In the News

Amid the ongoing pandemic and threats by far-right protesters to "occupy" the Capitol, Washington lawmakers will convene Monday for what will ultimately be a mostly remote 2021 session with a focus on the ongoing response to COVID-19, police reform, addressing climate change and writing a two-year state budget. Democrats have solid ...

On December 24, Washington State Reps. Debra Entenman (D-47) and Jesse Johnson (D-20) filed legislation that would set statewide restrictions on law enforcement tactics, including bans on chokeholds, tear gas and the use of unleashed police dogs for arrests. Less than a week later, state senators Manka Dhingra (D-45) and ...

OLYMPIA, WA — Democratic legislators on Tuesday filed three bills related to police accountability ahead of lawmakers convening an unusual 105-day session next week. Due to ongoing coronavirus precautions, this year's 105-day legislative session will largely take place remotely, including most debates and votes in both chambers. The Seattle Times reports ...

Clark County Judge James Ladley couldn’t seem to believe what he was hearing. Before him was John Letellier, a 47-year-old Navy veteran accused of what a former federal prosecutor would later call a “chippy robbery” of a Subway store, netting $107 and a $5 gift card. Chippy or no, a conviction ...

Not all businesses have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the nation gun stores are doing brisk business, and here in Pierce County, firearm sales have more than doubled in 2020. Inventory is flying off the shelves, according to Damien Wongwai, owner and operator of Bull’s Eye Indoor Range ...

Washington lawmakers are looking to make it harder for police officers to take the stand in court or get rehired if their name is on a Brady list. Brady lists are disclosures of members of law enforcement whose involvement in a case as an arresting officer, investigator, or witness is in ...

In the wake of new restrictions meant to curb a surge in COVID-19 and a $135 million economic relief package aimed at taming the economic ripple they’ll cause, lawmakers are discussing what more can be done to help the hospitality industry — and quickly. Before the latest COVID-19 restrictions were introduced ...

Monday, the City Council is set to hold its final vote on a 2021 budget for Seattle that will leave both #defundSPD and pro-police spending activists along with Mayor Jenny Durkan mostly unsatisfied. That is the nature of compromise. In the city, this will bring a nearly 17% cut to the city’s 2021 ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The last time the Washington state legislature officially met was at the end of the regular session in March just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning in the state and the U.S. But as a new legislative session nears, some members are advocating for a special session to ...

Approximately 93 percent of Sikh American citizens are registered to vote, and 96 percent of those registered voters have said they are voting in the 2020 election Nov. 3, reported the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund in the findings of its first-ever National Sikh Survey. Speaking at the survey’s ...