'WARY' OF LEGISLATIVE ATTEMPTS TO 'CLARIFY' MMJ BILL

HIGHLIGHTS -

* At a legislative hearing, Washington timber industry officials
lobbied for their proposal to limit logging to protect dwindling wild
salmon runs in exchange for stable rules and a major tax break.
Environmentalists said it would give too much to industry at the
expense of fish.

* The Seattle doctor who sponsored Washington's voter-approved law
legalizing the medical use of marijuana said he's wary of legislative
attempts to "clarify" the measure's impact. State prosecutors,
sheriffs and police chiefs support a bill that would require doctors
to notify the state every time they advise patients to try marijuana.

COMING UP

* The House Higher Education Committee scheduled a hearing for today
on Gov. Gary Locke's Washington Promise Scholarship proposal, which
would provide two-year stipends totaling $3,000 for students who
finish in the top 15 percent of their high-school graduation classes.

OVERHEARD

* "We now have the chance at the best opportunity for protection of
fish and wildlife anywhere in the United States." Curt Smitch, Gov.
Gary Locke's top salmon adviser, on why the Legislature should approve
a proposal to limit logging to protect wild salmon runs in exchange
for a major tax break and long-term stability in timber rules.

* "This legislation should be killed." Dave Mann, a Seattle attorney
representing a coalition of environmentalists who oppose the timber
proposal.