Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Featured Stories

News Tribune

Legislature clamps down on tax breaks with bills that set standards for those that exist, lay out expectations for new ones  (Carlyle, Tharinger)

Puyallup Herald

State House of Representatives clears bills to improve long-term care (Morrell, Jinkins)

AP-State

State officials, others recall Gov. Booth Gardner (Chopp)

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Bainbridge Island Review

House approves Voting Rights Act to equalize local representation (Moscoso, Hunt)

Outraged property owners march on city hall to protest shoreline program

Washington leaders react to passing of Booth Gardner

Bellingham Herald

LTE:  Unhappy with state plan to tax bicycles

LTE:  Supports legislation for solar leasing

Bothell Reporter

How did 1st District representatives for Bothell vote? (McAuliffe, Stanford, Moscoso)

How did 46th District representatives for Kenmore vote? (Frockt, Farrell, Pollet)

Snohomish County teens drinking less; thinking more about suicide

Former Washington State Gov. Booth Gardner dead at 76

Columbian

Lawmakers use town halls to talk CRC  (Moeller, Wylie, Cleveland)

In Our View: Cheers & Jeers (Stonier’s student restraint bill)

The Daily News

Legislative Roll Call Report (Blake, Takko, Hatfield)

Reaction to the death of former Gov. Booth Gardner (Chopp)

Everett Herald

Sheriff's new school safety program officially begins

Critical numbers coming for Olympia (Hunter, McAuliffe)

Bill to block public records requests dies  (Sells, Moscoso, Takko)

Bill to fast-track gravel mining project dies (Hobbs)

Op-ed: Fixing crumbling roads isn't cheap, but it's worth it

Op-ed by Reps. Kagi and Hope: State's juvenile records law undermines rehabilitation efforts (Kagi)

Op-ed: 50 years later, fulfilling right to counsel

Editorial: Gov. Booth Gardner: A genuine public servant

Federal Way Mirror

Fewer WA teens use alcohol and tobacco; depression is up

Cartoon: Education funding and the elephant in the room | Shiers

Highline Times

“Poverty is not a learning disability”: Enfield’s plan for the future of Highline Schools

Mercer Island Reporter

New transportation secretary calls for review of state's three big transportation projects

News Tribune

Bill regulating drones dies in Wash. Legislature  (Goodman, Chase)

Former Gov. Booth Gardner dies

Editorial:  A chance to get poor adults back to the dentist

Editorial:  Booth Gardner, the nice guy who finished first

New York Times

Ruled a Threat to Family, but Allowed to Keep Guns  (Kagi, Goodman)

Olympian (subscription required)

Former Gov. Booth Gardner dies

Lawmakers in 22nd get an earful on guns  (Fraser, Hunt, Reykdal)

Fight over tax breaks leaves mills in middle (Carlyle)

Liquor Board enlists variety of pot experts to help form system

GOP senator sees conflict for project review leader

Judge hopes to close Western State Hospital's revolving door

Under the Dome: Today is Saturday, March 16, the 62nd day of the 105-day legislative session. (Hunt, Fraser, Reykdal)

Bill sparked by release of Clemmons’ sister (Kline)

Blog: Washington law on minimum wage looking like template for U.S. reformers

Oregonian

Booth Gardner, former Washington governor and chief proponent of his state's assisted suicide law, dies at 76

Editorial:  CRC height problem needs quick resolution if the $3.4 billion project is to be built

Washington state lawmaker says consultant leading Columbia River Crossing project review has conflict of interest

CRC height problem needs quick resolution if the $3.4 billion project is to be built

Peninsula Daily News

EYE ON OLYMPIA: Bills move to opposite chambers (Van De Wege, Tharinger, Hargrove)

Port Orchard Independent

Debate over House bill rekindles Port Orchard’s fear of losing county seat (Seaquist, Schlicher)

Redmond Reporter

Redmond's Tramp, Sundene speak with legislators about diabetes, Medicaid expansion (Habib, Hunter)

Seattle Gay News

GSBA endorses Washington state DREAM Act

Space Needle labor dispute heats up

Seattle Times

Climate change a top concern for Gov. Inslee (Morris)

Vancouver Republican basking in state Senate majority (Hobbs)

State found better than most on gun-owner mental-health checks

Farmers markets hoping to offer wine, beer tasting

Former Gov. Booth Gardner dies at 76

Booth Gardner: A timeline

Op-ed: Video-game industry not to blame for gun violence

Op-ed: Commit to poor kids to end the achievement gap

Op-ed: Protecting public defense and King County from risk

Column: Bill’s defeat a case study on gun issue

Column: Busy Boeing clips wings before drone bill can fly

Editorial: Let voters approve fees to fix local roads, transit

Editorial: Support for marijuana legalization drags among state’s congressional delegation

Blog: State lawmaker invites Eric Holder to committee hearing on pot (Hurst)

Seattle Weekly

Students Rally Against Differential Tuition at UW

Gun Initiative Stands a Chance If It Can Overcome One Big Sticking Point

Skagit Valley Herald

Unequal representation (Moscoso, Nelson, Lytton, Morris)

