Washington state’s Attorney General Rob McKenna defended the state’s policy of open government and accountability to the state Supreme Court on Wednesday. The case is over Referendum 71, which unsuccessfully sought to overturn an expansion of our state’s domestic-partnership law last year…

Advocates filed paperwork Friday for an initiative to finally end the state’s liquor monopoly. Eliminating the monopoly would increase selection, lower prices and provide the state with a substantial influx of revenue, which would help alleviate the state’s deficit…

The annual Fourth of July fireworks show over Lake Union was canceled last Wednesday. July 4, 2010, was going to find Gas Works Park uncharacteristically quiet, the waters of Lake Union lacking boat traffic and a dark sky void of explosions. Fortunately…

A new proposal from the United States Postal Service could result in the mail only being delivered and collected during the weekdays. Removing a day of service is a simple solution for a growing financial problem. USPS hopes to eliminate Saturday delivery and pickup for businesses and homes to cut $3 billion in costs annually…

In late 2011, Canada will join the ever-growing list of countries to switch their currency from traditional cotton-paper to a synthetic polymer. This change to plastic bank notes has many positive aspects and is a change the United States would benefit from…

The State Health Department released the statistics for the first 10 months of Washington state’s Death with Dignity Act this Thursday. Sixty-three terminally ill patients have filed for the lethal medication with at least 36 actually taking the drugs to escape their diseases…

Digital Rights Management is the general term for what software developers, record companies and other creators of digital media use to control their intellectual property. It comes in many forms ranging from product keys to data encryption. DRM is designed to fight piracy by creating a barrier to prevent people from copying files…

In the endless fight against obesity, the Food and Drug Administration has asked food manufacturers to move nutrition facts front and center. To make this information more noticeable, the FDA is encouraging food manufactures to print the often hidden nutritional facts on the front of their packages…

On Jan. 12, Google announced it had been attacked. The goal of this fight was not for land, resources or property – it was a fight for information. Google and several other U.S. companies were targeted by hackers who Google claims were working in China…

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced multiple proposals for education reform in Washington state on Monday. Along with other reforms, Gregoire presented the “All Start” preschool program, slated to begin in 2013. According to the Seattle Times, the program has the goal of making “early learning preschool opportunities available to every 3 and 4-year-old child in the state…

On Monday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration announced the next phase of its war on flavor. With the success of its movement to ban trans fats, Bloomberg and friends have set their sights on a new enemy – salt. The administration’s goal is to reduce the amount of salt in certain packaged and restaurant foods by 25 percent throughout five years…

This past summer, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., introduced with very little fan fair the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009, a bill designed to allow the FCC to create regulations based on net neutrality. Three months later, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.…

Temperatures have dropped almost as fast as the golden leaves have fallen from the trees. Fall has officially arrived, and we all know what that means: backyard football games with friends, Thanksgiving meals with the family and the disgusting sight of jeans tucked into UGG boots…

The obvious statement “Warning: Smoking can kill you” is brought to you by the United States Congress, telling people things they already knew for more than 200 years. Because of a recently passed law, this warning is just one of nine that must now be prominent on cigarette packaging…

Anytime you walk down Glenn Terrell Mall, you are videotaped at least three times, at least five times when you shop at the grocery store, a whopping 15 times when you do your banking at the CUB, and if ASWSU President Derick En’Wezoh gets his way, even the Rec Center will have cameras watching your every move…