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
A Tri-Cities man who has been a frequent online critic of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said he was blocked this month from commenting on Inslee's campaign Facebook page. The move comes as Inslee, a Democrat, launches his candidacy for president and his campaign says its working to make his Facebook page "a little less toxic." Read More
Over the past eight years, Washington has lost 170 residential beds for hard-to-place foster youth. But now there’s a push in Olympia to nearly double provider reimbursement rates in an effort to reverse the trend. Continue Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination, signed legislation Thursday to bump the state’s presidential primary from late May to early March. It’s a move designed to make Washington, a frequently overlooked state with just 12 electoral votes, more relevant in the nominating process. Read More
Following months of speculation, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has formally launched a campaign for president that he said would seek to mobilize the country around an ambitious plan to combat climate change. Continue Reading He’s Read More
More than a decade ago, Washington state legislators added a $2 fee to most traffic tickets in an effort to improve services for the estimated 145,000 Washingtonians who suffer from TBI. But experts who advise the legislature say it's not nearly enough. Read More
First, he was caught on store surveillance allegedly stealing a $70 office chair. Now Washington anti-tax activist Tim Eyman has produced his own video. It shows him returning to the scene of the alleged crime. Continue Read More
As Washington Gov. Jay Inslee inches closer to a likely run for president, he's starting to sound more and more like a candidate on the stump than a two-term incumbent, even when addressing audiences at home. At a recent legislative forum in Olympia, Inslee recounted his first foray into politics 30 years ago and told the story behind one of his first votes as a freshman Read More
Former Washington state Sen. Kevin Ranker, an Orcas Island Democrat, violated Senate harassment policy in his treatment of a female subordinate during the 2010 legislative session, according to an investigative report released Friday. Read More
Following in the steps of the European Union and California, Washington lawmakers are considering a sweeping data privacy proposal that its sponsors say could become a model for the nation. Continue Reading Feel Like Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, on a mini-barnstorm of cold, snowy and wind-whipped New Hampshire, discussed climate change with students on two college campuses this week. The Democrat's trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state comes as he says he's "seriously considering" a run for president in 2020. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will take his most visible step yet towards a possible bid for president when he visits New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, on Monday and Tuesday. Continue Reading Jay Inslee Plans Read More
Warning that Washington state is at a "tipping point," Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday delivered a State of the State address that called on lawmakers to address carbon pollution, "transform" the mental health system and save Puget Sound orcas. Read More
Washington state Sen. Kevin Ranker, an Orcas Island Democrat, has resigned his seat in the midst of a workplace conduct investigation. In a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee dated Friday, Ranker, who served in the Senate for a decade, said his resignation was effective immediately. Read More
Two decades ago, Washington voters overwhelming adopted an initiative that effectively banned affirmative action programs in the state. That could soon change. Continue Reading Two Decades After It Was Banished, A Read More
A Washington state senator under investigation for alleged workplace misconduct involving his former legislative assistant acknowledged Tuesday that he had a "brief relationship" with the woman before he hired her in 2009. Read More
Washington state Sen. Kevin Ranker, an Orcas Island Democrat best known for his work on environmental issues, has confirmed that he is under investigation for alleged workplace misconduct involving a former employee. Continue Reading Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is proposing a hefty $10 billion increase in state spending over the next two years to maintain current services and fund new priorities, including mental health and orca recovery. To pay for it, Inslee is once again pushing for a new state capital gains tax on high income earners as well as an increase in the business and occupation tax on Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is taking the first step toward a plan to help house and treat psychiatric patients who have been involved in the criminal justice system: a new, 500-bed state mental hospital. Continue Reading Read More
Following eight months of meetings, a workgroup on the prevention of sexual harassment in the Washington state House is recommending an independent office where victims could report misconduct. The recommendation is part of a package of suggested reforms. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has raised more than $112,000 since October for a federal political action committee (PAC) that will allow him to explore a possible run for president in 2020, something the two-term Democrat said he's actively considering and will decide by April. Read More
The #MeToo movement has spurred efforts to make workplaces safer for women, and that includes Washington state strip clubs. A panel of lawmakers on Monday heard testimony from dancers who say they need more protections. Continue Reading Exotic Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has formed a federal political action committee and started soliciting contributions, signaling an important next step as he decides whether to run for president in 2020, the public radio Northwest News Network and The Seattle Times have learned. Read More
A 2017 law that requires Washington gun dealers to report when someone tries to buy a firearm and fails a background check has resulted in at least 10 arrests and two convictions so far, according to a report by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. Read More
Washington's child welfare system is failing to adequately serve foster youth with the most vexing needs, resulting in hotel stays and out-of-state placements, according to a new report by the state's Office of the Family and Children's Ombudsman (OFCO). Read More
