Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Brad Little said last week legislators should seriously consider delaying the session or going remote, while House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said legislators should postpone the session until a vaccine is available, Idaho Education News first reported Thursday.Read More
Politics
Former police captain Mark Anthony Aguirre was paid $266,400 by the right-wing Liberty Center for God and Country to investigate an alleged ballot fraud scheme in Harris County, Texas.Read More
Electoral college delegates in all 50 states cast their ballots Monday. In Olympia, Washington’s 12 Democratic electors cast their ballots for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It was an emotional experience for some, including for person running the meeting.Read More
The plan includes $26 million toward the establishment of a proposed new office to conduct investigations of police use of excessive force and $2.5 million for the state Equity Office that was created by the Legislature earlier this year. The equity office — created after voters last year reaffirmed a ban on affirmative action — will help state agencies develop and Read More
Trump said he and Barr had a "very nice meeting" Monday and that their "relationship has been a very good one." Barr started out as a loyalist, but his relationship with the president frayed.Read More
Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden hoped the milestone would end President Trump's false allegations of widespread fraud and unsuccessful attempts to overturn the results — but that is unlikely.Read More
With lawmakers facing a mounting year-end to-do list, a deal on a new coronavirus relief package continues to be elusive for Congress.Read More
For the second Saturday in a row, a gun was fired as groups of protesters from opposing ends of the political spectrum clashed in Olympia. The shooting happened Saturday afternoon at the Capitol visitor’s parking lot, which is located on the edge of a residential neighborhood.Read More
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued four states that Joe Biden won, claiming their changes to election procedures during the pandemic violated federal law. Read More
In a move that infuriated supporters of museums to be dedicated to Latinos and women on the National Mall, the Republican senator blocked legislation Thursday that would lead to the creation of both.Read More
“I don’t know that there’s been anyone who’s a bigger advocate for changing behavior,” Gov. Brad Little said Thursday. “What I want is compliance. And we’re just having an issue (with compliance).” Read More
Joe Biden's son Hunter said he learned that "the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel ... that they are investigating my tax affairs."Read More
The lawsuit argued a 2019 state law authorizing universal mail-in voting was unconstitutional and that all ballots cast by mail in the general election in Pennsylvania should be thrown out. Read More
The number of 2020 census records requiring quality checks because of irregularities has ballooned into the millions. That may stop Trump from getting control of a key count before leaving office.Read More
The legislation removes cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances and expunges low-level convictions and arrests. But the GOP Senate is not expected to take up the bill.Read More
It was a little-noticed constitutional amendment to allow for the investment of long-term care trust fund dollars in private stocks. Voters soundly defeated the measure 54 to 46 percent. Now comes the surprise cost of that under-the-radar vote: an estimated $15 billion.Read More
Washington state lawmakers and activists are setting an ambitious agenda for police reform in the upcoming legislative session, saying they hope to make it easier to decertify officers for misconduct, to bar the use of police dogs to make arrests, and to create an independent statewide agency to investigate police killings.Read More
A loosely assembled group of House and Senate lawmakers released a legislative framework they hope can break the months-long impasse between party leaders and the White House on pandemic relief.Read More
Because of disruptions wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, majority Democrats in the Washington House have been asked to restrain themselves and introduce no more than seven bills each during the 2021 legislative session -- and then only bills that “are urgently needed.”Read More
Justices expressed doubts about a plan to cut undocumented immigrants from a key census count — one that would exclude them for purposes of drawing new congressional districts.Read More
"We do elections well here in Arizona. The system is strong and that's why I have bragged on it so much," said GOP Gov. Doug Ducey. Meanwhile, the state GOP tweeted, "DO NOT CERTIFY A FALSE ELECTION!"Read More
One justice writes: "It is not our role to lend legitimacy to such transparent and untimely efforts to subvert the will of Pennsylvania voters."Read More
President Trump has pardoned his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. It was announced on Twitter.Read More
President Trump, who still hasn't conceded, says he's "recommending" the GSA begin "initial protocols" to kick-start the transfer of power. The GSA chief says her decision was reached independently.Read More
