The state of Washington has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 29-year-old man who died by suicide in an isolation cell at the Airway Heights Corrections Center near Spokane in May 2014. Read More
The Associated Press declared Referendum 88 rejected late Tuesday afternoon, one week after Election Day. Soon after, the pro-affirmative action Washington Fairness Coalition sent out a concession statement. Continue Read More
In response to a rash of nursing home closures in Washington, a Republican state senator is calling for an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates and other steps to stave off additional closures. “We are in a crisis of skilled nursing facilities and beds,” said Sen. Steve O’Ban, a Pierce County Republican. Read More
In a potential rejection of a vote earlier this year by state lawmakers, Washington voters on Tuesday evening were narrowly saying “no” to restoring affirmative action in the state. Continue Reading Washington Voters Narrowly Read More
In a recent interview at her home near Tacoma, Alexander spoke about a lack of diversity in the state patrol and her feeling that she was not afforded the same opportunities as her male colleagues. Continue Read More
Tarra Simmons, of Bremerton, who in 2017 won a Supreme Court fight to sit for the state bar exam, despite her prior criminal conviction, plans to formally announce her candidacy for the state House on Monday. Continue Read More
Between 2008 and 2018, more than 300 people died after being taken to a county jail in Washington or Oregon, according to an investigation earlier this year by OPB, KUOW and the Northwest News Network. Nearly half died by suicide. Read More
In 1998, Washington voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 200, which effectively ended affirmative action in the state. Now, 21 years later, voters this November will once again have a chance to weigh in on the issue. Read More
The chief justice of the Washington state Supreme Court, Mary Fairhurst, will retire in January as she continues to battle her third bout of colon cancer since 2008. Continue Reading Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Read More
For years, families of the developmentally disabled in Washington and their advocates have been frustrated that services in an institution, like one of the state’s Residential Habilitation Centers (RHCs), are an entitlement, but services in the community are not. Read More
Fifty years ago, Owen might have been institutionalized because of his developmental disabilities. Today, his family just wants to take care of him at home. But they can’t get services from the state to help. And they’re not alone. Read More
Initially it was traumatizing. On the occasions when MaryAnn Brookhart would visit her brother, who was nonverbal and diagnosed with severe "mental retardation," he seemed institutionalized and "beat up." But over the years, Brookhart came to accept that the state-run Rainier School was where her Greg belonged. Read More
According to Washington's Public Disclosure Commission, the One Washington Equality Campaign still has $1.3 million in outstanding debt. Continue Reading Washington Affirmative Action Campaign Sued For Not Paying Signature Read More
Not only are these patients being hospitalized unnecessarily, they’re taking up beds needed by other patients. As of Sept. 6, the state said there were 19 patients waiting for a bed at Western and Eastern State Hospitals. Read More
In recent months, court commissioners on both sides of the Cascades have found the state of Washington in contempt, and even imposed fines, over access to state psychiatric care for people with severe developmental disabilities. The cases involve people who’ve been found to pose an imminent risk to themselves or others, but are languishing in local hospitals. Read More
Hospitals are costly places to get healthcare and not therapeutic environments. So why does Washington have hundreds of people in hospital beds with no need to be there? Because there’s a lack of community beds for people with behavioral challenges. Read More
Jay Inslee is dropping out of the race for president and will instead seek a 3rd term as governor of Washington. The Washington State Republican Party quickly pounced on Inslee's candidacy. Continue Reading Jay Inslee Drops Presidential Bid, Will Read More
The Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) announced the contract terminations Tuesday, the same day the state placed Aacres Washington LLC (Spokane) and Aacres Washington LLC (Spokane County #2) on provisional certification status “based on serious non-compliance with the law and regulations.” Read More
It’s been more than a year since the state Department of Social and Health Services took the unprecedented step of shutting down a major in-home care provider for developmentally disabled adults. Now, 16 months after the provider’s sister company, Aacres Washington, took over care of many of those vulnerable adults, the cycle is repeating itself. Read More
A year ago, Washington state had 82 hard-to-place foster youths, mostly teenagers, living in facilities in states as far away as South Carolina, prompting calls to bring them home. As of Aug. 1, that number had been reduced by more than half to 38, according to the Department of Children Youth and Families. Read More
The Washington State Gambling Commission voted Thursday to delay deciding a request from the National Rifle Association's charitable arm to increase a $300,000 cap on raffle prizes. The commission cited ongoing investigations of the NRA’s nonprofit status and finances in New York and Washington, D.C. Read More
Since announcing his presidential bid March 1 through the end of July, Gov. Jay Inslee spent all or part of 90 out of 153 days -- or nearly 60 percent of the days, including weekends -- traveling out of state on the campaign trail, according to a new analysis by the public radio Northwest News Network and The Seattle Times. Read More
Washington House Democrats have selected Rep. Laurie Jinkins to serve as the state's first woman speaker of the House. The historic vote today in SeaTac ushers in a new era in Washington politics following a 20-year reign by Frank Chopp of Seattle, who was the state's longest serving speaker of the House. Read More
In the month since Washington state Sen. Mona Das, a first-term Democrat from Kent, made headlines for comments about racism and sexism in the Senate Democratic Caucus, she has been calling her colleagues to apologize that her words “were as strong as they were.” Read More
Washington's Department of Corrections has agreed to improve conditions for inmates with mental illness at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Under a court-approved settlement reached last week, the agency will open a new minimum- and medium-security unit for these inmates, with the goal of reducing the amount of time they spend locked up in their cells. Read More
County election officials in Washington are warning that a new statewide voter registration database system is not ready for the state's August 6 primary and could result in some voters getting incorrect ballots or no ballot at all. The concerns reached a crescendo on Tuesday at a work session of the Washington Senate's State Government, Tribal Relations and Elections Read More
