1. Seattle Transit Blog issues a broadside against the proposed Columbia River Crossing megaproject—the new, expanded I-5 bridge between Vancouver, WA and Portland that would include a light rail link between the two cities.

Despite the transit connection, STB's Ben Schiendelman writes, the proposal is "a giant mess, a waste of taxpayer dollars that could be better spent on almost any other project."

A couple of reasons Schiendelman cites: It's a huge freeway expansion project (from six lanes up to as many as 22), the cost estimate has grown ever more-expensive, and the current I-5 bridges are in good shape—and expected to last another 50 years. 

Is ending tax exemptions and making previously temporary taxes permanent the same thing as raising taxes. Republicans say it is; Inslee says it isn't2. Is ending tax exemptions and making previously temporary taxes permanent the same thing as raising taxes? Republicans say it is; Inslee says it isn't. 

The AP's Mike Baker sizes up the debate. 

3. Lesson No. 1 of hit-and-runs: Don't commit one when you're literally being tracked by GPS. Seattle police, with the help of ridesharing company Car2Go, have arrested a 28-year-old man in the alleged hit-and-run of a bicyclist on Capitol Hill by a Car2Go driver, Capitol Hill Seattle reports.

4. KIRO TV reports that OneReel says it's canceling its annual Lake Union fireworks show because it can't come up with the $500,000 it needs to put on the event.

We're hardly unpatriotic, but we are skeptical. For three years running, corporate and individual fans of the annual pyrotechnics display have come up with the money after OneReel has begged poverty, so it's conceivable that this year's event could be saved by a similar last-minute act of charity.