In the Media

The next in a series of talks organized by Western Washington University about the brain and neuroscience is set for Monday, Nov. 7, at Bob's Burgers & Brew.
"Using a Hammer Really Does Make Everything Look Like a Nail: A Discussion of the Shared Brain Mechanisms of Action and Perception" is the topic, which will be hosted by Kelly Jantzen, an assistant professor in WWU's psychology department.

Western Washington University's theater arts department presents Ted Tally's "Terra Nova," a play that follows the real-life story of the ill-fated 1911-1912 South Pole expedition at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9-12 and 2 p.m. Nov. 13 at Western's Performing Arts Center Mainstage Theatre.

The Western Washington University women's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to four games, as the Vikings blanked Western Oregon University 3-0 on senior day Saturday, Oct. 29, at Orca Field.
The Vikings received goals from Brina Sych, Kristen Maris and Megan Chapin.

Western Washington University men's basketball guard John Allen led the Vikings with 17 points and five assists, as WWU defeated University of Victoria 81-68 in an exhibition contest Saturday, Oct. 29, at Carver Gym.

A man dressed in green camouflage yelled and waved his arms outside the plate-glass windows of the Gap in downtown Seattle.

Then, for several minutes, he stood still in the middle of the sidewalk along Fifth Avenue as pedestrians streamed by, giving him wide berth.

Western Washington University's admissions director has been removed from her position and is on administrative leave following an investigation by the university's Equal Opportunity Office that says she retaliated against an employee who filed a discrimination complaint.
Karen Copetas, who has been head of the admissions office for 21 years, doesn't agree with the findings and is challenging them in order to keep her job.

Echoing President Barack Obama, Gov. Chris Gregoire said "this is what Wall Street has done to our state" when she proposed eliminating health insurance for the poor and reducing even further support for education and public safety.

The shift to populous, national rhetoric was a change for the Democrat, as was her seeming willingness to at least consider tax hikes to help the state deal with a $2 billion budget deficit. While Republicans rapped Gregoire for blaming far away stock traders for state woes and mimicking the recent political strategy of the president, the change in tone was welcomed by some of Gregoire's fellow Democrats and liberal allies. They had complained the two-term governor had been too willing to cut spending to help deal with the effects of the Great Recession.

Gov. Chris Gregoire made clear last week that she wants new state revenues to avert some of the $2 billion in cuts needed to put the state’s finances back in balance.

She said she does not have specific new tax or fee ideas to champion. But she won’t have to look far for ideas in the special legislative session that starts Nov. 28. Plenty of advocates are lining up with tax and revenue ideas – some new, some worn.

Two oldies from the electoral recycle bin are a temporary one-penny increase in the state’s 6.5-cent sales tax – which could raise $1 billion a year – and an expansion of tribal style electronic slot machines to taverns and bars. The latter might raise more than $100 million.

THREE years ago, when the state entered this financial chasm, Gov. Chris Gregoire offered the people optimism and a serving of denial. Not anymore. She offers us reality: "This is what our options look like."

They are not nice — but nice is not an option.

She is proposing to end the Basic Health Plan for low-income residents. She has proposed this before, and the Legislature shrank it but did not kill it. Last week a judge ordered the state to reopen the plan to 11,000 people who were cut from it. The judge, however, did not have to come up with the money — and it is not there.

Enter a magical world where big problems simply disappear because there’s no money to fix them.
A glimpse of that make-believe world can be found in the budget proposals released Thursday by Gov. Chris Gregoire. Gregoire doesn’t believe in magic herself, but enough Washingtonians do that her budget had to play along.
Falling revenue forecasts have blown a $2 billion crater into the skeletal, hard-times budget the Legislature approved in May. On Thursday, Gregoire announced a special late-November legislative session to fill the crater and offered her scenario – as legally required – for doing it without any additional tax money.