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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
WASHINGTON —Suddenly there’s hope for cutting the reams of red tape that can make getting new energy projects a seemingly endless slog. Top Republican and Democratic senators have unveiled a 417-page bill to overhaul the approval process, a pathway for what’s known as “permitting reform.” A debate is likely when…
Puget Sound Energy announced a groundbreaking for a 130-megawatt solar array near Rapelje in southcentral Montana. Called the “Battle Butte Solar Project,” it’s expected to provide enough energy for 20,000 homes as the company looks to comply with Washington state law, which reduces the amount of power generated from…
AUSTIN, Texas — It was a good day for the defense. Standing in front of a judge in Austin’s Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, attorney Matthew Shrum secured a ruling that spared his client from serious punishment on a shoplifting charge. In the hallway immediately afterward, the defendant thanked Shrum with…
Experts debate whether the state make it easier for utilities to meet its clean energy mandates on this week's edition of "Inside Olympia."
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, who did not offer raises to thousands of state workers in recent contract talks, will not get one himself for the next two years, under a recommendation adopted by a citizen salary-setting panel on Thursday. Salaries for the attorney general and lieutenant governor will be frozen too with…
The fall election is a test of the new 9.9% Washington income tax on households that bring in more than $1 million a year. Initiative 645 aims to overturn the tax before it takes effect.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary ruling blocking the Trump administration from moving the U.S. Forest Service’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City while the rest of the lawsuit over the relocation plays out in court. In the order signed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, in…
More than 70,000 people were evacuated as wildfires engulfed Spokane, reducing entire neighborhoods to ash. Hundreds lost their homes. Damage is expected to exceed $1 billion, the most expensive wildfires in Washington’s history. And while some point out that arson started the fire, it’s clear that the damage wouldn’t…
Editor’s Note: This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. Boise State University senior Cade Syvock opposes abortion. As president of the school’s chapter of the conservative group Turning Point USA, the organization founded by the late activist Charlie Kirk…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Thursday announced that the execution of a man convicted of the Fort Hood shooting will not be livestreamed, a reversal after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that Nidal Hasan’s death by firing squad would be public. “I think streaming the execution for all to see might…
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown will not again ask lawmakers to pass a sweeping bill to limit social media for youths, saying a recent court settlement with a social media giant is sufficient.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun faced off for their final debate Tuesday, each looking to more clearly mark their turf on federal policies and social issues with voters beginning to cast ballots in their nationally-watched contest. They parried on an array of subjects…
Oregon’s governor has effectively issued a moratorium on new data centers and data center expansions in the state by ordering environmental regulators to pause approving new state and federal air and water pollution permits for data center projects until next July. Gov. Tina Kotek issued the order Friday in a letter…
WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection need to improve oversight and guidance for federal immigration officers’ use of body-worn cameras, according to a Wednesday report from independent federal investigators. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security…
WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration announced on Wednesday that recipients will receive a 3.6% increase in benefits in 2027. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will begin for 72 million Social Security beneficiaries in January. It will apply for Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, recipients…
WASHINGTON — A federal judge late Tuesday extended a block on a Trump administration ban of press passes for three news organizations, which will allow them to continue to enter the White House grounds while a legal challenge to the ban, including a Wednesday appeal filed by the administration, plays out. U.S…
The wait is over in Washington. Washington’s 5.1 million registered voters are starting to cast ballots for the Nov. 3 general election, which could see Democrats strengthen their grip on power in the state Legislature and retake the majority from Republicans in Congress. In theLegislature, where Democrats hold…
More than 80% of the wildfires that the Idaho Department of Lands has responded to this year have been caused by humans, Director Dustin Miller told an interim committee of Idaho legislators Tuesday. “This staggering figure just underscores the importance of not only a robust fuels mitigation program … but also a…
