AGRICULTURE
- How immigrants and agriculture in Washington might be affected by changes in D.C. and Olympia (Yakima Herald-Republic)
- Ag leaders applaud Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary pick (Capital Press)
- Bird flu is racing through farms, but Northwest states are rarely testing workers (Investigate West/The Columbian)
- EDITORIAL: Thank the source of the miracle of food production (Capital Press)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR
- Costs for Thanksgiving dinner down slightly, but still higher than pre-pandemic (The Center Square)
- Seattle minimum wage debate has restaurant workers feeling conflicted (The Seattle Times)
- Seattle region’s office rental rate decline is nation’s steepest (Puget Sound Business Journal)
- 19 of the world’s most influential scientists work for, or with, this Eastern WA lab (Tri-City Herald)
- Alaska Air, flight attendants return to bargaining with new urgency (The Seattle Times)
CENSUS
CONGRESS
- Trump and Republicans in Congress eye an ambitious 100-day agenda, starting with tax cuts (KIRO TV)
- Washington’s Dan Newhouse looks ahead to a new Trump era (Washington State Standard)
- Newhouse and Perez introduce bill to address BPA hiring issues (KIHR Radio)
- U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer receives pipe bomb threat at her home (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
CORRECTIONS & JAILS
- ‘Perfect victims.’ Tri-Cities man joins 100s alleging WA allowed abuse of teen offenders (Tri-City Herald)
- OPINION: People now in prison will be your neighbors someday (Trip Taylor, spent seven years inside and now works with a national non-profit that helps currently and formerly incarcerated individuals/The Seattle Times)
COURTS (FEDERAL)
- The Supreme Court will hear arguments over Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors (AP)
- Supreme Court will hear arguments on flavored vape regulations imposed after youth vaping spike (AP)
- Judge: Beef Checkoff records lawfully exempted from disclosure (Capital Press)
COURTS (STATE)
- Washington Supreme Court rules that Toppenish murderer won’t get a new sentencing hearing (Yakima Herald-Republic)
- Hoping to process evictions quicker, King County adds two judges (The Seattle Times)
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
- Detectives solve Puyallup River cold case murder from 1988 (MyNorthwest)
- Bellevue police cracking down on retail theft this holiday shopping season (KING TV)
- OPINION: Organized retail theft is costing WA millions per year (Jesse Anderson, undersheriff in the King County Sheriff’s Office, Leesa Manion, King County Prosecuting Attorney, and Erik Nordstrom, CEO of Nordstrom/The Seattle Times)
CYBERSECURITY
- AG report: Washington state data breaches have reached an all-time high (The Center Square)
- Report: Washington data breach notices hit record high of 11.6M (Cascade PBS)
- COLUMN: WA saw a huge spike in data-breach notices in 2024 (Gene Balk/The Seattle Times)
DRUG CRISIS
EDUCATION
- Families asked for an Arabic program. This Bellevue school listened (The Seattle Times)
- OPINION: Financial literacy should be a required course in WA (Aadit Aggarwal, a junior at North Creek High School in Bothell/The Seattle Times)
ELECTIONS
- Two races head to recounts after Clark County election results certified (The Columbian)
- Walla Walla County certifies general election results with 78.4% voter turnout (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
- OPINION: Adopting ranked-choice voting in Washington would mean better politics (Jeff Coughlin, Bremerton City Councilmember/Kitsap Sun)
ENERGY & UTILITIES
- Donald Trump’s call for ‘energy dominance’ is likely to run into real-world limits (AP)
- State panel recommends governor approve Wautoma solar project (Yakima Herald-Republic)
- OPINION: Wind farms are drying out the soils of eastern Washington (Bob Hassoldt, field forester/The Lewiston Tribune)
- EDITORIAL: Washington state shoots the moon on electricity (Capital Press)
ENVIRONMENT
- COLUMN: Landfills remind us why we need to do more recycling (Melissa Davis and Josh Farley/The Seattle Times)
- EDITORIAL: Closure of WA glass plant shows need for reforming recycling system (The Seattle Times)
- EDITORIAL: Climate investment pays off at Seattle treatment plant (The Seattle Times)
