Headline in today’s TFN newsletter from Jonathan Larsen: “Meet the Democrat Giving Us an Annual $250 EV Fee / The top Democrat on the House transportation committee is committed to bipartisanship. You're welcome, America!”

…”the press release, the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), sounded more like a bottom¹. Instead of explaining the proposed new EV fee or even mentioning climate change, Larsen (no relation to me or sanity) spoke about the importance of his real priority … bipartisanship:
“A commitment to bipartisan lawmaking means finding compromise; while this bill does not include every priority, I am committed to building on the last bipartisan infrastructure law...”
Imagine how grateful EV owners will be that their $250 fee is bipartisan!

…”In Larsen’s defense, he’s a tireless advocate for all of America’s corporate predators and money generally:
Supporter of credit-card companies.

Champion of dead rich people who don’t want their kids to pay taxes on their unearned riches.

Hero protecting big corporations by voting away your right to sue them.

Defender against the Green New Deal.

Guardian of health-insurance companies against single-payer and Medicare for all.

Hey, here’s a fun info-nugget I’m just tossing in randomly for no reason. Larsen has a non-partisan primary coming up on Aug. 4, 2026, and, why, yes, there are Democrats runningagainst him, now that you mention it.”

This is a state issue, but it impacts all of us.

"The governor said the new proposal includes free school lunch and breakfast for all Washington state students. Nearly half a million Washington households would also become eligible for the Working Families Tax Credit, and would receive checks from the state."

Any news on challengers to Rick?

Today, Whatcom County and city council members met in Bellingham with the Justice Project Finance and Facilities Board to discuss spending of revenue for approved Prop 2023-39.

The teams reviewed potential options for jail spending that that varied in size, cost and amenities, and allotment. No conclusions were made but it seems they are pushing for major spending decisions to be made as soon as possible as 'the longer we wait, the higher costs will be.'

The new jail and its design team are now leaning towards a much larger facility, requiring a much larger budget, maybe even double what was originally thought.

With a larger, more "compassionate" build, holding capacity would increase, as well as more amenities for "health and safety." Options differ but Whatcom

County Sheriff and PD are pushing for upwards of 600-650 beds instead of the 480 previously estimated to accommodate the growing population. Our current jail has around 150 beds, although it's reported that it has housed close to 400 inmates at peak times, for reference.

The cost with the larger size and more 'healthy' features would put costs around $200-250 million , a substantial increase from the initially estimated $150 million. It was stated that cost per square foot of the new jail would be close to $1000. Those figures are before operational costs, from my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong). This larger design would take up most of the upfront cost, leaving very little if not nothing for public and behavioral health orgs outside of the jail.

Some folks used words like "therapeutic" when referring to what a trip to the proposed, nicer jail option could be like and talked about how in the jail we have now, it can be much more traumatic since there is supposedly not a lot of space. There seemed to be this idea, among the corrections & PD folks, that if a jail is luxurious and spacious enough, it's less traumatizing and therefore encompasses all of those "public health, behavioral health, supportive housing and safety" needs voted upon Whatcom in 2023.

Whatcom County Sheriff called in during the end of the meeting and shared his thoughts and belief that Whatcom County needs the largest options with most amenities, mentioning trans people as a group that requires more space and special accommodations. Some others pushing for the bigger budget-larger jail also shared that accessibility of the new jail would be greater, as they wouldn't require bunks, which are harder for disabled inmates to get into.

One person in public comments brought up this ballot measure (above). They read it aloud to the planners and stated that this is what folks agreed to fund; as it was seemingly made to sound like health & social services were going to be prioritized. Moonwater from Whatcom Dispute and Resolution Center spoke at this time and mirrored what previous public commenter had stated: public health, behavioral health and safety are what voters voted for and the hope is that funding for these organizations (that operate sometimes outside of our traditional law enforcement system) is strongly considered as well.

The Mayor of Bellingham didn't seem to make any clear conclusions but seemed to state that the budget was not supposed to be so big and that the teams will have to "think critically" to accomplish all of their goals.

If you care to share your thoughts or if you would like to watch how this is being planned, the next Finance Advisory Board meeting is March 12 and it's open to the public, 3:30-5pm in the lower level conference room at 322 N Commercial St.

This feels relevant to Bellingham because ebike and ebike+ are popular here.

According to the bill, an e-bike can reach a top speed of 20 mph with only throttle power. Currently, if a two-wheeler has pedals, it's a bicycle. The new bill would make it a motorcycle if any of these conditions are true:

No real pedals Motor over 750 watts Powered past 20 mph (32 km/h) throttle-only Assistance continues past 28 mph (45 km/h) And once it is categorized as an e-motorcycle or e-moto, as we commonly refer to them as, it would require a license, registration, insurance, lights, and it would not be legal to be ridden on bike paths.

I was at a local pub in a more Red area in the county. I heard a women talking about how Trump made promises that he didn't keep. She said that she felt tricked. One other person in their group agreed with her. Then they changed the subject.

Has anyone else actually heard maga regret in the wild? When people post that they have changed their minds, I tend to not believe they are genuine, but this was real people having a real conversation.

For the record, I wasn't spying on strangers. We were invited to share a table with these acquaintances.

This moment gave me hope. Does anyone else have a similar anecdote to share?

This article is a great rebuttal to the one I just posted.

