Dan Chasan

Water Wars: Klamath Basin in Peril

Resolutions over the water in the Klamath Basin keep running into two tough problems. There isn't enough water to go around, and the environmental groups are split.

Tax the Rich! (Sorry about the Constitutionality)

State lawmakers hoped that faced with the proposed new tax on capital gains, the state supreme court would change its nearly-90-year-old definition of what the state constitution allowed. We'll see, though the odds are not good. for a legal green light.

Fifty Years Ago Today I was the First Starbucks First Customer

That first Starbucks store had just unlocked its doors. Only the proprietors were inside. We joined them in a deep room with high ceilings and glass-fronted cases to our right. I bought a pound of Sumatra beans. I was the first customer.

Mercer Island — Seriously? What the Law Says About Fining Homeless People

So what was the point of Mercer Island's passing an ordinance that wasn’t needed and can’t be used? Good question, but Mercer Island isn’t talking.

The Trial is ‘Political Theater,’ and What’s Wrong With That?

FDR’s fireside chats were performance. So was Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. Theater? Bring it on.

Can You Fire a Cop for Showing up at Trump’s Insurrection?

Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz has said, "If any SPD officers were directly involved in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, I will immediately terminate them.”

Is Social Media a Threat to the First Amendment?

“Trump has provoked a debate among legal scholars over whether the once-sacrosanct constitutional protection of free speech has itself become a threat to democracy by enabling the widespread and instantaneous transmission of lies in the service of political gain.”

Parting Gift: Trumpers Whack the Northern Spotted Owl

It’s puzzling why people who know it’s a bad idea to cut the carbon-sequestering forests of the Amazon don’t seem to realize the significance of the great coniferous forests close to home.

So Long, 2020. Time to Walk the Doggerel

Let’s hope the new year swiftly brings (among a raft of other things) no Covid surges in the news, no tales of crowded ICUs, a chance to browse in aisles of books drink bistro wine while garlic cooks.

Has Seattle Finally Found a Legal Way to Tax High-Earners?

Seattle lawmakers took a gamble, hoping that the courts would reconsider the 1933 ruling and allow its proposed high-earner tax to stand. But the appeals court basically said that was above its pay grade, and the supreme court didn’t take the bait.

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