Washington Government News

More than 7,000 new concealed pistol licenses have been issued in Washington State since Examiner last checked with the Department of Licensing in mid-May, bringing the total to 433,223 as of Monday morning, when this column noted new figures would be available.

In Washington state, government appears headed for a partial shutdown unless legislators can break their stalemate and agree on a single budget by July 1. In Oregon, even though a budget stalemate of sorts is continuing, there's almost no likelihood of a partial shutdown of state government.

In this Jan. 31, 2008, file photo President Bush waves after signing a 15-day extension of the Protect America Act after a speech in Las Vegas.

Cascadia Research Collective's baleen whale researcher John Calambokidis says the increased sightings are consistent with the population rebound the whales have seen off the country's West Coast.

ONE thinks of Dr. Woodrow Wilson's biography of George Washington as of one of the strangest of all the world's books.

Patricia 'Trish' Rose became the U.S. military's highest ranking out Gay officer May 31. She is married to retired Navy Lt.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday to restrict transfer of detainees to Yemen, a move designed to stall the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

I am so happy to hear that the Washington Legislature has been watching and learning from our fine U.S. government.

Heroin use and related deaths have increased significantly across Washington over the past decade, especially among people younger than 30, according to a new study released Wednesday.

Under the current draft rules, the WSLCB will open a 30-day application window for all license types in Septemeber.

The Internal Revenue Service hadn't spoken four sentences about its targeting of conservative groups before it blamed "our line people in Cincinnati."

A dead whale was found beached Wednesday night along the Washington coast, just about three miles north of Ocean City.

Gun control is a hot topic all over the nation and the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility just turned up the temperature of the debate in Washington State.

The first of what will likely be a chain of editorials supporting the gun control initiative filed by the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility appeared today in the Vancouver Columbian .

Over his decades in public life, former Gov. Albert Rosellini helped bring Washington into the modern era, burnishing his reputation as one of the state's most effective leaders by reforming state prisons, modernizing mental health institutions and helping create the 520 floating bridge that links Seattle to its job-rich eastern suburbs.

Six new wildfires flare in the Northwest over the past 24 hours, scorching more than 14,000 acres.

Be honest -- you would be, too, if the nation's elected leaders won their high offices by repeatedly running campaigns that bellowed how much they, and all right-thinking Americans, distrusted and despised Your Hometown.

The inaugural report found that women make up a sizeable percentage of Washington's affluent, accounting for 40 percent of the state's wealthy.

The District has a higher percentage of female residents than any of the 50 states, according to census data released Thursday.

A shutdown could occur if the Legislature fails to adopt a budget before July 1 when the new fiscal year begins.