Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday that all Washington K-12 schools will remain closed for the remainder of this school year and will shift to a distance learning model.Read More
As coronavirus pandemic shutters small businesses across the Northwest, business owners are bracing for a wave of insurance denials. That’s because insurers have been telling businesses that coronavirus losses don’t count.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that the original 'stay-at-home' order would be extended until at least May 5. There were no additional restrictions or other measure put in place beyond what's already been implemented.Read More
Gov. Jay Inslee is calling on businesses across Washington state to help produce critical medical supplies, such as N95 masks, face shields, and testing supplies. Also, Idaho will go ahead with a May 19 primary -- but switch to an all-vote-by-mail system, like Washington and Oregon already have.Read More
The governor outlined a three-tier law enforcement response system for violations of the order, which could amount to a gross misdemeanor. A first offense would result in a warning. But consequences thereafter would become more serious.Read More
Rent is due this week. But with stay-home orders in both Washington and Idaho, shuttered businesses and a troubled economy, some people wonder if they’ll get evicted if they don’t pay. In Washington, a moratorium on evictions gives protection to renters hit hard by the COVID outbreak. Idaho has no such moratorium, but a recent court order may protect them.Read More
Governors and mayors in some parts of the country are requiring them to close like many other businesses. Other officials are letting gun sales continue. Gun rights groups are on the defensive. Read More
The state Dept. of Ecology will bring the student crews back next summer. But the agency will will hire more adult crews, ages 18 and up, to pick up litter. There won’t be as many openings as with youth workers because the adults will work longer than three weeks. Read More
Mirroring the national trend, Washington, Idaho and Oregon are experiencing an unprecedented spike in unemployment claims caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More
Northwest Public Broadcasting ha creado esta página para mantener a lectores hispanohablantes al tanto de recomendaciones y medidas gubernamentales para combatir el coronavirus, también conocido como COVID-19. Esta página será […]Read More
Community health centers in Washington are under increasing financial strain as they ramp up for coronavirus, while also losing some key sources of funding.Read More
You’ll have to put off your favorite hike on Washington public lands for at least two weeks. State-managed parks and wildlife areas are closing starting Wednesday, March 25.Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced a stay-at-home order Monday for all Washington residents. The order builds on other "unprecedented steps" that the state has already imposed, including closing schools and public places such as bars and in-house dining services. It's all an effort to reduce in-person physical social interactions.Read More
Coronavirus continues to spread in Washington and Idaho. As of Sunday, March 22, Washington had nearly 2,000 confirmed cases, with at least 95 deaths since the outbreak began. Idaho’s official number stood at 47 cases, with most in Blaine County. Read More
These days Dr. Scott Lindquist is operating more like a military logistics officer. His phone is blowing up with calls from local public health officials on the frontlines of the battle against coronavirus. They’re asking for help in procuring the personal protective equipment that healthcare workers need to test and treat patients.Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced a slate of measures Wednesday to help the state’s workers, businesses and renters. In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little urged his state’s citizens to impose more discipline on themselves to keep COVID-19 from spreading. Read More
While the greater Seattle area has so far borne the brunt of the outbreak in Washington, health care workers outside the epicenter are bracing for what’s to come. Read More
Even as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee uses his emergency powers to restrict gatherings of more than 50 people and orders the closure of bars, restaurants and other gathering spaces for at least the next two weeks, state agencies are scrambling to implement emergency measures to protect their employees and those they serve from the rapid spread of coronavirus. Read More
Tuesday's contests offer 352 delegates among six states. Michigan is the biggest prize, and it could be another pivot point in this Democratic primary.Read More
Washington state’s all-vote-by-mail presidential primary looks a lot like a regular election. But, really, it’s not. And this one is different than 2016.Read More
Washington state’s all-vote-by-mail presidential primary looks a lot like a regular election. But, really, it’s not. And this one is different than 2016. It’s earlier this time. Unlike 2016, there’s no Democratic caucus. It requires voters to choose a party preference. And a lot of people don’t like that. It raises the question: Who should get to pick a political party’s Read More
TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 2: Washington state’s all-vote-by-mail presidential primary looks a lot like a regular election. But, really, it’s not. And this one is different than 2016.Read More
Most Western states rely on hunters to keep cougar numbers in check. It makes a sort of logical sense: if cougar populations are high, attacks on elk, bighorn sheep and deer should be high. So should attacks on livestock and humans. But a new study casts doubt on the effectiveness of sport hunting as a means of predator control.Read More
Strong opposition and intense lobbying by Washington’s health insurance industry has resulted in a key change to a consumer-oriented measure designed to address rising premium costs.Read More
