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Northwest

Inslee signs measure addressing health provider PPE costs

The $6.57 per patient reimbursements will last for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.

Northwest

State Senate OKs bill to reinstate drug possession penalties

But instead of a felony, those instances would now be treated as a gross misdemeanor.

Local News

Package funding U.S. 2 trestle, Monroe bypass on the move

A $17.8 billion plan dealing with highways, ferries and transit has cleared the state Senate transportation panel.

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2014, file photo, Billy Frank Jr. poses for a photo near Frank's Landing on the Nisqually River in Nisqually, Wash. Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, signed a measure that starts the process of honoring the late Frank, a Nisqually tribal member who championed treaty rights and protecting the environment, with a statue at the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Northwest

Statue of Native American leader step closer to U.S. Capitol

Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal member, was a champion of treaty rights and the environment.

FILE - In this July 25, 2020, file photo, police pepper spray protesters, near Seattle Central College in Seattle, during a march and protest in support of Black Lives Matter. Washington state lawmakers are wrapping up their work on an ambitious package of police accountability legislation. There are bills that curb police tactics and equipment, restricting the use of tear gas, chokeholds and neck restraints and banning no-knock warrants; that create an independent office to review the use of deadly force by police; that require officers to intervene if their colleagues engage in deadly force; and that make it easier to decertify officers for bad acts. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Northwest

Slew of police reform bills headed to Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk

One of the bills will require officers to intervene if their colleagues engage in excessive force.

A gray whale appears to have developed an infection after being darted with a satellite tracking tag. (NOAA Fisheries)

Northwest

Gray whale could be sick from tracking tag

Experts are concerned over possible infections related to the animal’s tagging site.

FILE - In this May 26, 2020, file photo, a sign at the headquarters for the Washington state Employment Security Department is shown at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Washington state's rush to get unemployment benefits to residents who lost jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak left it vulnerable to criminals who made off with hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Northwest

Audit: Unemployment fraud likely higher than $647 million

The auditor’s office indicated that the total amount stolen in Washington state could exceed $1 billion.

Northwest

State Senate approves expansion of low-income tax credit

The bill passed the Democratic-led chamber on a bipartisan 47-2 vote and now heads back to the House.

FILE - In this May 4, 2020, file photo, an Asian giant hornet from Japan is held on a pin by Sven Spichiger, an entomologist with the Washington state Dept. of Agriculture in Olympia, Wash. Scientists in the U.S. and Canada are opening new fronts in the war against the so-called murder hornets as the giant insects begin establishing nests this spring. The scientists said Wednesday, March 17, 2021, the battle to prevent the apex predators from establishing a foothold in North America is being fought mostly in Whatcom County, Washington and the nearby Fraser Valley of British Columbia, where the hornets have been spotted in recent years. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Northwest

Officials seek new tools to combat invasive giant hornets

One new rule would allow the state to declare an “infested site” for 20 meters around a nest.

Northwest

Two people survive small plane crash near San Juan Island

The two on board managed to make it back to shore of Blakley Island.

Northwest

Whatcom County: Breastfeeding in public is not indecent

It’s a new exception to the law forbidding “any female to expose or permit public display of her…

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Alexandria Sheriff's Office shows John Cameron Denton, founder and former leader of a neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division. Federal prosecutors in Virginia are seeking a five-year prison sentence for Denton, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with other far-right extremists to threaten dozens of targets, including a predominantly African American church, a sitting U.S. Cabinet member and journalists. U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady is scheduled to sentence Denton on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Northwest

Prosecutors seek 5-year term for ex-leader of neo-Nazi group

Another man, Kaleb Cole, whose weapons were seized in Arlington, is due to face trial in September.

Sen. John McCoy, D-38

Local News

McCoy receives an overdue tribute from Senate colleagues

The former lawmaker was praised as a “quiet giant” for his work on education, environment and tribal issues.

Northwest

Washington Legislature approves Juneteenth as state holiday

The measure passed the Senate on a bipartisan 47-1 vote and now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee.

Northwest

3 light-rail stations, including Northgate, to open Oct. 2

They will be the newest extension of Sound Transit’s Link system, which will eventually reach Snohomish County.

Northwest

Gov. Inslee alters criteria for COVID-19 reopening phases

Counties must now fail both metrics for case counts and hospitalizations in order to move back a phase.

From front left, Wendy Jensen, Joe Woodmansee, Linda Holeman and Bonnie Dawson, the four children of Carole Rae Woodmansee, are joined by family friend Debbie Blazina, at right, Saturday, March 27, 2021, as they clean the headstone Carole shares with their father, Jim, who died in 2003, at Union Cemetery in Sedro-Woolley, Wash., north of Seattle, prior to a memorial service. Carole died a year ago on the same date in 2020, the day of her 81st birthday, from complications of COVID-19 after contracting it during a choir practice that sickened 53 people and killed two — a superspreader event that would become one of the most pivotal transmission episodes in understanding the virus. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Northwest

One year since Skagit Valley COVID-19 superspreader event

The choir rehearsal became one of the most pivotal transmission episodes in understanding the virus.

Northwest

Senate approves bill requiring ‘just cause’ eviction

Currently, landlords can end month-to-month leases with 20 days’ notice. The bill now goes to the House.

Local News

Inslee to announce possible new COVID restrictions Monday

At a news conference Thursday the governor said “we’ve let our guard down to some degree.”

FILE - This Jan. 23, 2020, file photo shows the National Archives in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle that has about a million boxes of generally unique, original source documents and public records. In an announcement made Thursday, April 8, 2021, the Biden administration has halted the sale of the federal archives building in Seattle, following months of opposition from people across the Pacific Northwest and a lawsuit by the Washington Attorney General's Office. Among the records at the center are tribal, military, land, court, tax and census documents. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP, File)

Northwest

Feds halt sale of historic-archives building in Seattle

Approval for the sale has been withdrawn. It would have resulted in records being sent to other states.