Budget cuts have reduced enrollment in the state’s Basic Health Plan to 35,000, less than half what it was a year ago.

But after a federal judge’s ruling, the state must offer to reinstate 11,000 of the people cut from the rolls. Letters are going out to them this week.

The low-income patients were cut from the subsidized health insurance plan in March based on eligibility changes intended to mirror federal requirements and qualify for federal funds.

U.S. District Court Judge James Robart issued a preliminary injunction Sept. 28, siding with suing patients who lost coverage, the Health Care Authority …

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In a memo prepared for next month’s meeting of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, the state Office of the Forecast Council remains pessimistic about the economy over the next two years.

In the “Preliminary November 2011 Economic Forecast,” the office says most economic measures are confirming the dour September forecast that drove the state’s budget hole into the $2 billion range. Those indicators that showed more positive results were due to the fact that the September forecast had such low expectations.

Here’s what it says about the national economy:

The U.S. economy did not worsen in the last month,

…

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Washington’s secretary of state Sam Reed said today that voter turnout for the Nov. 8 general election should hit 47 percent, despite it being the first vote-by-mail November election in state history.

Reed, who is the state elections chief, explained in a news release his forecasted turnout, if accurate, would be “a little lower than the past two off-year elections, reflecting a lack of major races or hotly contested and controversial ballot measures that would spur heavy interest.”

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WHAT THE CAMPAIGNS SAY: Two sides fighting over the training requirements for home care aides are making conflicting claims about taxpayer costs if Initiative 1163 passes. Neither side is running ads so far, so the claims that costs are anywhere between $14 million and $80 million are made in public venues and in interviews.

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WHAT THE CAMPAIGNS SAY: You’ve seen the ads. Each side seems to have its own stable of firefighters, police and sheriffs.

A Yes firefighter says “1183 dedicates millions in new revenue for police, fire and emergency services statewide” and a police officer says it “strengthens enforcement.”

But a No firefighter says “1183 doesn’t add a single penny or a single new officer for increased enforcement, even though we’ll have four times as many liquor stores, dramatically increasing teen access to hard liquor.”

One of those must be wrong, right?

Then there’s the dispute between the firefighter who says “1183 …

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WASHINGTON – A day after she chaired a hearing in Seattle that focused on aerospace jobs, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state today is headed to Vancouver, where she plans to host a roundtable discussion with community leaders to examine strategies to keep the aerospace industry competitive.

According to Cantwell, the state’s aerospace industry currently employs 83,700 people, representing more than one-sixth of all aerospace workers in the nation. And last year, she said, Washington state exported more than $23.3 billion in aerospace products, 30 percent of all U.S. aerospace exports.

In Seattle on Monday, Cantwell chaired a Senate …

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On Sunday I helped launch a trial balloon to see if there is political will and public support for placing one of two Andy Warhol art works on the Tacoma Dome.

It isn’t as off-the-wall as it sounds. Warhol was one of four finalists in 1982 for the 1 percent for the arts program when the dome was built. He wasn’t selected, but City of Tacoma arts administrator Amy McBride has been quietly looking into the idea of replacing the 80′s suburban bath tile design that is on the dome now with the Warhol.

Read the linked column if you want to know more. And take a look at these renderings that McBride had done to show what it might look like. As part of his submission, Warhol sent two lithographs – one blue and one yellow. The lithographs, now valued at $70,000, are displayed on the ballroom level of the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. Read more »