The leader of Washington state public schools says the state should not join a federal tax credit program that would fund K-12 education. Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal views the tax credit as a way to expand school choice options without closing funding gaps for public schools. “Washington cannot…
As candidates debate public safety ahead of the midterm elections, a new assessment of the nation’s historic homicide decline suggests there is no single explanation for the drop — and that some widely discussed enforcement strategies may have played little role. A survey of nearly 50 crime scholars convened by the…
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge. The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states…
WASHINGTON — As partisan tensions rise in advance of the fast-approaching midterm elections, students will test their knowledge Wednesday in a field that’s long enjoyed bipartisan support: civics. Fifty-two middle school students hailing from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and American Samoa, will compete at the…
After a sickout crippled Washington’s ferry system last week, Gov. Bob Ferguson ordered a new evaluation of its engineers’ salaries ahead of wage negotiations with union workers next summer. Negotiators for Ferguson refused to offer a wage increase to members of the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association in months…
The Trump administration’s order to allow import of Russian diesel violates a 2022 law banning Russian energy imports while the country’s war with Ukraine is ongoing, according to a bipartisan group of U.S. senators. Following an Oct. 9 call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the U.S…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump this week will journey out West in an effort to galvanize support for Republican candidates three weeks before the midterm elections and convince voters to support his party amid low presidential approval ratings. As the deeply unpopular war in Iran enters month eight, resulting in…
In the course of a single election cycle, the backlash against data centers has grown from an issue at local planning commission and city council meetings to become a flashpoint in state and federal races across the country. Candidates who once touted data centers as an economic boon have backtracked, and voters in at…
Three years after Oregon lawmakers passed a law requiring insurers to cover transgender medical services, state regulators have quietly delayed their efforts to ensure the law is making a difference for a group that’s long faced barriers to care. The paused oversight stems from financial uncertainty facing Medicaid…
Across the Pacific coast, reports of large whales tangled in buoys, gillnets and other fishing equipment are increasing. In 2025, Washington was among four states where nearly 80% of reported whale entanglements occurred, according to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Of the…
In 2007, Idaho lawmakers passed a law to make English the state’s official language. That law, which is still on the books, requires English to be used as “the sole language of government.” But it lists many exceptions to its requirement that government documents be in English, such as for law enforcement or for…
A former Cornell University student’s allegations of gang rape in 2024 have renewed attention on a difficult area of sexual assault law. A person can be awake, responsive and even able to move during a sexual encounter while still being so intoxicated or impaired that they cannot understand what is happening or make…
Seismic surveys, well drilling, ice road construction and other wintertime oil exploration activities on federal lands on the western North Slope will no longer be subject to case-by-case environmental evaluation, under a new rule the Trump administration announced on Thursday. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management…
It took Christa Pike nearly a week to regain consciousness after the Tennessee Department of Corrections failed to kill her with two doses of the barbiturate pentobarbital, a drug used to put animals to death and to execute humans by lethal injection in Tennessee and other states. She was confused and angry. She…
On Friday morning, the prediction market platform Kalshi gave the Democratic candidate in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race an 87% chance of winning. The volume of trading on the outcome exceeded $1.8 million. This is exactly the type of activity Minnesota and numerous other states want to shut down. “They jeopardize…
The leader of Washington’s Department of Children, Youth and Families was questioned this week about her agency’s commitment to equity amid allegations of racial bias in the agency made by two former top aides. The quizzing from a member of the agency’s oversight board on Thursday came after recent accusations that…
When I sat down for a recent supper in a restaurant in Yamhill, the TV set on the side wall was showing Portland-area news. Campaign ads dominated the commercial breaks, as is normal for October of an election year. But with the exception of one ad apiece for Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan and…
An enclave of Washington’s wealthy provided a backdrop Thursday for a saucy debate on the merits and dangers of a ballot measure to erase the state’s controversial new income tax on millionaires. Brian Heywood, the hedge fund manager behind Initiative 645, and House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, argued…
