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A federal judge is set to hear arguments Portland this week from mental health advocates who say the state is failing dozens of criminal defendants in need of treatment.

Civil commitments have been appealed so many times that the legal standard has gradually become harder and harder to meet. “Just because we have a mental illness and we’re symptomatic doesn’t mean we’re stupid or drooling on ourselves... We’re able to understand, if we’re before a judge, that I may lose my liberty,”

On any given day, nearly half the civil, or non-criminal, patients at Western State are ready to be discharged, but there's nowhere to send them. That means they take up beds that patients in crisis, like Brian's daughter, may desperately need. In other words, there's a waitlist to get into Western State because there's a waitlist to get out.

In the living room of her Olympia home, Crystal opens up a large file box that contains her son’s life history.“As a mom you keep those shot records and…

Sarah Zabel is a retired U.S. Air Force major general and former vice director of the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency. After witnessing one of her…

The disruption in the illegal opioid trade had varying impacts around the country. As stay-at-home orders lift, that creates different risks of overdose that public health is trying to manage.

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.

A rule going into effect in the new year will allow only trained and certified dogs to accompany people with disabilities on commercial airline flights.

Federal inspectors have found serious safety violations at Western State Hospital that could increase the chances of patient suicides. The finding this week has the potential to further imperil $65 million in annual federal funding the state receives to operate the 857-bed psychiatric hospital near Tacoma.

Tens of thousands of Americans die every year from gun suicide, and some of hardest-hit areas spend the least on prevention. In the Idaho Panhandle, some small-town residents are stepping in where the government has failed.