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Education Budget
5:01 pm
Tue December 18, 2012

Gregoire Proposes New Fuel Tax For Education

Credit Flickr / tncountryfan
School buses parked in a parking lot.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire proposed a new wholesale vehicle fuel tax Tuesday that you might notice at the gas pump. The governor said the move will help the state support education by helping cover the costs of getting kids to school.

Currently, school districts help pay for students' transportation needs, but a recent court ruling says state government is not doing enough to support education. That includes education-related transportation.

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Technology
3:01 pm
Tue December 18, 2012

The Day Instagram Almost Lost Its Innocence

Credit Karly Domb Sadof / AP
Instagram was the target of a storm of outrage on Twitter and other sites after the company announced a change in its user agreement that hinted that it might use shared photos in ads.

Originally published on Thu December 20, 2012 12:16 pm

The wildly popular photo-sharing site Instagram nearly caused a user revolt when it revamped its terms of service and privacy policy to suggest it could allow uploaded photos to be used in ads without users' permission.

The change — which was posted in dense legalese on its website Monday — sparked users to vow to stop posting their color-filtered, tilt-shifted photos to Instagram.

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School Funding
10:33 am
Tue December 18, 2012

Washington Governor Proposes Taxes For Schools

Credit Austin Jenkins

Originally published on Tue December 18, 2012 4:20 pm

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Outgoing Washington Governor Chris Gregoire is proposing to extend two temporary taxes for three-and-a-half years in order to make a $1 billion down payment on a recent Supreme Court ruling that found the state is not adequately funding public schools. Much of that new money would go to reduce K-2 class sizes, speed up the phase-in of all-day kindergarten and help districts with basic operating and maintenance costs.

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Fire Investigation Report
10:32 am
Tue December 18, 2012

Taylor Bridge Fire Likely Caused By DOT Contractors

Credit Tom Banse / Northwest News Network

Originally published on Wed February 6, 2013 2:07 pm

A massive fire that burned 61 homes in Central Washington was likely caused by Department of Transportation contractors. That’s the upshot of a report issued Monday by Washington’s Department of Natural Resources.

The aptly named Taylor Bridge Fire started August 13 right after transportation contractors did some welding work on that bridge. It happened near the mountain town of Cle Elum.

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Health Law Concerns
7:42 am
Tue December 18, 2012

Insurance Brokers Apprehensive About Health Exchange

Doctor
Credit Flickr Photo/Alex Proimos

In less than 10 months, Washington state will launch its own health exchange as part of the Affordable Care Act. The exchange will be an online marketplace where people can buy health insurance with the help of a navigator.

Some say it will be like Expedia for health plans, and this has some insurance brokers worried. Many fear it will have a negative impact on their livelihood, just like Expedia removed the need for travel agents.

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