Aiming to make up for lost revenue from federal benefit cuts, a coalition of powerful Oregon advocacy groups announced Thursday that they will launch a signature-gathering campaign for the November 2028 election to approve a wealth tax on some of the state’s richest households while cutting taxes for low-income…
WASHINGTON — Rebecca Myers lives in one of the nation’s most hotly contested congressional districts, and tariffs were on her mind as she voted early and in-person in Suffolk, Virginia in late September. The 44-year-old trained social worker said she and her husband, who recently retired after 25 years in the U.S…
A financial benefit for surviving family members of wildland firefighters who die fighting blazes on federal lands could increase tenfold under a new bill proposed by Oregon’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Utah’s Republican U.S. Sen. John Curtis. Merkley and Curtis on Monday introduced the Honoring Fallen…
Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and John Braun, the top Republican in the Washington state Senate who is challenging her in a critical congressional duel, faced off on Wednesday in a televised debate, exchanging digs on the Iran war, policies of President Donald Trump, gas prices, and at each other. This…
Republican leaders in Tennessee’s legislature say they will investigate the reliability of lethal injection as an execution method after the state failed to execute two death row inmates in the span of five months. Gov. Bill Lee stopped the May execution of Tony Carruthers after a physician unsuccessfully attempted to…
A Washington state agency has floated cutting services for more than 2,600 residents with developmental disabilities with the goal of saving money to close a looming budget gap. As part of its requests for the state’s next two-year spending plan, the Department of Social and Health Services suggested restricting…
WASHINGTON — Every child in the United States with a valid Social Security number is now enrolled in a tax-advantaged investment account, titled a “Trump Account,” President Donald Trump announced Wednesday. Parents must claim the accounts by downloading a Trump Account mobile app. Children born from 2025 through 2028…
New preliminary research from the University of Michigan shows women living in states with post-Dobbs abortion bans may be more likely to shoulder costs for employer-sponsored health insurance premiums, with federal data reflecting a 5.4% increase in annual premium expenditures for those women after 2022, when most…
WASHINGTON — Nearly all of the U.S. senators elected this year will be in office when Congress debates how to restructure Social Security to prevent an automatic drop-off in retirement benefits in 2032. Very few candidates in competitive races, however, have policy proposals on their campaign websites and many, when…
Rural Klickitat County has just 24,000 residents. Developers are eyeing it for up to six data centers drawing enough power for 6 million homes.
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — More than four hundred Washingtonians across 19 locations took to the streets Sunday to demand a statewide moratorium on data centers. In Walla Walla, where a $4.8 billion Amazon data center project is planned, the tension among opponents and local officials was palpable. “Some of you standing…
With Election Day less than a month away, lawmakers in several states are suspending gas taxes or rolling back regulations on diesel fuel as voters grow increasingly frustrated with rising fuel costs amid President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. On Tuesday, Trump issued an executive order to expand access to tax-free…
Idahoans voting in November’s general election will decide whether to give the Idaho Legislature the sole power to regulate marijuana and other drugs — and eliminate their right to bring a citizen-led ballot initiative to do so. Currently, there are two ways in Idaho that marijuana, medical cannabis or other drugs can…
As the political prospects for Republicans worsen ahead of November’s midterm elections, the GOP is increasingly playing defense over its yearslong grip on state governments. That’s particularly true for gubernatorial elections, as Democrats could win a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010…
Less than a month remains until an election that will transform Washington’s state Supreme Court. Two new justices will join the nine-member high court, and two new justices appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson with no prior judicial experience face their first tests at the ballot box. The chief justice is also seeking…
Environmental advocates are seeking volunteers to help collect research on how Oregon’s roads are impacting wildlife. Environment Oregon, a conservation nonprofit with affiliates across 29 other states, is recruiting volunteers for its 2026 Roadside Wildlife Count Oct. 17 to 25 to help track any wildlife dead or alive…
WASHINGTON — Democrats are more motivated to vote in November’s midterm elections than Republicans, potentially giving the party an advantage to flip at least one chamber of Congress, according to a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan health organization KFF. Democratic candidates also held an edge with voter…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set the stage for another redrawing of Washington state’s political maps. On the first day of its new session, the court accepted a legal challenge to the boundaries, then remanded it to a lower court to determine if the way a federal judge drew the lines in 2024 complies
