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Senate passes Transportation budget that increases gas tax, funds major projects

Updated 7:19 p.m.

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Senate adopted a bipartisan transportation package on Saturday that would raise billions of dollars through higher gas taxes and some car registration fees, close a deficit in the transportation budget and fund the completion of the North Spokane Corridor.

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Public Safety

Spokane police ask for help identifying a witness in fatal crash

Updated 8:44 p.m.

Local Government

Spokane Valley City Council considering reiterating it’s ‘not a sanctuary city’; resolution would carry no practical weight

Updated 8:04 p.m.

Local Business

It’s almost ‘liberation day.’ How Trump’s latest tariffs could hit national, Spokane businesses

Updated 10:02 p.m.

National Business

‘Frustration and fatigue’ hit stock traders in run-up to tariffs

Nation

Trump’s unusual pick for Joint Chiefs chairman walks a political minefield

World

Lessons from the Myanmar earthquake: Disaster preparedness

Updated 9:28 p.m.

Washington

Holocaust survivor brings inspiring message that ‘changes people’s lives’ to Spokane on Tuesday

Updated 8:49 p.m.

Idaho

Getting There: Highway 53 interchange near Hauser will bypass rail crossings

WA Government

Gov. Ferguson visits Spokane Veterans Home as state plans replacement project

ID Government

Idaho Senate passes bill to prevent local, state governments from displaying some flags

Education: K-12

Kennewick School Board files federal complaint over state policy on trans athletes

Higher Education

Applications dip slightly at Columbia University, but no large drop despite campus turmoil

Health

‘The kind of carelessness that gets people killed’: Patty Murray decries RFK Jr.’s cuts at Health and Human Services Department

Transportation

Senate passes Transportation budget that increases gas tax, funds major projects

Updated 7:19 p.m.

Science & Tech

Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa+ launches with some missing features

Updated 9:06 p.m.

Military

‘Perseverance in the face of unusual difficulties’: Spokane local recognized for unyielding spirit through tragedy

Weather

Winter sea ice in the Arctic just hit a record low

Columnists

This day in history: Gusts push skier over ridge on Mount Hood killing him

History

Then and Now: Morrison Bros. Seed Company helped feed allies in WWII

Religion

Faith and Values: Government making promises it can’t keep affects U.S. Native tribes

Latest Stories

News > Local government

Spokane Valley City Council considering reiterating it’s ‘not a sanctuary city’; resolution would carry no practical weight

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

The Spokane Valley City Council will vote Tuesday on a resolution declaring the suburb “not a sanctuary city,” a reiteration of a political grandstanding measure the council approved nearly a decade ago.

News > Local government

Spokane County set to vote on housing, climate policies in line with state law but at odds with feds

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

As President Donald Trump and Republican leaders continue their bid to eradicate efforts to combat climate change and historic inequities, the GOP-majority Spokane County Board of Commissioners is set to enact new state-mandated planning guidelines that embrace change.

News > Nation

Trump administration cuts some funds to Planned Parenthood

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

The Trump administration will begin to withhold some federal funding from Planned Parenthood starting Tuesday, a move that will curtail access to services including cancer screenings and affordable birth control, the organization said.

News > Nation

Trump administration moves to shutter library agency

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

The Trump administration on Monday placed the staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services on administrative leave, setting the stage for potentially ending the main source of federal support for the country's museums and libraries.

News > World

Myanmar quake death toll tops 2,000 as help comes slowly for war-torn city

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

BANGKOK – Three days after Myanmar’s worst earthquake in more than a century ravaged the remote, war-torn city of Sagaing, razing monasteries and apartment buildings, help was still just starting to trickle in.

News > Washington

Holocaust survivor brings inspiring message that ‘changes people’s lives’ to Spokane on Tuesday

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Holocaust survivor Helga Melmed will share her story of surviving the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz during World War II and how she built a life of inspiration in the aftermath.

News > Crime/Public Safety

16-year-old Spokane Valley runaway missing since last year found safe

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

A 16-year-old runaway missing since July was found safe in Ritzville this week, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

News > Business

Americans are spending less as they brace for new tariffs

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Americans are tapping the brakes on spending – pulling back on dining out, hotel stays and other expenses – ahead of new tariffs and continued economic uncertainty.

News > Nation

Analysis: Trump advisers battle over whether ‘liberation day’ will raise tariffs or lower them

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

President Donald Trump has said the global tariffs he plans to announce this week will correct decades of unfair relationships and stop other countries from ripping off the United States. But whether the president’s so-called reciprocal tariffs will result in higher levies on other nations or lower ones remains unclear.

News > Nation

Baumgartner and House Judiciary Committee investigating Washington AG, state’s sanctuary policies

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Rep. Michael Baumgartner and other members of a House oversight committee sent a letter to Washington Attorney General Nick Brown claiming the state’s “sanctuary law” is preventing local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Police: Spokane Valley woman arrested after recklessly driving past Tesla protesters in Liberty Lake

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Liberty Lake Police arrested a Spokane Valley woman outside a Tesla dealership over the weekend after she sped by protesters of company owner Elon Musk while flipping them off and ignoring officers’ sirens, nearly causing a “significant” crash, police reports say.

News > Business

It’s almost ‘liberation day.’ How Trump’s latest tariffs could hit national, Spokane businesses

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Wednesday is expected to mark what President Donald Trump last week called "liberation day" as a new round of tariffs are set to start on about 90% of the $3.3 trillion in merchandise that the United States imported in 2024.

News > Transportation

Senate passes Transportation budget that increases gas tax, funds major projects

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

News > Sci/Tech

Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa+ launches with some missing features

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Amazon’s new AI-enabled assistant Alexa+ is launching Monday but not all of the features the company showcased at a splashy event last month are ready, and not every Alexa owner will get access to them right away.

News > Nation

Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre fighting for her life after car crash

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Virginia Giuffre — the woman whose story of sexual abuse as a teenager led to the reopening of the Jeffrey Epstein case — is fighting for her life following a car accident in Australia.

News > National business

‘Frustration and fatigue’ hit stock traders in run-up to tariffs

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

The Trump administration’s mixed messaging on what new tariffs will be unveiled Wednesday and how they’ll announce them have equities traders flustered as they try to position around the biggest risk confronting the market in years.

News > Nation

Journalists call out reported White House plan to reshuffle media seats

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

The White House Correspondents’ Association on Monday strongly objected to a reported plan for the White House to take over the process of determining where reporters sit in the briefing room.

News > Nation

Trump’s unusual pick for Joint Chiefs chairman walks a political minefield

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

When President Donald Trump announced Lt. Gen. John Daniel Caine as his choice to be the country’s next top general in February, it sent shock waves through the halls of the Pentagon. The president, in a Friday night social media post, said that he had fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and other senior military leaders, and was appointing a retired three-star general as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

News > Real Estate

Rocket acquires Texas-based mortgage company Mr. Cooper in deal valued at $9.4B

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

Mortgage company Rocket is acquiring Texas-based Mr. Cooper in an all-stock deal valued at $9.4 billion, the parties announced Monday. Rocket Companies said in a news release the deal creates a business representing one in every six mortgages in the United States and 7 million additional clients.

News > Business

S&P 500 and Nasdaq face worst quarter since 2022 as new tariffs loom

UPDATED: Mon., March 31, 2025

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes are on track to clock their worst quarter since spring 2022 as the Trump administration’s evolving trade policies rattle Wall Street.

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