‘A Necessary Precaution.’ Washington’s Blind Lieutenant Governor Wants Security At Public Events

By Austin Jenkins
Lt. Gov Cyrus Habib is requesting money in the next two year state budget to hire security. JEANIE LINDSAY / N3
Washington Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib, who is blind and has faced vitriol online, is requesting funding in the next two-year state budget to hire security when he attends large, public events. The request is contained in an agency "decision package" submitted by Habib's office to the Office of Financial Management as part of the lead-up to the budget writing process.Read More

Western State Hospital Nurse Describes Violent Attack That Left Part Of Her Ear Missing

By Austin Jenkins
Berni, a nurse at Western State Hospital, shows where a patient bit off her earlobe during an assault in September. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS
The attack on Berni that September evening was the third serious patient-on-staff assault at Western State Hospital in a two-month period. In August, two other members of the nursing staff had been pushed to the floor and stomped by patients, according to press reports and hospital administrators. One of the nursing staff who was attacked appeared so bloody that a coworker Read More

‘Deep State’ Or Deep Sixed? The Washington Supreme Court Race That’s Getting Buried

By Austin Jenkins
Washington State Supreme Court building in Olympia. CREDIT: TONY OVERMAN
Six years ago, Steven Gonzalez's last name likely cost him votes in his first race for the Washington Supreme Court. He won nonetheless. Gonzalez is just one of three sitting Washington justices up for re-election this year. Justices Susan Owens and Sheryl Gordon McCloud are running unopposed after their opponents were bounced from the ballot because they were disbarred lawyers.Read More

A Crime Victim And A Grieving Grandmother Are On Opposite Sides Of Washington Gun Initiative

By Austin Jenkins
Carla Tolle's 13-year-old grandson Edgar Vazquez of Kelso, Washington was killed in an accidental shooting involving an unsecured shotgun. She is now campaigning for I-1639. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS / NW NEWS NETWORK
Initiative 1639 is a sprawling, 30-page ballot measure that seeks to restrict access to semi-automatic rifles like the popular AR-15, which has become synonymous with mass shootings. But the initiative would also require the secure storage of firearms. Under the initiative, if a gun wasn’t safely stored and ended up in the wrong hands and someone was injured or killed, the Read More

Rep. Matt Manweller, Fired From CWU, Accused Of Underage Relationship With Former Student

By Austin Jenkins
Washington 13th District GOP Rep. Matt Manweller CREDIT: WASHINGTON LEGISLATURE/2014
A former Idaho high school student of embattled GOP Washington legislator and longtime educator Rep. Matt Manweller says she had a sexual relationship with him beginning after she graduated in 1997, when she was 17 years old and he was a decade her senior. Under Idaho state law at the time, sex between an adult male and a female younger than 18 constituted statutory rape.Read More

Vindicated By Washington High Court, Lawyer With Criminal Past Becomes Campaign Fodder

By Austin Jenkins
Tarra Simmons, an honors law school graduate with a criminal past, was the subject of a political mailer attacking a Democratic candidate for the Washington Senate.
The past eight months have been a whirlwind of victories for Tarra Simmons—an honors law school graduate with a criminal past. This week something happened that Simmons could not have anticipated. A political mailer started showing up in mailboxes in the 26th Legislative District that attacked a Democratic candidate for state Senate, Emily Randall, for supporting Simmons Read More
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