Olympia Bulletin

(Olympia, WA) – Illegal (and tasteless) political campaigning by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (D). Washington 3rd Congressional District (WA-3) residents say ‘no’ to illegal Dennis Heck (D) campaign, and await public apology from Governor Gregoire for embarrassing the People of Washington with Cheap Political Scandals.

The financial outlook for Q4 of 2009 and beyond is not looking so sharp as traditional media — especially newspapers — are expected to suffer from an economic downturn despite easing comparisons.
Standard & Poor’s latest media and entertainment scorecard forecasts newspapers may be nearing the bottom, but will likely stay there.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004061538

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8479404.stm

(Olympia, WA) – Public Meetings and Transparency in Olympia. New Olympia City Council approves enhanced public meetings policy, ushering in a new era of civic involvement (and direct democracy) in Olympia.

Rumors of bankruptcy by Thurston County developer Triway Enterprises doggedly persist, amid climbing local tax debt. Larida Passage put in doubt.
The Olympia City Council last year considered dismissing Triway’s local tax debt, but was forced to reconsider after allegations of “cronyism” between Olympia’s Mayor and Commercial Real Estate developers became public.

http://www.fcic.gov/hearings/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31551.html

(Olympia, WA) – Affordable Housing is on the agenda in Olympia:
“The need is great, especially in these difficult economic times,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said. “These investments will be leveraged to make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of Washington citizens.”
http://www.commerce.wa.gov/DesktopModules/CTEDNews/CTEDNewsView.aspx?tabID=0&ItemID=250&mid=840

(Olympia, WA) – Capitol Lake has been closed to all public use, due to blighted conditions. Capital Lakefair Boat Races will be canceled for 2010.

Army Times:
The first group of soldiers — about 100 — from the 82nd Airborne Division will leave later Thursday, the Army said. The troops will find locations to set up tents and other essentials in preparation for the arrival of another roughly 800 personnel from the division Friday.
They come on top of some 2,200 Marines, [...]

(Olympia, WA) – Gloomy days are in the forecast for Olympia’s condo market. Citing low wages, Olympia’s weak private sector job market has disappointed analysts. Thurston County Condo prices have fallen -11.5 % for the year, amid a wave of housing foreclosures.