The secretary of state's office continues to examine the signatures submitted to place Referendum 71 on the November ballot. The measure seeks to repeal expansions of gay partnership rights passed during the last legislative session.

Here is a link to the latest report. It shows that if the rate of signature rejection stays where it is now the sponsors will end up with enough valid voter signatures to qualify.

Error rates do change during the process, however, so both sides will continue to monitor the process carefully.

Someone kindly forwarded to me this e-mail from (temporary) King County Executive Kurt Triplett about the county's concerns about the potential for really bad flooding this fall and winter because of defects in an earthen berm next to the Howard Hanson Dam.

As I do when I get forwarded e-mails, I cut and pasted it to protect the sender, then asked King County folks to authenticate it.

More later.

From: KC Global Announcement
Sent: Mon 8/10/2009 1:43 PM
To: ZZGrp, All King County E-Mail Users
Subject: Elevated flood risk in Green River Valley

Dear King County Employee,
You will learn and hear more in the coming weeks about a potentially serious flooding situation King County is preparing for that could have serious impacts for residents, businesses and county employees who live or work in the lower Green River Valley

The Army Corps of Engineers has notified the county that it is working to find a solution to serious structural issues in an earthen bank next to the Howard Hanson Dam in the Green River Valley.

Until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can make repairs, it will limit the amount of flood water it stores behind the dam but in the meantime, residents, businesses and farms below the dam should prepare now for a higher risk of flooding. This includes people who work at more than one dozen King County facilities downstream of the dam, such as King County Elections, Animal Care and Control, the Department of Development and Environmental Services, and numerous Public Health clinics, among others.

=> Read more!

After hyping a Longview meeting today as a chance for supporters of health care reform to show support, an Obama campaign related website is now saying the event won't happen.

This was the meeting first set up by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray to hear a report of a commission looking into the benefits and hazards of declaring Mount St. Helens a national monument. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and Third District Rep. Brian Baird were also set to attend.

Wednesday, the Obama group – Organizing for America – began touting it as a health care reform event and was inviting supporters to attend. The website even had a means for folks to RSVP.

Eli Zupnick, a Murray spokesman, said Wednesday afternoon that the event was not intended to discuss health care reform though it was open to the public. He said it was the county commissioners who chair the commission who canceled the event, saying it had been misrepresented by some websites. Here is their press release.

UPDATE: (6:22 a.m. Thursday) All lanes opened this morning at 4 a.m.

This is really short notice, but the Washington State Department of Transportation has decided to shut down the mainline of Interstate 5 through Tacoma tonight at 11 o'clock and divert those four or five lanes of traffic into a single lane.

The diversion will last until 4 a.m. Thursday. It will be done to allow DOT and other work crews to set up some equipment for the Nalley Valley Viaduct replacement project.

Just to be clear, here's what's going to happen: If you drive southbound on I-5 past the Tacoma Dome, you'll come upon the three-lane off-ramp that carries traffic onto westbound Highway 16 at the Nalley Valley Viaduct. Actually, the two far right lanes carry traffic across the viaduct. The third lane (the far left one) is a collector-distributor that takes you either to the 38th Street off-ramp (and toward the Tacoma Mall or other stores there) OR, if you stay in the collector-distributor lane, it will take you past the 38th Street interchange and you can get back onto the southbound I-5 mainline.

Here's the DOT news release:

Construction closes I-5 lanes in Tacoma overnight Wednesday, Aug. 12

TACOMA – A change in work plans means crews close the southbound I-5 mainline near Nalley Valley overnight Wednesday, Aug. 12. Southbound traffic will be diverted off I-5 to the 38th Street collector-distributor lanes and then back to I-5 using the 38th Street on-ramp.

=> Read more!