Category Archives: In The News

This week on Inside Olympia, an update on the state of schools, student well being and school funding from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. Plus, after nearly a quarter century in the Legislature, State Senator Sam Hunt is ...

Washington has passed legislation intended to safeguard its public libraries, after a small city in the southeastern corner of the state nearly became the first community in the nation to shutter its library over the book battles that have engulfed ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — When Kim Reiter’s husband died from a cardiac arrest while working out at the gym, she was shocked to find out fitness centers are not required to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs). So Reiter contacted her state ...

The end of Washington state’s 2024 legislative session Thursday will mark the end of several careers of longtime lawmakers. On March 6, Republican Sen. Lynda Wilson added her name to the growing list of legislators announcing they won’t seek re-election in 2024. ...

A longtime Democratic lawmaker who represents Olympia announced Tuesday that he would be retiring after his term ends in January 2025. Sen. Sam Hunt was elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving as a Washington state Representative since 2001.

Someone new will have to soon saddle up to represent the Olympia area in the Washington state Senate. Sen. Sam Hunt, a Democrat who represents the 22nd Legislative District, said on Tuesday he won’t seek reelection this year. Hunt has ...

As battles over books and libraries continue to rage nationwide, the Washington Senate took a small step Wednesday to protect libraries across the state. Senate Bill 5824, passed unanimously by the Senate on Wednesday, comes in response to an effort ...

After a rural library district was at risk of being dissolved last year, Washington senators voted 49-0 on to improve the process that could close libraries. The measure also would not leave people out of the dissolution process. For more ...

State Sen. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, has introduced a bill to make voting compulsory in Washington. But under Hunt’s legislation, there’d be no punishment for citizens who ignore the requirement. Senate Bill 5209 calls for adding a sentence on every ballot that ...

Numerous Democrats in the Washington Legislature are backing a new proposal to make voting in elections compulsory. Citizens are required by law to cast ballots in about 25 counties, but in no other U.S. states. Republicans in Olympia described the ...