by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
June 22, 2026
U.S. Postal Service officials were set to meet publicly with Washington state lawmakers Monday as the agency considers a sweeping rule change to add federal oversight to mail-in voting.
But the Postal Service representatives canceled just hours before they were set to appear before a state House panel, said the committee’s chair,…
by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
June 15, 2026
Faced with a budget shortfall this year, Washington Democratic lawmakers relied on spending cuts and other maneuvers to make ends meet.
For one, they trimmed tens of millions of dollars in state funding for assisted living facilities that care for patients on Medicaid.
The state is now being sued over that…
The lawsuit argues that the state failed to study possible environmental harms of cutting the forests, which include trees that are 140 years old.
by Amanda Watford, Washington State Standard
June 8, 2026
When her son was a teenager, Connecticut mom Amy Wadsworth said, he was the type of kid parents rarely worry about.
He played sports, cared about his health and stayed away from drugs. In 2018, when he left West Hartford to start his freshman year at American University in Washington, D.C., she expected his biggest challenge would be…
by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
June 1, 2026
Washington’s rural counties saw the largest drops in insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act after the Republican-controlled Congress failed to extend subsidies that helped consumers afford the plans.
About 250,000 Washingtonians are enrolled this year through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, down roughly 36,500…
The state has issued over $800,000 in penalties against landlords, but hasn’t collected them so long as they comply with state law.
by Jerry Cornfield and Bill Lucia, Washington State Standard
May 18, 2026
A federal judge has rejected a request to ditch political maps for Washington’s Legislature that he approved two years ago.
Now, opponents are waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh in on whether the maps comply with an April ruling from the high court in the case Louisiana v. Callais, which significantly…
They formally launched an initiative effort Tuesday. To qualify, they’ll need to gather upward of 300,000 signatures in less than two months.
by Jonathan Shorman, Washington State Standard
May 4, 2026
Federal agencies say they have yet to take steps to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail, as the Department of Justice fights a Democrat-led lawsuit against it.
The Justice Department late Friday filed documents asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit and to not block the executive order on…
An investigation and a lawsuit fueled sharper comments at a meeting last week. There were renewed calls for commissioners to resign and the agency director to be fired.
A task force is in the early stages of planning for the Department of Housing, with recommendations due later this year.
Just a quarter of those arrested between October and early March had criminal records, according to new data.