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Chris Reykdal, who has led Washington state’s public school system through a period of financial and political upheaval, and a pandemic, announced Monday that he will not seek re-election to a fourth term in 2028. “Public institutions are strengthened when leadership changes, new voices emerge, and those entrusted…
The U.S. Department of Justice is dismissing a lawsuit that tried to force California to set aside the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters, marking the formal end of the Trump administration’s most aggressive effort to control vote counting in the lead-up to the midterm elections. The Justice Department filed a…
I’ve worked in the fishing industry for 30 years and have fished my own salmon troller for the past 15 years. I’ve been fishing now for half my life and have seen how devastating the decline in salmon populations has been for both commercial fishermen and coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest. As a commercial
Three large Washington school districts are preparing to sue the state, alleging it is once again failing to fully fund basic education. School boards for the Lake Washington, Tacoma and Yakima districts contend the state’s failure to meet its constitutional obligations is forcing them to rely on local levy dollars to…
Voters in one Washington state county want to keep electing the sheriff, even if they are not enamored with the one in the job today. In another, they preserved their ability to know the partisan ties of candidates seeking the top legislative and executive positions. And, in one of the state’s most populous cities, the
The blue wave that swept across Tuesday’s midterm election will deliver Democrats new power over state government, giving them the opportunity to advance long-sought policy changes. Democrats flipped hundreds of seats, won control of several GOP-held chambers, broke veto-proof supermajorities and won a majority of…
The campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola sued the Alaska Division of Elections on Friday in an attempt to make public the names of Alaskans whose absentee ballots have been rejected by the division. The suit was filed Friday in Anchorage Superior Court by Alaskans For Mary, and it named the…
Four Democratic state attorneys generals are suing the Trump administration over its plan to enact work requirements for people enrolled in Medicaid beginning in 2027. In 2025, the massive federal tax and spending law championed by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans put forth new rules requiring that…
Washington voters had until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their ballots in an election featuring three statewide initiatives and five of the nine state Supreme Court seats. But it was the ballot initiatives – including measures to ban trans girls from sports, to repeal the state income tax on millionaires, and to change…
Traveling from eastern Washington to Olympia for the state’s Legislative session just got easier. SeaPort Airlines announced a new air service between Spokane and the state capital on Thursday. Flights start Jan. 8, the Friday before session begins, and are available on Friday and Sunday afternoons. “Whether you’re a…
The Trump administration can’t force Washington state election officials to set aside ballots from 400-plus voters alleged to be noncitizens, a federal judge in Seattle ruled Thursday. The temporary court order stymies a longshot bid from the U.S. Department of Justice to leave ballots from those voters uncounted…
The Nature Conservancy, an international environmental nonprofit, just acquired 2,600 acres of timberland in central Washington. Historically owned by industrial timber companies, the lands within the Cle Elum Ridge Community Forest are now protected from development and accessible to the public. “This moment reflects…
Democrats in the Washington state House of Representatives are eyeing a supermajority as Thursday vote tallies put them on course to unseat a half-dozen incumbent Republicans and flip a GOP-held seat in the Puget Sound. Those seven pick-ups would give Democrats control of 66 of the 98 seats in the state House, lifting…
Washington’s governor met again with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Thursday to push the case for the return of the Seattle SuperSonics as league expansion here remains uncertain. Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for Gov. Bob Ferguson, described the meeting as “another good conversation” with Silver. She said Ferguson…
Voters in four states — Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington — passed measures to restrict transgender athletes’ participation in sports, a key policy focus of the Trump administration. Colorado, Nebraska and Washington’s measures were ballot initiatives, while Arizona reached the ballot by way of the…
SEATTLE — Grocery giant Albertsons must pay Washington state $900 million for its pharmacies’ role in fueling the opioid epidemic, a judge ruled Thursday. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said this is believed to be the largest verdict in state history. It came after a 9-week trial before King County Superior…
With Democrats now poised to retake both chambers of Congress, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson wants action in the other Washington. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, the first-term Democratic governor appeared jubilant about the results. Even with the defeat of an initiative to repeal the high-earners income tax he…
Tuesday’s blue wave could remake the political landscape of Washington state. A likely supermajority in the state House. A shocker in the 5th Congressional District. A walkover in the 3rd District. An emphatic affirmation of an income tax. These are signs of where the wave crested in a blue state. Voters responded to…
Ahead of the midterms, Democrats wargamed dozens of scenarios looking at how President Donald Trump might try to undermine the election, everything from seizing voting machines to falsely declaring a foreign attack. But when the blue tsunami arrived Tuesday night, Trump seemed to let it wash right over him. In a…
