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Washington State Standard, Olympia, WA (2025)

09/13/2025

BELLEVUE — Top U.S. House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries traveled here Friday to decry rising health insurance costs he says are driven by recent actions from congressional Republicans and the Trump administration.

Low-income Americans face the combination of steep cuts to Medicaid in the years to come and the looming expiration of federal tax credits that help them afford insurance coverage.

Premiums for individual insurance bought on the Washington Health Benefit Exchange through the Affordable Care Act are set to rise an average of 21% next year, state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer announced this week.

This hike is in line with similar jumps across the country. Last year’s average rate increase was 10.7%. The state has to approve the rate increases if they’re actuarially justified.

Jeffries said he’s willing to risk a government shutdown if Republicans don’t reverse what he sees as an assault on health care. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.

Top U.S. House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries traveled to Washington on Friday to decry rising health insurance costs.

09/13/2025

School is finally back in session following a three-week delay at Evergreen Public Schools in southwest Washington, after unionized staff approved a deal with district administrators.

Members of Public School Employees of Washington SEIU Local 1948 initiated the first strike in the union’s 57-year history on Aug. 26 following months of failed contract negotiations.

In La Center School District, also in southwest Washington, teachers ended a week-long strike on Thursday after reaching a tentative agreement with the district. Meanwhile, staff at Vancouver Public Schools voted Thursday to authorize a strike.

School is finally back in session following a three week delay at Evergreen Public Schools in southwest Washington, after unionized staff approved a deal with district administrators. Meanwhile, teachers at La Center School District in southwest Washington also ended a week-long strike on Thursday,....

09/12/2025

The federal government is unenthusiastic about cranking up its biggest cleanup project next month at the Hanford nuclear site in south-central Washington. But it will meet an Oct. 15 deadline to bring the so-called glassification facility online, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

Whether the department may move later to shut down the facility, which will be used to turn radioactive waste into glass, is still hazy.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., talked with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday about earlier reports the Department of Energy wanted to back out of firing up the long-delayed Hanford plant by Oct. 15 and go to an undefined alternate method to neutralize 56 million gallons of radioactive waste.

That waste is stored in 177 leak-prone underground tanks in the center of the Hanford nuclear reservation and is at risk of seeping into the Columbia River.

Wright acknowledged to Murray that he wants to stall work on, or possibly eliminate, a completed facility to convert 20 million to 25 million gallons of the least radioactive tank wastes (dubbed “low-activity wastes”) into a benign glass. The process involves mixing the wastes and glass flakes and melting them together.

The department’s Thursday statement and Wright’s discussion with Murray contain ambiguous statements that, while promising glassification will begin by Oct 15, do not rule out the Department of Energy switching directions later.

Murray’s office acknowledged these ambiguities and said the Department of Energy still needs to answer many questions to clarify its intentions and thought processes. In its statement, the Department of Energy’s Washington, D.C. headquarters did not address the Washington State Standard’s questions about the lack of clarity.

“I need to see real evidence that this administration is moving forward on our decades-long effort to turn nuclear waste into glass at Hanford. I also need an explanation for the conflicting information I have gotten from the Department over the last 48 hours—and I need the Deputy Secretary to sign off on key documents so the completion of hot commissioning at the Waste Treatment Plant can move forward,” Murray said in a statement on Friday morning.

It's unclear if the Trump administration intends to follow through with plans to turn millions of gallons of radioactive waste at the site into glass.

09/12/2025

A former Washington state worker who admitted to embezzling nearly $900,000 in taxpayer funding to finance his gambling addiction was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison.

Matthew Ping, an ex-employee at the Office of Administrative Hearings, will also need to pay $1.1 million in restitution for the money he stole and unpaid taxes on it.

A state audit found the office’s internal controls to prevent the type of fraud Ping carried out were inadequate. Ping, 48, had worked at the state agency since 2009.

As a management analyst, Ping had an agency credit card, and was the only employee with access to the office’s bank statements, according to court papers. His salary in 2022 was $82,500, according to Washington’s payroll database.

A former Washington state worker who admitted to embezzling nearly $900,000 in taxpayer funding was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

09/11/2025

Standardized test scores for Washington public school students improved slightly this year, according to data the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction released Wednesday.

But the scores remain well below pre-pandemic levels, and the test results show nearly a third of students are not meeting grade-level standards in math, while the same is true for about a quarter of students when it comes to English.

There are stark disparities as well, with around half of the students in some racial and ethnic minority groups getting the lowest possible score on the math tests.

“We still have a ways to go,” Superintendent Chris Reykdal said during a press briefing.

He added that growth in the test scores “is now not only exceeding the immediate post-pandemic struggles we had, but it’s at a faster trajectory of growth than even pre-pandemic.”

Standardized test scores for Washington public school students improved slightly this year, but the scores remain well below prepandemic levels, and the test results indicate that nearly 60% of students aren’t performing at grade level in math, while the same is true for about half of students whe...

