Washington State Standard

12/22/2025

Earlier this month, Seattle and Tacoma’s port commissioners gave preliminary approval to a joint clean air strategy for the next five years. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has a similar Climate Action Plan and coordinates with its neighbors.

The Northwest Clean Ports emissions inventory shows big cargo vessels are the largest source of air pollution related to the seaports. If the global shipping industry were its own country, it would rank as the world’s seventh-largest greenhouse gas emitter, according to the ClimateWorks Foundation.

The 2026-2030 Clean Air Implementation Plan includes numerous steps to reduce port-related emissions, including the further build-out of shore power so that visiting cargo ships can plug in instead of idling at their berths.

Another section calls for the electrification of trucks and cargo handling equipment on the docks. But then Felleman and the other commissioners had to navigate through the tricky shoals of how to transition ocean-going vessels to cleaner fuels. It may take years for the region to reach safe harbor on that priority.

Before this month’s vote on the air pollution strategy, the port commission offices in Seattle and Tacoma were flooded with more than 100 public comments urging rejection of the marine industry’s current favorite alternative fuel, liquefied natural gas.

Earlier this month, Seattle and Tacoma’s port commissioners gave preliminary approval to a joint clean air strategy for the next five years. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has a similar Climate Action Plan and coordinates with its neighbors.

12/19/2025

CONCRETE, Wash. — On Wednesday morning, sunlight glinted off the mud and moisture that still blanketed this small town in the Cascade foothills, hinting at what it had just endured.

Concrete residents held their breath through a spate of natural disasters and severe weather that unfolded over the past two weeks.

Atmospheric rivers dumped rain across western Washington, causing historic flooding in and around Whatcom and Skagit counties.

Concrete, located along Highway 20 in Skagit County, felt the effects.

The nearby Skagit River crested at record-breaking levels last Thursday.

While Concrete’s downtown did not flood, areas closer to the river did. As of Wednesday, some homes on the outskirts of Concrete were still surrounded by water. Since then, the water level has fluctuated and receded to minor flood stage as of Thursday.

12/18/2025

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to loosen federal restrictions on ma*****na, which Trump said reflected the drug’s potential medical benefits while discouraging recreational use.

The order moves cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III on the Federal Drug Administration’s list of controlled substances. Schedule I, the most restrictive category under federal law, indicates a high likelihood of abuse and no accepted medical value.

Trump said the move reflected that cannabis could have medicinal value, even if abuse was still possible.

The order “doesn’t legalize ma*****na in any way, shape or form and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug,” Trump said. “Just as the prescription painkillers may have legitimate uses, but can also do irreversible damage … it’s never safe to use powerful controlled substances in recreational matters.”

Still, the order marks a major step in the decades-long liberalization of cannabis policy.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to loosen federal restrictions on ma*****na, which Trump said reflected the drug’s potential medical benefits while discouraging recreational use.

12/18/2025

The Trump administration has ordered Washington’s last coal-fired power station to continue burning coal, just weeks before it was scheduled to shut down and convert to natural gas fuel.

This has sparked yet another clash between the federal government and Washington state, where leaders are aiming to get coal power out of the electricity grid by year-end. Officials here aren’t ruling out the possibility of a lawsuit over the move.

Tuesday evening’s emergency order by the U.S. Department of Energy would keep TransAlta’s coal unit going in Centralia for 90 more days. The order comes amid Washington’s broader shift to use cleaner energy, such as solar and wind power, while reducing power from fossil fuels.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright wrote in the order that, “the emergency conditions resulting from increasing demand and accelerated retirement of generation facilities will continue in the near term and are also likely to continue in subsequent years.”

The Canada-based TransAlta and then-Gov. Christine Gregoire’s administration negotiated the Centralia plant’s end-of-year shutdown schedule more than a dozen years ago. The Washington state Legislature passed that negotiated agreement into state law.

This week’s federal order throws a wrench in that plan and raises questions about what exactly will happen in the near future at the plant.

The Trump administration has ordered Washington’s last coal-fired power station to continue burning coal, just weeks before it was scheduled to shut down and convert to natural gas fuel.