Washington Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib, who is blind and has faced vitriol online, is requesting funding in the next two-year state budget to hire security when he attends large, public events. The request is contained in an agency "decision package" submitted by Habib's office to the Office of Financial Management as part of the lead-up to the budget writing process. Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's busy out-of-state travel schedule has put a strain on the state troopers who protect him and resulted in a spike in overtime costs. As a result, the Washington State Patrol has requested an additional $1.3 million to protect the governor and first lady over the next two years. Read More
Nearly 20 years after Washington voters passed Initiative 695, which repealed Washington's motor vehicle excise tax, anti-tax activist Tim Eyman says he's close to qualifying a new initiative to repeal taxes to support Sound Transit and restrict car tabs to $30. Read More
Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen was among the Republicans fighting to keep his seat after Tuesday’s election. AUSTIN JENKINS / N3 Listen It wasn’t a sweeping blue wave, but Democrats were poised to pick up several seats in the Washington Legislature based on the first tally of ballots Tuesday evening as many of the most… Read More
In the wake of three serious patient-on-staff assaults, more than 150 nurses at Washington's Western State Hospital have signed a "no-confidence" letter calling for the replacement of the psychiatric hospital's chief nursing officer Karen Pitman and her deputies. Read More
The attack on Berni that September evening was the third serious patient-on-staff assault at Western State Hospital in a two-month period. In August, two other members of the nursing staff had been pushed to the floor and stomped by patients, according to press reports and hospital administrators. One of the nursing staff who was attacked appeared so bloody that a coworker Read More
Six years ago, Steven Gonzalez's last name likely cost him votes in his first race for the Washington Supreme Court. He won nonetheless. Gonzalez is just one of three sitting Washington justices up for re-election this year. Justices Susan Owens and Sheryl Gordon McCloud are running unopposed after their opponents were bounced from the ballot because they were disbarred Read More
Washington's Public Disclosure Commission said Monday it's received nine complaints about a series of controversial mailers that were sent to voters in Thurston County and four hotly contested state legislative districts from coastal Washington to Spokane. Read More
The state of Washington sent high-needs foster youth to a residential facility in Iowa where they were isolated, held in a restrictive setting and at times subject to “abusive restraint practices," according to a scathing report released Wednesday by the advocacy group Disability Rights Washington. Read More
In statehouse races across Washington this year, there are two potential boogeymen: President Donald Trump and the city of Seattle. Democrats are counting on an anti-Trump bump while Republicans are running against the liberal policies of the state’s largest city. Read More
Fire consumed an abandoned building in the Olympia Brewery Complex in Tumwater early Monday, Oct. 8. The Olympia beer name is now owned by Pabst Brewing Company and brewed under contract by MillerCoors in California, but still distributed widely throughout the Northwest. Read More
A Washington state senator who says he’s heard from “literally hundreds of parents” of adult children who are struggling with mental illness or addiction wants to allow families to petition for temporary guardianship. Read More
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
Under pressure to resign following a new allegation of sexual misconduct, Republican state legislator Matt Manweller on Monday told a reporter from the Columbia Basin Herald that he would resign if re-elected this November. In his statement, Manweller neither denied what he called the "alleged relationship" nor apologized. Read More
A new state political action committee with a high-profile co-chair from California and national financial backing has launched a campaign to unseat Washington state legislator Matt Manweller. Continue Reading Washington State Rep. Read More
House Republican leaders on Friday called on embattled state Rep. Matt Manweller (R-Cle-Elum) to resign. The move followed the publication of a story by the public radio Northwest News Network earlier in the day detailing an alleged sexual relationship between Manweller and a 17-year-old former high school student of his in 1997. Read More
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
As teachers in a record number of Washington school districts strike this week, a top official with their union says the unwillingness of superintendents and school boards to negotiate higher pay raises for teachers is a crime. Continue Reading Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has elevated his national profile as a critic of President Donald Trump and fanned speculation about a 2020 presidential bid. A big part of Inslee’s role as DGA chair is to raise money to fuel political advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. But critics say his constant travel may be interfering with his job as governor. Read More
More than 80 people gathered at the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They were there for a forum organized by a fledgling group of moms whose severely mentally ill children have struggled to get the help they need in Washington state — sometimes with deadly consequences. Read More
Washington state Rep. Matt Manweller “engaged in a pattern of unprofessional and inappropriate behavior” with current and former female students at Central Washington University (CWU) over a 13-year period, according to an 85-page investigative report released by the university on Wednesday. Read More
Last March, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced the resignation of one of his longest-serving cabinet members, Employment Security Department head Dale Peinecke. But as it turned out, Peinecke continued to run his agency while working remotely for two more months. He then took paid leave until the end of June when he turned 65—and could retire. Read More
Central Washington University fired Republican state Rep. Matt Manweller Tuesday, Aug. 14, from his position as a tenured professor of political science following a months-long investigation into his conduct toward students. Read More
Washington Republicans are regrouping after a primary election pounding Tuesday that extended beyond swing districts to rock-ribbed GOP pockets of the state. Continue Reading ‘We’ve Got Some Work To Do.’ Republicans Read More
Democratic state Rep. David Sawyer of Tacoma was in third place in early primary returns Tuesday night, an indication of the political fallout he’s facing over numerous allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women and an investigation that found he violated House harassment policy. Read More
