A promise finally fulfilled; Ferguson signs bill exempting ag from CCA fuel taxes; New WA law increases penalties for litter, delays plastic bag requirements

A promise finally fulfilled; Ferguson signs bill exempting ag from CCA fuel taxes

The Center Square — Dent noted it was encouraging for him and others who work on agriculture issues to have Ferguson travel to the Tri Cities to sign the bill on Thursday. “There were a lot of people there. Potato growers and other farmers and people in the industry. So they were very pleased,” said Dent. “I have never through this whole process received one negative email around this and what I was trying to do.” … Dent said he didn’t get everything he wanted in the legislation as it crossed the finish line but was thrilled to finally get the bill signed into law. “I don’t envision myself as being finished with this issue,” said Dent.

New WA law increases penalties for litter, delays plastic bag requirements

Washington State Standard — Washington residents will soon face heftier fines for littering and higher prices for plastic grocery bags. A new law signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Saturday toughens the punishment for littering and delays requirements for retailers to offer thicker bags for sale from Jan. 1, 2026 until 2028. The Legislature will use the two years to review the state’s reusable bag policies, Ferguson said. Retailers who sell thicker bags before the mandate is in effect will be penalized four cents a bag, under the new law. “We’re called the Evergreen State and is it really evergreen with all the litter?” said Rep. Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla, sponsor of House Bill 1293. “Our freeways, our interstates, are just packed with litter, it’s horrible.”

AGRICULTURE

• Low prices and Trump’s trade war are pushing these Northwest farmers to the brink (KUOW Radio)
• Apple industry stares down continued strong production and oversupply (Capital Press) $
• Dairy farmers brace for ‘tough’ year as Darigold cuts milk payments (Cascadia Daily News/The Seattle Times) $
• WA farm labor firm fined whopping $1.25M for violations involving 5,000 workers (Tri-City Herald) $

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• Washington’s AG calls 10-year ban on US states regulating AI ‘dangerous’ (KIRO TV)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• DOJ may drop case against Boeing over deadly 737 Max crashes, despite families’ outrage (KUOW Radio)
• EDITORIAL: DOJ should not drop charges against Boeing (The Seattle Times) $

CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM

• Ferguson signs bill to help farmers access CCA-exempt fuel into law (KWHT/KTEL/KWVN – Elkhorn Media)

CONGRESS

• Arizona, Washington, Colorado, others urge Congress to fully fund Head Start (The Center Square)

COURTS (STATE)

• Decades after Tacoma girl’s rape and murder, judge reduces killer’s life sentence (The News Tribune) $

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

• King Co. 2024 crime stats show more women victims (Snoqualmie Valley Record) $
• King County shootings drop, but kids with ‘Glock switch’ machine guns are the new warning sign (MyNorthwest)

CYBERSECURITY

• Cyberattack affects operations at Pierce County Library System (The Seattle Times) $

DRUG CRISIS

• WA sees largest drop in overdose deaths in a decade (The Seattle Times) $
• Bremerton police emphasizing drug arrests again, as state numbers shift under new laws (Kitsap Sun) $

EDUCATION

• Seattle district to lift some school enrollment barriers for families (The Seattle Times) $
• Amid $94M deficit, SPS leasing land across Seattle at 1980s-style rates (The Seattle Times) $
• Tacoma Public Schools cuts jobs amid $30M deficit, warns of more to come (The News Tribune) $
• COLUMN: How did the Seattle School Board lose its way? (Claudia Rowe/The Seattle Times) $

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• WA governor signs new 911 dispatch funding law, Spokane and SREC leaders to discuss future systems (KREM TV)
• Spokane to enter mediation as regional 911 network nears split (The Center Square)
• How Washington’s volcanoes are changing and the risk of eruptions (The News Tribune) $
• Underwater Pacific volcano expected to erupt. What would that mean for WA? (The Bellingham Herald) $
• 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption considered ‘game changer’ for volcanic observation (KING TV)

ENVIRONMENT

• A grassroots movement trying to keep the Washington coast clean (KNKX Radio)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE

• Former WA state senator appointed to Trump administration, again (Washington State Standard)
• Moody’s strips U.S. government of top credit rating, citing Washington’s failure to rein in debt (AP)
• FBI: Murder and rape suspect extradited from Mexico to Washington state, after deportation (MyNorthwest)
• OPINION: Bureaucratic restraint improves economic opportunity (Madi Clark, senior policy analyst for the Mountain States Policy Center/The Spokesman-Review) $

FISH

• U.S. Sen. Murray says Trump zeroes out $500M for WA fish passage project (The Seattle Times) $

GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

• Gov. Bob Ferguson signed 50 bills into Washington state law Saturday. Here’s what they are (KING TV)
• Governor Ferguson makes first official visit to Tri-Cities; signs 11 new bills into law (KEPR TV)

GUN RIGHTS

• BLOG: How many rounds does one need for self-defense part of court’s ruling (Jim Camden/The Spokesman-Review) $

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• EDITORIAL: Gov. Ferguson should veto harmful cuts and taxes on WA hospitals (The Seattle Times) $

