Free Republic

Seattle’s mayor on Thursday unveiled a proposal to fine gun owners $500 to $10,000 for failing to lock up their firearms. The legislation, drafted by Mayor Jenny Durkan and Councilmember M. Lorena González, follows recent deadly school shootings in Florida, Texas and other locations. The bill was forwarded to Seattle's City Council for consideration, the Seattle Times reported. In 2016, Washington state enacted an "extreme risk" gun law that has allowed Seattle police officers to confiscate 43 weapons from citizens, the Times reported. The gun-control movement in Washington state has been aided by former Microsoft executive and NFL team owner...

SPOKANE, Wash. - One of Spokane's most recent controversial figures in back in the limelight. Rachel Dolezal, former president of Spokane's NAACP chapter, has been charged with welfare fraud after investigators discovered she had failed to report part of her self-employment income. Dolezal is accused of 1st Degree Theft by Welfare Fraud, Perjury in the 2nd degree, and False Verification for Public Assistance. Dolezal, whose legal name was changed to Nkechi A. Diallo in 2016, is accused of receiving $8,747 in illegal food assistance, and $100 in illegal childcare assistance, totaling $8,847. According to court documents, the investigation began when...

Last week I wrote about Evergreen State College’s decline in enrollment which is expected to blow a $5.9 million hole in the schools budget for the coming year. A memo outlining the school’s response said some vacancies would remain unfilled and a number of layoffs would be necessary. Today, a piece published by the Wall Street Journal reveals some additional detail on what is coming for Evergreen, including a lawsuit which will be filed this week:

Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers owner, Paul Allen, is pushing a Washington State gun control initiative in response to the May 18 Santa Fe High School shooting. The initiative, No. 1639, is called “Safe Schools, Safe Communities,” and it expands the gun controls placed on law-abiding citizens via the universal background check initiative that passed in 2014. Allen tweeted: Paul Allen ✔ @PaulGAllen 18h My statement on a gun safety initiative in my home state of Washington: Initiative 1639 is a reasonable and necessary measure that will improve the safety of our schools and our communities, which is why...

Dan Love .. led Operation Cerberus ... Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wants to rein in the law enforcement authority of the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service and is crafting legislation he says will either restrict or abolish their authority. Lee said Monday he aims to hem in powers he says were never envisioned under the Federal Land Management Policy Act of 1976. "Our federal land management agencies have drifted far from their intended purposes.. The BLM has expanded its operations far from public lands." ... The senator added federal land agencies exercise police powers on private land...

Bruce Kendall said Monday his phone at the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County has been ringing steadily since last week's vote by the Seattle City Council to tax big businesses $275 per employee. "I've received inquiries over the last week from companies that have indicated they are exploring options for locations in Pierce County," Kendall said. "And they are telling me that's why they are calling me, because the head tax passed. Now companies have another reason to call: A $275 tax credit per employee for new, family-wage jobs. "Note the value, it's not random," tweeted state Rep. J.T....

Senator Murray Vows to Fight Trump-Pence Administration’s Latest Radical Attack on Women’s Access to Health Care New domestic gag rule would forbid health care providers who receive federal family planning funds from discussing the full range of reproductive health care options with patientsSenator Murray: “Let me be clear: President Trump and Vice President Pence’s opinions have no place in a woman’s conversations with her doctor about her health care—and I and women nationwide are going to fight this deeply harmful, ideological effort every step of the way”Earlier this week Senator Murray led a letter with over 200 members of Congress...

It's not only a possibility in the Hawaiian Islands. A chain of about 40 volcanos runs along the West Coast between Canada and Mexico and all have the potential to become active. (The potential for each peak is outlined in the gallery above.) They've all erupted at least once in the past 10,000 years and they all have a supply of magma under them.

Full Title: A Double Murder From 1987 Was Just Solved Thanks To The Genealogy Website Used For The Golden State Killer Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg Snohomish County Sheriff _______________________________________________________________________________ Forensic genealogy has cracked a second major case, less than a month after the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, alleged to be the Golden State Killer. At 11 a.m. PDT in Washington state, the Snohomish County Sheriff announced the arrest of a 55-year-old man from the Seattle area for the 1987 double murder of a young Canadian couple, Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg. He is William Earl Talbott...