WASHINGTON — Voting ended Tuesday in this year’s midterm elections, leaving officials and volunteers counting tens of millions of ballots to determine which U.S. House and Senate candidates will take the oath of office in January. The post-election process includes numerous steps and varying deadlines for when ballots…
The only state ballot measure that will likely pass in Tuesday’s election is the one that would prohibit transgender girls from competing in K-12 girls’ sports. It’s a major loss for the progressive left. As of Tuesday night, Initiative 638 leads with nearly 57% of the total votes counted thus far. “To every female…
Buoyant Democrats were on course Tuesday to strengthen their grip on power in the Washington state House. But the caucus is poised to lose its longest-serving member, and a series of intraparty battles could unseat incumbents in both legislative chambers. Meanwhile several incumbent Republicans are staving off stiff…
Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez enjoyed a comfortable lead over Republican state Sen. John Braun on Tuesday, as she pursues a third term and her party seeks the House majority. Gluesenkamp Perez led Braun by a margin of 55% to 44.1%, a sign she had not lost support of progressive Democrats who shunned her
Voters on Tuesday were upholding Washington’s new income tax on households earning more than a million dollars a year, a threshold opponents argued would eventually be lowered to apply to everyone. Initiative 645 to repeal the high-earners tax was failing by an overwhelming margin, 58% to 42%. It lacked support in the…
All but one of the slate of five Washington state Supreme Court candidates backed by Democratic leaders led their races handily after the initial vote count Tuesday night in an election that will transform the court. Two recent appointees of Gov. Bob Ferguson, a new face to the high court and its chief justice all
Election Day is here in Washington and the nation. Numerous pivotal races will be decided. There are three conservative-backed initiatives, on the state’s new income tax for high earners, the participation of transgender girls in girls’ school sports and parental rights of public school students. There’s a momentous…
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already cast a ballot in the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and shape President Donald Trump’s remaining policy agenda. As of Monday, more than 57 million Americans had cast a vote, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab…
A Yakima County farmworker died yesterday after contracting the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), according to the Yakima Health District. The individual, who had underlying health conditions, contracted the bird flu after exposure to an infected animal at a dairy. They were hospitalized when symptoms became…
Washington’s massive midterm election on Tuesday is nearly here. Voters are weighing in on initiatives to repeal a statewide income tax on high earners and bar transgender girls from competing in girls sports in public schools. They will fill five of the nine seats on the state Supreme Court, a rare opportunity to…
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to require California to set aside the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in a last-ditch appeal by the Trump administration to exert control over the state’s vote counting. The request came on the eve of Election Day and as more than 5 million…
A flood of memories drowned me a week ago as I climbed the steps to the entrance of Olympia’s Legislative Building, a grand structure built in 1928. I suspect it’s easy for people who work here every day to take its beauty for granted. I know the place. I’ve been there many times in the
This is the story of how Democrats came to win over (most of) Washington’s suburbs. Over the past decade, Democrats have amassed power in Olympia through areas further and further from their urban bases. These are places like east King County suburbs where Republican Dino Rossi’s tenure as a state senator nearly…
WASHINGTON — When the polls close Tuesday night, the 2026 U.S. election will go down as one of history’s most expensive and extraordinarily ugly midterms — galvanizing record-breaking early voter turnout among a deeply divided electorate. Voters on Saturday crossed the high-water mark of 52.7 million early votes cast…
Most of the nation returns to standard time Sunday morning, and Congress could decide as early as next month whether it will be the last time people have to change their clocks. President Donald Trump wants year-round daylight saving time. The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly in July for the change. Lots of Democrats…
Tiffany knows fashion. Lita opines on the outdoors. Their online content creations draw thousands of views from those seeking their advice and recommendations. Recently Tiffany and Lita veered into politics, posting Instagram videos urging their followers to back the re-election of Democratic state Rep. Amy Walen of…
In a precedent-setting move, members of the Washington National Guard are being deployed in seven counties to help protect ballot drop boxes in the final days of the election. The mission, dubbed Election Neighborhood Watch by Gov. Bob Ferguson, appears to be the first large-scale activation of National Guard members…
A federal appeals court on Friday denied a Trump administration demand that California set aside and not count the ballots of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters, setting the stage for a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a U.S…
Starting Sunday, Washingtonians who need to buy health insurance through the state’s online marketplace can enroll in or change their plans, but they face another major cost increase to maintain coverage. About 260,000 people are currently enrolled through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. That number is far…
As the Trump administration waged a public legal fight with California over the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in mid-October, behind the scenes a federal grand jury in Santa Ana issued a series of subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County at federal prosecutors’ urging. The subpoenas demanded a…
Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston grants a partial victory to the 25…
WASHINGTON — As of early Friday, more than 46 million Americans had cast ballots ahead of Election Day, eclipsing the early voting turnout of the 2022 midterms, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. In the 2022 midterm elections, 45.9 million Americans voted early, according to the UF Election Lab…
The pivotal U.S. Senate race in Alaska is now embroiled in threats from the president and probes from the state’s governor over a candidate appearing on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent. Washington state has been there before, though its drama fizzled out before reaching the level of the…
Alaska’s governor said late Wednesday that he is ordering the Alaska Department of Public Safety to investigate whether Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola, her campaign or national Democratic groups violated state law by recruiting independent candidate Dan J. Sullivan to run in this year’s election…
The owner of the only remaining coal power plant in the Pacific Northwest is doggedly proceeding with a plan to extend its life by converting to natural gas fuel over the next two years. TransAlta Corporation got political support, signed a utility to take the electricity and is accumulating the necessary permits to…
Following the Silver Rail Elementary School shooting in Bend, Oregon lawmakers across the political spectrum have shared publicly their grief and their personal experiences with mass shootings and firearm violence. But Oregon’s Democratic and Republican leaders have split when it comes to approaching policy…
President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola to be criminally charged and drop out or be removed from the ballot. His comments followed the publication of a New York Times article revealing that her campaign worked with the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign…
WASHINGTON — Communities throughout the country have been inundated with television ads and outside spending as politicians try to spur voter turnout in the most competitive U.S. House races in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The focus on a short list of campaigns highlights how much power voters in a small number of…
Bird flu is hitting Washington dairy farms and it’s spreading fast. The Washington State Department of Agriculture confirmed the first detections in two Yakima County dairy herds in early October. On Oct. 26, the agency reported the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Benton County. In the span of three weeks…
A federal judge on Wednesday denied a U.S. Department of Justice request that would have forced California to not count the ballots of 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The decision sets the case on a course to possibly reach the U.S. Supreme Court within days. In a scathing…
Washington’s top election official is calling on federal authorities to provide more evidence that the state’s voter rolls include hundreds of noncitizens, as a preliminary investigation reveals U.S. citizens are listed. The state’s top federal prosecutors on Monday claimed Washington’s voter rolls included 405…
Veteran journalist Sean Robinson has joined the Washington State Standard as editor-in-chief, States Newsroom announced. “We’re happy to have Sean on board leading the Standard at this crucial time. His deep knowledge of Washington and his leadership skills make him perfectly suited for this role,’’ said Chris…
Seven western states, including Oregon, have lost more than one-third of their glacial cover since 1950 and more than 300 glaciers in those states have disappeared entirely as the earth has rapidly warmed, a first-of-its-kind inventory and analysis confirms. Researchers at Portland State University and the U.S…
Less than a week before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive for power over elections has set the stage for a series of courtroom fights that could quickly lead to a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over the limits of federal authority. Democrats and voting rights advocates have…
Washington state’s campaign finance enforcers are allowing candidates for legislative and Supreme Court seats to spend as much of their own money on their campaigns in the final days of this election. And the state Public Disclosure Commission is also not enforcing caps on how much money political committees not tied…
The U.S. Department of Justice in a federal court hearing Tuesday warned California election officials could be prosecuted if they count ballots cast by noncitizen voters, in a case brought by the Trump administration demanding that the state set aside the ballots of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters. The remark by a…
SEATTLE — Chris Megargee volunteers at a Shoreline Home Depot to help day laborers frequently targeted by federal immigration authorities. As part of the adopt-a-corner program, Megargee and other volunteers provide breakfast and share information so the workers, who are often noncitizens, know their rights if U.S…
Like many labor unions, trade associations and business groups, the Oregon-based chapter of the Associated General Contractors threw their support behind their candidate of choice for Oregon governor in the form of a six-figure check. The association’s political action committee has become one of the most generous…
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already made their way to the ballot box as early voting is underway in a midterm election that will determine control of the House and the Senate, possibly flipping one or both from Republicans to Democrats. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 34 million people have…
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a long-standing practice that’s spurred concern this year among Democrats and voting rights advocates because of President Donald Trump’s push to influence elections. The Justice Department for decades has…
