Government

OLYMPIA – Gov. Bob Ferguson said Wednesday he has “some reservations” about legislation that establishes new standards for elected county sheriffs and gives an oversight board authority to remove them from office.

About 5,000 more seniors in Spokane will qualify for property tax breaks thanks to a state law signed this week. The county, however, won’t collect fewer taxes, so most taxpayers will pay slightly more in a tax shift.

OLYMPIA – Spokane’s longest-serving legislator, Timm Ormsby, told reporters Wednesday he will not seek re-election this fall.

OLYMPIA – Gov. Bob Ferguson has signed a trio of bills to provide additional protections when using artificial intelligence amid increased use of the technology.

The late Sgt. Ken Salas, and his last act of kindness, may soon be memorialized indefinitely.

Convening a rarely used committee for the first time in more than three decades, top Trump administration officials voted Tuesday to exempt oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from requirements that protect endangered species. It’s a striking move that advocacy groups say could further imperil gulf wildlife like the Rice’s whale, one of the rarest whale species on earth with an estimated fewer ...

The U.S. Supreme Court decision that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth is unconstitutional and violates the rights of a Christian conservative therapist likely will invalidate similar laws in nearly two dozen states, including Washington.

The race for Congress is underway, and Spokane’s Republican incumbent, U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, has a head start.

As a sea of supporters celebrated inside the State Reception Room on Monday morning, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a personal income tax on millionaires to end the most closely watched legislative discussions in state politics in recent history.

Tired of seeing your neighborhood’s ghost town of a strip mall? A new Washington law could open it up for housing.

Confidence in elections used to be a bipartisan thing. Not any more.

The posted start time of 1 p.m. didn’t stop a few hundred from gathering early at B.A. Clark Park for Spokane’s third “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration and its policies.

A “No Kings” rally Saturday at Riverfront Park went off without a hitch until a small skirmish between police and protesters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building near the park broke out and led to two arrests.

YouTubers, and the rest of the public, will need to put up some money to receive body camera footage from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown announced Friday that his office has filed a lawsuit against online prediction market Kalshi, alleging the company has illegally skirted “some of the most restrictive gambling laws in the United States” while operating in the state.

WASHINGTON – A former top official at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who oversaw the purchase and deployment of a flawed computer system that led to patient harm after it was launched in Spokane, was charged on Wednesday with hiding thousands of dollars in cash and other gifts he received from government contractors.

OLYMPIA – Gov. Bob Ferguson signed legislation Wednesday that will give Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy Plant more time to comply with state law.

Three new, shiny, cherry red ambulances are purchased and awaiting service as Spokane County Fire District 9 finishes preparations to shed its contract with American Medical Response.