Kalshi, Polymarket and the Coalition for Prediction Markets have spent at least $3 million this year on lobbying and campaign contributions across the federal and state levels, according to a new report from the government watchdog group OpenSecrets. Prediction market platforms say they are like commodity markets that…
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson told frustrated unionized ferry workers that he expected “every vessel on every route” to be running Tuesday morning as a sickout by members brought much of the nation’s largest ferry system to a standstill Monday. Thirteen of the ferry system’s 18 vessels transporting travelers and…
WASHINGTON — Democrats expect they’ll gain a majority of seats in the U.S. House following November’s midterm elections, giving the party a platform to serve as a check on the president’s power. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene said during an interview Monday that curbing the war in Iran…
When the Washington state ferry Tillikum entered service in 1959, Albert Rosellini was in his first term as governor and Dwight Eisenhower was in his second as president. The showy tail fins of Chevrolet and Plymouth sedans on its car deck could have made a killer whale jealous. The auto-and-driver fare to cross Puget…
A considered approach to AI is necessary if we want teachers to make classroom-level decision rooted in student learning, three Central Washington University experts say.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has rejected every inmate that the state clemency and pardons board recommended for commutation.
A proposed Canadian oil pipeline to a supertanker terminal at the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia is raising hackles among Washington state’s political leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday designated the West Coast Oil Pipeline, now known as the Pacific Link, as a project of national…
When Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin declared in September that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could serve warrants on individuals at polling places this fall, officials in Denver, a liberal city where roughly 14% of residents are foreign-born, quickly sued. “Every day we find new things to be…
A judge on Friday threw out tough new job standards for county sheriffs approved by Washington lawmakers this year that critics argued would force some out of office. The decision from Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller permanently blocks the most controversial pieces of the Democrat-sponsored…
Jobs across the United States rose by 29,000 in September, a disappointing result as recent growth was also revised down in Friday’s monthly jobs report, the last one before midterm elections. September growth was a large dip from a strong August number that was revised down from 162,000 to 133,000 in the new report…
WASHINGTON — This summer, arrests of immigrants in the United States soared to the highest levels since President Donald Trump returned to office. An unprecedented increase in cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration officers through collaborations known as 287(g) agreements helped…
Roughly 10,000 immigrants in Washington are losing their Medicaid health coverage due to federal cuts Republicans in Congress approved last year. On Thursday, a provision in President Donald Trump’s signature tax cut and spending law stripped Medicaid coverage for refugees, asylees and other lawfully present…
Washington’s minimum wage workers will get a 3.5% pay bump in 2027. The state’s minimum wage will climb to $17.73 an hour starting Jan. 1, the state Department of Labor and Industries announced this week. That’s a 60-cent increase from the current hourly rate of $17.13, which is the highest of any state in the
Korea has not agreed to invest $54 billion in the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline — and has not even agreed to invest at all, its national industry minister, Kim Jung-kwan, told reporters in Seoul on Thursday. His remarks came hours after President Donald Trump held a news conference in the White House to…
The two candidates vying to represent Washington’s 3rd Congressional District are in a dead heat with less than five weeks to go before a closely watched election that could help determine control of the U.S. House, according to polling conducted by the nonpartisan firm DHM Research and commissioned by OPB. DHM…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released new guidance Thursday for participating states, scholarship-granting organizations and taxpayers as the federal scholarship tax credit program prepares to take effect in January. Created through President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending law in 2025, the Education…
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators departed Capitol Hill on Wednesday night for their campaign break, leaving numerous policy disputes unresolved. The chamber won’t return until Nov. 9 for the five-week lame-duck session, when party leaders will have to decide which bills they want to negotiate during what could be the final…
