WWW . THESKANNER . COM
F EBRUARY 5, 2014
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 18
25
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
MOST VALUABLE
Lethal
Injection
Watchers
New rules allow
witnesses to view
death sentences
AP PHOTO BEN MARGOT)
By Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press
Seattle Seahawks’ Malcolm Smith sits on the field after the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game against the Denver
Broncos Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Seahawks won 43-8 and Smith was named MVP.
Washington’s First Charter Schools
Eight new schools qualify but hurdles remain -- including lawsuit
By Donna Gordon
Blankinship
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) Some of the
work is finished: eight groups
that want to open the first char-
ter schools in Washington state
have completed their applica-
tions and won approval.
But there’s much left to be
done: most still need a school
building, they’re fundraising,
hiring teachers and other staff
and they face a lawsuit that
questions their right to exist.
State voters in 2012 approved
a charter-school measure that
allows up to 40 independent
public schools to open over five
years. The earliest the first
school was expected to open
was fall 2014, but only one of
the approved schools is aiming
for that date.
Seven of the approved schools
are in Western Washington and
one is in Spokane. Three will be
run by out-of-state charter man-
agement organizations and one
is being converted from a pri-
vate school.
INDEX
News .....................2,3,6
Calendar ....................2
Opinion .......................4
A&E .............................5
Bids/Classifieds............7
The charter law is being chal-
lenged in a lawsuit making its
way through state courts, but
proponents don’t think the
lower court ruling will affect
implementation of the schools.
Here are brief descriptions of
the eight schools:
Excel Public Charter
School
This Kent school would start
as a middle school and expand
to include more than 500 kids in
grades six through 12 after five
years.
This is a science, engineering
and math focused school with
additional emphasis on literacy
and college readiness. The
school’s founders hope to have a
diverse student population, with
expectations most of the stu-
dents will come from poor fam-
ilies. They note that fewer than
half of the students at a nearby
middle school are meeting state
academic standards in reading
or math.
The school would focus on
basic subjects, for example giv-
See CHARTERS page 3
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington
state will allow witnesses to executions to
see the entire process, including the inser-
tion of intravenous catheters during a lethal
injection, state officials told The Associated
Press.
The new witness protocol, currently a
draft that is in its final stages of approval,
includes the use of television monitors to
show the inmate entering the death chamber
and being strapped down, as well as the
insertion of the IVs, which had both previ-
ously been shielded from public view. The
new technology has already been installed,
and officials say the protocol will be final-
ized within the next week.
Through public disclosure requests, the
AP had sought information about any poten-
tial changes to execution protocols. State
corrections officials spoke with the AP about
the new procedures this week. The change is
in response to a 2012 federal appeals court
ruling that said all parts of an execution
must be fully open to public witnesses. That
ruling was sparked by a case brought by the
AP and other news organizations who chal-
lenged Idaho’s policy to shield the insertion
of IV catheters from public view, in spite of
a 2002 ruling from the same court that said
every aspect of an execution should be open
to witnesses.
“We have been working on this for many,
many months,’’ Dan Pacholke, assistant sec-
retary of the prisons division at the state
Department of Corrections, said Wednesday.
Pacholke said they have been researching
the technology needed to make the change
and followed the process currently used by
Arizona, which provides an overhead view
via TV monitor of the IV insertion during an
execution.
“It really does provide greater viewing
capacity to the witnesses,’’ he said. “It’s
going to take an overhead view to provide
See EXECUTION on page 3
Senate OKs Immigrant Financial Aid Bill
Washington’s own ‘Dream Act’ finds success in divided legislature
By Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Wash-
ington state Senate on Friday approved a
measure to expand college financial aid to
include students who were brought to the
state illegally as children.
Senate Bill 6523 passed on a 35-10 bipar-
tisan vote and now heads to the House for
consideration. The measure requires stu-
dents to have received a high school diplo-
ma or equivalent in Washington state and to
have lived in the state for at least three years
beforehand.
“The key to a good future is a good edu-
cation,’’ said Sen. Barbara Bailey, a Repub-
lican from Oak Harbor who is chairwoman
of the Senate Higher Education Committee.
“We want all who reside in Washington
state to have a good education and a good
future.’’
Senate Minority Leader Sharon Nelson,
D-Maury Island, said that the vote was a
day that “children in the state have waited
for.’’
“No one should have the doors closed to
their dream university because they cannot
See IMMIGRANTS on page 3