A 4.6 magnitude earthquake shook the Puget Sound region early Friday. The quake was centered in Monroe, east of Everett, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's earthquake mapping system.Read More
On July 1, Washington stopped letting Oregon shoppers skip paying sales tax at the register, with a few exceptions. Some businesses in southwestern Washington fear the change will drive away Oregon customers who won’t want to cross the river to shop when there is no sales tax at home.Read More
The state of Washington is setting new deadlines for cleanup at Hanford and the plutonium production site that contains a massive quantity of radioactive waste.Read More
Bill Talbott, a 56-year-old Washington state man, has been found guilty of murdering Tanya van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook. A jury in Everett returned a verdict after two days deliberating over a cold case murder from 1987.Read More
Night 1 of the first Democratic debate is over. The conversation was dominated by , and . As the candidates tussled, at least three of them showed off their Spanish-language ability. President Trump even weighed in — to mock NBC for and to "BORING."Read More
The National Transportation Safety Board published its final report Monday on a deadly Amtrak derailment in Washington in 2017, with the agency’s vice chairman blasting what he described as a “Titanic-like complacency” among those charged with ensuring train operations were safe.Read More
In 2013, eight Oregon sheriffs sent letters to the Obama administration saying they wouldn’t enforce new federal gun laws. Two years later, the state legislature passed a bill requiring background checks for private gun sales. And again, Oregon sheriffs dug in. So it was already a well-worn path when sheriffs in Washington and Colorado started making similar assertions Read More
Work can go forward on a trail crossing private land that connects the popular tourist destinations of Redfish Lake and Stanley, a judge has ruled. U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale late last week rejected a request by the owners of Sawtooth Mountain Ranch to halt construction of the 4.4-mile trail for pedestrians, cyclists, horseback riders and snowmobilers.Read More
The Supreme Court is throwing out an Oregon court ruling against bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Read More
On Friday, jurors heard about the mysterious final days of a young Canadian couple killed in 1987 — as well as the novel method authorities used to finally make an arrest three decades later.Read More
When states legalize pot for all adults, long-standing medical marijuana programs take a big hit, in some cases losing more than half their registered patients in just a few years, according to a data analysis by The Associated Press.Read More
At their peak, grizzly bears numbered more than 50,000 in the Lower 48. Facing threats from habitat loss, hunting and conflicts with people and livestock, their numbers dwindled to fewer than 1,000 in the lower 48 by the time the Endangered Species Act was implemented in 1975. Here's a timeline of the management actions, court cases and notable events that have shaped Read More
The amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere from forest fires in the U.S. West is being greatly overestimated, possibly leading to poor land management decisions, researchers at the University of Idaho said.Read More
Oregon is awash in pot, glutted with so much legal weed that if growing were to stop today, it could take more than six years by one estimate to smoke or eat it all. Now, the state is looking to curb production.Read More
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says states can’t block the interstate transportation of hemp, but law enforcement in Idaho says it won’t follow those guidelines.Read More
The federal Bureau of Land Management has banned fireworks and exploding targets this summer in Idaho. Last year, people shooting at exploding or steel targets caused 60% of the wildfires on BLM land.Read More
The Federal Communications Commission has not issued any new permanent licenses for the Educational Broadband Services spectrum in more than 20 years. The agency estimates that about one-third of the people living on tribal lands don't have access to high-speed internet, but others say the figure is twice as high. That's partly because homes on remote reservations are Read More
Wolves should be removed from the federal endangered species list throughout Washington state, Washington Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind wrote in a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released this week.Read More
H2A workers tend to be pretty isolated already. Housing is often tucked away in the orchards, away from towns, and getting sick can complicate things. Farmworker advocates criticize the H2A program can leave workers vulnerable. The exposed workers in Mattawa, near Vantage, Wash., are now stuck on the farm until the disease passes. It’s a long period of isolation, which Read More
Three Washington Native tribes are joining two state agencies and two public utility districts in targeting the northern pike. That’s a big species of fish that’s caught for sport in the upper Midwest, but which fisheries biologists say poses huge potential damage to Northwest salmon runs.Read More
The crane collapsed at a project known as Block 25, which includes six stories of offices for Google and an apartment tower above. The building is part of a multi-block campus nearly twice the size of Google’s Kirkland offices. It’s being developed by Vulcan and built by GLY Construction.Read More
What can you do when you fear someone you know may be considering suicide? It can feel daunting, but suicide prevention experts say we all can help someone at risk by reaching out and showing we care.Read More
Authorities identified the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot while responding to a parking incident on a rural roadway Saturday night as 29-year-old Justin DeRosier. Late Sunday night, the sheriff’s department reported that officers had engaged near Spencer Creek Road in Kalama, Washington, with a person referred to as a suspect in the DeRosier shooting.Read More
