A Crime Victim And A Grieving Grandmother Are On Opposite Sides Of Washington Gun Initiative

By Austin Jenkins
Carla Tolle's 13-year-old grandson Edgar Vazquez of Kelso, Washington was killed in an accidental shooting involving an unsecured shotgun. She is now campaigning for I-1639. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS / NW NEWS NETWORK
Initiative 1639 is a sprawling, 30-page ballot measure that seeks to restrict access to semi-automatic rifles like the popular AR-15, which has become synonymous with mass shootings. But the initiative would also require the secure storage of firearms. Under the initiative, if a gun wasn’t safely stored and ended up in the wrong hands and someone was injured or killed, the Read More

Rep. Matt Manweller, Fired From CWU, Accused Of Underage Relationship With Former Student

By Austin Jenkins
Washington 13th District GOP Rep. Matt Manweller CREDIT: WASHINGTON LEGISLATURE/2014
A former Idaho high school student of embattled GOP Washington legislator and longtime educator Rep. Matt Manweller says she had a sexual relationship with him beginning after she graduated in 1997, when she was 17 years old and he was a decade her senior. Under Idaho state law at the time, sex between an adult male and a female younger than 18 constituted statutory rape. Read More

Vindicated By Washington High Court, Lawyer With Criminal Past Becomes Campaign Fodder

By Austin Jenkins
Tarra Simmons, an honors law school graduate with a criminal past, was the subject of a political mailer attacking a Democratic candidate for the Washington Senate.
The past eight months have been a whirlwind of victories for Tarra Simmons—an honors law school graduate with a criminal past. This week something happened that Simmons could not have anticipated. A political mailer started showing up in mailboxes in the 26th Legislative District that attacked a Democratic candidate for state Senate, Emily Randall, for supporting Simmons Read More
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