As Spain lifts its national state of emergency, the Liceu opera house in Barcelona finds alternative living things to fill nearly 2,300 seats.Read More
Coyote Ridge has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases of any Washington state prison. The outbreak is concentrated within the Medium Security Complex portion of the prison, which houses more than 1,800 inmates. The total prison population is typically more than 2,400.Read More
Ultimately, presiding judge Kristin Ferrera sided with the state and did not issue an injunction on the emergency order. She said she didn’t have enough evidence on its current harms to the plaintiffs, representing business owners and individuals in Chelan and Douglas counties.Read More
Hours after Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee announced a statewide mandate for people to wear masks in public, a Republican sheriff in southwest Washington appeared to urge open defiance of the order. “Don’t be a sheep,” Lewis County Sheriff Robert Snaza said to loud applause from a mostly mask-less crowd gathered in a church parking lot. Read More
Washington state leaders are expressing hesitancy about opening the door to the final phase of the governor's four-phase reopening plan. By the end of this week, eight rural counties will have spent the minimum three weeks in Phase 3 and can then theoretically apply to lift most remaining coronavirus restrictions.Read More
Some of the technology behind coronavirus vaccine development dates back to the first vaccines; other techniques are much newer. Here are eight top strategies scientists are pursuing.Read More
House Democrats press the leaders of federal agencies for details on whether President Trump has stymied health experts from taking more effective action to stem the spread of the coronavirus.Read More
After weeks of relying on voluntary compliance, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday afternoon announced an enforceable, statewide requirement that people wear face coverings when in public, including outdoors when six feet of separation can't be maintained. The new public health order, to be issued by the Secretary of Health, takes effect on Friday.Read More
A coalition of organizations — including the John Birch Society and Health Freedom Idaho, an anti-vaccination group — are organizing what they are calling a “special session” of the Legislature Tuesday. It’s unclear how many legislators will show and whether legislators can even convene a special session in the first place.Read More
Cases of COVID-19 are rising dramatically in Washington’s Yakima County and the Tri-Cities region of Benton and Franklin counties. That’s driving local health officials to urge residents to wear masks in public. Read More
Politicians argue. Those opposed to mask mandates protest. But meanwhile, growing evidence shows that mask wearing is a critical tool in curbing the spread of the coronavirus.Read More
Some nursing homes and long-term care facilities say they're struggling to fill shifts as certified nursing assistants opt for unemployment benefits during the pandemic.Read More
The NIH said that while the anti-malarial drug did not cause harm to patients in the study, testing showed little evidence that it would benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19.Read More
As of Friday afternoon, 61 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Yakima County. Even though at least another 17 patients were transported out of the county, the region’s major hospital, Virginia Mason Memorial, had completely run out of hospital beds as of Thursday night. Read More
Early data show a 13.5 percent death rate among people with developmental disabilities who live in state-supported, community-based settings and have tested positive. That’s nearly triple Washington’s current statewide death rate of 4.6 percent. It’s a similar story in other states, including Oregon. Read More
Even as Washington counties work to reopen in various phases of the state’s four-phase reopening plan, county jails and state prisons and corrections institutions continue to deal with coronavirus outbreaks and COVID-19 infections. Read More
In a move not seen since the Great Recession, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday canceled pay raises for some state employees and ordered furloughs for many more through at least this fall. The move came the same day a new state revenue forecast projected an $8.8 billion drop in tax collections over the next three years.Read More
The lawsuit says the rally, which is to take place at a 19,000-seat indoor arena, could act as a superspreader event for the coronavirus. Read More
An iconic, but disappearing American institution -- the drive-in movie theater -- came to the rescue of the senior classes in several Pacific Northwest communities this month. As luck would have it, a drive-in cinema is well suited for a socially-distanced graduation ceremony.Read More
A survey by the Yakima Health District found that just 35 percent of residents wear masks in public. That spurred the health district to issue a masking directive, hoping to get 80% of residents to use face coverings.Read More
The state of Washington has opened a new statewide toll-free telephone hotline for people who are struggling during the Covid pandemic.Read More
The WNBA has announced plans for a shortened season to be held in Florida, a neutral site. It's the first time that all teams' players will train and play in the same location.Read More
Spending is still nowhere near last year's. But as more states and cities allowed restaurants and shopping centers to reopen, May saw a big swing from a historic collapse in March and April.Read More
