Local News

Your guide to the latest news from around the Northwest

Good morning.

Weather: It’s nice now, but rain is expected later. Perfect couch weather — for reading the paper or watching the Seahawks this afternoon. Highs in the mid 40s. The forecast.

What will Gov. Gregoire’s legacy be? With two weeks left in her second term, Gov. Chris Gregoire may be remembered more for presiding over years of steep budget cuts than anything else. But Democrats and Republicans credit her talent for negotiating for breaking Olympia’s partisan gridlock. Reporter Andrew Garber reviews Gregoire’s time in office.

 What can Washington learn from Colorado about pot? Washington state is about to start writing the rules for how marijuana can be legally grown and sold. Reporter Jonathan Martin and photographer Alan Berner traveled to Denver to look at Colorado’s highly regulated, $200 million medical marijuana industry, figuring rulemakers for Washington’s new social-use market will consider what has been learned there. Martin writes: “If as expected, follows Colorado’s experiment, our state regulators will be investigating entrepreneurs’ finances for links to organized crime and keeping steady watch over leakage to the black market — even as they allow warehouses of weed.”

Seahawks: The showdown of fine rookie quarterbacks. Reporter Danny O’Neil looks at RGIII vs. Russell Wilson, the Heisman winner vs. the quarterback who had to convince everyone he merited the starter’s spot. The game starts at 1:30 p.m. on Channel 13.

Stories trending this morning on seattletimes.com:

• As football teams meet, a comparison of two Washingtons
• Seattle Police Department to review 2010 arrest incident
• Panhandler found dead with $83K of heroin, needle in his arm
• Dempsey group’s winning Tully’s bid may face challenge
• Strong earthquake shakes parts of Alaska, Canada