Tag Archives: Washington state

The Associated Press reports: Anti-vaccine activists packed an Olympia, Washington public hearing Friday to oppose a bill that would make it harder for families to opt out of vaccination requirements for measles, mumps and rubella amid the state’s worst measles outbreak in more than two decades. An estimated 700 people, most of them opposed to stricter requirements, lined up before …

Yahoo News reports: Washington State University’s College Republicans hope to build an 18-foot wall in a nod to an 8×20-foot wall the group built in 2016 to “raise awareness of the issue of illegal immigration and border security” and, of course, to “own the libs mercilessly.” The students also hoping the internet will pick up the tab for their creative …

The Hill reports: Republican state Rep. Matt Shea, who published a manifesto calling for “war” against enemies of Christianity, was reelected in Washington state. Shea, a six-term legislator, won with 58.3 percent of the vote, defeating his Democratic challenger by a comfortable margin. In a manifesto he published and distributed titled “Biblical Basis for War,” Shea calls for the end …

The Spokane Review reports: Washington state Rep. Matt Shea acknowledged Wednesday he had distributed a four-page manifesto titled “Biblical Basis for War,” which describes the Christian God as a “warrior,” details the composition and strategies of a “Holy Army” and condemns abortion and same-sex marriage. The document is organized in 14 sections with multiple tiers of bullet points and a …

The Associated Press reports: Washington state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the death penalty, as applied, violates its Constitution. The ruling Thursday makes Washington the latest state to do away with capital punishment. The court was unanimous in its order that the eight people currently on death row have their sentences converted to life in prison. Five justices said the …

The Associated Press reports: An airline worker stole an empty Alaska Airlines plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington on Friday night, and the National Guard scrambled two fighter jets to chase the aircraft, which crashed on a sparsely populated island in Puget Sound, officials said. No passengers were aboard the 76-seat Horizon Air Q400 turboprop plane, which was stolen …

Reuters reports: After siding with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent back to lower courts a similar dispute over a florist who declined to create flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding based on her Christian beliefs. The justices threw out a 2017 ruing by Washington state’s …

Via press release from Democratic National Committee: Today, Democratic Governor Jay Inslee signed into law a bill banning licensed therapists from attempting conversion therapy on minors. Washington becomes the 11th state in the nation to ban the practice. In response, DNC LGBTQ Media Director Lucas Acosta issued the following statement: “Today, Washington State takes a huge step forward in protecting …

The Associated Press reports: Monday’s deadly Amtrak train derailment appears to have been caused by an object on the railway, according to a government official briefed on the crash. A preliminary investigation suggests maintenance problems are unlikely to blame because the incident took place on brand-new tracks, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. At least six …

The Week reports: President Trump tweeted that a devastating train crash in Washington state on Monday illustrates why his infrastructure plan “must be approved quickly.” A timeline for Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure overhaul — one of his major campaign promises — has been unclear, although it remains a possible next step in early 2018 after the GOP votes on a …

NBC News reports: An Amtrak train derailed on Monday morning, blocking southbound lanes of a highway near Tacoma, Washington. Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted a picture of the derailment at 7:45 a.m. PST, showing what appeared to be a car on its side over a highway lane. “All SB lanes of I-5 blocked near Mounts Road in Pierce County …

Seattle’s NBC affiliate reports: Officials with the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island said one of their aircraft was involved in the obscene skywritings spotted in Okanogan County. Photos sent to KREM 2 by multiple sources show skydrawings of what some people are saying is male genitalia. Some sources have even tweeted pictures of what they saw. A mother who lives …

The New York Daily News reports: A conservative YouTube conspiracy theorist has been accused of killing his father after he called him a Nazi. Lane Davis, whose Seattle4Truth YouTube channel includes warnings about a “world internet government” and fluoridated water, stabbed his dad to death, according to prosecutors in northern Washington state’s Skagit County. Audio from a 911 call published …

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: A Chelan County emergency services worker posted a disturbing joke to the county’s Facebook account, kidding about protesters being rammed three weeks after a Virginia protester was killed by a driver who did so. The worker managing the county’s emergency services Facebook account posted a crude cartoon with an illustration captioned: “All lives splatter … nobody …

The Associated Press reports: A florist from Washington state is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision by the state’s high court which concluded she violated the law by refusing to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding. Lawyers for Barronelle Stutzman on Friday contended the state Supreme Court decision violated her First Amendment protection for artistic expression. Her …

Via email from Washington Won’t Discriminate: Pop the champagne bottles, we just defeated I-1552! Backers of this dangerous initiative needed to submit 260,000 valid petition signatures to the Secretary of State by 3PM today to qualify for the ballot. They didn’t even show up to hand over their petitions. No signatures = automatic disqualification. I-1552 will NOT be on Washington’s …

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: Seattle Mayor Ed Murray won’t seek a second term in office, dropping his reelection bid as he faces allegations of sexual abuse from four men. Little more than a month after Murray was first publicly accused of paying a teen boy for sex in the 1980s, Murray said Tuesday morning that he will remain in office …

The Daily Beast reports: “Not today motherf**ker!” That’s what Kelly Herron says she kept screaming while fighting off the man who allegedly assaulted her in a public restroom at a Seattle park during an afternoon run on Sunday, March 5. Now the 36-year-old marathon runner has revived that phrase—her “battle cry,” as she calls it—to slam an anti-transgender group in …

The Associated Press reports: The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled that a florist who refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding broke anti-discrimination laws. The nine justices posted their unanimous ruling on Thursday. Barronelle Stutzman, a florist in Richland, Washington, had been fined by a lower court for denying service to a gay couple in 2013. Stutzman had …

Seattle’s CBS affiliate reports: A man was shot Friday night on the University of Washington campus during a protest for a controversial speaker, and the suspected shooter turned himself in claiming self defense, police said. A large crowd packed the Red Square area of campus Friday night protesting a speech by controversial Brietbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Police were blocking …