12/18/2025

Measles cases are continuing to grow, reaching 1,958 confirmed cases in 43 states through Dec. 16 and threatening to undo next year the United States’ status as a nation that has eradicated the disease, according to a report released Dec. 17 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The increase of 46 cases in one week, including dozens more in South Carolina alone, raises concerns for holiday travelers.

Cases have now reached 803 in Texas, 182 in Arizona, 142 in South Carolina, 122 in Utah, and 100 in New Mexico this year.

Measles case are continuing to grow, reaching 1,958 confirmed cases in 43 states through Dec. 16 and threatening to undo next year the United States’ status as a nation that has eradicated the disease, according to a report released Dec. 17 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

12/18/2025

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown intensified across Washington in the late summer and early fall, new data indicates.

Between July 29 and Oct. 15, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 950 people in Washington. The pace of arrests during those two-and-a-half months far surpasses increases earlier in the year. From Inauguration Day in January to the end of July, arrests totaled just over 1,000.

And as detainments have increased, the share of those with criminal records has dropped. This despite federal authorities claiming that they’re targeting immigrants with violent criminal histories.

Just over 31% of those arrested in Washington between the end of July and mid-October had criminal convictions. Roughly another 17% had pending criminal charges. That’s compared to about 40% and 18%, respectively, in the rest of the year.

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown intensified across Washington in the late summer and early fall, new data indicates.

12/17/2025

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of two Republicans representing Washington state in Congress, will not run for reelection next year.

“Serving the Fourth District of Washington has been the honor of my life, and this decision comes with no reservations or remorse, only gratitude for the tremendous opportunity to have represented my home state in Congress,” he said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Newhouse, 70, of Sunnyside, was first elected to Congress in 2014. Before that, he served in the Washington House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009. Then, for four years, he was director of the state Department of Agriculture under then-Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat. Newhouse’s family operates an 850-acre farm.

He was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. And he is one of two among that group who is still serving in Congress.

The 4th Congressional District has been represented by Republicans since the early 1990s.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of two Republicans representing Washington state in Congress, will not run for reelection next year.

12/17/2025

SEATTLE — Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said Tuesday that the state will look to spend $3.5 million on immediate assistance to those affected by the historic flooding of the past week.

The money is intended as a bridge to help Washingtonians before the state can access federal disaster aid, which could take months. It’ll help pay for things like hotel stays for evacuees, groceries and other short-term needs. It’s unclear how quickly the state dollars will get out the door.

“A lot of folks are working very hard to make sure we’re breaking down any bureaucracy to make those dollars available,” the governor said at a press conference in Seattle on Tuesday. “We’re trying to help folks navigate a really, really challenging time.”

The money comes from emergency funding earmarked for the governor’s office in the state budget. King County is also investing $1.5 million in shelter assistance and debris removal, County Executive Girmay Zahilay said.

It’s too early to put an estimate on the flood damage, though Ferguson said it will be “profound.”

A levee failure on the White River in the south King County city of Pacific led to evacuations early Tuesday. Washington National Guard members were going there to help secure the breach with sandbags. It came a day after another levee failed near Tukwila, prompting orders for residents to leave. That levee, on the Green River, was patched.

“It’s feeling a lot like Groundhog Day,” said state Adjutant General Gent Welsh, who commands the state’s National Guard. “Every morning we wake up, we pull our phones out, and we look to see for some improvement out there, but Mother Nature seems to keep throwing us another curveball.”

Washington will look to spend $3.5 million on immediate assistance to those affected by the historic flooding of the past week.

12/16/2025

Parts of U.S. 2, an important road cutting across Washington’s Cascade mountains, will likely remain closed for months due to flood and slide damage, Gov. Bob Ferguson and the state’s top transportation official said Tuesday.

A 49-mile stretch of the highway between Skykomish and Leavenworth has been shut down since last week, blocking travel over Stevens Pass. It’s one of the most significant road outages the state is dealing with after days of heavy rain and widespread flooding.

Ferguson described the road as “severely damaged” and said it’s very difficult to know how long repairs will take. “We anticipate that Highway 2 will be closed for months,” he said.

