Today's Schedule

The KBCS partnership with Olympia Newswire has concluded.
You can find out more from the Olympia Newswire publisher.

Each Olympia Newswire Interview airs every Tuesday morning at 7:40 a.m. during The Takeaway.

This week marks the third week of the state legislature’s special session and it seems a balanced budget is still unfortunately quite far off. To find out the why’s and how’s of our elusive state budget, this week we talk with Olympia Newswire founder and publisher Trevor Griffey. He talks about some of the obstacles and behind-the-scenes deals preventing this special session from coming to a conclusion. KBCS News Director Joaquin Uy has the interview. More »
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We are now one full week into the state legislature’s special session to hash out the differences in budget and revenue proposals between the House and Senate. We’ll get an update from Olympia Newswire founder and publisher Trevor Griffey about how close we really are to a balanced budget. But before that, KBCS News Director Joaquin Uy asks Trevor about how this past weekend’s passage of the healthcare reform bill will affect our current and possibly future budget shortfalls. More »
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Last week, the regular state legislative session came to an official close. However, their work remains incomplete, as they still have to finish the state's budget. So, yesterday lawmakers began their special session to do just that. This week, we talk with George Howland about what the legislature has accomplished and left undone regarding the state’s budget and what we should be looking out for in this special session. Havens Tipps edited this interview. More »
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This Thursday marks the official end of the Washington legislative session. So where is Washington at in preserving our social safety net? For this week’s statehouse check-in, News and Public Affairs Director Joaquin Uy talks with Real Change News Editor and contributing reporter for the Olympia News Wire Adam Hyla. More »
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We talk with Olympia Newswire founder and publisher Trevor Griffey. In a forthcoming Olympia Newswire article, Trevor will be writing about Washington State's many failed attempts in implementing a state income tax system. The governor and House and Senate leaders have all released their tax packages in an attempt to bridge our $2.8 billion shortfall. And all three proposals are full of new taxes on various items ranging from soda to candy. Many consider these taxes “regressive” because despite your income, you pay the same amount of tax as everyone else who buys the taxed items. Many believe we should have a more proportional tax system, like a state income tax. More »
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In an article titled Setting a Low Bar: The Tax Exemptions Gregoire Won’t Touch, Olympia Newswire economics reporter George Howland analyzed Governor Christine Gregoire's recently released $605 million tax package to help close the state’s $2.8 billion budget deficit. Havens Tipps edited this interview. More »
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This week we talk with Olympia Newswire contributing reporter Cydney Gillis. Recently she and her colleague Adam Hyla provided a status report on the latest social and health services bills this session. They detailed the wins and losses in the article titled, Social Services Round-Up: Contenders and Casualties. More »
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We walk outside our legislator's office to learn more about a coalition of 115 groups with a new proposal for bridging our state's $2.6 billion budget shortfall. They are promoting a new set of taxes to prevent the many proposed set of cuts to health and human services. We talk with Olympia Newswire Economic Reporter George Howland about the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition . Havens Tipps edited this interview. More »
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This week, we look at proposed legislation intended to deal with Washington's growing youth gang problem. Despite what you might think, these gangs are not just an urban issue. Today we talk with Olympia Newswire Schools Reporter Margie Slovan about the most recent gang legislation out of the statehouse. More »
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This week we focus on the Washington disability program called General Assistance-Unemployable also known as GAU. It is one of many programs threatened due to the state’s $2.6 billion deficit. This is bad news to the over 18,000 enrollees who depend on this support to keep them healthy and off the streets. Olympia Newswire contributing reporter Cydney Gillis talks about the latest developments around saving GAU. Havens Tipps edited this interview. More »
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Yesterday’s Martin Luther King Day saw a number of community events, including one of the nation's longest-running marches right here in Seattle. Our state capitol also hosted a major event, though much younger: the People’s Summit and March on the Capitol. Sponsored by such advocacy groups as Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights and Statewide Poverty Action Network, it was an opportunity for folks to meet with their legislators, attend workshops and speak out on issues of racial and economic justice. Real Change News Editor and contributing reporter for the Olympia Newswire Adam Hyla was at the march and summit. Joaquin Uy talked with him yesterday after the event to find out more about the mood at our statehouse and the legislative agenda around health and human services. More »
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Today, Governor Gregoire is set to unveil her second state budget, this time with proposed new taxes. With this budget, she hopes to bridge the 2.6 billion dollar state budget deficit. Lawmakers are also strategizing ways to fix the shortfall, some propose a new set of regressive taxes and others want to cut various tax loopholes. George Howland is the Olympia Newswire economics reporter. He talked with Joaquin Uy over the phone about the many human and health services threatened by this deficit as well as what we might expect from today’s announcements. Havens Tipps edited this interview. More »
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