● The Environmental Working Group, a national nonprofit that detests the use of agricultural chemicals, has once again announced its annual “Dirty Dozen” list for consumers of produce items that it deems most contaminated with pesticide residues. Apples topped EWG’s list, which was duly noted today by The Wall Street Journal in an article under the unhelpful heading “Pesticide Residue Taints Apples.” USApple, the United Fresh Produce Association, the Alliance for Food and Farming, and others are doing their best this week to respond to this invidious media scare campaign.

● Governor Chris Gregoire said today that she will not run for a third term of office. Washington state politicians now have an open seat to aim for in next year’s state general election. And likely also to have an open seat to run for in the next Congress: my bet is that Jay Inslee will be the ultimate nominee of the Ds with the state’s current attorney general, Rob McKenna, to my mind, pretty much a cinch as the nominee of the Rs. ■ On a personal note, Chris Gregoire and I were both in the graduating class of 1977 from Gonzaga Law School. Afterwards, Jay Inslee was among the first attorneys I met and became friends with when I started my legal career in Yakima. In 1992 Mr. Inslee was elected to Congress, then lost his 4th District seat to Doc Hastings in 1994. He then relocated to the other side of the Cascades and resurrected his Congressional career by winning a new seat in Washington, D.C., from the 1st District in 1998.

● The House of Representative’s Judiciary Committee is set to hold a subcommittee hearing this Wednesday on E-Verify legislation, backed by the full committee’s chairman, Lamar Smith of Texas. While almost certain to have enough votes to move through the committee, this immigration enforcement effort, clearly focused on employers, is still a long ways from enactment into federal law. However, Wednesday’s hearing should be a good gauge of the present state of the anti-immigrant political heat that seems to keep this particular policy kettle on full boil.