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Articles written by Laurel Demkovich


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  • Scammers claiming to be from a state agency are targeting Washington businesses

    Laurel Demkovich, States Newsroom|Dec 12, 2024

    Businesses and nonprofit organizations should watch out for fraudulent letters that claim to be asking for money on behalf of the Washington Office of the Secretary of State. Since early November, the attorney general’s office has received at least 40 complaints about the letters, which ask businesses for payment and fines “well beyond” what the state requires for business filings. There have also been several reports of telephone scams targeting Latino businesses and threatening jail time if payment isn’t made. The secretary of state’s...

  • New Washington budget boosts state spending by $2B

    Laurel Demkovich-Jerry Cornfield|Apr 4, 2024

    The Washington State Legislature passed a $69.8 billion operating budget last year. The added money approved this session will be spent through June 2025 when the state’s budget resets. About half of that money is for “maintenance level” costs for government activities already underway. The other half is for new policy investments. Inslee on Friday also signed a supplemental capital budget, which will pay for construction costs across the state. On Thursday, he put his signature on the supplemental transportation budget. Here are some areas whe...

  • Initiative to prohibit state income taxes has its day in Olympia

    Laurel Demkovich for the Washington State Standard|Mar 7, 2024

    In a packed hearing room on Tuesday, Washington lawmakers heard loud and clear from members of the public that many do not want an income tax in their state, county, or city. 6,000 signed in either for or against a citizen backed initiative that would prohibit state and local governments from imposing a tax on personal income. Almost 90% of those signed were in favor of the initiative. “This initiative is designed to do one thing: codify in law the state’s longstanding tradition of not having an income tax,” initiative sponsor Rep.Jim Walsh...

  • State Senate pitches new spending

    Laurel Demkovich for the Washington State Standard|Mar 7, 2024

    Elementary school children, unhoused residents, electric vehicle owners and soccer fans are all covered in the Washington Senate’s capital budget proposal. Budget writers on Thursday released their $1.3 billion plan, which funds construction and infrastructure projects across the state. It includes new money for affordable housing, K-12 schools and behavioral health facilities, with increases of more than $100 million in each of those areas. Nearly half the money in the plan comes from the state’s new auction of air pollution allowances to busi...

  • Mount Rainier National Park to require reservations at popular entrances this summer

    Laurel Demkovich for the Washington State Standard|Jan 25, 2024

    Many visitors to Mount Rainier National Park will need reservations this summer to enter some of the park's most popular areas. From May 24 through Labor Day, most visitors entering the Nisqually and Stevens Canyon entrances between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. will need to make an online or phone reservation ahead of time. Reservations will also be required at the White River entrance to the Sunrise corridor via State Route 410 from July 3 through Labor Day. The decision to test a new reservation system...

  • Ranchers and farmers would help state fight wildfires under proposal in Legislature

    Laurel Demkovich|Jan 18, 2024

    Washington lawmakers want the state to partner with farmers, ranchers and others to better fight wildland fires. House Bill 1971 would set up a rangeland fire protection association pilot project through the Department of Natural Resources to give ranchers and farmers some training and other resources to make initial attacks on fires on private, non-forested land. The proposal requires the department to set up three separate pilot projects east of the Cascade Mountains by the beginning of the...

  • Inslee acts early to hand off power to a new governor

    Laurel Demkovich, Washington State Standard|Dec 21, 2023

    Come January 2025, a transition of power will occur for the first time in more than a decade in the Washington state governor’s office. The work to ensure the shift goes smoothly after a new governor is elected next year will begin long before the swearing-in ceremony. “Think of it like a small independent agency,” said Kelly Wicker, Gov. Jay Inslee’s deputy chief of staff. “There’s the winding down of the current administration and the coming in of a new administration.” Inslee is not running for a fourth four-year term in 2024. Transitioning...

  • Conservationists fail to tighten wolf killing rules

    Laurel Demkovich, Washington State Standard|Nov 2, 2023

    Washington fish and wildlife officials have declined a request from conservation groups to tighten restrictions around when wolves that attack livestock can be killed. A petition the groups filed in September with the state Fish and Wildlife Commission described Washington's system for dealing with wolf-livestock conflicts as "ineffective." It asked the panel to reopen rulemaking in order to put in place stricter protocols for when the state or ranchers are allowed to kill wolves. The commission on Saturday voted 6-3 against that request....