Since February 2017, 16 Washington nursing homes — from Seattle to Ritzville — have closed, announced they will close, or converted to assisted living. Each time a nursing home closes, it forces vulnerable residents to endure disruptive — and potentially dangerous — moves. Read More
This month, more than 3,000 Army National Guard soldiers from Washington, Oregon and California have taken up temporary residence at the Yakima Training Center. Continue Reading At Yakima Training Center, Thousands Of Read More
Washington's Sentencing Guidelines Commission, tasked with promoting accountability and equity in sentencing, has adopted a report to the state Legislature that urges lawmakers to consider two options for modernizing the grid with the twin goals of simplifying sentencing and increasing judicial discretion. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is stoking outrage and taking on his own party after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) unequivocally quashed his proposal for a debate centered on climate change. He's also refusing to take "no" for an answer. Read More
Deaths in the Whatcom County Jail highlight two stark realities: Native Americans are disproportionately more likely to be in Northwest jails. As a result, they are also more likely to die in jail. Continue Reading Suicides In Northwest Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed into law a $52.4 billion, two-year state budget that he said "rises to the needs of our time," but that minority Republicans quickly criticized as a "tax-and-spend home run." Read More
The practice of locking up people who are chronically sick, mentally ill or drug addicted in under-resourced city, county and regional jails in Washington is resulting in inmate deaths and a failure to “treat all people humanely, respectfully, and safely,” according to a new report by the statewide nonprofit law firm Columbia Legal Services. Read More
In this file video, the owner of a Spokane electronic cigarette store examines his display case. CREDIT: JESSICA ROBINSON / N3 Read On After years of debate, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is scheduled to sign into law on Tuesday a new tax on vaping products to fund cancer research and tobacco cessation and prevention efforts. But critics… Read More
Millions of Americans who buy individual health insurance, and don't qualify for a federal subsidy, have been hit with sticker shock in recent years. Instability and uncertainty in the individual market — driven in part by changes Congress and the Trump administration made to the Affordable Care Act — have resulted in double-digit premium increases. Read More
Washington is poised to become the first state in the nation to offer a public health insurance option, as well as a new, employee-paid long-term care benefit. Continue Reading Washington Becomes First State To Read More
At the same time Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing three Fortune 15 pharmaceutical distributors for allegedly “fueling the state’s opioid epidemic,” majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature this year left intact a generous tax break for distributors of opioids and other prescription drugs while raising taxes on other business sectors. Read More
Campaigning for president in California on Friday, Washington's Gov. Jay Inslee called for all new cars and new buildings to be carbon-free by 2030 and all electricity to go carbon-free by 2035. Inslee's announcement at a press event in Los Angeles marks his first concrete policy idea since launching his campaign two months ago on a platform of combating climate change. Read More
Opponents of affirmative action filed a referendum Monday morning to overturn Initiative 1000, which majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature passed Sunday evening in the waning hours of the 105-day legislative session. Backers of the repeal effort will have until July 27 to collect 129,811 signatures to qualify for the November 2019 ballot. Read More
Washington lawmakers just wrapped up an action-packed, 105-day session with passage of the first state budget to exceed $50 billion and a bundle of tax hikes to fund it. Continue Reading Washington Lawmakers Are Done This Year. Read More
Washington lawmakers adjourned at midnight Sunday after majority Democrats approved an initiative to restore affirmative action and passed a $52.4 billion, two-year state operating budget. The budget relies on an array of tax increases, including on businesses and real estate transactions, but doesn't impose a new capital gains tax as had been proposed. Read More
Currently, there are more than 10,000 untested sexual assault kits in Washington, according to the Washington State Patrol. On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law yet another measure designed to address the backlog. Continue Read More
Washington’s three living former governors testified Thursday in favor of an initiative to once again allow affirmative action policies in public employment, education and contracting. At a joint House-Senate hearing in Olympia, the three governors – Republican Dan Evans and Democrats Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire – called on state lawmakers to pass I-1000 Read More
Four years ago this month, Keaton Farris died naked, dehydrated and malnourished on the floor of an isolation cell in the Island County Jail on Whidbey Island. Farris, who was bipolar and in the throes of a mental health crisis, had been arrested 18 days earlier for failing to appear in court for allegedly stealing and cashing a $355 check. An investigation later found Read More
Former Washington state Rep. Matt Manweller has settled a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer, Central Washington University (CWU), for $155,000. Manweller had initially sought more than $2 million in damages. Read More
Washington Senate Democrats on Friday proposed a capital gains tax that would fund a suite of tax reductions for low-income families, small businesses and senior citizen homeowners. The tax proposal was rolled out in conjunction with the Senate Democrats' unveiling of a $52 billion two-year state spending plan, which followed a House Democratic budget presentation earlier Read More
Washington's Gov. Jay Inslee is releasing 12 years of his tax returns and calling on President Donald Trump to do the same. Inslee, who’s running for president, made his announcement Friday morning on the TV show 'Fox and Friends' on the Fox News Network. Read More
The enforcement action this week by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries follows a months-long investigation triggered by three violent patient-on-nurse assaults last year at Western State Hospital in Lakewood. Read More
Washington House Democrats on Monday unveiled a proposed $1.4 billion tax package, including a new capital gains tax, to fund a two-year budget with ongoing commitments to public schools, boosted spending for people with mental illness and increased reimbursement rates for a wide-range of social service providers. Read More
To keep up with Gov. Jay Inslee as he campaigns around the country for president, the Washington State Patrol is preparing to nearly double the size and more than double the budget of the specialty unit that protects him. Read More