A couple of years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states beyond Nevada to have sports betting. Oregon dove in last year. Idaho, Washington and California have held back. Now, Washington state lawmakers are taking a hard look at legalizing sports betting. But they do not seem inclined to copy much from Oregon's playbook.Read More
Flood waters in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon are starting to recede. But this relatively good news follows days of bad news and inundated towns – along with collapsed bridges, dozens of helicopter rescues and washed-out roads. It’s all caused by recent heavy rainfall and fast-melting snow.Read More
The funding of public education in Washington state is not perfect nor is it a science. In fact, it’s hard to wrap your head around exactly how funds are calculated. Adding to the complexity, bonds and levies. Listen or subscribe to this podcast.Read More
The funding of public education in Washington state is not perfect nor is it a science. In fact, it’s hard to wrap your head around exactly how funds are calculated. Adding to the complexity, bonds and levies. Listen or subscribe to this podcast.Read More
Nearly a year-and-a-half after a series of vicious patient-on-staff attacks, including one that cost a nurse part of her ear, Western State Hospital is poised to open a new unit to treat its 10 most violence-prone patients. Read More
"What time is it here?" is a question few people feel the need to ask when crossing state lines in the Northwest. But a committee vote Wednesday in the Idaho Legislature raises the possibility that border cities in the Inland Northwest may observe time differently than their close neighbors as soon as next year.Read More
When you get lost in the woods or are hurt and can’t make your way back to your car, the search and rescue teams who come looking for you may have to hike in, repel down steep cliffs, or fly through the air in helicopters. Recently, drone technology is also helping.Read More
Effective this October, a standard Washington, Oregon or Idaho driver's license won't pass muster with the Transportation Security Administration to board a domestic flight.Read More
When Washington lawmakers convene a short, election year session on Monday, Jan. 13 they’ll confront a range of issues from homelessness to gun control to whether to expel state Rep. Matt Shea.Read More
Remember back when it didn't cost anything to visit a state park for the day? A senior Republican in the Washington Legislature says the state's budget surplus should make it possible for park access to be free again.Read More
After years of fear and uncertainty, bottom trawler fishermen — those who use nets to scoop up rockfish, bocaccio, sole, Pacific Ocean perch and other deep-dwelling fish — are making a comeback here, reinventing themselves as a sustainable industry less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacific Ocean because of the species’ depletion.Read More
The state of Washington now finds itself grappling with an issue that’s been front and center in Seattle, Portland and many other cities -- people who are homeless living in dilapidated recreational vehicles parked on public streets.Read More
Eyman says his decision to run is motivated in part by legal efforts to overturn Initiative 976, his car tabs measure that voters just approved.Read More
The problem with regular driver licenses from Oregon and Washington is that both states have chosen not to verify the immigration status of applicants.Read More
Currently, nearly 14,000 people who meet the Washington state's criteria as developmentally disabled are not receiving services. They’re on what’s known as the no-paid services caseload.Read More
Govs. Kate Brown, of Oregon, and Jay Inslee, of Washington, met in Vancouver today to announce the first formal steps to develop a finance plan and reevaluate previous studies of replacing the bridge. They are allocating $44 million to the initial effort of what could eventually be a multibillion dollar bridge replacement project.Read More
WSU Transportation Services says new signs aim to help pedestrians and drivers at dangerous intersections.Read More
If fully implemented, Initiative 976 would force the city to cut more than 100,000 bus hours and would hamper her program to provide free bus access for high school students and low-income residents, Seattle's mayor said in a news conference. She also emphasized that voters in King County, which is home to Seattle, firmly voted against the measure sponsored by Tim Eyman.Read More
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein on Tuesday denied the department’s effort to make Ignacio Lanuza and his attorneys pay legal fees for his unsuccessful attempt to hold the government liable for the forgery. The fees could have topped $100,000.Read More
The state of Oregon is pushing the community hospitals along the Oregon Coast to improve their earthquake resilience. This comes after a state report predicted none of them would be able to sustain operations after the feared Big One -- a magnitude 9 offshore Cascadia earthquake and tsunami.Read More
The study found that across North America, 389 species, or nearly two-thirds of the continent’s birds, are vulnerable to the heat waves, rising seas, increased fires and storms and other disruptions that 3 °C of climate change could bring.Read More
In 1998, Washington voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 200, which effectively ended affirmative action in the state. Now, 21 years later, voters this November will once again have a chance to weigh in on the issue. Read More
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the southern mountain population of woodland caribou as endangered and confirmed 47 square miles in Idaho and Washington as critical habitat requiring special protection.Read More
For years, families of the developmentally disabled in Washington and their advocates have been frustrated that services in an institution, like one of the state’s Residential Habilitation Centers (RHCs), are an entitlement, but services in the community are not.Read More