Idaho will ask the federal government for permission to implement mandatory work requirements for those covered under the state’s Medicaid plan. Gov. Brad Little signed the bill despite concerns about the constitutionality of such requirements that were repeatedly brought up during public testimony and debates.Read More
In a rebuke to the Idaho legislature, Gov. Brad Little has “reluctantly” vetoed a bill that some say would’ve made it nearly impossible to get an initiative on the ballot. Little also plans to veto a second, similar bill that would’ve loosened some of the original proposal’s restrictions.Read More
Federal legalization of hemp arrived in the U.S. late last year and expanded an industry already booming because of the skyrocketing popularity of CBDs, a compound in hemp that many see as a health aid. But now, just a few months after Congress placed the marijuana look-alike squarely in safe legal territory, the hemp industry has been unsettled by an unexpected development.Read More
A proposal to raise the smoking and vaping age to 21 in Washington has passed the Legislature, putting the state on the precipice of becoming the ninth state to make such a change. Having previously passed the House, the measure now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee, who has said he supports the bill and is expected to sign it.Read More
Timber harvested illegally from African rainforests is being sold in the U.S. through Pacific Northwest companies and others are doing the same thing to get hardwood to customers throughout Europe.Read More
Tens of thousands of people who were previously found guilty of misdemeanor marijuana possession charges could see their convictions vacated under a measure passed Monday by the Washington Senate.Read More
PHOTO: Anna King interviewing Jane Hedges, the now-retired head of Washington Ecology’s Hanford office. Hedges grew up swimming off the docks in Richland, but only understood the massive scope of the […]Read More
Some remote cabins are for solo retreats – not this one. Staying at Tilly Jane A-Frame is a shared experience. And sharing it has saved it.Read More
There is perhaps no more beloved gun in the country than the AR. Dubbed “America’s Rifle” by the NRA, it’s inexpensive, easy to use, deadly accurate and, perhaps most importantly, customizable.Read More
The Northwest has seen plenty of snow and cold temperatures these last few weeks. But forecasters say some areas could still face drought this summer.Read More
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says he will sue to challenge President Donald Trump’s policy setting up new obstacles for women seeking abortions, calling it “a transparent attack on Planned Parenthood” that would severely impair access to many types of medical care, especially for low-income women in rural areas.Read More
Two Washington legislative bills come amid an outbreak that has sickened at least 64 people in the state — all but one in Clark County — leading Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency.Read More
The biggest model railroad club in the Northwest has hand-built everything from Union Station to Multnomah Falls in meticulous detail — with the occasional whimsical flourish (we see you, Bigfoot).Read More
Idaho Governor Brad Little signed legislation into law Thursday aimed at reducing the number of opioid deaths in the state by making naloxone overdose reversal medication more available.Read More
With the threat of right-wing violence on the rise, some activists on the left are taking a page out of the 1960s civil rights movement: armed self-defense. Read More
Ethan Lindenberger is 18 years old, but had never received vaccines for diseases like hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, or the chickenpox. Lindenberger's mother, Jill Wheeler, is anti-vaccine. He said she has been influenced by online misinformation, such as a debunked study that claimed certain vaccines were linked with autism, or a theory that vaccines cause Read More
Amid a measles outbreak that has sickened more than 50 people in the Pacific Northwest, Washington lawmakers heard testimony Friday on a bill that would remove parents’ ability to claim a personal or philosophical exemption to opt their school-age children out of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.Read More
The number of wolves in Washington state is likely much higher than previously thought, according to a University of Washington researcher who spent two years studying the animals using scat-sniffing dogs.Read More
The future of Idaho’s Medicaid expansion is now in the hands of the state Supreme Court. The libertarian-leaning Idaho Freedom Foundation quickly filed suit after more than 60 percent of voters signed off on expanding Medicaid in November.Read More
The 64-year-old Republican sworn into office earlier this month shocked some at the Idaho Environmental Forum by declaring that climate change is real and will have to be dealt with.Read More
Researchers say there's a new calf among the population of critically endangered killer whales that live in the waters between Washington and Canada.Read More
A commercial crabbing boat capsized in rough waters off the Oregon coast, killing the three men aboard and sending a shock wave through a seafaring community already struggling from a monthlong delay to the annual crabbing season.Read More
President Trump is addressing the nation about border security tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 8, beginning at 6 p.m. PT. Read More
Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders have publicly identified child-molesting priests in the wake of the Pennsylvania report issued in mid-August, and 55 more have announced plans to do the same over the next few months, the AP found. Together they account for more than half of the nation’s 187 dioceses.Read More
A decommissioned chemical weapons depot and a lone biologist might be the last hope for a population of burrowing owls.Read More
In Washington and 11 other states, and Washington, D.C., undocumented people can still get a license to drive. The idea is that roads are safer if everyone using them has passed a driver's test. But that licensing process may put undocumented people at risk of deportation.Read More
In the 20 years since "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released in the U.S., educators of all levels have used J.K. Rowling's series to bring magic to their own classrooms. Read More
