Washington

An 18-year-old in Washington state has been arrested for the investigation of manslaughter and arson in connection with a deadly July 4 fire, a county sheriff said Thursday.

The teen from Kent was among a group of people setting off illegal fireworks from the back of a truck when one landed in roadside brush, igniting the fast-moving blaze, Douglas County Sheriff Tyler Caille said. He said authorities were also seeking arrest warrants for five others.

The Chelan Hills Fire burned roughly 15.6 square miles (40.4 square kilometers), destroyed more than 100 structures, including 19 homes, and left one person dead, he said.

The victim was identified earlier this week as Robert Lister, a 69-year-old Orondo resident, whose vehicle had slid off the road and was consumed by the flames.

In a statement read aloud by a detective during a news conference Thursday, Lister’s family said the arrest allows them to begin healing.

“Rob’s life was taken far too soon, and he will continue to be loved, missed and remembered by all,” the statement read.

Caille urged the others accused of launching illegal fireworks to turn themselves in, or “we will come find you.” He said all are over 18 and are “complicit with the same crimes.”

“This is complete recklessness that led to billions of dollars of loss, loss of Mr. Lister’s life and, unfortunately, everybody involved in that is going to have to pay those consequences,” Caille said during the news conference.

Washington has had a severe fire season, with blazes scorching more than 1,125 square miles (2,914 square kilometers) across the state.

Another man was charged last month with starting the Old Trails Fire in Spokane, one of three fires in the area that burned more than 850 buildings and destroyed whole neighborhoods. He is also charged in connection with four smaller fires ignited in the summer of 2025 and last month.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, teamed up Wednesday to announce that significantly more mail-in ballots were disqualified as “late” in the August primary election than in prior elections.

That uptick, they said, was a result of changes to U.S. Postal Service postmarking protocols the agency implemented last December.

Across the state, the rate of ballots that were rejected for late postmarks increased by 32% in the August primary, as compared to the August 2024 primary, according to data released by Hobbs and Cantwell’s offices. Rates of rejection were higher in rural counties, per the report.

“The post office is taking your ballot as a piece of mail but not stamping it that day,” Cantwell said. “They are waiting and going to a distribution center, and then later postmarking that and may thereby be delaying your actual vote.”

Cantwell advised voters to mail their ballots as early as possible, or use county-provided drop boxes for the upcoming November election. Voters who mail their ballots even several days in advance of Election Day may experience delays in postmarking and risk a ballot being disqualified, according to the report.

“The decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with the Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement Tuesday night.

“It is an action that necessitates a serious response, and we have asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take this up in short order.”

The Democratic Committee on Caucus Rules convened Wednesday for a prescheduled session but did not immediately indicate any next steps against Gluesenkamp Perez or Golden, both of whom have said they voted in the interests of their districts. Jeffries told reporters on Wednesday he seeks action against the Congress members “sooner rather than later.”

The episode highlights the political bind of two centrist Democrats whose political identities are rooted in breaking with their party as they represent districts where Republicans remain competitive. Both champion the Blue Dog Coalition ethos, which describes itself as pragmatic, fiscally responsible Democrats. But Tuesday’s vote was different. By helping Republicans advance their legislative agenda, they crossed a procedural line that Democratic leaders regard as fundamental to maintaining leverage in the House.

Golden is not running for reelection; Gluesenkamp Perez is vying for a third term to represent her swing Southwest Washington district.

The Roadless Rule protects roughly 2 million acres of some of the state's national forests.

Its repeal could open those areas to more roadbuilding and logging.

For Seattle-area residents, the affected lands aren't obscure corners of the state.

Roadless areas include popular destinations around Washington Pass, Baker Lake, Lake Chelan and Quinault Lake, as well as 231 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.

The protections also extend beyond recreation: Leavenworth, Kittitas County and other Washington communities rely on drinking water from forests protected by the rule, according to the Washington Trails Association.

