Washington Department of Agriculture

Francisco Gonzalez, 36, said he has a new house, furniture and a car to pay for. Plus, his wife and two young daughters.“Now we’re stuck with these…

Scientists have found a dead Asian giant hornet north of Seattle, the first so-called murder hornet discovered in the country this year, federal and state investigators said Wednesday.

Wildlife officials in Washington have said British Columbia and U.S. federal and state agencies will work together to track, trap and eradicate Asian giant hornets in the Pacific Northwest.

The state Agriculture Department had spent weeks searching, trapping and using dental floss to tie tracking devices to Asian giant hornets, which can deliver painful stings to people and spit venom but are the biggest threat to honeybees that farmers depend on to pollinate crops.

Researchers in Washington have lost track of an Asian giant hornet they were following — a stinging setback in the pursuit to eradicate an invasive species that threatens to decimate North American bee populations.

Thurston County, where Inslee lives in the governor’s mansion, is under apple maggot quarantine, whereas Douglas County is not. It’s illegal to bring apples to Douglas County, apple country, from Thurston County.

Yakima County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita among West Coast states. The largely Latinx agricultural workforce helped secure the backbone of the local economy.

Washington regulators must soon consider rules to limit the use of a controversial pesticide that can cause neurological and health problems, especially in young children. A bill passed by state lawmakers this session didn’t outright ban the pesticide, as health and farmworker activists had proposed.

The state Department of Agriculture has recently clarified that CBD is not allowed as an ingredient in traditional foods. CBD is a derivative of the hemp plant that's used widely in lotions and supplements, but it does not have the psychoactive effects — the high — of marijuana.

A regulatory snafu in Washington has industrial hemp farmers in limbo over planting a crop in 2018. Some of them are looking to shift acreage to Oregon.