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Ending Washington’s regime of mandatory white pages delivery is common sense. Sightline, Seattle Public Utilities, Dex, CenturyLink, and many other telecom entities in the state support the idea. The state attorney general opposes it for two apparent reasons. The AG argues, first, that optional delivery of white pages would be a threat to public safety—a silly argument we have addressed previously—and, second, that optional white pages would prevent equal access...

I got my Oregon Food Handler’s Badge. It took 52 minutes online and cost $10. Now I can work legally in Oregon restaurants! If, however, I wanted to work braiding hair African-style in Oregon, or kickboxing for prize money in Washington, or selling timeshares in Montana, or promoting concerts in Alaska, or as an athletic trainer in Idaho or as scores of other things across the Northwest, I’d have to...

Anna: Are you eating flame retardants with your peanut butter and jelly? A bunch of big US corporations publicly claim to support climate change science and solutions, but behind the scenes they’re contributing heavily to politicians and research groups that deny or play down the threat of global warming, according to a new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Can bisphenol A make you fat? Walkability boosts property prices. Here’s...

Clark: Researchers believe that the world’s large subway systems are gradually converging on an ideal form: Roughly half the stations in any subway will be found on its outer branches rather than the core. The distance from a city’s center to its farthest terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system’s core. This happens again and again. Sure, it’s possible that the world’s big subway system designers are simply...

“Is meat sustainable?” It’s a question too big to tackle in a single blog post, but the fact is that billions of people worldwide eat meat, in one form or another, and in the Northwest, farm sales of livestock represent nearly $3 billion in sales annually. It’s useful, therefore, to consider whether some forms of meat production are better for natural systems than others. One promising technique attempts to use...

Eric dP: Joel Connelly deserves many kudos for being the first to draw attention to the fact that Tim Eyman’s proposed latest “two-third majority” anti-tax ballot measure is really just a stalking horse for Big Oil. You can tell, as Connelly points out, because oil refiners have already thrown a staggering $350,000 behind his initiative. I really think it’s worth being clear about this: tax policy in Washington State is...

Earlier this year, I shared my stroller-on-the-bus hell story. The villain in the tale was surprising: King County Metro, otherwise a hero in my book. Like many transit agencies across North America, Metro says kids cannot stay in their strollers on board buses—and that policy is a giant problem for families with babies and toddlers. Unpacking a stroller, folding it, and hauling everything onto a transit vehicle even one time...

Buying nothing new this year definitely has me rethinking my relationship with stuff. I’m throwing less away and stretching the life of things I already own—patching, mending, darning, gluing, duct taping, etc. So, the idea of “repair cafes” got my attention. A couple of times a month in Amsterdam, people can bring their stuff to a community center where volunteers who like to fix things will give it new life—for...

Editor’s Note 6/22/15: Happy summer, Cascadia! Have you bought a new bike in honor of the sunny season? Moved to a new place and still wondering where to stash your wheels? Here’s a hefty dose of inspiration from one of our all-time most popular Sightline articles. More ideas still welcome! Back in February, Treehugger posted a visually tantalizing slideshow of bike storage options. We featured it in Sightline Daily’s news digest, but something about it...

South Africa is a major coal exporter and home to the world’s largest coal export terminal, located at Richards Bay on the country’s east coast. It’s no secret that the coal terminal is a major source of local pollution. As one academic journal article characterizes the situation: The coal operations, which include stockpiles, shunting, conveyor belts and shiploading, create dust which is a major problem in the harbour and surrounding...