Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
Sorted by date Results 1 - 7 of 7
OLYMPIA – Sen. Keith Wagoner has introduced two bills in the Legislature to return more “sin tax” revenues to local governments. Wagoner, R-Sedro Woolley, has introduced Senate Bills 5568 and 5404 to shift the tax revenue as alternatives to bills which would raise property taxex. Senate Bill 5568 would restore liquor-sales revenue distributions to local governments. Under the bill, 10% would go to counties, and 40% to incorporated cities and towns. Senate Bill 5404 would increase cannabis-revenue distributions to local gover...
OLYMPIA — Some fear Artificial Intelligence might open a dark chapter to a dystopian future. Others say the progress it promises is virtually unlimited. To find a balance among those concerns, state officials are considering a task force to determine how it can best promote the most beneficial uses while mitigating potential challenges. Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, has introduced a bill, Senate Bill 5838, that would establish the task force. The bill has 17 Democratic and 2 Republican co-sponsors and the support of A...
OLYMPIA — An initiative aimed at giving police wider discretion on when they engage in high-speed pursuits was forwarded to the Legislature on Jan. 11. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs notified the Legislature petitions for Initiative 2113 meet all legal requirements. Initiative 2113 backers want to amend a law on police pursuit that passed in 2021, which requires officers to have “probable cause” instead of “reasonable suspicion” to engage in pursuits. Critics say that measure hinders law enforcement officers who want to p...
OLYMPIA - Amanda Knox, the Seattle resident who spent nearly four years in an Italian prison for a murder she did not commit, offered heartfelt testimony Jan. 8 in favor of a bill that would prevent law enforcement officers from using deception during interrogations. "I was interrogated overnight by police officers who claimed to have evidence against me, who claimed that there were witnesses who could place me at the crime scene," Knox said. "They lied to me. I did not know...
OLYMPIA - Facing health and safety hazards and experiencing overcrowding, in May 2023 the original Irving R. Newhouse Building on the capitol campus in Olympia was entirely demolished and construction of a new building began. The building is named for the father of Rep. Dan Newhouse of Sunnyside, who currently represents the Fourth Congressional District of Eastern Washington. The district includes western Adams County. But there are rumors of the new building getting a new...
SPRAGUE – The current water supply outlook for Washington is an early assessment, but it shows little snowpack through December. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program hydrologistMatt Warbritton, the snowpack is significantly lower-than-average, but overall precipitation is only slightly below average, thanks to December rainfall. Because of the strong El Nino events this year, the reg...
There are at least 216 gray wolves in 37 packs in our state. Thirty-one of those gray wolf packs are in North-Central and Northeastern Washington. Senate Bill 5939 – relating to protecting livestock from wolf predation – seeks to give affected livestock raisers a chance to mitigate the confirmed and probable predation deaths of their animals. The bill would allow owners of livestock to monitor a depredation and kill the first gray wolf that returns. The bill lays out the liv...