Morning News Digest: Thursday, November 20, 2008

With the PolitickerWA.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Washington's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

$5B budget gap means Washington faces painful cuts

OLYMPIA — It's never been this bad. That's how legislative leaders summed it up Wednesday, stunned by new revenue projections showing a $5 billion hole in the next two-year budget. (Andrew Garber, Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008413282_staterevenue20m.html

Developer weighs run for mayor

A downtown developer with an environmental streak and deep Seattle roots is seriously considering running for mayor against two-term incumbent Greg Nickels. (Kathy Mulady, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/388536_smith20.html

Republicans' lawsuit about ballot counting to continue

House Republicans will continue their lawsuit over the counting of ballots in Spokane's razor-thin legislative election. State Rep. Richard DeBolt of Chehalis said today he wants the court to order that the expected hand recount use original ballots marked by voters, not remade ballots that were marked by elections workers so a voting machine could count them. (Jim Camden, The Spokesman Review)

http://spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=17844

Government lists priorities for spending

The state has a list of things it shouldn't spend money on — including the Family Policy Council, a computer to handle state employee health insurance and reports on how effective government services are. (Adam Wilson, The Olympian)

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/668121.html

State asks colleges to plan for $600M in cuts

The state Office of Financial Management has asked state colleges to develop plans for a 20 percent cut in expected spending, which would add up to about $600 million during the next two years.  (Associated Press)

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/543524.html

GOP pushes forward with another lawsuit

A judge turned down the House Republican Organizational Committee’s lawsuit yesterday seeking a restraining order on the counting of ballots in the 6th Legislative District race, but that will not deter them from going forward with their lawsuit to revisit the original ballots that were made into duplicates. (PolitickerWA.com)

http://www.politickerwa.com/bryanbissell/2644/despite-losing-first-ld-6-lawsuit-gop-pushes-forward-another

State settles DeLeon case

The state of Washington will pay more than $6 million to former foster children of Carole DeLeon, including the estate of the 7-year-old who died of starvation in her care, according to a settlement filed Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court. (Meghann M. Cuniff, Spokesman Review)

http://spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=17851

First Alcoa workers notified of layoffs

WENATCHEE — Alcoa earlier this week notified 10 employees of its Wenatchee Works smelter that they will be laid off by the end of the month. (Christine Prat, Wenatchee World)

http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081119/NEWS04/711209939/1001

McMorris Rodgers elected vice chair of House Republican conference

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane) was elected vice chair of the House Republican Conference today, a position she announced she was running for early on last week. (PolitickerWA.com)

http://www.politickerwa.com/bryanbissell/2643/mcmorris-rodgers-elected-vice-chair-house-republican-conference

State agency considers plight of killer whales

The Puget Sound Partnership is considering ways to help the sound's resident killer whales in its plan to clean up the region. (Associated Press)

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/latestheadlines/story/678716.html

With the PolitickerWA.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Washington's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.