UPDATE: 3 killed and toddler among four wounded in Seattle Center shooting, 1 in custody with another at large
SEATTLE—Three people were killed and at least four others were wounded, including a toddler, in a shooting Sunday evening at Seattle Center during the annual Bite of Seattle food festival, according to Seattle Police spokesperson assistant chief Tyrone Davis said at Sunday evening’s presser. A young male is in custody and being interviewed. A second […]
WA Students to Get Flexible Credits, Financial Literacy, and Life Skills Under New Graduation Proposal
OLYMPIA [Aspen Ford] — High school students in Washington may soon have more options to connect coursework with their career plans. In the first comprehensive update to graduation requirements in over a decade, the state Board of Education is retooling the current framework with an eye to better prepare students for life after graduation. Washington high school […]
Washington State Government Misconduct Payouts Hit Record $537 Million High
OLYMPIA [Jake Goldstein-Street] — Washington’s runaway payouts for government misconduct climbed to $537 million in the past year, as the ever-growing sum continues to strain the state’s finances. That tally from the fiscal year that ended June 30 is an all-time high, up from roughly $500 million the previous year and five times what Washington shelled out in […]
‘Ramblings of a Mad King:’ Democrats respond to Trump’s election integrity claims
OLYMPIA — Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the “information” presented in President Donald J Trump’s nationally televised address last Thursday on election integrity does not change the established record that claims of widespread election fraud have been repeatedly disproven. “In the past year, cuts to federal programs supporting state election security have created […]
WA delegation jets off to UK airshow, hoping new deals will take flight
OLYMPIA [Jerry Cornfield]—As the state wrestles with a cash-squeezed budget, Washington’s Department of Commerce is deploying staff and a state lawmaker to one of the world’s biggest air shows in hopes it will deliver rewards for the local aerospace industry. A 55-person delegation of aerospace suppliers, business leaders and workforce development officials will attend the Farnborough International […]
Ferguson kicks off fight to defeat Let’s Go WA’s income tax repeal initiative
SEATTLE [Jake Goldstein-Street] — The initiative to overturn Washington’s new income tax on high earners hasn’t officially qualified for the fall ballot yet, but on Tuesday, Governor Bob Ferguson and other opponents of the measure launched a campaign to defeat it. At Food Lifeline in the city’s South Park neighborhood, Ferguson said that with Initiative […]
Dr Rebekah Tabah Percival appointed to serve as new ArtsWA Executive Director
OLYMPIA—Governor Bob Ferguson announced, on July 7, the appointment of Dr. Rebekah Tabah Percival as executive director of the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA). She started her new position that week. ArtsWA promotes and documents the public value of the arts. Its mission is to be a catalyst for the arts, advancing the role of […]
WA inspectors must be let inside Tacoma ICE detention center, Bush-appointed judge rules
TACOMA [Jake Goldstein-Street]—The private company that runs a Tacoma ICE detention center must allow state inspectors inside after years of refusing, a federal judge ruled Thursday. But U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle, a Bush appointee, ruled the Florida-based operator of the Northwest ICE Processing Center, The GEO Group, doesn’t need to admit officials from […]
Let’s Go Washington turns in over half-a-million signatures on IP26-645 to repeal income tax bill
TUMWATER — Let’s Go Washington delivered 511,408 signatures Thursday to the Washington Secretary of State’s office for Initiative to the People IP26-645, an effort to repeal the state’s newly enacted 9.9% tax on annual household income above $1 million and to bar state and local governments from imposing taxes on overall individual income. The submission […]
SCOTUS Upholds State Laws Barring Biological Males from Girls’ Sports Teams; Let’s Go Washington applauds ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, June 30, that states may maintain separate sports teams for girls and women based on biological sex without violating Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Schools, athletic associations and state legislatures now have firmer ground to […]
