Josh Watrous

[Travis Couture @TravisSCouture]

Bob Ferguson’s OFM says inflation is partially to blame for causing our budget deficit. Yet, state spending, revenue, and costs have skyrocketed past inflation while household income barely keeps up. Long before tariffs, long before any war. It’s a spending problem. Nearly all of it driven by state policy.

[Ryan Frost @Frost_RyanW]

Gov. Ferguson’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) is warning every state agency to brace for the “most challenging budget” they’ve faced.

I wrote a few months ago that if the 2027–29 budget grows at its historical average pace, the state would spend every dollar of the new income tax and still face a deficit of at least $7 billion.

Now OFM is confirming the shortfall is real, but they are blaming inflation, population growth, and economic uncertainty for the shortfalls ahead.

Unfortunately for OFM, the actual data completely disagrees. Over the past decade, inflation rose 39% and the state’s population grew 14.2%.

Spending grew far faster than both combined, as the chart below shows.

Outpacing inflation and population growth by this margin for years shows this is a spending problem.

Don’t let them rewrite the truth. #waleg

[Vincent Ledvina @Vincent_Ledvina]

AURORA ALERT: a strong solar storm could bring the northern lights to much of the U.S. tomorrow night (Sunday, June 7). NOAA has issued a G3 ("strong") geomagnetic storm watch for June 8. If it pans out, the aurora may be visible across the northern states and into the central U.S., with a small chance even farther south during brief bursts called substorms.

What's happening: on June 6, a large filament erupted from sunspot region AR 4461 alongside an M1.8 solar flare. The flare was modest, but the eruption launched a fast, full-halo CME (a giant cloud of solar plasma) with a clear Earth-directed component, modeled at over 1,000 km/s. NOAA's model has it arriving around 11 UT on June 8 (7 AM Eastern, 6 AM Central, 4 AM Pacific on Monday morning), while NASA's runs lean earlier, closer to Sunday evening for North America.

All models carry about +/- 7 hours of uncertainty, so the realistic window runs from Sunday evening through Monday midday. For U.S. chasers, that makes Sunday night into early Monday the night to watch. If the CME shows up late, Monday night becomes the backup, and NOAA already has a G2 watch posted for June 9.

How strong: NOAA's official forecast is G3 (Kp 7), but the bulk of this CME is heading south and east of the Sun-Earth line, so a lot depends on whether we catch the core or a flank. It could land higher or lower. Don't put too much stock in pinpoint Kp numbers or app forecasts before the storm arrives. Space weather is hard to predict and the storm will evolve on its own. Treat forecasts as a sign activity may be enhanced, not a guarantee.

How to catch it: get away from city lights, find a clear view to the north, and look during the darkest part of the night. Watch for substorms, when the sky can go from dark to full of color in just a few minutes. Unlike last week's storm, the moon is on our side this time: it's half-lit and doesn't rise until roughly 1-2 AM local, so the evening and midnight hours are properly dark. Clouds are the bigger wildcard, so check your local forecast before you drive anywhere.

The map shows roughly how far south the aurora might reach Sunday night. Forecasts like this don't always come true, so keep your hopes up but your expectations realistic.

I'll send a full aurora alert email to my subscribers tomorrow (Sunday) morning with all the details, free of charge. Sign up here: https://t.co/DEC4EVKdrw

A few more free resources to help you chase:

Live aurora webcams (100+): https://t.co/6p6lf2217i

What is a substorm? https://t.co/4zGp9vcHYG

Resources you may look at but are actually NOT helpful for chasing in real-time: https://t.co/dXajNLSH25

Support these free alerts on Patreon: https://t.co/8f4dgCQHIs

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

Holy shit, this is wild.

A massive blue jet just shot straight up from a thunderstorm in Texas like some kind of purple lightning sword into space.

The guy filming loses it… “Holy s– I just got a jet!”

Nature really said hold my beer. Rare as hell and absolutely beautiful.

Massive credit to @pecoshank.
Wow, what incredible photography 🔥⚡️

[Jim Walsh @JimWalshLD19]

Bob:
November 2028 is 29 months away.
In the meantime, I challenge you to a series of monthly debates, each focused on a single public policy topic relevant to Washington state.
One hour. Once a month, through November 2028. No notes. No staff. A different Washington-based journalist can moderate each debate. The journalist picks the single topic. No advanced notice to either of us.
Not just a one-and-run event. A steady, regular debate series about fixing what's broken in our state.
Let's give the people of Washington the chance to hear how two very different people approach issues that affect their lives.
Do you have the guts to accept?

[Seattle Police Officers Guild @SPOG1952]

Mayor Katie didn’t want the public to see this video and tried to pressure SPOG into taking it down.

Instead, it just hit 1 million views.

Freedom of speech for the win.

@MayorofSeattle

[Seattle Police Officers Guild @SPOG1952]

Another example of CCTV cameras helping SPD detectives and SPOG members investigate violent crime in Seattle.

Mayor Katie, how many more examples do you need?

Don’t take away the vital tools officers rely on to identify, locate, and apprehend violent criminals in our city.

#SPOG #Seattle #SeattlePolice #PublicSafety #BackTheBlue #SupportPolice #LawEnforcement #CrimePrevention #CCTV #SaferSeattle #KatiesSeattle @MayorofSeattle

[Jonathan Choe @choeshow]

The people in WA have spoken. They don’t want an unconstitutional income
tax.

