Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition

Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.

Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.

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Sausage Links, potty-humor edition

Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner's home was "severely damaged" by a fire this morning. Horse's Ass has the coverage, while NorthWest Cable News has the video. ...

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Sausage Links, hammer-time edition

Tri-City Herald reporter Chris Mulick digs deep into Washington state's bungled attempt to land a $2 billion uranium enrichment plant, along with its 400 high-paying jobs. According to Mulick, Gov. Chris Gregoire chose not to pursue bidding for the plant, deciding instead to play it cool politically. As a result, Idaho got the plant. Washington lost the money. And Dino Rossi just got more ammo for his campaign. Still, Gregoire's got a sizable lead in the polls, at the moment. ...

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How the West was nuked

One of the best trends in historic commemoration is a greater willingness to honestly embrace history some would like to forget. In the bill containing Washington's new Wild Sky Wilderness that just passed Congress, there is funding for a National Park Service memorial on Bainbridge Island commemorating the shameful internment of Japanese civilians during World War II. The internment proposal was pushed hard by Rep. Jay Inslee and Sen. Maria Cantwell. Coming to terms with our nuclear past is another problematic area, but one that is also getting a more attention in the West.

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How about a nuclear museum on the UW campus?

I got a very interesting e-mail from Dr. Steven Gilbert, Phd., Vice President of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR). He'd read my recent piece about the possible tear-down of More Hall Annex (the old Nuclear Reactor Building) on the University of Washington campus, and he has a great idea for the facility: Turn it into a nuclear museum. In fact, WPSR is already at work on the museum project, and it might be the perfect tenant if the UW will reconsider its destruction of this fascinating, historic modern structure.

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Changing and challenging winds in the power industry

It's an awkward time in the energy business. Coal is plentiful, but coal-gas generation is carbon-spewing, and the body politic won't tolerate that. Wind is promising but might not be enough. In the midst of this transition is Energy Northwest, the public-utility consortium whose customers are still paying for nuclear plants that were never built.

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The 20-year war over Hanford clean-up

So much nuclear waste to dispose of and so many barriers — technical, political, and legal. Here's an update on where things stand at the federal reservation in Washington. The solutions — glassification of radioactive waste, fast-reactor processing of spent nuclear fuel, and shipment to permanent burial in Nevada — are all encountering hurdles to progress.

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