The leader of Washington’s public school system on Thursday outlined his multibillion-dollar budget request he says is needed to ensure the state meets its legal obligations to fund basic education for more than 1 million students. Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal wants Gov. Bob Ferguson and state lawmakers to provide nearly $2 billion more…
An infusion of state aid will help restore a Spokane landfill ravaged by last month’s Old Trails Fire and reconstruct a Chelan County road washed out by last winter’s historic flooding. The Washington State Public Works Board has approved $7.45 million in loans and grants for local governments in Chelan, Franklin, Grays Harbor, King, Lewis,…
The Democratic-led states and voting rights groups suing to block enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order to restrict mail-in voting warned in briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday the policy would have disastrous consequences for the upcoming midterm elections if it is allowed to move forward. Less than two months before the…
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Tuesday his administration will propose a 4.7% income tax rate, which drew immediate criticisms from Democrats. The state currently has a two-tiered, graduated income tax system that tops out at 5.4%. Many Montanans already have a 4.7% tax rate, which is the case for households filing jointly for taxable income…
The hotly contested U.S. Postal Service rule restricting mail-in voting usurps Congress’ authority, as well as states’ power to administer elections, more than 250 current and former members of Congress said in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. All 47 members of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus, 199 current House Democrats and…
Five races for seats on Washington’s state Supreme Court are set to get much more attention over the next two months. These races typically pass by without much notice as incumbent justices often sail to reelection to the nine-member court that decides appeals from lower courts, including on the legality of controversial state laws. It…
Officials in Page, Arizona, a small city near the Glen Canyon Dam, passed a land sale agreement last fall that establishes a framework for future construction of a data center. The sale of the 500-acre parcel about a mile away from the Colorado River’s Horseshoe Bend — one of the most visited natural landmarks in the Glen Canyon…
AUBURN, Wash. — In the back row of a small community college classroom, I sip my coffee and consider a cumulus cloud, a puffy white pillar over an expanse of blue. I’m not staring out the window, but at a presentation on a screen at the front of the room. Cumulus clouds are a telltale…
ROSLYN, Wash. — Francisco Martinez hefts a canister filled with a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline. A tongue of flame dances above the nozzle. He tips the drip torch forward — whoosh — and a stream of blazing liquid races across the forest floor. In less than a minute, a long wall of fire…
Opponents of President Donald Trump’s decision to sharply downsize two Utah national monuments in July are re-upping their argument that he didn’t have the authority to do so. Retailer Patagonia, environmental groups and tribal organizations waged legal battles against Trump in 2017 after he ordered prior reductions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.…
