Tag: Legislation

On Wednesday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane a panel will discuss why the death penalty should be abolished in Washington.

On Saturday, while a mob of protestors marched through downtown Spokane to honor the one-year anniversary of the Occupy Movement, a dozen people stood outside River Park Square in shackles, with bruises painted on their faces and signs hanging around their neck, bearing the names of those killed on death row.

Churches are being reminded this week that collecting money for a political cause is not OK.

Washington State’s Public Disclosure Commission recently learned that Bishop Joseph Tyson, of the Catholic Diocese of Yakima, sent a letter to pastors in 41 churches asking them to take up a special collection for Preserve Marriage Washington, the campaign opposed to the state’s same-sex marriage law.

Two main groups gathered for one purpose on Aug. 20 at Spokane City Hall. Supporters of the Spokane Guilds' School, and the homeless, packed the basement because of the Vehicle Interference (Panhandling) Ordinance that would prohibit all groups from collecting money on the streets of Spokane, city-wide.

On Monday night the Spokane City Council voted to ban panhandlers from the streets of downtown.

The ordinance will also prohibit Spokane's Guilds' School from its annual penny drive and Muscular Dystrophy’s Fill the Boot campaign.

Although there hasn’t been a single pedestrian-roadway fatality or injury related to panhandling in recent years, the Spokane City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to approve an ordinance banning panhandling in downtown Spokane, citing it as a safety issue.

The Obama administration’s policy requiring most employers to provide free birth control coverage in their health insurance policies takes effect on Wednesday (Aug. 1) -- a deadline that has sparked apocalyptic warnings from conservative activists and some faith groups.
“August 1st is a day that will live in infamy for the First Amendment and the fundamental freedoms and rights we as a people have enjoyed since the founding of our nation,” said Brent Bozell, head of ForAmerica.