Secular News

The shutdown is over. But jousting continues among Republicans and Democrats — including those from Washington state — over who’s to blame for the longest ever shuttering of the federal government. The 43-day political meltdown jeopardized families’ food benefits, snarled air travel and left some federal employees working without pay. Wednesday evening, the Republican-controlled U.S. […]

The Ballmer Group on Wednesday committed hundreds of millions of dollars for free preschool in Washington, a massive philanthropic contribution amid state budget cuts and federal rollbacks.  The donation of up to $170 million per year for the next decade could fund 10,000 additional slots in the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, or […]

Police in Berks County say a dog accidentally caused a shotgun to go off inside of a home, striking its owner in the back.

When Camerina Zorrozua learned in April that Washington had slashed its state funding of her Spokane-based legal aid organization, she frantically called state Rep. Tarra Simmons. “I was so alarmed, and I asked her straight up, ‘What happened?’” said Zorrozua, the legal director and co-founder of The Way to Justice. Simmons, the first formerly incarcerated […]

I was drawn to the child care profession because of my love for children. I just love seeing their smiling, hopeful faces, watching them grow and learn, and welcoming the trust and love they bring to us every day. At the same time, working in this field can be challenging. Babies and young children require […]

A security company has dropped its lawsuit over Washington’s new sales tax on services weeks after filing it. It’s unclear why.  The development came after Security Services Northwest brought a suit against the state at the end of September. The voluntary dismissal, signed by a Thurston County Superior Court judge Nov. 4, was without prejudice, […]

Gov. Tina Kotek on Friday signed Oregon’s long-awaited transportation bill into law, setting the stage for opponents to begin collecting signatures for a referendum effort to overturn it. After Democrats in the Oregon Legislature secured enough votes to pass the transportation bill in a special session that ended in late September, Kotek had 30 working […]

Will nuclear waste travel all the way from Ontario, Canada to a site about an hour drive from Salt Lake City? An interstate panel may consider a resolution later this month on whether to allow EnergySolutions to import up to 1.3 million cubic yards of low-level radioactive waste from Canada, a move worrying local advocates […]

From fleets of e-bikes to individual riders, eWaka aims to sell across Africa's delivery market.

A bipartisan piece of legislation that could have big impacts on the nation’s forest land continues to move quickly through Congress, pushing through a Senate committee last month. The Fix Our Forests Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in April and co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Sheehy, along with Senators from California, Utah and Colorado. […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday took up a Republican-backed challenge to counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day. Depending how the justices rule, the case could be consequential for Washington and other states that vote by mail. It stems from a lawsuit against a Mississippi state law allowing mail-in ballots received within five business […]

Elected officials and Detroit automakers have fretted for years that low-priced, high-quality Chinese cars could eventually enter the U.S. market through Mexico. But consider this: car haulers full of Chinese-brand vehicles might someday roll across the Ambassador Bridge and the soon-to-open Gordie Howe Bridge in Detroit from Canada. That isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. […]