The director of the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife this week authorized the “incremental” killing of wolves in southeastern Washington with a goal to stop attacks on livestock. Agency officials could not say how many wolves would be killed, but said other nonlethal measures would not be appropriate for the…
The union representing staff of Democratic state senators in Washington has overwhelmingly rejected a new two-year contract, citing its lack of adequate protections for workers facing termination. Legislative assistants, policy analysts and communications specialists for the Senate Democratic Caucus on Monday voted…
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated Wednesday that should Democrats regain control of the chamber following the elections, they plan to block judicial nominees sent up by President Donald Trump, including for any possible vacancies on the Supreme Court. “Look, the bottom line is, one of…
Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Oregon have been meeting in recent weeks to discuss the potential to collaborate on a climate policy that just seven years ago drove them apart, and drove some Senate Republicans across state lines. A new bipartisan workgroup is negotiating the possibility of standing up a carbon…
The room was packed with a line out the door during the public comment hearing for a Puget Sound Energy rate proposal Tuesday evening at the Utilities and Transportation Commission’s headquarters in Lacey. “We’ve replaced just about everything to something more efficient for which I’ve gotten no incentives and no…
A company providing medical care at the Overlake Medical Center emergency room will refund more than $400,000 to low-income patients under an agreement with Washington’s attorney general. Between 2020 and 2026, Puget Sound Physicians failed to refund nearly $347,000 to more than 1,400 patients at Overlake in Bellevue…
In a surprise announcement, Republican state Rep. Skyler Rude of Walla Walla, said Tuesday that he will resign from office days before the election to start a new job with Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. Rude, a moderate Republican, said he will step down Oct. 31 and begin work the next day as Hobbs’
Editor’s Note: This is the third and final installment of a three-part Idaho Capital Sun series examining a proposal to bring a new Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus to Idaho. Part one focused on Gov. Brad Little’s role in negotiations and his priorities for Idaho. Part two focused on Idaho state legislators who…
President Donald Trump is tapping $20 million in Homeland Security funding to pay for TV ads that heavily feature him ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats said Tuesday as the promos critics call propaganda come under bipartisan attack. The Trump administration recently moved the funds into a U.S. Customs and…
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson hopes the state’s space entrepreneurs can pilot their industry to infinity and beyond. To that end, Ferguson signed an executive order Monday night launching the 23-person Washington Space Council. Its mission is to come up with bold ideas to propel Washington’s commercial space industry…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration must spend the $810 million that it said last week it planned to cancel, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The congressional watchdog’s decision contends the White House budget office doesn’t hold the ability to claw back…
Utah state watchdogs and advocates are skeptical of a move by a major regional utility to sell its assets in Washington.
A new data center campus could soon be coming to federal land near Hermiston in eastern Oregon. It would be the first in Oregon sited on federal public land, and one of at least 12 proposed for more than 17,500 Bureau of Land Management acres across western states under President Donald Trump’s July 2025 executive
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan measure to overhaul the college sports landscape got a step closer to becoming law Monday after passing the U.S. Senate. The bill — which sailed through on a 77-22 vote — would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation, provide certain antitrust protections to the NCAA…
Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a three-part Idaho Capital Sun series examining a proposal to bring a new Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus to Idaho. Part one focused on Gov. Brad Little’s role in negotiations and his priorities for Idaho and is available online. The series concludes Tuesday with a…
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Monday asked President Donald Trump for tens of millions of dollars in federal aid to help communities recover from devastating wildfires this summer. Across the state, 649 primary residences were destroyed, mostly in Spokane County, according to the governor’s office. More than 2,500…
Five weeks before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s sprawling effort to identify and remove noncitizen voters hasn’t produced the kind of large purges that could meaningfully affect the midterm elections. Even a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision giving states access to a supercharged Department of Homeland…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress. The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human…