First of two articles: In many cities around Puget Sound and across the state, municipals judges are appointed by city officials. There's cause to worry about the judges' independence and cities' desire to sway the amount of revenue from the courts.
Second of two articles: Cities strongly oppose a bill offered by Sen. Adam Kline would require election of more municipal court judges, rather than allowing their appointment by city officials who may have an interest in raising revenues from traffic tickets, fines, and court costs.
The practice of suddenly jailing people who have failed to comply with collection requests comes close to violating a ban on imprisonment for debt. Judicial watchdogs are taking note and getting some relief, but many people desperately in debt are still helpless.
Cutting the state's Basic Health Plan, as Gov. Gregoire suggests, might leave some potential transplant recipients in a position that wouldn't be all that different from Arizona's.
Why are state prosecutors contracting with private check companies to send letters threatening legal action and hundreds of dollars in fines to those who wrote a bad check?
