring the Senate marriage bill.
“The culture changes and the politics follows,’’ Murray said. “The most political act that changed the culture wasn’t in Olympia, it wasn’t me. It was people coming out to their families, to their workplace. That’s what’s changed people’s minds.’’
The state Senate is now just one vote shy of having enough backing to approve the bill, with a half-dozen lawmakers remaining uncommitted.
--more--"
Anything else bringing a grin to faces in Washington?
"US says Seattle police use excessive force" Associated Press, December 17, 2011
SEATTLE - Inadequate supervision and training has led Seattle police officers to too quickly resort to the use of weapons like batons and flashlights and to escalate confrontations even when arresting people for minor offenses, the Justice Department said yesterday.
The department launched an investigation last spring following the fatal shooting of a homeless Native American woodcarver and other reported uses of force against minority suspects.
The probe was aimed at determining whether Seattle police have a “pattern or practice’’ of violating civil rights or discriminatory policing, and if so, what they should do to improve.
Federal investigators said they found that Seattle police have engaged in excessive force that violated federal law and the Constitution.
The Department of Justice is conducting 20 investigations of police department across the country and the use of force is a prominent issue in most of them, Perez said.
--more--"
Time to wrap it up, readers:
"Seattle ban on plastic bags advances" December 20, 2011
SEATTLE - The City Council voted unanimously yesterday to ban single-use plastic bags from groceries and other retail stores.
Then how am I going to get my groceries to the car, and what is that fellow making them now going to do for work?
The ordinance also requires a nickel fee for the use of paper bags supplied by stores....
Now wait a minute!
Under the ordinance, money from the nickel fee goes to retailers to reimburse them for stocking paper bags. The previous law that was overturned would have required stores to return the money to the city, which was viewed by some people as a tax.
The new measure waives the paper bag fee for customers receiving food assistance and other government benefits. The city will make free or reduced-cost reusable bags available to people in need.
The ordinance applies only to single-use, checkout bags.
--more--"
"A 66-year-old snowshoer missing on Mount Rainier since Saturday was found alive yesterday by a team of rescuers, a national park spokeswoman said....
--more--"
"Northwest power outages could last days" Associated Press, January 21, 2012
SEATTLE - A storm that brought snow, ice, and powerful winds left a mess of fallen trees and power lines yesterday as tens of thousands of residents already without power faced the prospect of a cold, dark weekend, and flooding became a top region-wide concern.
While temperatures warmed and the icy, snowy conditions abated in western Washington and Oregon, slick roads and fast-melting snow brought challenges for road workers, city officials, and rescue crews. The region also faces more rain as swelling rivers lead to the worst flooding some counties have seen in more than a decade.
The storm continued its plod east, where it was expected to move into the Plains and Great Lakes regions by this evening.
--more--"
What you couldn't see on the web:
"PACIFIC NORTHWEST STORM -- A truck veered off Interstate 5 near Nisqually, Wash., during a snowstorm yesterday. The winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow in the region, closing schools, causing accidents on roads, and canceling flights. Weather forecasters warned that heavy rain combined with snow melt could lead to some flooding (Boston Globe January 19 2012)."
"DEADLY WATERS -- A tow truck worked to bring a school bus upright after it tipped in floodwaters yesterday in Salem, Ore. Earlier, raging waters from a flooded Oregon creek swept a carload of four people out of a parking lot and into a canal culvert. Only two survived, a father and son. The body of a mother and her 1-year-old son were recovered later (Boston Globe January 20 2012)."
They were photographs in my printed paper, readers.
Fun has kind of gone out of the Globe.
