Government

In January the State Supreme Court ruled that Washington has not met its constitutional duty to fund K-12 education. Representatives Gary Alexander and Ross Hunter serve on the Ways and Means Committee, and they discuss what steps the House is taking to fund basic education.

Republican Rob McKenna was leading in 31 of 39 Washington counties. But it was not enough. Friday night he conceded defeat in the race for governor to Democrat Jay Inslee. McKenna called Inslee after the latest vote tally showed the race narrowing, but not fast enough to reverse the Democrat’s lead. Later, McKenna posted a video to Facebook.

Former Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee has declared victory in Washington’s tight contest for governor. The announcement came Friday night shortly after Republican Rob McKenna conceded the race.

Pre-trial hearings continue this evening at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. He’s accused of massacring 16 civilians in Afghanistan, including nine children. Prosecutors say he left his base last March and went on an overnight five-hour killing spree.

The hearings will determine whether the case will advance to court-martial, where the government has said it plans to seek the death penalty. KUOW’s Sara Lerner spoke with Patricia Murphy, who’s covering the hearings.

Pretrial hearings for Staff Sergeant Robert Bales continue tonight when Afghan villagers and soldiers are expected to testify by video. The hearings are expected to run into the early morning hours US time.

Glenn Greenwald is a columnist on civil liberties and US national security issues for the Guardian. A former constitutional lawyer, he has written for Salon and is the author of three books, "How Would a Patriot Act?" a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power; "A Tragic Legacy," which examines the Bush legacy; and "With Liberty and Justice For Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful."

Gay rights groups are hoping Oregon will be the next state to legalize same-sex marriage at the ballot. Washington did that this week. But to follow suit, Oregon voters would have to reverse themselves and repeal a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Voters passed that ban in 2004 after a campaign led by the conservative Oregon Family Council. Spokeswoman Teresa Harke says her group will oppose any efforts to overturn it.

"I think there are still a lot of people who support one man, one woman marriage. And we are ready to fight for that."

Exit polls show Latino voters helped push President Obama to victory on Tuesday. But there was another sign of the growing influence of Hispanics on election day: That was the actual names on many ballots.

A public radio analysis done before the election found that just 2 percent of the Northwest's elected officials were Latino.

Oregon may have nudged that up. Voters in the Portland area elected Jessica Vega Pederson and Joseph Gallegos, both Democrats, to the state House.

The results are in! Well, almost. We discuss how the races played out for each side of the isle. Joining us are Chris Vance, former chair of the Republican Party in Washington, and Christian Sinderman, a Democratic political consultant and the founder of Northwest Passage.

We take a deeper look at last night’s elections with polling expert Matt Barreto to see what strategies led to success.