Man Teaching Dog How to Drive Arrested After High-Speed Chase
A Washington state man was arrested following a high-speed chase that left officers dumbfounded after they found the man’s pit bull behind the wheel.
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Court Documents
The Washington Supreme Court vacated a writ of mandamus that compelled a court clerk to comply with a rule the judges of Benton and Franklin Counties Superior Court issued ordering clerks to maintain paper files of court documents. The clerk prefers to maintain the records electronically and prints out a copy of an electric file when a judge requests a paper version.
Read moreFire Damages
An appeals court in Washington upheld the dismissal of claims against the state’s Department of Natural Resources relating to property damages stemming from the Carlton Complex fire, the largest single wildfire in the state’s history. The plaintiffs failed to present evidence of the department’s breach of a landowner duty.
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Biden Edges Sanders in Washington Primary
Joe Biden won the Democratic primary in Washington state Monday, another boost for the frontrunner who is building a lead over Bernie Sanders.
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Nine Washington Virus Deaths, Schools to Mull Online Classes
Washington state reported a total of nine coronavirus deaths Tuesday as schools in the Seattle area mulled teaching students online in the event of prolonged closures over health concerns.
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Second Coronavirus Death in US, Near Seattle
A second person has died from the coronavirus in Washington state, health officials said Sunday night — a man in his 70s from a nursing facility near Seattle where dozens of people were sick and have been tested for the virus.
Read moreFirst US Coronavirus Death Sparks State of Emergency in Washington State
Washington Governor Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency following the first confirmed U.S. death from the coronavirus in King County.
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Breaching Dams Would Help Salmon, Feds Say, but Decline to Do So
The federal agencies that run 14 dams in the Columbia River Basin released a long-awaited analysis Friday on how they will keep salmon from going extinct. Not included in the suite of measures is the action the agencies said would help salmon and steelhead most – breaching four dams along the Snake River.
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Washington High Court OKs Car Tax to Pay for Seattle Tram Project
A 62-mile light-rail expansion project can move forward after a ruling from Washington’s Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved increase in vehicle registration taxes.
Read moreWashington Sued Over Steelhead Farming in Puget Sound
Environmental and conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife over the agency’s recent decision to allow Cooke Aquaculture to rear farmed steelhead trout in Puget Sound.
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Justice Department Sues King County, Washington, for Banning Deportation Flights
King County, Washington, is illegally prohibiting immigration deportation flights at county-owned Boeing Field, a suit filed Monday by the U.S. Justice Department claims.
Read moreTime Shares
Washington state sued Reed Hein & Associates dba Timeshare Exit Team, Hein & Sons Industries, et al. in King County Court, claiming they “unfairly and deceptively contracted with more than 32,000 consumers looking to be rid of their unwanted timeshares and have collected millions of dollars in upfront fees from consumers in the process,” in which, despite their misrepresentations, they have no expertise.
Read moreAbortion
Washington state sued Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in federal court, claiming he is unconstitutionally pre-empting state and federal laws by requiring health insurers to send two bills to enrollees each month, one of them for “only the comparatively miniscule cost of covering abortion services.”
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Washington State Urges Judge to Block $3.6B Pentagon Funds for Border Wall
The state of Washington tried to convince a federal judge Thursday that the Trump administration’s plan to divert Pentagon funds for border wall construction is illegal and should be immediately stopped.
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Chinook Tribe Still Fighting Government Erasure
Bronze-cast carvings depicting the heroes of Chinook Indian mythology will soon greet visitors entering Seattle’s Burke Museum, their exploits having been passed through oral history for millennia. But the federal government claims the tellers of those stories – people who ran the major trade hub where the mouth of the Columbia River spills into the Pacific Ocean and who received Lewis & Clark at the end of their journey – do not qualify for federal recognition as a legitimate Indian nation.
Read moreTurn Signals
The phrase “when required” in a state law compels drivers to use turn signals every time they turn or change lanes, the Washington Supreme Court ruled. A defendant in a DUI case challenged his traffic stop but he violated the law because he did not “signal continuously” as he turned left through an intersection.
Read morePublic Records
Offices of individual legislators are “agencies” under Washington’s Public Records Act and subject to its general disclosure mandate, the state’s Supreme Court ruled. However, the state’s Senate, House of Representatives and Legislature are not “agencies” and are subject to a narrower disclosure mandate.
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Ethics Panel Rebukes Rep. McMorris Rodgers for Misused Funds
The House Ethics Committee has rebuked Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state for misusing taxpayer money and ordered her to reimburse more than $7,500 to the U.S. Treasury.
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Investigation Finds Washington State Rep. Involved in Domestic Terrorism
A Washington state representative has been asked to step down after the release of an investigation that found he engaged in domestic terrorism against the U.S., including the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016.
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Washington High Court Rules Legislators Subject to Open Records Law
Washington state lawmakers must share their personal correspondence, drafts of bills and schedules under the state’s Public Records Act, the Evergreen State’s high court justices ruled Thursday.
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