Councilwoman Julie Anderson, a Sound Transit board member, asked for the resolution supporting Proposition 1, the big transportation package that's on the ballot in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties.

Councilman Tom Stenger asked for the resolution opposing Proposition 1.

It will be up to the nine-member council to decide Tuesday which one to approve. Or not.

It's an unusual scenario for the Tacoma City Council. Council members sometimes take positions on issues outside of their jurisdiction, but Randy Lewis, the city's government relations officer, can't recall a time when opposing resolutions have come before the council on the same agenda.

Debate over the proposition intensified last week when King County Executive Ron Sims -- and former Sound Transit chairman -- came out against it. Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, current Sound Transit chairman -- responded in Sunday's News Tribune.

Anderson's resolution will come up for a vote first because she got her request in first, Lewis said. Depending on the vote, Stenger's resolution could become moot.

UPDATE: There's a good chance that both resolutions will be postponed for at least one week, and possibly two.

Mayor Bill Baarsma said Monday that council members recently sought answers from Sound Transit on a variety of questions following a discussion of the planned Sounder crossing of Pacific Avenue. Council members were surprised and upset to learn that Sound Transit is looking into the possibility of an at-grade crossing at Pacific Avenue.

The answers are apparently coming soon, and council members want to wait to digest them before voting on the resolutions, Baarsma said.

Councilman Jake Fey confirmed that the resolutions on Proposition 1 probably won't be voted on Tuesday.

The Pacific Avenue crossing isn't part the roads and transit package. But some council members are linking the issues, in part because of their frustration with Sound Transit over the Pacific Avenue crossing.

The (Vancouver) Columbian reports that Rep. Brian Baird, who's taking a lot of heat for changing his position on the war, has signed onto a bipartisan compact intended to steer the U.S. House away from partisan infighting on the Iraq war.

Twenty-eight members of the House, 14 from each party, have signed the agreement. It commits them to eight principles, including no immediate cutoff of funding for U.S. troops engaged in combat and insistence on a "clearly defined and measurable mission" for continued U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

Baird says he harbors no illusion that Congress as a whole will be able to rise above partisan debate over how to deal with the war, especially in an election year.

"There's no likelihood that there will be bipartisan agreement on the big picture," the Vancouver Democrat said in an interview Thursday. "But we're trying to create some space around which bipartisanship could occur."

Read the full story here.