Featured Stories

Despite Washington’s status as a technology hub, more than 40% of the state’s public K-12 school districts didn’t offer a single class in computer science, according to recent data. That’s abysmal. Not every young Washingtonian will want to grow up to work in computer-related industries, but each student should have the opportunity to explore these in-demand and lucrative careers. Click here to read more.

Backup was only about a minute away. But by the time it arrived, Centralia Police Officer Phil Reynolds had already used his Taser three times on a handcuffed suspect in the back of his patrol car. Two days later, Reynolds used his stun gun on another suspect, with one of the deployments lasting 44 seconds, nearly nine times as long as the standard Taser cycle. An internal review found four other incidents where Reynolds used his Taser in ways that violated department policy, then filed inaccurate reports about those uses of force. Click here to read more...

At a press conference Tuesday, Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D – Seattle) said that the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) did not fully support ESSB 5226 until an amendment from Sen. Annette Cleveland (D – Vancouver) was added. But after assessing public testimony offered by WASPC and following up with the organization to hear about how their stance on the bill developed, the Wire found that Sen. Cleveland’s amendment had no such impact.

ESSB 5226, removes the penalty of driver’s license suspension for failing to pay a ticket for a non-criminal traffic infraction. If individuals are ...

From 2014 to 2019, Michelle McClendon was without a driver’s license after she could not afford to pay a parking ticket she incurred while living out of her Toyota Camry. She also could not afford to be relicensed, so when public transit could not get McClendon to school, work or the grocery store, she would take a chance driving without a license.

She would pray on her way to work, asking in her words that “the universe be gracious” to her. Driving without a license in Washington state is a criminal offense punishable by 90 days in jail ...

At some point, Washington’s housing crunch will become a housing crisis. Meanwhile, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and legislative attempts to address housing issues will reverberate for decades to come.

Most pressing is a looming deadline for an eviction moratorium put in place by Gov. Jay Inslee. Shortly after the arrival of COVID-19, Inslee made it temporarily illegal for tenants to be evicted because of an inability to pay.

WASHINGTON – Democrats moved Tuesday to revive efforts in Congress to change gun laws after two high-profile mass shootings less than a week apart, but a stubborn partisan divide threatens to block even modest reforms.

After a 21-year-old man shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, congressional Democrats called for swift action on legislation to stem gun violence.

“What happened in Boulder yesterday is a tragedy,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote Tuesday on Twitter, “and unfortunately it’s one that’s all too common in our country. The best way to honor these victims & ...

Olympia, WA — Clean Cars 2030 (originally HB 1204), groundbreaking legislation that calls for all model year 2030 or later passenger and light-duty vehicles sold in Washington State to be electric vehicles (EVs), took one step closer to becoming law yesterday when it advanced out of the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology as an amendment to SHB 1287. The combined bill now heads to the Senate Transportation Committee.

Introduced in the legislature by Rep. Nicole Macri (D-Seattle), the target date for phasing out gas cars established in Clean Cars 2030 is five years earlier than the ...

After last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, Washington state lawmakers set out to enact a sweeping collection of police accountability reforms in 2021.

Some of those measures are advancing swiftly through the Legislature, including a proposal to ban chokeholds and a bill to beef up the state’s system for decertifying police officers.

But other police reform bills have stalled — including a plan to end the qualified immunity that can shield officers from civil lawsuits and a measure to stop arbitrators from reversing police discipline.

(Photo: ERIC J. RICHEY COURTESY TO THE BELLINGHAM HERALD) The role of a prosecuting attorney is to hold individuals accountable for their actions and keep Washingtonians safe. Every day, I and my staff hold individuals accountable for crimes against our state and those within it. It is important that we spend as much of our time and resources as we can on this mission and providing safety and security to victims. However, it is not our desire, nor our job, to punish people for actions outside the public safety sphere. Click here to read more...

OLYMPIA – A bill that would provide tax relief to Washington residents when rebuilding homes damaged by natural disasters passed the Senate unanimously.

The bill, sponsored by Ritzville Republican Sen. Mark Schoesler, began as an effort to help Eastern Washington residents whose homes were destroyed in Labor Day fires last year. After the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied individual assistance to Whitman County, Schoesler said he wanted to provide some assistance to people trying to rebuild.