Across Washington state, schools rolled out a support system designed to help high school freshmen over the last few years. In the Ninth Grade Success initiative, teachers and other school support staff pair up with students dealing with low grades, truancy, poor behavior and more. A recent state evaluation shows it’s…
The top federal prosecutor in Seattle claimed on Monday that more than 400 noncitizens have been voting in Washington, as the Trump administration’s crusade against alleged voter fraud intensifies in the Evergreen State. Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said in a press conference Monday that prosecutors haven’t…
Americans’ growing frustration over high prices has defined many political campaigns ahead of November’s midterm elections. Rising costs of healthcare, gas and groceries during President Donald Trump’s second term have put Republicans on defense, not only in Washington, but in statehouse and gubernatorial races across…
The percentage of working-age adults without health insurance has increased in the past two years, largely because many people can no longer afford Obamacare coverage after Congress allowed federal subsidies to expire at the end of last year. The uninsured rate for adults ages 19-64 rose to 11.2% this year, up from…
Voters may evict the sheriff from office in Pierce County, make Snohomish County Council seats nonpartisan and bar residents from serving on the Everett City Council and in the Legislature, even though the Washington state Constitution allows it. These are among the slew of significant and controversial changes for…
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Sustainability Desk, a project of the Local Reporting Network, in partnership with Cascade PBS and co-published by KUOW. Sign up for Dispatches to get ProPublica stories in your inbox every week. Lonnie Rouse shuffled into a wood-paneled conference room at the Washington…
A "constitutional sheriff" divided rural Klickitat County. The men running to replace him are trying to decide how to deal with his legacy.
More than 100 of Oregon’s 197 school districts have asked voters in the past eight years to agree to local property tax increases to raise money for school safety upgrades. That’s according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of ballot referrals to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, available online only through…
Birth centers are an option for those with low-risk pregnancies and are correlated with more positive health outcomes, but 10 states do not have any birth centers at all, and more could be built with certain state policy solutions and different models of care, a new report suggests. Birth centers can be an attractive…
Washington state voters are getting the message: Don’t wait to turn in your ballots. As of Friday afternoon, 705,231 ballots had been returned with 66.4% arriving via drop boxes, a sign early voters are heeding repeated warnings from state and local officials to steer clear of the U.S Postal Service to ensure their…
It’s unclear what role federal election monitors will play or how many there will be in King County on Election Day. The U.S. Department of Justice informed King County Elections Director Julie Wise this week that the administration is sending election monitors for the Nov. 3 midterms. “As the Civil Rights Division…
When you use an artificial intelligence system like ChatGPT, what it gives you depends on the prompt you enter. The answer is likely to be most useful if the prompt is carefully crafted. This underlies a concern recently raised at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. That regional planning agency uses…
The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its legal campaign over the midterm elections, suing Alaska over its U.S. Senate election and appealing a lawsuit against suspected noncitizen voters in California. Election law experts have cast doubt on the strength of the cases, criticizing them as performative. The…
Meta has paid Washington state a record-setting fine of more than $51 million for violating campaign finance laws, but lawmakers are being cautioned not to get too excited about the money. The Facebook and Instagram parent company is expected to appeal the fine that the state Supreme Court upheld this year in a split…
PORTLAND, Ore. — The latest cosponsor of a U.S. House bill to provide single-payer health insurance defeated a Republican incumbent in a suburban and rural Oregon district by fewer than 10,000 votes two years ago. U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat now seeking her second term, doesn’t have the far-left profile of…
WASHINGTON — The price health insurance companies charge for employer-sponsored plans increased again this year, as did the deductible many people must pay before those plans begin covering most healthcare costs, according to a survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan health organization KFF. The cost of individual…
The Oklahoma-based company that owns one of the largest gas pipeline networks in the Northwest is beginning to pursue permits to expand that network, and to pump more gas to the region to meet rising electricity demand. Pipeline company Williams, owner of the 4,000-mile long Northwest Pipeline system that brings…
A plan for a new Scottish links-style golf course at an oceanfront Washington state park has divided a community. Proponents of the years-in-the-making proposal at Westport Light State Park say the course will be an economic boost for the small town, while opponents fear environmental disruption despite commitments…
House Speaker Mike Johnson returned to Washington state on Wednesday to campaign alongside Republican John Braun, a sign of how important the state senator’s bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is for the GOP’s hopes of keeping its majority. Johnson came to Braun’s business in Chehalis to…
A federal judge on Wednesday night blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting election-related field operations that could sweep up U.S. citizens in nine states. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, an appointee of President Joe Biden in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, issued a…