09/11/2025

Thousands of Washington Army National Guard members did not take part in last weekend’s drill, a money-saving move that appears precipitated in part by the Trump administration clawing back funds to pay for the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C.

September is the final month of the federal budget year, and typically, the training held at armories across Washington on the second weekend draws a large turnout.

But due to a budget shortfall, adjustments were made to pare participation and reduce costs.

Approximately 5,000 soldiers were scheduled to drill for the full weekend. An estimated half received an excused absence while the other half participated for a portion but not the entire period, officials said. Those with training requirements drilled and any soldier who desired to participate could, officials said.

Federal funds clawed back from Washington's National Guard may have gone to help pay for the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C.

09/10/2025

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in early November on whether President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs are legal, according to an order the court released Tuesday.

The one-page unsigned order laid out an expedited timeline, which the administration had requested, for the consolidated legal challenges brought by a handful of business owners and a dozen Democratic state attorneys general.

A U.S. appeals court sided with the businesses and state officials late last month. In its 7-4 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling in May finding Trump’s unprecedented use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act to trigger global tariffs violated the Constitution.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in early November on whether President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs are legal, according to an order the court released Tuesday.

09/09/2025

Washington state is preparing to destroy much of its abortion pill stockpile as 30,000 doses are set to expire at the end of January.

But the first-in-the-nation stockpile would still have thousands more pills not set to expire for a few more years.

Then-Gov. Jay Inslee authorized the purchase of the first 30,000 doses of mifepristone in 2023 as a three-year insurance policy in case the drug was no longer available due to restrictions at the federal level. In Washington, that hasn’t been an issue — at least yet.

Washington state is preparing to destroy much of its abortion pill stockpile as 30,000 doses are set to expire at the end of January.

09/08/2025

The conservative political group that has been trying to bolster parental rights in Washington schools will try again.

Let’s Go Washington on Monday announced it will begin gathering signatures for two new initiatives to the state Legislature. One, focused on parental rights, comes after a heated debate on the topic during this year’s legislative session in Olympia. Another looks to block transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports.

The group, led by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, will now need to collect 308,911 signatures by Jan. 2 to get the measures before lawmakers. Though sponsors are advised to submit at least 386,000 signatures to allow room for error if some are ruled invalid.

Last year, legislators approved Let’s Go Washington’s Initiative 2081, which set new requirements for the information schools had to provide to parents. This year, Democratic lawmakers pushed through an overhaul of this “parental bill of rights,” upsetting supporters of the original measure.

The conservative political group that has been trying to bolster parental rights in Washington schools will try again.

09/08/2025

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it has awarded a $137 million contract for the first phase of a project intended to allow its Seattle base to host two new heavy icebreakers.

The contract, awarded to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, covers dredging of the Coast Guard’s Slip 36 and construction of two ship berths capable of hosting the new icebreakers, formally known as Polar Security Cutters.

The first of those ships, the Polar Sentinel, is expected to be complete in 2030. When accepted into the Coast Guard, it will be the service’s first new heavy icebreaker since the Polar Star was commissioned in 1977.

The Coast Guard is planning to station its two of its three under-construction heavy icebreakers in Seattle.

09/06/2025

A ballot measure that would let the state make stock market investments with payroll taxes collected for Washington’s new long-term care program is a “no-brainer,” supporters said Friday.

Senate Joint Resolution 8201, if passed in November, would amend the state constitution to allow assets of the program, known as the WA Cares Fund, to be handled similarly to pension and retirement accounts.

That would lead to larger returns in the long run, ensuring premiums stay low and the program is sustainable, advocates said in a call with reporters Friday.

“I think this is just a no-brainer,” said Greg Markley, secretary treasurer of the Washington State Association of Firefighters. He’s also chair of the Washington State Investment Board, whose fiduciary responsibility is to manage retirement and public fund investments. He was not representing the board Friday.

A state lawmaker opposing the ballot measure says it amounts to “gambling in the stock market” with taxpayers’ dollars.

A ballot measure to make stock market investments to benefit Washington’s long-term care program is a 'no brainer,' supporters said Friday.

09/05/2025

The Washington State Department of Health has issued a standing order for the COVID-19 vaccine, making it easier for Washington residents to get vaccinated.

The standing order, announced Friday, allows most Washington residents to go directly to a pharmacy or clinic and receive the COVID-19 vaccine without an individual prescription.

“The barriers to COVID-19 vaccination are complex, and the standing order is just one part of the solution,” State Health Officer Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett said in a written statement. “We want to ensure all Washington residents have access to the protection these vaccines provide based on the best available science.”

His action comes after the state along with Oregon and California formed the West Coast Health Alliance earlier this week. Hawaii joined Thursday.

The alliance is a direct response to concerns that recent federal actions have undermined the independence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and politicized the use of science in ways that will harm public health.

The Washington State Department of Health has issued a standing order for the COVID-19 vaccine, making it easier for Washington residents to get vaccinated.

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