Few lawmakers at Capitol for budget impasse talk

"Most state lawmakers stayed away from the Capitol on Tuesday as a House-Senate dispute over taxes remained stuck in a political ditch.

Top House and Senate negotiators were in Olympia to bring ideas for ending the impasse over how to raise $800 million in new revenue – without the temporary sales tax increase that the Senate has suggested. But no one publicly offered new ideas, and most rank-and-file lawmakers won’t be coming to Olympia today, either."