Spokesman Review

Sunday Spin: Bipartisanship in the eye of the beholder (Chopp)

Spin Control: Clearing the brush on what’s bipartisan (Chopp)

Legislative town halls today (Billig, Ormsby, Riccelli)

Legislative town hall meetings in Spokane (Billig, Ormsby, Riccelli)

Providence, CHS have split Spokane’s health care system

Critical caregivers - Nurses play vital role in keeping health care costs down

Former governor Gardner, 76, dies

Shawn Vestal: The only good laws are popular laws

Tri-City Herald

Editorial:  Our Voice: Sealing court records threat to open government

Walla Walla Union Bulletin (subscription required)

Editorial: State doesn't have cash to fund college grants for illegal immigrants

West Seattle Herald

Community members, architects discuss new Genesee Hill elementary school

Former Governor Booth Gardener has died

Whidbey News-Times

Citizens Ignited unite Whidbey Island

Yakima Herald Republic

Future of state Dream Act remains unclear (Murray)

Vancouver Republican basks in state Senate majority (Hobbs)

BROADCAST

KATU

Another CRC hurdle: The Washington State Senate (Moeller, Cleveland)

KING 5 TV (NBC)

INSIDE POLITICS: Worker's comp, background check bill and 'lactategate'

Gregoire remembers 'personal mentor,' Booth Gardner

Wash. legislature: What's alive, what's dead as budget looms?add to reading list (Murray)

Former Governor Booth Gardner dies at age 76

Lawmakers share their thoughts on passing of Booth Gardner

KIRO TV

Former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner dies at 76

Police say drug dealer living large while collecting welfare

KOMO Radio

Courtney Gregoire officially joins Seattle Port Commission (Tarleton)

Victim's mother pushing for tougher unsecured-load laws

Wash. DSHS settles sex abuse lawsuit for $3 million

Armed deputies will now guard some local schools

Mercer Island leaders ask feds to put brakes on I-90 tolling proposal

KPLU FM

For some, border crossing stories part of family history

In Wash., 2 full-time min. wage jobs to afford 2-bedroom rental

Bill would excuse religious students during holidays  (Hasegawa)

Workers ready to remove tsunami dock from Wash. coast

KUOW FM

Striking Providence Hospital Workers Criticize Nonprofit CEO’s $6 Million Pay

Boeing Says It Can Install A Better Battery

MyNorthwest.com (KIRO FM)

Bellevue Police Department sued by one of its officers

Tacoma school security guard sentenced for sexual misconduct

Survey: Wash. high schoolers prefer pot to cigarettes

NW Public Radio

Booth Gardner, Washington’s 19th Governor, Dead At 76

An Electric Vehicle Charger To Help Balance The Grid

Q13 Fox News

Washington mourns death of former governor Booth Gardner

Seattle council to vote on surveillance camera ordinance

WEB

Adelante con Demócratas

Es fin de semana de reuniones comunitarias

Turismo en Washington poco a poco recuperando terreno

The Capitol Record

Latinos, supporters rally for reform at Capitol

Wolf bills still alive in the Legislature

Crosscut

Remembering Booth Gardner: A people's politician and an advocate for dignity

Olympia waits to hear its financial fate

Rodney Tom: No correlation between teacher pay and student achievement (Hunter, Habib)

Booth Gardner reached out even as he fought his illness

The Daily Troll: Dear Armed Leader is looking at us. Boeing hopeful. Online option for youth in crisis. (I-90 tolls)

HDC Advance

It's town hall weekend

Tourism in Washington slowly regaining ground

HorsesAss.org

RIP Booth Gardner

Dare to DREAM

Publicola

Capitol newsmaker, week 9: Not me! Not me! (Pedersen, Chopp, Blake, Haigh, Van De Wege, Fitzgibbon, Kirby, Sullivan, Kline)

Fizz: For the first time ever (Carlyle)

On other blogs today: Megaprojects and microhouses

Fizz: Undeterred

Schmudget

New Research Shows Tax Credits Make a Difference for Communities of Color

SDC Hopper

In The Loop. First half of session ends with no progress on McCleary and more attacks on the middle class

Seattle PI

Ex-Gov. Booth Gardner dies of Parkinson’s complications

Blog: Watch: Hillary Clinton backs gay marriage

Blog: Background checks on gun buyers: Only by initiative — legislators (Hunter, Habib)

Blog: Colorado backs universal background checks for gun purchasers

Blog: Eyman campaign investigated by Public Disclosure Commission

Slog

An Update on the Good, the Bad, and the F*cking Nutty Bills Flopping Around Olympia This Session

Booth Gardner

Washington Ledge

Washington Governor Eyes Tax 'Loopholes' For Elimination

Booth Gardner, Washington’s 19th Governor, Dead At 76

Quote of the Day

"The House GOP proposal ignores key elements of the costs identified by the court, shifts significant costs into future biennia and is consequently unsustainable."

