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Spending
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“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
sible private takeover of the state’s liquor-dis-
tribution system.
Gregoire faced pressure in recent days to
veto parts or all of various proposals.
State Auditor Brian Sonntag had asked her
to veto millions of dollars in cuts to perform-
ance audits. But Gregoire reluctantly declined,
saying she could not pull money away from
audit positions at the Department of Revenue
or a fraud unit at the Department of Social and
Health Services.
“I understand and am sympathetic to his
concerns,” she said.
Meanwhile, groups in favor of privatizing
the liquor-distribution system had actually
been pushing for her to veto a bill or key parts
of the bill that would consider privatization.
They were concerned about a bidding process
that would take place at the same time the
groups are pushing a ballot initiative that
would establish a private system.
Gregoire declined to veto it. She said she
could not rule out getting a privatization con-
tract done before the election, although she
said it would be difficult.
“It’s not political for me at all,” Gregoire
said. “What it is, is doing the due diligence in
a thoughtful manner so that we can see what
the alternatives might be — but not that any
one of the alternatives would be eliminated
before the election.”
Gregoire did veto many small sections of the
B ErNIE F OSTEr
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advertising Manager
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account executive
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news editor
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reporter
D avID K IDD
graphic Designer
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J uLIE K EEFE
S uSaN F rIED
Photographers
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
IMM Publications Inc.,
Nature, focused on how the brain
reacts to stress caused by other
people.
To do that, investigators had
volunteers lie in a brain scanner
and solve math problems. The
volunteers expected easy prob-
lems, but they were in fact hard
enough that each volunteer ended
up getting most of them wrong.
While in the scanner, volunteers
heard a researcher criticize their
poor performance, saying it was
surprisingly bad and disappoint-
ing, and telling the volunteers
they might not be skilled enough
to participate.
An initial study with 32 volun-
teers found city-urban differences
in two brain areas. One was the
amygdala, which reacts to threats
in one’s environment, and the
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c
volatile energy prices, trouble in financial
markets worldwide and an economic slow-
down in Asia.
The state’s chief economist, Arun Raha, says
he expects the state’s economic growth to pick
up momentum later this year.
Gregoire and lawmakers have set aside $738
million in reserves to handle revenue declines
in the months to come. They say they hope
that will be enough buffer to get the state to
2012, when lawmakers will return for a new
legislative session.
continued from page 1
tion, published each Wednesday by
Newspaper
gov. Chris gregoire
Stress
The Skanner Newspaper, established
National
budget, including a study that would have
examined the feasibility of requiring direct
deposit for state employees, a $100,000 plan
to create a commission examining whether
state agencies were duplicating services, and a
variety of other provisions that relied on bills
that did not pass.
The budget also includes a 3 percent reduc-
tion in pay for state employees — something
enforced through unpaid leave. Some retired
teachers and state employees will no longer
get automatic cost-of-living pension increases.
Gregoire, who came into office in 2005,
announced earlier this week that she would
not seek a third term in office, saying it was
time for her to move on to something else. She
said Wednesday the grueling budget process
was not a factor in that decision.
Attention now turns to tax revenues in the
months to come. Anticipating an ongoing
decline in revenues, Gregoire and lawmakers
have set aside $738 million in order to bridge
the gap between now and next year’s legisla-
tive session. Gregoire had been pushing for
reserves to be closer to $800 million.
Washington’s economists also last week pro-
jected the state will bring in $183 million less
in revenue than previously expected during
the upcoming two-year budget cycle.
The updated revenue forecast released
Thursday says there are still several risks that
could cause further declines. That includes
o
m
m
u
n
other was circuitry that regulates
the amygdala. Researchers found
that volunteers from cities of more
than 100,000 showed more activa-
tion of the amygdala than partici-
pants from towns of more than
10,000, and those in turn showed
more activation than people from
rural areas.
To assess any effect of where
the volunteers grew up, the
researchers assigned each an
“urbanicity” score based on how
many years they’d spent by age 15
in a city, town or rural area. The
higher the score, the more urban
their childhood life was, and the
more activity showed up in the
amygdala-regulating
circuitry
during the experiment.
A slightly different stress-pro-
ducing test produced similar
I
t
y
c
results with a different group of
23 volunteers.
But when a third group of 37
adults did mental tasks without
being criticized for poor perform-
ance, they showed no urban-rural
differences. That shows the effect
comes from the criticism rather
than just doing the mental task,
the researchers said.
The study can’t reveal why city
life would boost the brain
responses, but it could be because
of the stress from dealing with
other people, said Dr. Andreas
Meyer-Lindenberg, director of the
Central Institute of Mental Health
in Mannheim, Germany, and sen-
ior author of the report. Animal
studies suggest that early expo-
sure to stress can cause lasting
effects, he said.
a
l
e
n
d
Jens Pruessner, a study co-
author from the Douglas Mental
Health University Institute in
Montreal, said the study illustrates
a new avenue for understanding
the risk factors for developing
mental illness.
An expert in emotion and the
brain who wasn’t involved with
the study, Elizabeth Phelps of
New York University, said it’s
premature to draw conclusions
about what the results mean for
mental illness.
“These results are interesting
but preliminary,” she said. “This
will raise a lot of interest in this
idea. Whether or not it pans out in
future research, who knows, but I
think it’s worth investigating.”
a
r
S eattle J une 2011
District. Noon harbor Steps, 1221 1st ave. Bring
your lunch and enjoy the concert.
Saturday June 25
If you have an event you want to share
with the community, email it two weeks
in advance to The Skanner at
info@theskanner.com
Friday June 24
ouT To luNCh CoNCErT – ThE MalDiVES: This
concert series is presented by Chrystal Mountain
and produced by Metropolitan improvement
Page 2 The Seattle Skanner June 22, 2011
16Th aNNual iNTErNaTioNal FESTiVal iN SEa-TaC.
The festival will feature a skateboard competition,
a cultural village, live entertainment, craft and
food vendors and much more. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
angle lake Park, 19408 international Blvd.
SToCK uP oN SuMMEr rEaDiNg! More than
10,000 items will be for sale at bargain prices at
the Friends of The Seattle Public library Summer
Book Sale. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at warren g.
Magnuson Park, 7400 Sand Point way NE.
Sunday June 26
BiCYClE SuNDaY: Bicycle or walk along lake
washington Blvd. South of Mt. Baker Beach to
Seward Park entrance. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. 2521
lake Park Dr.
Saturday thru Monday July 2 – 4
2011 laKE uNioN wooDEN BoaT FESTiVal: The
festival will include visiting vessels, free public
boat rides, activities for all ages and more.
Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday 10
a.m. – 10 p.m. The Center for wooden Boats,
1010 Valley St.