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.

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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.

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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.”

The U.S. Justice Department’s top civil rights official is threatening to open an investigation into a race-restricted geology camp promoted by two Central Washington University(CWU) instructors, after video circulated of one of them admitting the weekend retreat is not open to everyone.

The event is called Rock and Role, a three-day geology retreat scheduled for August 21 through 23 at the Lazy F Camp and Retreat Center outside Ellensburg. It is organized by The Bronze Chapter, a Washington nonprofit, and led by CWU senior lecturer Nick Zentner and CWU assistant professor of geology Hannah Shamloo. Both teach in a geological sciences department that has spent years building a national reputation for public outreach and climate and glacier research.

“So the Bronze Chapter is a wonderful outdoors group founded by Denise Rochelle, and the mission of Bronze Chapter is to increase the participation of BIPOC members in the outdoors. Historically, members of BIPOC haven’t had the same opportunities for safe engagement with the outdoors, and so Nick and I are here to really extend a warm welcome and encouragement to members of BIPOC to come join us and engage with the geology that we love so much,” she stated.

The American Red Cross has declared a nationwide emergency blood shortage, including Western Washington. The growing gap between the blood supply and patient needs is unsustainable.

Blood donors are urgently needed for all blood types. The shortage is particularly severe for O positive and B negative blood types, as well as for AB plasma.

The Red Cross urges people to book a blood donation appointment today to give blood or platelets. The Red Cross’s Blood Donor app can be used to make an appointment, or you can visit the Red Cross’ website or call the Red Cross at (800) 733-2767.

Aircraft fighting the Spokane Complex wildfires were temporarily grounded again Monday night because of civilian drones invading the restricted airspace, according to authorities. On Sunday, there were 26 reported drone incursions in the restricted Spokane fire area, and four drones were “directly in the path of firefighting apparatus” in the air, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said in a news conference aired on local TV station KHQ.

The sheriff’s office has identified and referred multiple drone citations to the Federal Aviation Administration, for a potential $100,000 in criminal penalties each, according to Nowels. About 6 p.m. Monday, fire personnel had to temporarily suspend flights again, according to officials.

The Spokane fires, which started Saturday, have burned at least 10,280 acres and are 0% contained, according to the most recent information available Tuesday morning. More than 60,000 people have been under Level 3 (“Go Now”) evacuation orders, and thousands of residents who evacuated their homes might not be able to return for “weeks.” Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called the fires the worst natural disaster the region has faced.

Washington State voters will decide the fate of a ballot initiative that would require girls from kindergarten through high school to undergo sex-verification testing before playing school sports — a measure critics call the most extreme of its kind in the country.

IL26-638 would bar transgender athletes from girls' teams by mandating that a health-care provider certify a player's sex assigned at birth, using genetic screening, testosterone testing or an examination of reproductive anatomy as part of the annual sports physical every young athlete already undergoes, reported The Cut.

The nearly 4,000-acre Old Trails fire sparked north of Airway Heights and jumped the Spokane River. That and two other fires in Spokane County forced 60,000 evacuations, threatening more than 14,000 structures within the city’s evacuation boundaries.

The flames spread easily in 35-45 mph winds, tearing through Riverside State Park and razing at least 640 structures as of Sunday, mostly within the city. Many of the lost homes were identifiable only by the chimneys left standing.

Explore the 2026 Washington State Supreme Court elections — candidates, positions, and key dates — in one easy-to-read visual guide.