Spokane-area Reps. Shea, Volz on group studying open records for Washington Legislature

Two Spokane-area representatives were named to a group trying to develop rules for records the Legislature long believed could be kept private but a judge has ruled should be open to the public. Reps. Matt Shea, of Spokane Valley, and Mike Volz, of Spokane, are the House Republican Caucus choices to sit on a Public…

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Opinion: Open government is a state of mind

That's easy for him to say — easy for House Republicans to hear — because they were in the room.

The other 19 million people of Florida were locked out. It's their money, their lives, their environment and their schools that are affected by what the Legislature does. It's just none of their business.

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Texas lawmakers press to shield suppliers of execution drugs

Saying that executions in Texas are becoming “increasingly difficult to carry out,” state officials Wednesday urged lawmakers to send Republican Gov. Greg Abbott a bill that would prevent even death row inmates from knowing the identity of lethal injection drug suppliers.

The debate in the Legislature took place just hours before the sixth person this year was set to die in Texas, where the nation’s busiest death chamber is again running low on inventory.

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New Mexico’s pot policy needs more transparency

 It plans to increase the number of producers from the current 23 to as many as 35, as well as boost the number of plants each can grow, adding 300 seedlings to the 150 plants now allowed.

That growth on the supply side may well be necessary, because there has certainly been growth on the demand side: There are 10,621 patients enrolled in the program, up more than 1,500 from early last year.

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