Let’s Go Washington mentioned the AAP in its description of Initiative Measure No. IL26-638, a law that would require girl student-athletes statewide to confirm their “biological sex” with genital inspections in order to play sports. In its description, Let’s Go Washington noted that the AAP recommends annual checkups for children. While this is true, the AAP suggests annual health checkups, not sports physicals. Such checkups don’t involve genital inspections, and the academy worries that mentioning its name could confuse Washington voters into thinking the AAP approves of the ballot measure (which it doesn’t).

The description in the voter’s guide states, “Students would compete in the category that aligns with their sex, verified during routine, medically necessary primary care recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. During a private, consented visit, a licensed medical professional would verify sex based on the student’s birth records, medical history and/or a standard, non-invasive physical examination.”

The AAP is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP’s Washington chapter contacted the state’s voters’ pamphlet team to request removal of the academy’s name. The team connected the AAP with the Let’s Go Washington committee that wrote the description, but the committee declined the request.

“There’s nothing actually inaccurate with what we said. So ultimately, we just decided to leave it,” said Hallie Herzberg, a spokesperson for Let’s Go Washington.

The pamphlet team and Washington’s secretary of state both say there’s nothing they can do to remove the AAP’s name without a court order.

Heather Weiner, a consultant on the No Hate For Washington State campaign (a pro-LGBTQ+ group that opposes the ballot measure), noted that the AAP has neither supported nor opposed the measure. She also noted that over 100 doctors and other medical professionals recently released a statement against the initiative.

“Under IL26-638, all girls who want to play on a team at the K-12 level will need a medical certification of her sex defined as a physical ‘reproductive organ exam,’ or costly genetic or hormone testing,” the statement says. The statement also notes, “Washington state sports physicals do not require sex testing because, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, sports physicals should focus on life-threatening conditions like heart, bone, and lung issues.”

Primary results show Washington voters don’t like the two-party system. With proportional ranked choice voting, Washington voters could have a multiparty system.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s update about the May 26 failure in Longview, which expelled enough caustic liquid to blow out building walls, is part of an ongoing investigation. The federal agency said it is still determining the cause of the failure.

The board found that the contractor provided Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company with recommendations for internal inspections and shell repairs, but the company did none between a July 2025 inspection and the May 2026 failure.

“Because the investigation remains ongoing, we will not comment on individual findings or documents at this time,” an emailed statement from Nippon spokesperson Sam Jefferies said Friday. “Our focus remains on supporting affected families and employees and taking the necessary steps toward fully reopening the Longview facility.”

Jefferies said the company will continue to cooperate fully with the board.

Washington National Guard spokesperson Joseph Siemandel said the troops involved are “under investigation by their chain of command,” adding that the incident — seen in a photograph published on Instagram — was a “poor choice” by those involved.

The photograph shows 11 firefighters, in full gear, standing atop a mound surrounded by smoldering grass and shrubs. Two in the back row are holding up the green-and-white triband flag of Rhodesia, a Black majority, white-ruled country in southern Africa that lasted from 1965 through its collapse in 1979 in the territory that is now Zimbabwe. The faces of the firefighters appear to be digitally blurred.

Simandel said the photograph was taken on either Aug. 13 or 14 at the Little Giant fire, which continues to burn in Chelan County and has consumed more than 150,000 acres, or about 234 square miles. Seattle contains about 84 square miles of land.

Rhodesia was a British colony until its prime minister, Ian Smith, revolted and issued a “unilateral declaration of independence” intended to preserve white rule in the African state, when others were moving toward majority rule. Political and economic power was concentrated in the hands of a few white leaders and businessmen at a time when 90% of the country’s population was Black. Most countries refused to recognized Rhodesia, and the United Nations imposed sanctions, making the country an international pariah.

For more than a decade, the white minority engaged in a brutal “bush war” with the Black majority seeking liberation. Among the liberation fighters’ leaders was Robert Mugabe, who eventually became Zimbabwe’s first prime minister.

The country’s flag, like the Confederate Stars and Bars, has been associated with white supremacy ever since. Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine Black members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015, featured a Rhodesian flag on his website and a patch on his jacket, according to news reports.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/politics@piefed.blahaj.zone/p/943401/wa-sues-trump-administration-again-over-mail-ballot-restrictions

Washington sued the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday, trying to block the Trump administration’s proposed rules that could throw the state’s vote-by-mail system into chaos just two months before this year’s midterm elections.