[Chris Daniels @ChrisDaniels_TV]

"It looks like voters will get a say...." - Governor Bob Ferguson

[Josh Watrous @JoshWatrous]

@0xWast3 AI can help you with the Verse code but it can’t build the map out for you. You have to do that part.

[Josh Watrous @JoshWatrous]

@Mrgunsngear That’s a pretty shitty situation..

[Rip Wheeler @WheelerRipWA]

Olympia Democrats just cut the budget to maintain trails and state parks, as the Discover Pass 50% price increase goes into in full effect.

Now to make matters worse, DNR Commissioner Dave Upthegrove is refusing to harvest timber on state lands, which is designed to both provide additional funding and reduce wildfire risk.

The result? Trails such as Poo Poo Point (Issaquah) are on the chopping block to close.

Future 42
Lauren Donovan | FOX 13 Seattle
Article: https://t.co/2JsGzcBfrT

[Travis Couture @TravisSCouture]

You could almost overlay her remarks with many of my own on budget and taxes in the last two years, and you couldn’t tell the difference. It’s gotta say something where you have a former Democrat Governor who is solidly liberal, and conservative Republicans, saying the same common sense things. That’s because the fiscal and tax policies we face today are so horrendous, that it’s less about left vs right and more about crazy vs sane.

[Vijay @VijayInWA]

This is an absolutely incredible interview with the former Democrat Governor of Washington state. Her criticism of the current legislature is sharp and well made. The current leaders of Washington are way out of their depth and leading the state off a fiscal cliff:
-----------------------
Questioner: Do you think majority leaders understand—do you [think] our legislature understands the impact of [the] policy environment as it relates to [the] economy?

Christine Gregoire: No. I really don’t. As evidenced by… You mentioned estate tax. I argued with some folks about [the] estate tax. We were the highest in the country, tied with Hawaii at twenty percent. We went to thirty-five. We’re not just the highest — we are beyond the highest. And I said, “You understand the consequences of this? Can I see your fiscal note because I’d like to help [craft] it? Because here’s what you can expect: Those people are not homeless. They will not [be] paying [taxes] when they leave. They stop paying cap gains. When they leave, they stopped giving significantly to philanthropy which would otherwise be necessary by government. So do you understand that you see consequences of what you’re doing?” And the answer is no.

I left office with a budget of 33 billion and the budget today is 80 billion. Uh, I think that’s a little bit too much of growth. Yet how we find ourselves [is that] every legislative session now is in whole projected to be in the hole. We don’t really have an income problem. We have a spending problem.

And we’re answering it by stacking one more tax, one more rule, one more regulation. The one thing that the business community doesn’t need is that lack of predictability. How many people in either of [the] Democratic caucuses have come from a business past? So if you haven’t come from it, you don’t know it, you don’t understand it. And therefore, to me, we all collectively — and Chris and I have talked a lot about this — have to educate from the outside in. We have to explain things like sales tax on services. [You] thought [it] was a nice attack on big business. And here are the small businesses that have been tremendously adversely impacted as well as customers.

[Josh Watrous @JoshWatrous]

@jappleby No. This is real.

[Josh Watrous @JoshWatrous]

@leopardracer BPA every day..

[Shane Kidwell @shanerkidwell]

WA State now has the lowest possible reserves of any state in the nation...

Every voter in Washington knows what happens when you spend more than you make and drain your savings to cover it. You do not get a warning from Moody’s. You get a call from the bank.

Washington state just got the government version of that call.

Moody’s downgraded the state’s financial outlook to negative on April 24. The state now has the lowest financial reserves of any state in the nation. Dead last. The reserves cover 12.8 days of operations. The national average is 47.8.

The state drained $880 million from the rainy day fund and $375 million from an infrastructure account to close a $2 billion deficit. The plan to refill the reserves depends on two things: an income tax that does not collect a dollar until 2029 and an $880 million pension transfer that Moody’s says is “not actually authorized by any legislation.”

The state’s own treasurer called it a check engine light. I run a business. When my check engine light comes on, I pull over and fix it. I do not keep driving and hope the engine holds for three more years.

That is what Olympia is doing. And when the borrowing costs go up, those costs do not stay in Olympia. They show up in your school bond. Your local roads. Your property taxes.

I publish the full research and sourced breakdowns on Substack every week. Search Shane Kidwell if you want the deeper dive.
@GovBobFerguson @komonews @KIRO7Seattle @KING5Seattle @fox13seattle @seattletimes

[Josh Watrous @JoshWatrous]

@JackPosobiec Rob Roy

[Josh Watrous @JoshWatrous]

@SpawnYaardReply This makes studios like Embark, who charge you $20 for a single new outfit, and are slow dripping the content, appear to be in to for the money and not the PLAYERS! Pearl Abyss is setting the new standard for gamers.

[Future 42 @future42org]

Washington state currently has the 2nd most expensive gas in the country.

10 cents more than the island state of Hawaii and
only 40 cents shy of California, who has to import their gasoline from the Atlantic Ocean.

It's the WA state gas and climate taxes, which currently contribute about $1.18 per gallon. To add insult to injury, those unaffordable taxes pay for the 4th worst maintained road infrastructure in the US.

@WAPolicyGreen | @TCSWashington
'WA Gas Prices Among Highest in Nation, Linked to State Taxes'