In a shortsighted effort to fight homelessness, Seattle’s city council has approved a new employee “head tax” on companies based in the city. The policy pits growth and progress against each other in a zero-sum game that will do far more harm than good. The head tax is exactly what it sounds like: a straight levy of $0.14 per hour per employee—about $275 a year for a full-time worker—targeting every business in Seattle with revenues of $20 million or more. The proposal’s backers aim to raise around $48 million per year to fund various affordable housing initiatives in order to...

Seattle is worried about the well-being of the poor and mentally ill people living there, so it's going to drive businesses out of town. OK, that's not how the politicians describe their plan, but that's probably how it will work out. Members of Seattle's city council want all big Seattle businesses to pay a tax of $500 per employee. In response, Amazon stopped building a new complex. Construction workers joined Amazon in protesting the new tax. On the other side are city council members like Kshama Sawant. She and members of her political party, Socialist Alternative, demonstrated in support of...

The Seattle city council just voted 9-0 on an expansive tax that would seek to tax the city’s businesses that make over 20 million dollars a year in gross revenues. An earlier proposal that passed last week would have taxed businesses around $500 per employee per year. That measure — which passed 5-4 — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan threatened to veto if it reached her desk.

Students at the embattled Evergreen State College, which made national headlines last year after it hosted an event that asked white people not to come on campus for a “Day of Absence,” have organized a new iteration of the controversial event despite administrators’ efforts to shift gears. Students at the Olympia, Washington-based public school have organized a three-day “Day of Absence” observance that includes a mix of events on and off campus. Some gatherings are advertised as open to all skin colors and others ask that only POC, or People of Color, attend. A poster hung at the school obtained...

SEATTLE -- Amazon is flexing its muscles making its opposition known to a proposed Seattle tax by bringing a halt to all planning on a massive project scheduled for construction in Downtown Seattle, and may tweak its plans to occupy a new downtown skyscraper. “I can confirm that pending the outcome of the head tax vote by City Council, Amazon has paused all construction planning on our Block 18 project in downtown Seattle and is evaluating options to sub-lease all space in our recently leased Rainier Square building," says Amazon Vice President Drew Herdener. The proposed "head tax" would apply...

Seattle’s largest businesses such as Amazon and Starbucks will have to pay a new tax to help fund homeless services and affordable housing under a measure approved by city leaders. The City Council unanimously passed a compromise plan Monday that taxes businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenues about $275 per full-time worker each year — lower than the $500 per worker initially proposed. The so-called “head tax” would raise roughly $48 million a year to build new affordable housing units and provide emergency homeless services. Etc...

Hours after the Seattle City Council passed a head tax on the city’s largest businesses Monday, Amazon issued a statement in response. The online shopping giant is grateful that the city amended its head tax proposal to a lesser amount, but notes that it is wary of city leaders’ attitudes toward business. Amazon’s statement is attributed to Vice President Drew Herdener: "We are disappointed by today’s city council decision to introduce a tax on jobs. While we have resumed construction planning for Block 18, we remain very apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward...

The council approved a tax of $275 per employee, per year on for-profit companies that gross at least $20 million per year in the city — down from a $500-per-head tax Mayor Jenny Durkan had threatened to veto. The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt a new tax on the city’s largest employers to help address homelessness. The ordinance will impose a tax of $275 per employee, per year on for-profit companies that gross at least $20 million per year in the city — down from a $500-per-head tax that Mayor Jenny Durkan threatened to veto. -snip- The...

The Seattle City Council has approved a tax on large businesses such as Amazon and Starbucks to fight homelessness. The council on Monday unanimously backed a compromise tax plan that will charge large businesses about $275 per full-time worker a year. It’s lower than the $500-per-worker tax initially proposed. The tax would begin in 2019 and raise about $48 million a year to pay for affordable housing and homeless services. Some council members acknowledged it wasn’t enough to address urgent housing needs but conceded they couldn’t get the six votes needed to override a potential veto by the mayor. Other...

The so-called leaks coming out of the White House are a massive over exaggeration put out by the Fake News Media in order to make us look as bad as possible. With that being said, leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!

Kshama Sawant’s rally “March on Amazon! Tax Big Biz to Build Affordable Housing!” was planned well before a committee passed a head tax on big businesses, including Amazon. The full Seattle City Council is expected to vote on the proposal on Monday. ”Our message today for the council is to stay strong,” Kshama Sawant – one of the most vocal proponents of the tax – told KTTH’s Jason Rantz at the rally. The rally on Saturday began at Seattle Central College Plaza and preceded a march to Amazon’s headquarters in South Lake Union. This is extortion,” the events Facebook page...