It’s the second time the state has sued to block this executive order. The Supreme Court on Monday sided with the Trump administration, finding that Washington and other states’ prior lawsuits were filed prematurely. The court did not rule on the substance of the executive order or the lawsuits, only the timing.

“This rule was written to satisfy the president’s continued desire to control our vote, but the U.S. Constitution is clear: States control elections,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said at a news conference in Seattle. “The president and the Postal Service have no role. This rule is not a serious policy. It is illegal, it is costly and it is frankly impossible to implement.”

Trump seeks to remake how states that use vote by mail conduct elections. His order requires states to hand over private voting lists to the federal government, which would then maintain a national list of eligible voters. The rule tells the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on that list. The postmaster general has further said that the Postal Service would not deliver ballots in states that do not hand over their voter lists.

The rule would require bar codes on ballot envelopes (Washington currently has bar codes on the envelopes that are sent to voters but not on the return envelopes) and would require the Postal Service to approve envelope design.

“It’s clear that the federal government is trying to take over our elections,” said Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who appeared with Brown on Wednesday. “We are prepared to fight every step of the way to stop that from happening.”

Hobbs said the state’s 5.1 million ballots are already printed and will begin to be mailed to overseas voters in just three weeks. Hobbs said he was confident the lawsuit would succeed in blocking the new regulations, but that if it failed, voters should use drop boxes to return their ballots to reduce the risk of the Postal Service not delivering them.

The lawsuit, filed by 25 states in federal court in Massachusetts, argues that now that the Postal Service has published a new rule to comply with Trump’s order, the court can judge the issue on its merits.

“Congress has not afforded USPS any authority whatsoever to set rules for federal elections or mail voting, even though Americans have cast ballots by mail for generations,” the lawsuit says.

It argues that the administration’s rules are both illegal and logistically impossible.

“The president’s challenges to our elections strike at something fundamental to our democracy,” Brown said.

This year’s executive order comes after a similar order made last year by the president was blocked in court. Trump has unsuccessfully pressured Congress to pass a plan to restrict mail ballots.

The lawsuit points, in its opening paragraphs, to Trump’s own words to argue that the administration’s efforts are a partisan attempt to gain advantage, not a sincere concern over election security.

“One need not look further than the White House to explain USPS’s unprecedented and unlawful conduct,” the lawsuit says. “President Trump has long opposed mail voting, expressing that it would ‘LEAD TO THE END OF OUR GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY.'”

Democrats could grow their 59-seat majority in the state House to 64 if their leads in races hold this fall. Primary results indicate Democrats will likely flip seats in the 17th, 18th, and 26th Legislative Districts, while holding their current seats.

Starting Nov. 1, any first-time driver’s license applicants under 25 must complete the new work zone and emergency responder training course. It’s an hour-long course that will launch Sept. 1. It will go over zipper merging, how to negotiate work zones, our move-over laws, and other safety measures.

...

Right now, if you’re 18, you only need to pass the written and driving tests. But starting in January, 18-year-olds will have to take a driver’s education class too.

“Anyone who’s 15, 16, 17, or 18 now and getting their first license is going to have to take a driver training course,” Olson said. “You can’t just wait until 18 and then not take a driver training course and get your first license. You actually, at 18, have to take a driver training course.”

That age will go up a year every year until 2030. By 2030, anyone under 22 years old will be required to take driver’s ed.

....

The state is also creating a new mandatory safe driving class for Washington drivers between 18 and 24 years old with two moving violations on their record. Starting Jan. 1, those drivers will need to take this course or risk losing their license.

Roughly a dozen workers had been in or near a break room on the ground floor near the path of the spewing white liquor. The hazardous conditions delayed rescue efforts for several days. In all, first responders spent five days retrieving the bodies of nine victims. Two others died at area hospitals.

Autopsies conducted by the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office and the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office later deemed severe chemical burns a significant factor in all 11 workers’ deaths.