Emergency use authorization makes it easier for doctors to use a drug in a manner not specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA granted these drugs this status in March.Read More
The Library of Congress is debuting 10 works of new music about the COVID-19 pandemic. The project takes inspiration from Giovanni Boccaccio, a writer who collected stories about the Black Death.Read More
When COVID-19 caused border closures, a woman from British Columbia and her fiancé in Washington were unable to see each other — not even for their wedding.Read More
Yakima County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita among West Coast states. The largely Latinx agricultural workforce helped secure the backbone of the local economy.Read More
The nation still sees more than 20,000 new cases on average a day, a number that's barely budged for weeks. Forecasters say we're looking at tens of thousands more deaths this summer.Read More
At least 711 nursing homes reported running out of N95 masks at the end of May, and 1,963 said they had less than a week's worth. "The federal government has got to step up," says one advocate.Read More
The Spokane Interstate Fair and Benton-Franklin Fair and Rodeo joined more than 40 others that have canceled this year. In all, Washington has 65 state and county fairs every summer and fall. Read More
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has announced his state will move to the final phase of its reopening strategy, beginning Saturday. Visitors can go see loved ones in those facilities. Night clubs and large sporting venues can reopen. Non-essential travel can continue to areas that are accepting visitors and which don’t have coronavirus transmission problems.Read More
The Fed leaves interest rates near zero as expected, and promises to use all of its tools to support the economy. Officials project unemployment above 9% at the end of this year.Read More
Impaired driving citations dropped sharply across Oregon and Washington this spring during the coronavirus pandemic. There are multiple possible explanations for the decline, but people drinking and using drugs less does not appear to be a likely one.Read More
There's growing evidence of high rates of death from COVID-19 for a population that doesn't get a lot of attention: people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.Read More
Idaho’s signature gathering window was interrupted in mid-March due to coronavirus restrictions. Now, Reclaim Idaho hopes to put a public school funding initiative on the November ballot by asking a federal judge for extra time to collect signatures.Read More
The committee tasked with marking U.S. business cycles says the economy peaked in February and has since been in a recession triggered by the pandemic. But it says the recession could be short-lived.Read More
Frustration with long delays in getting jobless benefits is boiling over into a lawsuit against the Washington State Employment Security Department. Attorneys representing two laid off workers and the nonprofit Unemployment Law Project filed the case directly with the state Supreme Court on Friday.Read More
Casinos is Las Vegas are reopening Thursday, after being shuttered for more than two months. Workers there are eager to start getting paid again, but they're also worried about their health.Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed several would-be initiative campaigns in Oregon because organizers can’t send canvassers out to gather the tens of thousands of signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot.Read More
Online misinformation is fueling a backlash in some places against coronavirus containment strategies such as contact tracing and isolation. Some health officials have even received violent threats.Read More
Hardship programs appear to be helping many people pause payments and survive the economic shutdown so far. But not everybody is getting the help, and advocates see big potential trouble ahead.Read More
A study of more than 800 health workers, first responders and others finds that taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19 is no better than a placebo in preventing the illness.Read More
African Americans are 40% less likely to own their homes than whites. And blacks are more likely to hold jobs that put them at risk of the coronavirus. The civil unrest follows decades of inequality.Read More
Among the main targets are requirements such as signing a ballot envelope, or getting a witness or notary to sign it. Small details matter a lot and could affect the outcome in November.Read More
As the coronavirus pandemic continues across the world, local health officials in Washington are beginning to employ a power given to them by state law that allows to keep contagious people in quarantine.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee's stay-at-home order will end at midnight on May 31. Instead, state officials will use a phased plan outlined at the beginning of the month to govern county-by-county reopening permissions.Read More
Dr. Ming Lin was let go in March from a hospital in Bellingham, Wash., after posting criticisms and suggestions on social media. The ACLU is helping him sue for damages and job reinstatement. Read More
Idaho Governor Brad Little announced Thursday his state is ready to move on to the next phase of its coronavirus reopening plan, beginning Saturday, May 30.Read More
Tests for the immune response to the coronavirus are revealing thousands of people who were infected but never got severely ill. The findings suggest the virus is less deadly than it first appeared.Read More
Marcus Aaron Luke was a leader on his varsity track team, and also a senior at Pendleton High School. Now, like seniors everywhere, he’s missing a traditional graduation. But the city’s famous Round-Up grounds have a fix.Read More
