Paula Wissel

More teens are getting high on marijuana.  According to a national survey, high school kids are also less likely than in previous years to see marijuana use as harmful.

If you're faced with a serious emergency, chances are you'll pick up the phone and call 9-1-1. But how about sending a text message instead?  It’s not something 9-1-1 operators can handle now. But, that could soon change.

Another list ranks Seattle #1.  This time the data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau and the ranking has to do with moms and dads volunteering their time.

Have you ever been tempted to respond to a text message while you’re behind the wheel?

Texting while driving is illegal in Washington state, but the practice is common enough that the state plans to launch a full scale campaign against it along the lines of the “Click it or Ticket” campaign that promotes seat belt use.

In King County, the first marriage license to a same-sex couple was issued at exactly 12:01 a.m. on Thursday.

People cheered as King County Executive Dow Constantine counted down and  declared, "Happy Marriage Equality Day."

Same sex marriage becomes legal in Washington at midnight tonight.  King County is pulling out all the stops to accommodate the hundreds of couples expected to show up at twelve to get marriage licenses.

Up to 60,000 people in Washington will lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the month. That’s because a federal  program, called Emergency Unemployment Compensation, is set to expire.

The federal government has often been on the verge of cutting off extended unemployment benefits only to renew them at the last minute.  Since the recession hit, the U.S. Congress has voted 10 times to continue the extended benefits program.

In a rare show of solidarity, gun control and gun rights groups are joining forces to pass tougher gun laws for juvenile offenders in Washington. 

At a news conference with King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, representatives of Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Washington CeaseFire spoke in favor of proposed legislation that would require juveniles convicted of illegal gun possession to be locked up on the first offense.

Update from the Washington Department of Health:

Revisions to Washington’s marriage certificate to conform with the new same-sex marriage law gives couples a full range of options — gender-neutral or gender-specific terms. The new form has been sent to local auditors around the state. The form is effective December 6 when the law takes effect. Marriage certificates are filed after the marriage.

The United Nations drug watchdog agency wants U.S. officials to challenge new marijuana legalization laws in Washington and Colorado. U.N. Narcotics Control Board head Raymond Yans says the approvals send "a wrong message to the rest of the nation and abroad."

At the same time, a group of retired cops, judges and prosecutors is asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to support the new laws making it legal for adults 21 and over to possess small amounts of marijuana.

You can expect to see more police in Seattle soon.  The 2013 city budget includes money to hire additional cops with an emphasis on fighting violent crime.

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Democrat Jay Inslee has a slim lead over Republican Rob McKenna in the race for Governor of Washinton. The initial ballot count shows Inslee with 51 percent to McKenna’s 49 percent.  In Bellevue, McKenna told supporters he’s still optimistic he can win and will wait for more votes to be counted. But, Inslee told a packed election night room in Seattle he expects the trend to continue in his favor.

A veterans group is suing over its exclusion from a local Veteran’s Day parade.  Veterans for Peace says the city of Auburn unfairly denied its application to march in the parade this year on November 10.

Auburn's parade is one of the largest Veteran's Day parades west of the Mississippi. For the past 6 years, Veterans for Peace has participated. 

Initiatives to legalize marijuana and create charter schools in Washington are pulling away toward approval in the latest poll by The Washington Poll and KCTS9. The poll is a project of the Center for Survey Research at the University of Washington.

In King County, both men vying to be sheriff say they'll reform a department found to do a poor job of investigating police misconduct complaints.

But neither Steve Strachan nor John Urquhart are what you'd call outside reformers. 

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