The cause of the incident has not been determined. Investigations are underway by the Washington state Attorney General, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Washington state Labor and Industries, and attorneys representing survivors and the families of the victims.

While the plant has been out of commission since the incident, Nippon officials notified state regulators on Monday they plan to install temporary storage tanks in order to restart work at the plant.

A new analysis from the state Department of Revenue shows Washington’s high-earner income tax will be paid by thousands of additional households and produce hundreds of millions of dollars more than previously assumed — if voters don’t ditch it this fall.

These larger figures will be in front of voters as they decide whether to repeal the tax in the Nov. 3 election. If voters uphold the tax, it could mean lawmakers need to make fewer cuts to balance the next two-year budget.

When Gov. Bob Ferguson signed legislation creating the income tax in late March, he and lawmakers counted on it to generate $2.7 billion for the next budget and $6.9 billion for the following two-year fiscal cycle.

Now, three months before an initiative to repeal the tax appears on ballots statewide, the department has revised its numbers, predicting this new levy will bring in $3.1 billion in the initial fiscal year and roughly $8.3 billion in the 2029-31 biennium.

“We will not let authoritarians dictate how we legislate in this state,” Jaelynn Scott said.

The business shared in a recent press release that, for the rest of the month, it will be donating $20 of every bottle sold of its Farmsmith American Single Malt Whiskey to the H.O.M.E. Starts Here Spokane Complex Fire Relief Fund. The latter, according to a Copperworks release, provides short- and long-term rental assistance, transportation services, medical equipment, and other critical resources to help Spokane community members as they recover from wildfire impacts.

“The farming families and partners around Spokane aren’t just our suppliers; they are our friends,” said Copperworks President and CEO Jason Parker in the release. “Our thoughts are with the individuals, families, and communities affected by the Spokane Complex Fire.”

Tyler Sorensen, of Renton, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Jonathon Langdon.

The deadly encounter unfolded near Costco’s corporate headquarters in Issaquah, where Sorensen, Langdon and a female coworker all worked.

Investigators say Sorensen became upset after seeing Langdon hug the female coworker in the Costco parking lot. Sorensen told investigators he believed the woman was his ex-girlfriend, according to court documents.

The woman later told investigators she and Sorensen had never dated and that she had previously asked him for space after he crossed boundaries in their friendship.

While Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat claims progressives “fizzled” in Washington state because a few primary challengers trailed, Kamau Chege argues that analysis is flawed, ignoring other wins that show the left is wresting control of the party.

Jaelynn Scott is set to become Washington’s first openly transgender legislator after sailing through last week’s primary.

She also could be one of only two members of the Democratic Socialists of America in the Legislature.

“I think it’s important that people see themselves in me, and the fact that they can run and they can win,” Scott said.

She feels being the first is a “heavy burden.”

“You sometimes feel like you have a weight on your shoulder because you’re carrying the sort of hopes, dreams, wishes, concerns,” Scott said.

“I don’t want to do it alone for long, and so I need people to join me,” she added.

WASHINGTON STATE — A dispute over who should be allowed inside a women's-only spa where clients are nude has moved from Lynnwood to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a petition was filed today asking the justices to weigh in.

At issue is transgender access, specifically transgender women at Olympus Spa, which offers traditional Korean body scrubs, open soaking pools and steam rooms in Lynnwood and Tacoma.

The case stems from a battle that began more than six years ago, when a transgender woman said she was denied access to the spa.

Olympus Spa had a longstanding policy that transgender women are welcome, but not if they are preoperative or have male anatomy. KOMO News spoke with clients outside the Lynnwood location Monday, and most said they had not heard about the case, though Liz Bloomberg said she was aware.

"I understand both perspectives," Bloomberg said. "I personally wouldn't be bothered by it (a preoperative transgender woman client), but I certainly respect why other women would be bothered by it. It's a sensitive topic."

"It depends on the company -- does the company take both sexes or not? If not, I may find it strange and not come back," said Alice, referring to a transgender woman with male anatomy inside the spa.

