Trump’s big bill is prompting urgent action in some Democratic states, but not in Republican ones
New Mexico lawmakers are to open a special session Wednesday to boost funding for food assistance and rural health care — actions the Democratic governor contends are needed to “minimize the damage from President Trump’s disastrous bill” cutting federal taxes and spending. The special session follows one in Colorado, where the Democratic governor asserted Trump’s tax cuts wreaked havoc on the state’s budget. Oregon’s Democratic officials also are wrestling with whether a special session is needed. And California Democrats recently passed new spending measures meant to counteract Trump’s big bill. Continue reading at King 5. (AP Photo)
Washington leaders brace for possible federal takeover in Seattle
Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell has a message for the Trump Administration when it comes to a potential deployment of the National Guard: “Stay out of Seattle!” Harrell, alongside other city and state officials, emphasized that they have not received direct communication from the Trump administration regarding the deployment, but they are taking the threat seriously. “To not mince words, we do not need the federal government bringing in armored vehicles, semi-automatic weapons, and military personnel to ‘make us safer.’ There is not an insurrection here,” Harrell stated. Continue reading at KIRO. (KIRO)
Utilities and telecoms turn to WA lawmakers for help as copper wire theft surges
A public utility in Mason County has started labeling its power poles hoisting fiber-optic cables so thieves don’t mistake the lines for expensive copper wire. “This wire is steel core, not copper,” the notice reads. “It has no scrap value!” The public notice is a step Mason County’s Public Utility District No. 3 is taking to respond to the destruction of cables as wirecutters get increasingly brazen. In one case, a Thanksgiving Day copper wire theft from underground electrical vaults on the Tahuya Peninsula left around a thousand homes without power. Continue reading at WSS. (David Paul Morris)
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