Idaho Legislature passes bill to expand prison sex abuse law
The bill, inspired by InvestigateWest reporting, is awaiting Gov. Brad Little’s signature
Government
Concerns about WSP search rates persist
The Washington State Patrol this month announced a study had found “no systemic agency bias” in its stops and searches. But that’s not the whole story
The Real Costs of Child Care in America
In Washington state and across the country, the financial realities of child care are like mismatched puzzle pieces jammed together
Behold Washington’s ‘new beginning’ in its fight against climate change
As the dust settles in Olympia, the state finally has embraced cap and trade, electric cars and environmental justice.
After a turbulent year, Washington state poised to ban guns at protests, Capitol grounds
Despite gun-rights opposition, lawmakers in Olympia are working to deter ad hoc ‘patrols’ and armed protests
Can elections procedure be altered to make sure all voters are treated equally?
Officials seek solutions to possible bias in examining voter signatures
Outdated sewage treatment is suffocating fish in Puget Sound
Inadequately treated human waste from 79 sewage treatment plants is an important and growing cause of a breakdown in the Puget Sound ecosystem that is causing unnatural explosions of jellyfish and smelly algae, among other effects.
Washington misses its deadline to bring foster kids home from troubled out-of-state group facilities
When a Michigan boy died in May after being restrained by employees at a Sequel institution, child-welfare advocates in Washington demanded that the state bring home the foster kids remaining at Sequel facilities.
Washington foster kids detail abuse at Sequel group homes
Washington foster youths recount mistreatment at out-of-state Sequel Youth & Family Services facilities.
Laws banning private armies go unenforced in Washington
Paramilitary organizations are illegal in Washington and many other states.
Regulators crack down on misleading thrift operations
Within the last decade, state regulators across the country have accused many for-profit secondhand stores of masquerading as charities
