The scene: Members of a Snohomish County school board stopped for coffee when returning from a visit to the Education Services District (ESD) facility in Mount Vernon. Matt, the board’s chairman, said, “This isn’t a meeting, you know.”
The trains are coming! The trains are coming!
Marysville’s issue with increasing rail traffic is here to stay in spite of all the ink that’s been spilled over BNSF’s high-handed intention to slice Marysville in half with a chain saw of coal cars. From a local perspective it just isn’t fair but from the BNSF perspective, our perspective doesn’t count for much. BNSF has the law on its side.
Stewardship: Merriam-Webster’s definition is “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.”
Last week I met Debbie, who supervises the janitorial teams at a number of facilities in downtown Seattle including everything from historic office buildings to modern skyscrapers housing an array of government agencies and officials — an imposing stretch of real estate and a huge responsibility.
In recent weeks, I have heard from administrators and health care workers who operate small hospitals in rural areas across the state, and from those within the 39th District, which includes United General Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, Valley General in Monroe, and Cascade Valley in Arlington. They are concerned with proposed cuts in the governor’s supplemental budget plan for reimbursement of care for Medicaid and Medicare patients.
A new charge showed up on my bank statement. I hadn’t done anything differently, I deposit money, write a few checks. So what had changed that warranted a $4.95 charge? Actually, nothing had changed except for the bank deciding that some small service would no longer be free. Okay, that’s fair, but only if one uses that service. I don’t.
The Arlington Times and The Marysville Globe are launching an initiative that will enhance our readers’ experience online.
We don’t really have a budget problem — we have a jobs problem. When the economy was good, the budget was fine. So the question is this: How can we balance the budget while creating jobs?
