From Our Corner
Corporations info available on new iPhone app
Our cutting-edge Corporations Division is at it again. It just went live with an iPhone app that will allow customers to do corporation searches similar to the Corporations Website from an iPhone. You will be able to find out if a company is registered, if it’s current, what is the UBI, and who are the corporate officers and registered agent.… Read more
Checking out I-1100
Image Initiative signature-checking season is underway in Olympia. Thursday marked the first day for the first of six initiatives to be checked to see if each one has enough valid signatures to qualify for this November’s ballot. The first one being examined is Initiative 1100, the liquor privatization measure backed by Costco and other retailers. The I-1100 campaign turned in about 396,000 signatures well before the July 2 deadline to submit… Read moreWSL Updates for July 8, 2010
Volume 6, July 8, 2010 for the WSL Updates mailing list
Topics include:
1) PUBLIC LIBRARIES SURVEY REPORT RELEASED
2) WSL REFERENCE LIBRARIAN POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
3) READER-FRIENDLY LIBRARY SERVICE
4) HOW TO INCREASE YOUR TIME, SPACE, AND COURAGE
5) MISSION INSPIRED GIFT FUNDRAISING
6) CREATING A HIGH PERFORMING WORKPLACE
7) HELPING LEARNERS ACQUIRE MOTIVATION AND SKILLS
… Read moreAhh....Summer's Finally Here!
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Photograph courtesy of the Washington State Digital Archives
With temperatures soaring to the mid 90s today and Thursday, there's no better way to cool off than to dip into a lake, swim down a river or jump across the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Washington offers us so many places to play and enjoy the summertime heat. Pictured above are teenagers surf bathing off… Read moreBecoming citizens on America’s birthday
Image While most of us were content to observe Independence Day with food and fireworks, more than 500 foreign-born residents from more than 80 countries celebrated America’s birthday in a very special and emotional way by becoming American citizens last Sunday in Seattle. Early Sunday afternoon, they stood and raised their right hands and took an oath of citizenship from U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard Tallman, who officially pronounced them as U… Read more`Direct democracy' -- A six-pack for 2010
It's a bumper crop of initiatives apparently headed to the fall ballot. On Friday, the deadline day for submitting petitions, three more campaigns brought in hundreds of thousands of signatures.
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This brought to six the number of initiatives to the people for the year, tying the modern record set in 2000. The all-time record was the seven on the 1914 ballot, almost a century ago, the first year we could use the initiative and… Read moreWhat if both liquor initiatives pass?
It's a logical question to ask: What if Washington voters approve BOTH of the rival initiatives to take the state out of the liquor retail business? Image Logical, but not easy to answer. In short, the state Constitution, the statute books and the courts haven't laid down a rule to follow in cases like this. Some states use the common-sense approach that the one getting more votes will be implemented, but it's no certainty what happens if… Read more
Washington Rural Heritage awards 2010 grants
Our fourth year is off to a fantastic start as we bring in brand new projects, revitalize some old ones and continue with several more. Washington Rural Heritage will fund seven projects through funds made available by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Clippings, June 25, 2010
Washington State Library News The Washington State Library recently contributed another 50,000 historic newspaper pages from nine newspapers to Chronicling America, making Washington State's contribution to the program a total of 16 titles and 92,000 pages. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. (Tacoma Daily Index, 6.23.10)… Read moreCelebrate the 4th with a bang!
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Photograph courtesy of the Washington State Digital Archives
This photo taken around in 1890 is of a parade in Grays Harbor celebrating the 4th of July. It's a little difficult to decipher the sign the women are holding, but a closer look reveals that it reads, "Our Infant State Washington."
Income tax on the wealthy?
As Washington's initiative turn-in deadline looms Friday afternoon, Bill Gates Sr. and dozens of other income-tax advocates have turned in what they estimate at 360,000-370,000 Initiative 1098 signatures, and say they’ll add more late-arriving petitions before the doors close on Friday. Image The measure would impose an income tax on high wage-earners, while reducing the state share of the property tax and… Read more
WSL Updates for July 1, 2010
Volume 6, July 1, 2010 for the WSL Updates mailing list
Topics include:
1) WASHINGTON READS - WASHINGTON AS PLACE
2) FIRST TUESDAYS - ELLUMINATION!
3) FREE ONLINE CLASSES FROM WSL AND AMIGOS
4) WSL OFFERS FUNDING FOR ARSL-ABOS CONFERENCE
5) OPPORTUNITY TO ORDER DISCOUNTED FLIP CAMCORDERS
6) COME TO THE FAIR
7) E-GOVERNMENT TOOLKIT RELEASED
8) TEN SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & SECRETS
… Read more`Direct democracy': Initiative cavalcade underway
By Friday's deadline, we expect to see at least six initiative campaigns submitting hundreds of thousands of petition signatures for a spot on the statewide November election. Six would tie the modern record set in 2000 for number of initiatives to the people in one year. All-time record, seven, was in 1914, the first year we had the initiative process. (We got Prohibition that year! See the history here.) UPDATE:… Read more
`Think before you sign' -- no takebacks of signatures
We offer this important caveat to efforts by some to persuade people to withdraw their signatures from amongst the hundreds of thousands that are submitted by sponsors to the Secretary of State for checking. While allowing withdrawal of signatures might seem like a logical and easy practice, in fact we do not remove signatures once they have been collected by sponsors and submitted to our office for verification. (A rough analogy might be that voters cannot recall their mail-in ballot if… Read more
Celebrating in Seattle ...
Friends of the acclaimed Washington Talking Book and Braille Library will gather at the Seattle facility on Wednesday to celebrate the service receiving the best-in-the-country award from the Library of Congress. Danielle Miller, program manager, and Jan Walsh, State Librarian at the Office of Secretary of State, were in Washington, D.C., last week to receive the award and will headline the celebration at WTBBL headquarters (2021 9th… Read more
Combined Fund Drive moves to OSOS
Effective Monday, June 28th, the Combined Fund Drive (CFD), will officially join the Office of the Secretary of State.
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Governor Gregoire signed into law Senate Bill 6540, which moves the popular workplace giving program from the Department of Personnel to the Secretary of State’s Office. Secretary of State Sam Reed helped create the CFD when he was… Read moreDidyaknow...?
...the fountain graced on the Capitol grounds, is a replica of the Tivoli fountain in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was first dedicated in 1953 and has undergone multiple renovations over the years.
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Photograph by Nita Brown
Every minute, 600 gallons of water circulates through hundreds of jets to create a beautiful display of waterworks. The jet in the center of the fountain can hit 25 feet alone! The fountain shuts down 5… Read more
Clippings, June 18, 2010
Library News A United Way official will join the Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees in time to decide how to deal with significant budget cuts proposed by Mayor Mary Verner. The Spokane City Council on Tuesday unanimously appointed Janice Marich, the vice president of the community relations for Spokane County United Way, to the city's library board for a five-year term. (Spokesman Review [Spokane], 6.3.10)… Read moreSecretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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