“We’re going to do everything we possibly can to repair it as quickly as possible,” he added.

Transportation Secretary Julie Meredith said areas along the highway are washed out to the point where the road is no longer there.

“We will need to rebuild those sections,” she said.

A 49-mile stretch of the highway between Skykomish and Leavenworth has been shut down since last week, blocking travel over Stevens Pass. It’s one of the most significant road outages the state is dealing with after days of heavy rain and widespread flooding.

12/16/2025

A group of Washington and Oregon lawmakers gathered Monday, expecting to hear a new estimate of the cost to replace the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River.

When it didn’t come, some on the bi-state and bipartisan committee assigned to keep tabs on the megaproject rebuked planners responsible for delivering the updated figures. Lawmakers are wrestling with budget challenges in both states, they said, and escalating costs might need addressing in their respective 2026 sessions.

“I want a date, and I want a report, or else I would say that your team is not doing its work,” said Oregon state Rep. Thủy Trần, D-Portland. “You can’t punt it down the road without giving us something.”

Washington state Rep. John Ley, R-Vancouver, said he was “extremely disappointed” because if costs are rising, the two states may be asked to give additional money. Lawmakers need time to explore ways to trim the project to something “closer to our taxpayers ability to pay,” he said.

Project planners acknowledged they didn’t deliver. They said they are waiting to learn if the U.S. Coast Guard will allow the design of the new bridge to be the fixed span desired by the two states or require a movable span like the existing bridge.

A movable span will add more than a half-billion dollars to the project’s price tag.

Washington and Oregon lawmakers on Monday expected to hear a new estimate of the cost to replace the Interstate 5 bridge but didn't get one.

12/15/2025

The nascent Washington agency tasked with investigating incidents when police kill people will grow its footprint to cover Pierce County, starting in May.

After that, the Office of Independent Investigations aims to expand into central Washington.

The increased push for police accountability in cases where officers use deadly force, especially against Black people, drove the creation of the new state office.

The goal is to remove the bias that may come from local police detectives investigating killings in their areas, as is currently done in most of the state.

It took years to staff up the agency and get it off the ground.

Now, the office is ramping up slowly. Starting in December 2024, it began by investigating new cases in a more rural swath of western Washington, stretching from the northwestern edge of the Olympic Peninsula to Clark and Skamania counties on the border with Oregon. The agency calls this Region 1. There are six regions in total. Pierce County will be Region 2.

“OII is committed to serving all of Washington State by growing our operations,” the agency’s director, Roger Rogoff, said in a statement. “Being able to expand to Region 2 is a significant step forward.”

The Washington agency tasked with investigating when police kill people will grow its footprint to cover Pierce County, starting in May.

12/15/2025

Declining gas tax revenue and skyrocketing construction costs have plagued Washington state’s transportation budget for years.

Those twin forces had left budget writers searching for options to fill a growing long-term shortfall. Without a solution, they warned of major road projects going unfinished.

To deal with this, lawmakers this year passed a slew of new and increased taxes and fees, including a rare increase in the state’s gas tax that will continue to rise alongside inflation.

Another big piece of their solution is to transfer a sliver of sales tax revenue that usually goes toward state operations to transportation efforts.

The switcheroo, accounting for 0.1% of the state’s 6.5% sales tax rate, is expected to raise about $300 million annually, a figure that is predicted to increase each year. It starts in the next biennium, so doesn’t affect the current budget, which runs through mid-2027.

In exchange, the transportation fund is moving money in the near-term toward the general fund, which accounts for most state spending.

The thinking is to help shore up the general fund now, while strengthening the transportation budget in future years.

Washington’s three budgets — operating, transportation and capital — technically need to be balanced across four years.

Lawmakers are now looking at another shortfall in the operating budget next year and will need to turn to cuts or revenue to balance the state’s finances. In doing so, they could renege on the sales tax transfer to the transportation budget before it’s even begun.

A big piece of the solution to the transportation budget shortfall was to transfer a sliver of sales tax revenue to transportation efforts.