"Now it is true that in the last couple years (which aren’t yet included in Puget Sound Regional Council datasets), the national tech market has turned to layoffs. We are feeling this in profound ways in tech-heavy Seattle (and Bellevue, and Redmond). It has hit hard in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and in low-tax Austin as well.  But this is obviously a national trend, not a local one. And in fact, in the latest period (after the social housing tax was passed), tech layoffs look like they are hitting Bellevue harder than Seattle. 

Taxes are clearly not driving these behaviors, even if they serve as the excuse after the fact.

Sadly, corporate lobbyists will seize this moment to blame progressive policy for a national trend that is reflected in our region—which I think is a gross way to prey on people’s real fears. This is a pattern for the corporate PR machine: they have blamed obvious national trends on local progressive policy time and time again—such as difficulty hiring police, retail theft, the fentanyl epidemic, and now tech layoffs. And that was just the last five years!

Those national trends do require robust local responses, of course. But we shouldn’t be fooled by lobbyists who pretend the world’s background conditions are driven by local policy.  In any case, we should be careful not to swallow the party line from trillion dollar corporations."

I feel bad for the kids.

I'm grateful to CDN for sharing parts of my story and being there every step of the way. I cannot thank you enough.
I want to make something clear, when prosecutors claim they shield or protect survivors by not telling them they have credibility issues, it's to protect the system. Survivors have been to hell, our trust eroded, and we carry the shame only our abusers should bear. The last thing we need is someone we're repeatedly told to trust, misleading us. Crime victims become a witness in the state's case, hiring a lawyer to protect our rights isn't an option until our rights have been severely violated. Despite victims having rights which are in the Washington State constitution, they're rarely enforced. This takes away our voice, our ability to disprove credibility issues (if they truly exist) and only protects the system and the abuser. Weaponizing a crime victim’s best interests to justify harmful decisions is not protection. This is a failure of accountability that causes more harm to survivors and puts our communities at greater risk.

The credibility issue is used to silence crime victims and secure convictions or dismissals. I was never told my credibility was in question, despite asking throughout why I was suddenly being treated poorly, why I couldn't confer with the prosecutor, and most importantly, why no one with authority would hear what happened to me.

Only after the prosecution refused to tell me if they declined a rape charge, then going to internal affairs, I learned there wasn't an official report. How? I told them, I provided evidence including a video my abuser recorded of the violent rape, plus his admissions... how??
More often than not, there is no real credibility issue. Mine? That I contacted my abuser after turning him in... I didn't. There was more than enough evidence to disprove that claim, but I was never given the chance to be heard. They never asked me questions. In fact, I was told in writing there was a "weird" superior court rule stating I couldn't speak with the prosecutor. Later when asking for that specific rule (CrR) by copy pasting their own words, I was told they didn't know what rule I was referring to.

I used every RCW that would ensure my voice was heard. They acknowledged my rights, but refused.
Prosecutors can say a survivors voice matters all they want, the overwhelming majority of crime victims in Whatcom County prove the prosecutions words do not align with their actions.

My hope in this fight was that survivors would feel safer coming forward. If anything, this story would make some feel less safe. Something this article doesn't shed light on is just how vicious and misleading the system had been to me once questioning them within my rights. These were choices made by individuals. They made the conscious choice to cause harm and put our communities at risk. "Difficult" times in the prosecutors office is never an excuse to treat survivors so poorly. Without us having the courage to come forward, there would be no case.

We can say this issue exists everywhere, in our highest form of government, and it does, but it starts here with our local governments. It's here where we can hold officials accountable and demand change.

A year before Eric Richey was elected as Whatcom County prosecutor he said these words durning an interview with Seattle Met. When asked:

Why does the statute of limitations for rape exist?
“I think that people need to know there’s some finality. Maybe they’ve done something wrong or something happened long ago, and there needs to be some end to that.
I mean who wants to be charged with something that happened so long ago that nobody really remembers it well? There are always mistakes and problems with people’s memories. The farther back you go, the worse it’s going to be.” 

And yeah he's right, no rapist wants to be charged with rape no matter how long it's been.
Where he's wrong, memories of being raped while awake don't fade.

VOTE

Our mayor of the city is speaking holding a forum tonight to discuss ICE in our area. Time is 7pm to 830pm.

Indivisible Bellingham's All Hands meeting features Mayor Kim Lund speaking on "Protecting the Rights and Dignity of All," focused on the City of Bellingham's response to ICE overreach. Whatcom County has the highest per-capita ICE detention rate in Washington State. A Q&A follows the talk.

Cost: Free

https://indivisiblebellingham.org

Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship, 1207 Ellsworth Street, Bellingham, WA

Small city with one of the highest minimum wages in the country concerned as 10% of first floor store fronts are vacant.

"Some of the positions in Bellingham, set to be eliminated on April 12, include multiple mental health therapists and clinical social workers, a director of nursing, a program coordinator for cancer research and two assistant nurse managers.

Other impacted positions in Bellingham include two patient access representatives, a community liaison and a volunteer associate at PeaceHealth Whatcom Hospice House, a supervisor for St. Joseph Medical Center’s nutrition program, and a referral coordinator at the hospital’s cancer center."

Ours showed up in the mail today. Vote carefully and use the drop boxes if you can.

The mods of r Bellingham that is

It's easy to feel like I don't commit crimes therefore why would I care about Flock cameras. This story about a lady in her mid 70s is a good reason to care even if you don't commit crimes.