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Your source on state policy, politics, and power
Site URL: washingtonstatestandard.com/
Feed URL: washingtonstatestandard.com/feed
Posts: 29
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Trump struck a deal for China to buy $17B a year in US agricultural products. Farmers are skeptical
Published: May 27, 2026 22:27
By Rebecka Pieder/Medill News Service WASHINGTON – In a deal that could provide a major trade boost for American farmers, the White House said that during the recent summit, China committed to buying at least $17 billion in additional U.S. agricultural…
Feds agree to decide on endangered species protections for Crater Lake newt by October
Published: May 27, 2026 22:22
An imperiled newt only found in and around southern Oregon’s Crater Lake may soon be protected under the Endangered Species Act following a three-year legal battle. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a recent settlement with the nonprofit…
Confirmed death toll rises to 2 from chemical tank disaster in southwest Washington
Published: May 27, 2026 19:55
The death toll from Tuesday’s chemical tank rupture at a mill in southwest Washington has climbed to at least two people, while nine others remain “unrecovered,” according to authorities. Longview’s Fire Department said in an update posted online late…
Judge sides with WA in dispute over $4M grant canceled during DOGE-era
Published: May 27, 2026 11:00
A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday ruled the Trump administration wrongfully terminated a $4 million grant for Washington meant to provide services for new migrants. The case is somewhat of a blast from the past, as it deals with the Trump…
Democratic state AGs say their staff excluded from Vance anti-fraud meeting
Published: May 26, 2026 23:43
WASHINGTON — A handful of Democratic state attorneys general said Tuesday that expert officials from their offices were denied access to a major White House anti-fraud meeting convened by Vice President JD Vance and attended by Republican AGs. Two dozen…
State agencies respond to chemical tank implosion in southwest WA
Published: May 26, 2026 22:59
Washington state agencies are responding to a chemical tank implosion at a mill in Longview that authorities said killed multiple people and injured others. A chemical tank containing a solution known as white liquor was reported to have ruptured around…
Supreme Court rejects Florida lawsuit against WA over immigrant truck driver licensing
Published: May 26, 2026 21:17
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s attempt to sue California and Washington for licensing an undocumented truck driver accused of killing three Floridians in a traffic accident. “The motion for leave to file…
Voluntary departures spike as immigrants face squalid detention, pressure to leave
Published: May 26, 2026 14:13
A surge in voluntary departure agreements in immigration courts is raising concerns that Trump administration tactics are unfairly pressuring immigrants into leaving the United States, even if they have a legal right to stay. Voluntary departures during…
1 year later, how WA’s controversial cap on rent hikes has been enforced
Published: May 26, 2026 11:00
A year into Washington’s limit on residential rent increases, the state has yet to collect a cent in civil penalties from landlords. That’s not to say some haven’t violated the law. The state attorney general’s office has settled roughly four dozen cases…
Alaska governor pins fate of natural gas pipeline on tax break he wants lawmakers to approve
Published: May 25, 2026 15:17
On the day a special legislative session began to consider tax incentives for a long-desired pipeline to carry natural gas from the North Slope to markets, Gov. Mike Dunleavy insisted that the massive project is about to become reality. “It’s gone from…
‘Going green now for who?’ Yakama protest clean energy project on sacred site to power data center
Published: May 25, 2026 14:14
GOLDENDALE, Wash. – High up on the Washington side of the Columbia River near the John Day hydroelectric dam, members of the Yakama Nation gathered to protest a clean energy storage project slated to be built on a sacred tribal site. Supporters of the…
Alaska cruise line experiments with alternative fuel
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/05/25/alaska-cruise-line-experiments-with-alternative-fuel/
Published: May 25, 2026 11:00
This article was first published by Post Alley. Early this month, a mobile floating gas station of sorts pulled up alongside the towering cruise ship Star Princess at Seattle’s Pier 91 terminal. For the next eight hours, the refueling crew made news by…
States that cover healthcare for immigrants scale back
Published: May 24, 2026 11:00
Budget constraints are forcing liberal-leaning states that spend their own money on healthcare for noncitizens to scale back that aid, as they grapple with federal Medicaid cuts and the expiration of federal subsidies that helped people buy Obamacare…
WA lawmaker’s attempt to get ethics charges dismissed is rejected
Published: May 23, 2026 20:40
A state ethics board has declined to dismiss an ethics complaint against Washington state Rep. Tarra Simmons, setting the stage for the wide-ranging allegations to be contested in a public hearing next month. Simmons, a Democrat, had filed a motion asking…
