In the News

Permits issued to develop farmland could be withdrawn if a planned project would violate the state Growth Management Act (GMA), under legislation sponsored by 32nd District Sen. Jesse Salomon. The 32nd District includes portions of Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace. Senate Bill 5042 would protect communities from having to provide costly infrastructure for unplanned development by closing a loophole in permitting. “The way it works now, once a permit is vested a developer has a right to develop a proposed project even ...

A lawmaker in Washington state wants to make it a crime to use or sell a fake COVID-19 vaccination card. The measure would make it a misdemeanor to use a forged or falsified COVID-19 vaccination document along with making it a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine to sell or transfer false COVID-19 vaccine cards. The state of New York has a similar law on the books. Using a fake COVID vaccination document ...

If you’ve hiked or camped in the Pacific Northwest, you might have walked by a tiny, brown mushroom that some say has the capacity to change your life. Psilocybe azurescens and Psilocybe cyanescens are two psychedelic varieties that grow in damp, wooded areas in Washington and Oregon and produce visual hallucinations when ingested. These mushrooms — while freely growing and with a centuries long record of use among Indigenous people — are also Schedule I controlled substances: illegal drugs up there with heroin and ...

It’s a crime for kids to use a fake ID to try to buy alcohol. Soon, it could also be a crime in Washington for anyone to show a fake COVID-19 vaccination card to get into a bar, restaurant or other venue that requires proof of vaccination. On Monday, the Senate Law and Justice Committee will take public testimony on a bill introduced by Democratic state Sen. Jesse Salomon of Shoreline that would make it a misdemeanor to use a forged ...

A lawmaker in Washington state wants to make it a crime to use or sell a fake COVID-19 vaccination card. Northwest News Network reports that the measure, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Jesse Salomon of Shoreline, would make it a misdemeanor to use a forged or falsified COVID-19 vaccination document. It would also make it a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine to sell or transfer false COVID-19 vaccine cards. The state of ...

Former Kent City Councilmember Dennis Higgins called for Kent Police Assistant Chief Derek Kammerzell to resign immediately. Higgins, who served 10 years on the council from 2010-2019, read a passionate statement about the Kammerzell matter during the public comment period at the Jan. 18 Kent City Council meeting. The assistant chief has yet to respond to a Jan. 4 request by Mayor Dana Ralph to the Kent Police union for him to resign from the force after a public outcry over ...

Proposed Senate Bill 5660 would legalize the supported adult use of psilocybin by people 21 years of age and older. Originally sponsored by Senators Jesse Salomon and Liz Lovelett, the bill, known as the Washington Psilocybin Wellness and Opportunity Act, is based on the Oregon model and includes many innovative features including a Social Opportunity Program to help address harms caused by the war on drugs, a provision to support small businesses, and accommodations for people with certain medical conditions ...

Legislation introduced early this session by Sen. Jesse Salomon, D-Shoreline, would restrict avenues used by police who have been disciplined by their superiors to overturn or reduce those disciplinary actions and gain reinstatement despite serious misconduct. According to a Jan. 17 Washington state Senate Democrats news release, a glaring example of the existing gap in accountability has been playing out for more than a year in Kent, where the city has been unable to resolve the case of an assistant police ...