The certification vote follows weeks of attempts by President Trump to overturn his opponent's win. Three members voted in favor of certification, and one abstained.Read More
In a blistering decision, a federal judge ruled that the campaign's complaint was "unsupported by evidence" and essentially asked the court "to disenfranchise almost seven million voters."Read More
The state's top election official has faced calls to resign, death threats and pressure from fellow Republicans over the 2 1/2 weeks of post-election counting. Read More
The full hand recount of the state's 5 million presidential votes resulted in a slight narrowing of Joe Biden's lead over President Trump, but not nearly enough to change the result. Read More
Even in a county that generally supports Democrats for governor and president, Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers won. In fact, she got more votes in Whitman County than Jay Inslee did for governor. Read More
President Trump, who has refused to accept the results of the White House race, tweeted that Krebs had been terminated "effective immediately."Read More
Washington Republicans say the Legislature should immediately meet in special session to address the economic fallout from Gov. Jay Inslee’s latest Covid-19 orders – and even consider tapping the state’s “rainy day” fund.Read More
The number of GOP women elected in 2020 pales in comparison with Democrats' numbers, but their increased representation may attest to the power of focused recruitment efforts. Read More
The agency said the U.S. system was prepared to handle the process of questioning the outcome of an election.Read More
The hand recount, which will likely be both less accurate than a machine recount and more costly, must be completed by Friday, Nov. 20. Read More
The Washington state legislature is shaping up to be … pretty much how it looked before the election – with Democrats in control of both houses. But not with super-majorities. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins breaks down the 2020 election in Washington state, on this episode of NWPB's Uniquely NW News.Read More
Secretary Esper has kept a letter of resignation on hand since the summer, when he and the president disagreed over the use of active duty troops to put down street protests.Read More
After losing the governor’s race last week, Loren Culp announced that his police chief job had been eliminated — a move he said felt like a “knife in the back” by the city council in Republic. He’s not actually out of work — and the city of Republic didn’t exactly 'defund' its police department, as the Republican candidate claimed.Read More
President-elect Joe Biden called for healing and unity in a prime-time victory speech, saying it was time for the "better angels" of America's nature to prevail. Read More
The president was at his golf course in Virginia when a slew of networks announced Joe Biden had won the race for the presidency. Trump vowed he would go to court but presented no evidence of fraud.Read More
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been elected the 46th president of the United States, narrowly emerging victorious from a contentious White House campaign that stretched days past election night, as vote tallies in several swing states were slowed by an unprecedented surge in mail-in ballots.Read More
Election results are rolling in Tuesday night, but it's expected to take time to count all the ballots across the Northwest and many other states. Below are key races to watch, and links to resources and results from across Washington, Oregon and Idaho.Read More
In the weeks leading up to the election, residents in five smaller areas around eastern Washington and Oregon spoke about how they were feeling. Now, as people are awaiting results, we checked in with a few.Read More
Several states approve marijuana for recreational and medicinal use. Oregon votes to decriminalize possession of small amounts of hard drugs.Read More
The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as Tennessee, where Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as bisexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.Read More
Here's how much longer it will take to count the votes in the remaining key states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin.Read More
The campaigning is done. Now what's left is the counting. Here is how candidates in Washington’s 4th and 5th Congressional districts have talked about key environmental and natural resource issues during the campaign.Read More
You're probably anxious about the results, but patience may truly be a virtue on election night. Here's how to approach the evening.Read More
The decision means about 127,000 ballots cast by drive-through voting in the Houston area will be counted. It follows a similar ruling by the Texas Supreme Court on Sunday.Read More
The Spokesman-Review newspaper recently caused a splash when it endorsed Donald Trump for president after calling him a bully and a bigot. The paper also endorsed Democrat Jay Inslee for a third term as Washington governor. After backlash, the Spokesman-Review’s editor-in-chief said the paper would no longer endorse candidates or run unsigned editorials. Read More
In total, Anna King saw five sunrises and drove more than 1,000 miles on her way to five towns spanning both sides of the Columbia in eastern Washington and Oregon. She listened hard to the worries and hopes of as many as 100 hundred residents in the region.Read More