Washington

Nov. 20—The Department of Energy and Washington state have reached an agreement on steps to address radioactive waste suspected of leaking into the ground from a third storage tank at the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington. Similar to the agreement on the first two huge underground tanks known to be leaking at the nuclear reservation, DOE is not required to immediately empty the tank. ...

Nov. 20—Virginia-based LL Flooring Holdings is closing its Lumber Liquidators stores nationwide after filing for protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in August. That includes four stores in Washington — Kennewick, Seattle, Tukwila and Shoreline — and four in Oregon. LL Stores filed under Chapter 11, listing assets between $500 million and $1 billion, ...

Nov. 20—The U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Rebecca Pennell, a Yakima resident, as a U.S. District Court judge in Washington's Eastern District Wednesday. Pennell has served as a judge in the state Court of Appeals in Spokane since 2016, and is a former federal public defender. Pennell was recommended for the position by Sen. Patty Murray and nominated by President Joe Biden. The appointment is a ...

Nov. 20—In the early hours of Nov. 6, as it became clear that Donald Trump was poised to win his reelection bid for the presidency, the LGBTQ+ youth chat and text line for crisis line operator Volunteers of America began lighting up with calls and texts from teenagers. The chat line saw nearly double the number of messages it normally gets during an eight-hour shift. "The queue was backed up, ...

Nov. 20—OLYMPIA — Thanksgiving is a little over a week away, winter holidays will follow closely behind, and the Washington State Department of Health issued a press release reminding residents to get the updated COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, vaccines. The vaccines are usually covered by insurance or are available for little to no cost via programs such as ...

Nov. 20—A 50-year-old Spokane man is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol when he allegedly ran a red light Monday in Fircrest and collided with another car, killing its driver. Anthony Lamar Allen has been charged with DUI vehicular homicide for the wreck. Pierce County Superior Court records show a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf at arraignment Tuesday afternoon. ...

Nov. 20—In what's become an all-too-familiar story for taxpayer funded technology projects, another Washington state IT upgrade is falling further behind schedule and over budget. The state's Office of Financial Management last week again postponed ambitious plans to move dozens of state systems, for everything from driver licensing fees to foster care payments to state pension checks, onto a ...

Nov. 19—Benton County will appeal Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's approval of a wind farm stretching 24 miles along the Horse Heaven Hills after a unanimous vote Tuesday by county commissioners. The vote followed a discussion in a session closed to the public to consider a possible lawsuit. The county joins Tri-Cities CARES, a nonprofit, which has been raising money with the goal of overturning ...

Nov. 19—YAKIMA — Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said he wanted to learn more about fentanyl and its impact in Central Washington after a conversation with a constituent. "There's an individual in my district, actually from Yakima, who called my office with a very compelling story about his family. He had two sons that, within a short amount of time, passed away because of fentanyl ...

Nov. 19—A statewide outage that affected Washington state courts' network for two weeks ended Monday. "The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is in the process of bringing up systems on the Washington Courts network, following successful work and testing throughout the weekend," the office said in a news release. The outage began after the AOC detected unauthorized activity on the ...