 Appropriations Chair, Rep. Ross Hunter, The Oregonian

Story of the Day

Senator Kevin Ranker

Sen. Ranker’s efforts to halt ocean acidification recognized by National Geographic

Sen. Kevin Ranker's efforts to help stop ocean acidification are receiving national attention.

A recent article in National Geographic recognized Ranker for his pursuit of legislation to address the threat of ocean acidification that is impacting the state's shellfish market.

Making Climate a Blue Issue

Thundersnow, super-storms, dust storms, arctic melting, and coral bleaching have existed in the past but not as a regular part of our language till fossil-fuel fired climate change kicked in.

 You know you’re in the greenhouse century when the 13 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1998 and last year, 2012, was the hottest in U.S. history, with a major drought, record fire season, sweltering summer and Hurricane Sandy.

Of course no single event can be linked to human-enhanced climate disruption just like no single Tour de France victory by Lance Armstrong can be attributed to his doping, but the trend line is there.

I’ve reported on oil and climate impacts from Antarctica to the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, Fiji, Australia, Florida, lower Manhattan and offshore California.

And in speaking with scientists in all those places I’ve found two common themes: One, the role of the ocean in climate change is not well enough understood but the impacts, like altered ecosystems and the shifting pH called ocean acidification, are already occurring.

Two, this is the first environmental story where the scientists are more alarmed than the public. I first learned about global warming interviewing Roger Revelle, the father of modern U.S. oceanography, back in the 1980s. 

In the 1950s he and Dr. Charles Keeling, measuring atmospheric CO2 from an observatory in Hawaii, discovered industrial carbon dioxide was increasing in the atmosphere and warned of a warming “greenhouse effect.” That became established science at the time and still is.

Yet it was only in the 1990s that climate scientists were able to resolve one of their vexing issues, why the atmosphere wasn’t heating even more rapidly given this build up.

 The answer was the ocean was absorbing a lot of human-generated CO2, converting it to carbonic acid. This carbonic acid has shifted the pH of the ocean causing surface waters to be 30 percent more acidic than in the early 19th century and possibly up to 150 percent more acidic by the end of this century.

That will change the chemical makeup of the ocean to what it was 20 million years ago when it was a less friendly place for shell-forming critters like oysters, corals, and certain plankton but a fine soup for bacterial mats and jellyfish (both of which are booming today). Warmer, more acidic waters also hold less dissolved oxygen and that is bad news for the entire foodweb.

Acidification’s Climate Connection

Still, there are a couple of ocean conservation groups who talk about ocean acidification (OA) without mentioning climate change because they fear it is too much of a “hot button,” issue.

 This, to me, is like trying to have a discussion about damaged battleships at Pearl Harbor in 1941 without mentioning the Japanese.

Author and activist Bill McKibben and his climate group 350.org take a different approach. They’re mobilizing armies of people, most recently at the “Forward on Climate” rally that was held in Washington D.C. February 17, to demand an end to the political stranglehold the fossil fuel industry has over much of our government and a rapid transition to clean energy.

Unfortunately the marine conservation community is not bringing a lot of added value to this new populist upsurge.

Yet we are slowly beginning to see some good responses to, for example, climate-linked coastal disasters like Katrina and Sandy, from government, the private sector, and the seaweed (marine grassroots) groups that influence them.

 One positive sign is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s call to use $400 million of federal disaster relief to buy back destroyed homes and structures in coastal flood zones from wiling sellers, a strategy known as ‘planned retreat.’

 The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance has also developed a waterfront action agenda for adapting New York City’s shores to the rising seas around it.

 In Louisiana the state is committing its federal Restore Act funds from the BP blowout to actually restoring the coastal wetlands that protect New Orleans and other population centers, while the Gulf Restoration Network continues working to promote region-wide restoration of the coastal ecosystems that protect us all.

In Washington state, long time Surfrider Foundation member and state senator Kevin Ranker has introduced legislation to address the threat of OA that is already impacting the larval oysters at Taylor Shellfish and other aquaculture companies operating in state waters.

California Leads

And, as I report in my new book The Golden Shore, California is now emerging as the nation’s leader in planning and adapting for coastal climate impacts.

 Moreover it’s established its own climate plan including a cap and trade emissions reduction program in response to the federal government’s failure to act.

Its no coincidence that California has more seaweed groups fighting to protect and restore our public seas than any other state. Ocean action comes in response to citizen engagement.

It is a huge challenge for the marine conservation community to understand how these local and state initiatives can be scaled up and made part of a common national and global strategy for the emerging blue movement.

One attempt to address this question will take place during Blue Vision Summit 4 in Washington D.C. May 13-16, an event that regularly brings together hundreds of ocean activists and leaders to strategize over issues such as this.

A panel on making climate change a blue issue will include a leading climate scientist, the head of America’s largest port who is also leading a climate action plan for 50 of the world’s major ports, and a representative from Taylor Shellfish, a company already having to deal with the ways in which climate change is having a growing impact on our economy.

It’s increasingly clear that if the ocean conservation movement has any hope of success it will have to make climate change and carbon pollution of our seas one of its core issues.