Washington state’s 14th Legislative District is coming up on its second House election since a redistricting order put Latino voters in the majority. Democrats are vying to flip two of the district’s state House seats long held by Republicans, but low voter turnout could be a problem. Reps. Gloria Mendoza…
For decades, manufactured home builders have been working to shed the old image of boxy trailer homes reserved for the outskirts of cities and suburbia. Now, a small change in federal regulations could open the door for architecture welcomed in more neighborhoods. This summer’s sweeping housing bill, the 21st Century…
A New Mexico District judge on Wednesday ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in penalties for violating state law regarding unfair and deceptive trade practices. The state was entitled to closer to $220 billion, First Judicial District Judge Francis Mathew wrote, although the company will accrue 15% in interest annually…
National Democrats are suing President Donald Trump, accusing his administration of intimidating election officials and asking a federal court to block him from interfering in the midterm elections. The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday in Washington, D.C., comes as the Trump administration mounts a highly public offensive…
Candidates in Washington state’s most closely watched congressional race have spent more than $10 million entering the final weeks of the campaign. Meanwhile, outside forces are shelling out nearly twice as much to sway voters in the 3rd Congressional District contest that will help decide which political party…
SEATTLE — Washington’s hospitals anticipate losing nearly $6 billion in revenue through 2033 due to steep Medicaid cuts in the coming months. That’s according to a new report from the state hospital and community health associations. It comes as Democrats play up high healthcare costs and coverage losses in the runup…
An eastern Oregon city that has for the last decade welcomed some of the largest data centers in the state is fighting Gov. Tina Kotek’s recent order meant to temporarily pause data center development, saying it could cost the city millions in direct financial losses. Five of the six-members of the Umatilla City…
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown filed a lawsuit against the major prediction market platform Kalshi on Tuesday, seeking to block the company from taking bets from Utahns. “Utah has said no to gambling since statehood in 1896, and that didn’t change when betting moved onto cellphones,” Brown said during a news…
On a Sunday morning in September, three Colorado women met at the cell phone lot near Denver International Airport and waited for a flight from Texas to arrive. They watched a flight tracker as the plane flew closer to Denver, and prepared to meet it as it landed. But they did not go to the
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and comedian Mike Myers made the phrase “elbows up” a national rallying cry in the midst of a trade war incited by the Trump administration. Canada’s economic pivot away from the U.S. includes fast-tracking a new oil pipeline from Alberta to a proposed marine terminal in British…
Democrats have used President Donald Trump’s unpopularity to expand the midterm map, and analysts project the party carries momentum heading into the final two weeks of the election cycle, even as Democrats are expected to flip fewer U.S. House seats than wave elections this century. The Cook Political Report with Amy…
Under pressure from Gov. Bob Ferguson, the Washington state Building Code Council is wrestling with how far it can bend residential energy codes to speed up rebuilding homes destroyed by wildfires this summer. Ferguson issued an emergency proclamation in August directing the council to identify state laws, rules or…
Bears are having a very bad year. Across much of the United States, a warm winter and persistent drought have decimated the natural foods that black and brown bears rely on. With nearly every station at the buffet in short supply, the adaptable eaters are turning to human food. From California to Connecticut…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing a Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health. The new division is set to work with the agency’s existing Office of Research on Women’s Health, which was established in 1990 and “has served as the focal point for…
Sport hunters will be able to bait bears in Alaska national preserves, under a final rule the Trump administration announced on Friday. The rule, proposed in March, overturns bans by the Biden and Obama administrations of the practice within National Park Service units. Bear baiting, which involves use of food…
Washington’s largest state agency is preparing for a difficult 2027 budget by pursuing two strategies at once: pulling back where it can while trying to modernize how it delivers services.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has reinstated a small number of people whose ACA coverage should not have been canceled.
A smiling Judy Caron sat on a metal bench on the grounds of the Washington state Capitol, her face partially shielded from Saturday’s bright morning sun by a homemade sign, “No Cons, No Clowns, No Kings.” Caron left her home in Lacey and arrived early for the No Kings rally, an event that eventually drew
The sheer size of investment in data centers is drawing concern as it surpasses all other historical booms and crowds out other more job-creating ventures. Until now, no industry had driven the U.S. economy with such force since the railroad expansion of the late 1800s, when titans battled one another to lay the…
WASHINGTON — More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese immigrants are bracing for the possibility they’ll lose their humanitarian protections by Monday. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not indicated if he will renew protections for Ukrainians, who first received Temporary Protected…
The emerald ash borer, one of the most destructive invasive pests in the nation, has been detected in multiple trees outside of Walla Walla in eastern Washington . Late last month, an arborist arrived at a home in College Place, a community southwest of Walla Walla. On an ash tree already in decline, the arborist