Local News in Washington
504 articles · Page 1 of 26
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US Supreme Court will hear challenge to WA runaway youth law
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will consider the legality of a Washington law to protect runaway transgender youth that opponents contend tramples on parental rights. Justices will review a lower court’s dismissal of a challenge to the 2023 statute, which allows operators of emergency shelters to notify state authorities, rather than parents, when […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
US Supreme Court in Virginia case says police need warrants for cellphone location data
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that law enforcement searches for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes are covered by the Fourth Amendment, requiring warrants to obtain the data. But the high court left unsettled when searches for the information are reasonable — likely meaning the justices will eventually weigh in again on […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Former Oklahoma trooper nominated by Trump to head up ICE
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has nominated a former Oklahoma state trooper to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency tasked with carrying out the president’s mass deportation campaign. Richard “Lance” Schroyer’s nomination on June 27 comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the Trump administration to strip legal status […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
US Supreme Court deals blow to Trump, ruling states can accept ballots after Election Day
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, a blow to the Trump administration and some Republican states that had urged the justices to require all ballots to arrive by the close of polls. In a 5-4 decision, the court found that federal law does not prevent […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Trying to prevent a catastrophic blaze in a fire-prone part of Washington
On a dry day in mid-June, a 13-person crew slashed down small trees, limbs and bushes outside of a home near Roslyn, Washington. The workers, part of the Kittitas County Fuels Crew, are “firewising” the residential lot. They throw the brush into a wood chipper and strategically cover parts of the property with the mulch. […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Seattle mayor endorses challenger to WA Senate majority leader
The democratic socialist mayor of Seattle on Saturday night endorsed opponents running to the left of two longtime Democratic state legislators who represent the city, including the party’s top lawmaker in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen said Mayor Katie Wilson told him during a meeting she requested yesterday that she would endorse Hannah […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Capital gains tax surge eases but doesn’t solve WA budget woes
A windfall of capital gains tax payments is providing temporary relief for Washington’s budget, but other collections are down, and lawmakers still expect to face financial difficulties next year. A revenue forecast released Friday shows Washington hauled in $1.5 billion from the capital gains tax. Those collections are roughly twice what was expected in February. […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Hundreds turn out to Willamette River for Yakama Nation lamprey celebration
OREGON CITY — Several hundred people turned out along the Willamette River on Thursday to celebrate a fish often misunderstood for its style but long revered for its substance. Pacific lamprey, a jawless fish that looks like an eel, spend years in the Willamette and Columbia River basins before journeying to sea and back to […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
College sports bill making headway in US Senate but obstacles remain
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill to set national standards for college athletes’ compensation has cleared a major legislative hurdle but still faces roadblocks, including opposition from the largest college sports conferences, to becoming law. The bill, which supporters say would “restore order in college athletics” after a chaotic few years following an explosion of payments to athletes, […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
2 years after Grants Pass, 14 states, 350 cities have tougher laws on street homelessness
Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson decision — which allowed governments to enforce public camping bans without violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment — more than 350 cities and 14 states have adopted laws or measures to crack down on street homelessness. States have varied in […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Oregon lawsuit could upend federal management of public lands
A new lawsuit challenging a logging project in Oregon threatens to unravel the management plans governing hundreds of millions of acres of federal public land. At stake are thousands of leases and permits covering billions of dollars of economic activity — including mining, drilling, grazing, logging, ski resorts, wind and solar projects, outdoor recreation, hunting […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Washington agrees to join carbon market with California and Quebec
SEATTLE — Washington took a key step Thursday to combine its carbon market with one operating in California and Quebec, a move expected to drive down costs for carbon-emitting businesses once the programs are joined. State Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller signed the so-called linkage agreement during a ceremony in downtown Seattle. California and […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
With cracks showing in WA economy, Ferguson forms new council to look for fixes
SEATTLE — Warning lights are flashing for Washington’s economy. Job growth has been slower than expected, and the unemployment rate is above the national average. There are mounting layoffs in the tech sector. And more and more businesses are considering leaving the state. Starbucks’ recent decision to expand in Nashville stung in Seattle. This all […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
WA Supreme Court upholds state climate law’s farm fuel exemption rules
The state Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld Washington’s hotly contested regulations for how farmers and haulers of agricultural goods receive the exemption on fuel purchases promised under the state’s cap-and-trade system. The court said the Department of Ecology didn’t exceed its authority with the rule it adopted. Nor did the agency’s rejection of a […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Trump order limiting voting by mail halted by federal court
A federal judge on Thursday blocked major portions of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail, finding he had exceeded his constitutional authority. The decision halts, at least until a nearly certain appeal is heard, efforts by the U.S. Postal Service to require states to submit the names of likely mail voters before it […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
US Supreme Court rules Trump administration can end legal protections for 350,000 Haitians
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that opens them up to deportation. The 6-3 conservative court ruled that the Haitian and Syrian immigrants are not “entitled” to orders postponing an end […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
Supreme Court sides with Trump administration’s efforts to curb asylum claims at southern border
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court sided Thursday with the Trump administration’s request to turn away asylum seekers who present themselves at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. The question the justices considered was whether migrants have to fully cross into the United States in order to have the right to apply for asylum […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
US Supreme Court hands win to Monsanto in case related to claims Roundup causes cancer
State courts cannot find liability for labeling shortcomings in pesticides and similar products because such products are covered by federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday in a decision backing agricultural giant Monsanto. The justices, in a 7-2 decision, threw out a $1.25 million verdict a Missouri court awarded to a man who said long-term […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
The tab to keep a Pacific Northwest coal plant on standby keeps rising. Who will pay?
Electric utilities across the Pacific Northwest are fuming that their customers might be saddled with the costs of a coal-burning power plant that isn’t producing any power. The messy dispute stems from the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to sustain the American coal industry. The owner of the coal plant near Centralia, Washington, said it is […]
State News – Washington - NewsWA
WA child welfare deaths drop significantly after record year
Deaths and critical injuries among children in Washington’s child welfare system fell steeply in the first quarter of 2026, state officials reported Wednesday. Still, four children died and three more nearly died in the first three months of the year. The total of seven incidents is down from 22 in the same time period in […]
State News – Washington
