It’s a joint meeting between the Puget Sound Health Alliance and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality on national health care reform efforts. It was taped in Seattle last week. Enjoy.
Tags: healthcare
As of the last update, about 97,000 signatures have been counted for Referendum 71. The totals: 86,000 signatures are good, 11,600 aren’t. R71 backers need 120,577 valid signatures in order to put the vote over domestic partner benefits expansion to the public.
Meanwhile, there’s been some more confusion about counts: The voter registration database that they’re checking signatures against was actually pulled earlier in the summer, for the I-1033 count. And that means some of the signatures that were initially rejected (or temporarily rejected, I should say), have been found in a newer batch of registrations. Read more about that here.
Finally, if you’re interested in some civic debate, check out the comments section of those blog posts. They’ve been busy over at the Secretary of State’s office!
Tags: R71
Don Hewitt, who founded the show “60 Minutes,” passed away yesterday. Just last year, he was in Washington to receive the WSU Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism. Steve Raible of KIRO 7 News sat down for a conversation with Hewitt, and TVW was there. Watch the whole thing here:
Tags: Don Hewitt
No more patients may be admitted to Garden Courte Alzheimer Community, a boarding home in Olympia, after the Department of Social and Health Services discovered a number of violations at the facility.
They found the home repeatedly failed to keep residents safe, unnecessarily placing some residents under physical or chemical restraint, and failed to administer medications and blood sugar checks professionally for some residents, the state found. They also did not have enough people on staff and didn’t allow some residents to do activities “consistent with their assessed interests, functional abilities, preferences and incorporated into the negotiated service agreement.” Not engaging in interesting activities can further deplete mental functions for Alzheimber’s patients, the department says.
The facility can contest the “stop placement” order. Though they may not admit more patients, residents can choose to stay there.
In other news: DSHS has created a new division to integrate substance abuse, mental health and gambling services. The department said in a statement that it was “part of a longer-range effort to create person-centered health care that can surmount traditional barriers.”
It’s a combination of the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse and the Mental Health Division that was actually suggested by staff members at DSHS who noticed overlap of the two divisions.
For more on DSHS, check out the Q&A with Susan Dreyfus, head of the department, we recently posted.
Tags: DSHS
If you’re interested in finding out how much state workers make, the newest salary report is out. Here is the “personnel detail report” in its original format, at the Office of Financial Management.
And here is the version that allows you to search anyone’s name, position or agency, courtesy of The News Tribune. Enjoy!
The Olympian sat down with Peter Goldmark and, for those who read the Q&A a couple weeks ago, it’s a good update on where things stand. Read the whole thing here.
Among the updates: When we talked to Goldmark, he said fire season was at a record level. Now, he says there are as many as 50 percent more fires this year on state lands.
And for those who enjoy shooting guns on state lands, that may change: Goldmark told The Olympian that he favors restricted areas for shooting.
The Secretary of State’s Office is still counting signatures — now they’ve got more than half counted, and will release new figures later this afternoon. Wonder how the counting is done? The Secretary of State’s Office blog, From Our Corner, put up this video, produced by Christina Siderius, about the process:
Go here to read the rest.
In other news, the office has submitted an argument that R71 signer names should be a public record. Read about that here.
And Pete Callaghan at The News Tribune reported today that the sponsors of R71 are accusing Sam Reed of caving to the “homosexual lobby.” They say speeding up the signature count leads to a higher rate of denied signatures, which lessens their chance of getting R71 to the ballot.
Stay tuned. As a reminder, R71 supporters want to put to vote the domestic partnership expansion law the Legislature passed this session. If it goes to a vote, a “yes” vote would affirm the Legislature and Governor’s efforts. A “no” vote would repeal.
Update: The Secretary of State’s Office and Elections Division have responded to claims that they’re messing up the count. Go here to read the full rebuttal.
Tags: R71
The state’s unemployment rate actually dropped in July — by .1 percentage points, but still: Down from 9.2 percent in June, July’s seasonally adjusted rate is at 9.1 percent, according to the Employment Security Department.
“While today’s news is reassuring and indicates that the economy may be stabilizing, this does not mean the national recession is over,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement. The governor said she’ll continue to work with the president to get federal money into communities. “We also are working together to provide additional job-training opportunities and financial support.”
Stay tuned for more a bit later. For now: Don’t forget today’s your last chance to vote in the primary.
Tags: unemployment
Tags: WASL scores
Randy Dorn said he thinks the state is doing a good job with “the students who stick with us for 12 years.” But: “What are we going to do with the students who don’t make it?” He said the state needs to do more to keep students in school.
He said there’s even more work to be done: Students who graduate from Washington schools with a good SAT score and grade point average are still dropping out of University of Washington at a high rate after two years, he said. Those are all things the state should look into.
Go here for more information on the WASL results.
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