Kim Yuska, who came for a traditional full-body scrub she described as "a renewal" in preparation for her son's wedding on Friday, said she would not want to share the space with a transgender woman who has not had surgery.

"I probably wouldn't share it. I don't think I would participate," Yuska said, but when asked about a transgender woman who is post-surgery, "I don't think I would pay attention. I'm not staring at anybody. I'm going in there for myself."

Lead attorney John Bursch said the petition asks the Supreme Court to review the case on behalf of Olympus Spa and uphold the policy.

In a state like Washington where Democrats have long held power, Republicans already have a structural disadvantage, said Ben Gaskins, a political science professor at Lewis and Clark College.

That’s only part of the story. Over the past half-century, American political parties have become far more nationalized, Gaskins said, making it harder for Republicans to separate themselves from the national party, and by extension, from Trump.

Trump “sucks the oxygen out of all the other Republican institutions,” Gaskins said. Trump’s strong media presence coupled with his demand for unrelenting loyalty in the party make it hard for even sitting Republicans to win back power, he said.

While Republicans need to focus on November’s general election, they shouldn’t lose sight of the long term, said Mark Stephan, an associate professor of political science at Washington State University Vancouver.

“Is their party willing to be the permanent minority party in the state of Washington?” Stephan said. “If you actually want to win elections and you actually want to maybe even have some power in the state overall, then you have to change. You have to moderate.”

The party should lean into independent voters and away from Trump, and accept candidates that do so, he said.

“Be principled, but be willing to compromise and be willing to have a bigger tent,” Stephan said.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/64919784

Since 2018, youth under 18 who are found in possession of a gun essentially get five strikes before serious penalties apply. They would have to be caught with a gun and charged five times before a judge could issue a detention of longer than a month. The first four charges might get a kid detention up to 30 days, community service, a fine, or nothing at all.

By contrast, adults arrested for illegal gun possession can expect harsher penalties, like years in prison or thousands of dollars in fines.

Some lawmakers and officials are pushing to change the rules for youth found with guns after the recent shootout at Seattle Center that left three dead and five injured. One of the teens involved, 19-year-old Junior Cee Niko Semo, who died at the scene, had previously been convicted at least once of illegally possessing a gun. That case, from 2024, was dismissed by a judge last year. A 15-year-old was arrested and charged in the shooting.

State Rep. David Hackney, a Democrat from Renton, wants to lower the threshold at which harsher penalties kick in for young people caught with guns. He said longer detention periods should apply at three convictions, instead of five.

“What we were finding out was that youngsters or young people that were carrying firearms, by the time they got to five [convictions], they would already have committed a serious offense and end up facing decades of prison time in adult court for murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, or they were shot and killed themselves,” Hackney said.

In 2025, Hackney sponsored a bill that would have allowed a judge to impose more than a month of detention after the third gun conviction. But the bill failed without a hearing.

“My colleagues in the Legislature, they call juvenile justice reform basically making it harder and harder to incarcerate juveniles. They say that it traumatizes them. So does violent crime traumatize the community,” Hackney said.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/64730901

Upon searching a deserted boat in Commencement Bay, the Tacoma Police Department found an atypical crew - over 30 cats, but no sign of a human owner.

TPD’s Marine Service Unit was notified of an abandoned boat floating near Owen Beach Thursday morning, Public Information Officer John Correa told The News Tribune.

“The best way I can describe it is it looked like a Studio Ghibli movie,” Correa said. “It was their boat, and they were all out and about roaming around on it.”

An estimated 67,000 people evacuated, and evacuation orders remain in place for some. Around 700 structures, including hundreds of homes, were damaged or destroyed.

“We’re just numb,” said Angela McKean, while sorting through what remains of her burned down home with her husband and three children. “It’s too hard to process.”

Her 17-year-old daughter Lauren was home alone during the fire and managed to escape and save their dog, Deebo.

“People are telling us that it’s just things,” said McKean, through tears. “Logically, we know that they are just things, we are well aware of that. What I’m grieving is the loss of the place where I found my comfort."

“That’s what I’m grieving the most," she said. "It’s just hard. We’ll find it again; it’s just going to take a long time.”