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Bipartisan bill promises college access for low-income students (KIRO TV)
• CWU trustees approve steep cuts to student-run publications for one year (Yakima Herald-Republic) $
• OPINION: UW President Cauce leaves a legacy in the Inland Northwest (Mark Ostersmith, president of the University of Washington Alumni Association/The Spokesman-Review) $

HOMELESSNESS

• Report: Job loss tops list of causes for homelessness in King County (The Center Square)
• Seattle offers short lease to homeless camp (The Seattle Times) $
• The number of homeless students rising fast in Thurston County’s urban districts (The Olympian) $

HOUSING

• OPINION: HB 1217 – Rent control is law … or is it? (Bill Black, senior mortgage broker and real estate investor/Clark County Today)
• OPINION: Proposed federal housing cuts would hit Snohomish County hard (Laurie Olson, CEO of the Housing Authority of Snohomish County/The Seattle Times) $

LAND USE & PROPERTY RIGHTS

• EDITORIAL: Springwood Ranch partnership is worth a celebration (Yakima Herald-Republic) $

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Sheriff Rob Snaza speaks on rumors surrounding his six-week absence (The Chronicle)
• Special investigator weighs in on Benton sheriff’s role in gun rights depute (Tri-City Herald) $
• OPINION: Seattle police chief: How our department is policing forward (Shon F. Barnes, chief of police at the Seattle Police Department/The Seattle Times) $

LEGISLATURE

• New Washington law keeps identifying information of whistleblowers private following investigation into Spokane Valley councilman (The Spokesman-Review) $
• OPINION: New WA child abuse-reporting law is not ‘anti-Catholic’ (Mary Dispenza, former Catholic nun, educator and National Distinguished Principal/The Seattle Times) $
• COLUMN: God’s law vs. Man’s law: Assistant AG for Civil Rights reveals why WA clergy reporting law faces investigation (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)
• EDITORIAL: This Seattle Democrat doesn’t know all that’s best for our side of WA (Tri-City Herald) $

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• ‘Tone-deaf’: Proposed Seattle earplug law draws mixed reactions (The Seattle Times) $
• Wilkeson, cut off from Mount Rainier, faces a fresh existential crisis (The Seattle Times) $

MEDIA

• ‘It’s necessary for a community to thrive’: Rural newspapers refocus their publications as news deserts grow (The Spokesman-Review) $
• AudioSphere LLC buys KOZI, KZAL from Chelan Valley Media Group (The Wenatchee World) $

OPERATING BUDGET

• Raises for one union not funded in WA budget, leading to finger-pointing (The Seattle Times) $
• Boschma family offered 20 acres in Ridgefield for a police training academy; Legislature didn’t allocate money for the project (The Columbian) $

OTHER STATES

• Oregon’s landmark bottle redemption law may change due to concerns over drugs and homelessness (AP)

POLITICS

LOCAL

• COLUMN: Seattle’s bad case of ‘blue city blues’ is finally taking a turn (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times) $

NATIONAL

• Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer (AP)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• Students with Seattle Student Union push back on possible return of resource officers (KING TV)
• Tumwater School District to hire investigator after students protest alleged sexual harassment (The Chronicle/The Olympian)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Soon-to-close Ahtanum View work release center helps people get on their feet after prison (Yakima Herald-Republic) $

TAXES

• OPINION: When the government takes more, remember this: Democrats see paying taxes as a ‘privilege’ (Sen. John Braun/The Chronicle)

TRANSPORTATION

• Tolling delay on I-5 bridge could mean higher rates for Washington and Oregon drivers (Washington State Standard)
• Gov. Ferguson signs bill raising driver’s education age requirements (FOX 13)
• New WA law requires speed-restricting tech for reckless drivers ‘to save lives’ (The Olympian) $
• New ‘shared streets’ law allows Washington cities to set 10 mph speed limit (KNDO/KNDU)
• ‘We don’t want the money’: WA trucking industry resists EV mandate (The Center Square)
• Despite headwinds, Washington is forging ahead with clean trucking (KNKX Radio)
• Alaska Airlines planes clip wings near Sea-Tac Airport gates (The Seattle Times) $
• Sustainable aviation fuel center gets funding boost (The Everett Herald) $

WATER

• Rural-focused organization launches effort to address infrastructure needs in rural WA (Washington State Standard)
• Yakima basin water supply drops to 48% of normal (Capital Press) $

WEATHER & CLIMATE

• Where local forecast offices no longer monitor weather round-the-clock (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times) $

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• Wind-driven brush fire torches 1,500 acres in Kittitas County (KPQ Radio)

WILDLIFE

• Hunting advocates petition for removal of four Washington Fish and Wildlife commissioners (The Spokesman-Review) $
• Feeding deer, elk, moose now illegal in Washington; Bird feeders discouraged (KHQ TV)
• Feds to reduce grizzly monitoring in Selkirks (The Spokesman-Review) $

WOLVES

• Wolves attack calves in Ferry County (The Spokesman-Review) $

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