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE
- Biden’s broken promise on pardoning his son Hunter is raising new questions about his legacy (AP)
- What to know about Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI (AP)
FISH
- 2024 saw some good news for Pacific Northwest salmon (The Seattle Times)
- Everett water pollution facility’s new permit aims to protect salmon (The Everett Herald)
HANFORD
HIGHER EDUCATION
- Departing WSU President Kirk Schulz reflects on nine years in Pullman (Cascade PBS)
- Enrollment drops, but demand for workforce development grows at community colleges (Puget Sound Business Journal)
HOMELESSNESS
HOUSING
- Seattle-area renters, homeowners stay put amid costly housing market (The Seattle Times)
- Experts: Tariff threat from Trump would increase costs of Spokane homes (The Spokesman-Review)
LAW ENFORCEMENT
- When are WA police officers allowed to pursue suspects under state law? (The News Tribune)
- State coalition defends police pursuit restrictions after Sheriff Sanders calls them out (The Olympian)
- Will pursuits change under Pierce County Sheriff-elect Keith Swank? Here’s what he says (The News Tribune)
- Inquest jury hears conflicting accounts of 2019 King County shooting (The Seattle Times)
- Olympia police plan to add 12 EVs to fleet, express woes with current hybrid models (The Olympian)
- Drones and robbers. Redmond police take drones to the next level (KUOW Radio)
- Video: Camas man shot by deputy had threatened to die by police (The Columbian)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
- Disagreements flare again over how to pay for promised Spokane traffic unit that still hasn’t ramped up (The Spokesman-Review)
- What’s driving the ballooning growth in Tri-Cities local government budgets? (Tri-City Herald)
- Bellingham mulls ending parking-space mandates to boost housing (Cascade PBS)
- ‘You take care of me, I take care of you’: Document details alleged bribery attempt by PUD commissioner (The Chronicle)
- Washougal officials may criminalize camping on city property to ‘improve livability’ (The Columbian)
- ‘A reallocation of taxes’: Port of Douglas County OKs collecting $3.8M annually from TIF district, sparking concerns from county officials (The Wenatchee World)
MEDIA
MENTAL HEALTH
- King County expands mobile teams that bring care to people in crisis (The Seattle Times)
- Mental health program ‘Ending the Silence’ sparks crucial conversations in Auburn schools (KOMO TV)
OPERATING BUDGET
- Washington state faces budget deficit of $10B-$12B (Axios – Seattle)
- Dems, GOP gird for battle in addressing Washington’s $10B-$12B budget shortfall (The Center Square)
- Could Trump withhold federal funding to Washington state? Treasurer prepares for worst (KUOW Radio)
OTHER STATES
- Oregon Democrats seal legislative supermajorities with win in tight House race (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
- Sunny but expensive: Thousands more workers left California than arrived during a stretch last year. Here’s where they went (Los Angeles Times/The Columbian)
- OPINION: Idaho’s grocery tax is a real turkey, but state income tax is the pig (Chris Cargill, president, Mountain States Policy Center/Capital Press)
POLITICS
CONGRESS
SECURITY
SPORTS
STATE GOVERNMENT
- Ferguson asks 3 agency leaders from Inslee administration to stay on (Washington State Standard)
- Gov.-elect Ferguson creates subcommittee to combat new administration’s Project 2025: ‘It is dark’ (The News Tribune)
- Dept. of Natural Resources focused on future as $3.5M cleanup project starts in Tacoma (The Center Square)
TRANSPORTATION
- Tolling, light rail, more: I-5 Bridge project director says he’s not worried about change in administrations (The Columbian)
- Can Amazon-backed EV maker Rivian grow out of its ‘awkward’ teen years? (The Seattle Times)
- Once a must for wealthy Seattle liberals, Teslas feel an Elon backlash (The Seattle Times)
- Seattle light rail riders have complaints, but they really do like it (The Seattle Times)
- Southwest Airlines’ retreat from Bellingham signals strategy reversal (The New York Times/The Seattle Times)
TRIBAL ISSUES
WATER
- Chemicals at $75M Superfund cleanup site leak into Tri-Cities area groundwater (Tri-City Herald)
- Bellingham pays $1.26 million for a half-acre on Lake Whatcom to protect city’s watershed (The Bellingham Herald)
WEATHER & CLIMATE
WILDLIFE