Data center debate begins boiling up in Congress
Published: May 23, 2026 16:49
WASHINGTON — Higher electric rates? Massive data centers looming over neighborhoods? Ugly political fights over what to do about them? The future of data centers and their huge appetite for electricity is quickly escalating as a political flashpoint from…
The brewing battle to be WA’s next House speaker
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/05/22/the-brewing-battle-to-be-was-next-house-speaker/
Published: May 23, 2026 00:04
The leader of the powerful Washington state House committee that oversees tax policy is mounting a challenge to Speaker Laurie Jinkins for leadership of the majority Democratic caucus. Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, told Jinkins in a conversation last…
Trump homeless adviser comes to Utah, says blue cities are embracing crackdown strategies
Published: May 22, 2026 22:42
Robert Marbut, a senior adviser on homelessness for President Donald Trump’s administration, told a packed room at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City on Thursday that federal officials’ homeless strategy isn’t as partisan as some may believe — and…
Trump administration will make green card hopefuls return to home countries before applying
Published: May 22, 2026 22:06
Immigrants seeking green cards will have to return first to their home countries and wait despite years of potential backlogs, the Trump administration announced Friday. “An alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their…
Private equity companies buy more apartment units
Published: May 22, 2026 11:01
Private equity firms own nearly 3 million apartment units, about 13% of the total apartments across the country, according to a new analysis from watchdog group Private Equity Stakeholder Project. And most have been fairly recent purchases. The companies…
High school group challenging Idaho’s trans bathroom ban drops lawsuit after student’s death
Published: May 22, 2026 11:00
Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. A lawsuit challenging Idaho’s transgender bathroom ban in K-12 public schools could end soon, after…
Jan. 6 police officers sue Trump over $1.77B ‘taxpayer-funded slush fund’
Published: May 21, 2026 22:33
Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration Wednesday to block the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people said to be victims of judicial weaponization, saying the fund would aid and…
Washington’s largest utility moves to add more wind power
Published: May 21, 2026 22:22
Puget Sound Energy is adding a wind farm in Klickitat County to its clean energy portfolio, the latest move in the utility’s transition to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2030, as state law mandates. On Tuesday, the company signed a long-term contract…
US Senate GOP punts immigration bill amid big split with Trump over settlement fund
Published: May 21, 2026 22:19
WASHINGTON — A multibillion-dollar package to fund immigration enforcement for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term faced new delays Thursday as Senate Republicans showed a rare split with the president over his new “anti-weaponization” fund. The…
US House GOP attacks proposals to expand Supreme Court and counter conservative majority
Published: May 21, 2026 22:18
U.S. House Republicans on Thursday denounced expanding the Supreme Court, an idea some Democrats support to dilute the court’s conservative majority after years of decisions that have angered liberals. Republican and Democratic lawmakers at a hearing…
GOP budget plan in US House calls for cuts at Hanford nuclear cleanup site
Published: May 21, 2026 11:00
Cuts that Republicans in the U.S. House are seeking to the nuclear cleanup at Washington’s Hanford site would go deeper than steep reductions the Trump administration proposed. Hanford’s fiscal 2026 budget is almost $3.3 billion. The Trump administration…
Preliminary FBI data shows a sharp drop in violent crime
Published: May 21, 2026 00:13
U.S. violent crime fell sharply in 2025, according to preliminary federal data, with murders dropping an estimated 18.1% — a decline that could push the national homicide rate to its lowest level on record if the figures hold. The FBI’s Uniform Crime…
US House passes sweeping ‘gender ideology’ bill aimed at trans kids in schools
Published: May 20, 2026 22:47
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a bill Wednesday that would require parental consent before a public elementary or middle school can update a student’s pronouns, gender markers or preferred name on records in order to receive federal funding. The…
Trump won’t give up on stalled SAVE America bill, as Dems prep election protections
Published: May 20, 2026 22:41
President Donald Trump is again demanding Congress pass a sweeping set of voting restrictions and refuses to rule out sending troops to the polls, as Democrats and voting rights groups assemble a sprawling effort to guard against federal election…
Only a fraction of Washington’s state flood aid has made it to victims
Published: May 20, 2026 22:38
During the height of December’s severe flooding, Washington made $3.5 million available to those in need. Five months later, most of that funding has gone unused. Gov. Bob Ferguson says narrow eligibility requirements for people to access the funding are…