Local News

The Seattle Times political team explores national, state and local politics.

Good Morning. Inauguration Wednesday.

From Brian M. Rosenthal. Nothing can galvanize a capital city quite like an inauguration, and incoming Gov. Jay Inslee’s should be no exception.

The longtime Democratic congressman will become Washington state’s 23rd governor later this morning as part of a day of ceremonies that will start with a swearing-in in the Capitol and end with a toast at the inaugural ball.

In between, Inslee is scheduled to deliver a speech to lawmakers and play basketball (yes, seriously).

The Seattle Times invites you to follow along with live coverage from our Olympia team: reporters Andrew Garber, Brian M. Rosenthal and Amelia Dickson; and photographers Ken Lambert and Erika Schultz.

You can also watch the festivities on TVW here.

Gov.-for-another-few-hours- Chris Gregoire has written a book on her time in office. Some people might want to forget about all those tough “I hate my budgets,” as Gregoire used to say. Gregoire actually wrote a book  on her difficult days in government for posterity.

Seattle City Councilmember
Bruce Harrell

In other political excitement, the mayor’s race. Tuesday, Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell joined the pack of well-known candidates running for Seattle mayor in 2013. And Councilmember Tim Burgess, one of the early entrants into the contest, grabbed his own headline by saying he was interested in landing a new police chief. If elected. As they say.

Updated to include latest development. Guns: President Obama is releasing his gun control plan right now. The president has been mulling ideas put forward by a task force led by Vice President Joe Biden and offered his own thinking today. The fact that he is proposing a ban on assault weaponsmeans he is has decided to engage a very tough fight in Congress.

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