The Herald of Everett, Washington   HeraldNet Headlines
HeraldNet Newsletter Delivered to your inbox each week.  In wake
of bridge collapse, transportation bill still stuck  The I-5
bridge collapse adds to the disagreement in Olympia about a plan
to raise billions for transportation.  OLYMPIA -- Not long after
an earthquake dislodged chunks of concrete from the Alaskan Way
Viaduct in Seattle, state lawmakers pushed through a nickel
increase in the gas tax. Now, with jarring images of twisted
steel and submerged vehicles from Thursday's bridge collapse
fresh in the public's mind, another group of lawmakers is trying
to raise billions of dollars for transportation with a 10-cent
increase. They hope miles of backups and piles of lost income
caused by the severing of the state's signature north-south
highway will dissolve the political gridlock that's lingered for
weeks. "It is not a scare tactic," said Sen. Tracey Eide,
D-Federal Way, a co-chair of the Senate Transportation
Committee. "Things cost money to fix.