Government

OLYMPIA – While State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti has been in office, he has spoken to thousands of people across the state. Not one, Pellicciotti said Thursday, has told him they feel adequately versed in financial education or financial literacy.

WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans from the Inland Northwest have largely stood by the Trump administration this week amid bipartisan scrutiny of U.S. military strikes on small boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, after the Pentagon acknowledged launching a second missile to kill two survivors of an attack in September.

On the eve of a major expansion, a multibillion-dollar project to upgrade the computer systems of all Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals is beset with problems, according to some medical staff who already use it. Critical patient notes disappear. Prescriptions log the wrong dosages. One nurse said the system incorrectly listed one of her patients as dead.

The Trump administration has filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to compel the state to turn over information about Washington voters, including names, dates of birth, addresses and either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number as part of the White House’s crackdown on electoral systems around the country.

Kratom, an herbal supplement available at many gas stations nationwide even while public health experts warn of possible harms, could soon be banned within Spokane city limits.

Spokane County is cutting 120 jobs in next year’s tight budget, but most of the positions already are empty.

How best to spend, save and raise money will be a recurring theme when Washington lawmakers convene in Olympia next week for their annual “committee days.”

Thousands of votes came in after Election Night in Spokane County. Most passed muster and were counted.

The race for a Cheney City Council seat will come down to a recount.

A bipartisan group of attorneys general – including Nick Brown of Washington and Raul Labrador of Idaho – is again pushing to stop a federal ban on states regulating artificial intelligence.

EUPEN, Belgium – About two dozen people met in a white stone parliament building in eastern Belgium on a recent Saturday. They held a lively debate over the region’s retirement policy and hashed out recommendations.

Spokane Valley City Council members rejected a call to issue an apology or stronger condemnation of Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger, who declared herself a “proud Islamophobe” in a Facebook post last week.

Recent changes to how grants are awarded through a federal housing program are illegal and will limit Washingtonians’ access to long-term housing and other services, state Attorney General Nick Brown alleged in a multistate lawsuit filed Tuesday.

WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump on Tuesday touted progress in talks to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, an Eastern Washington lawmaker said any peace deal must protect U.S. interests in the region and include the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia.

Dozens of people called for Spokane Valley Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger’s resignation and want her to apologize for a controversial post she made on her personal Facebook last week.

OLYMPIA – Washington state is fining health insurance giant Regence Blue Shield over half a million dollars for disparities between its mental health and medical coverage.

OLYMPIA – Colleen Melody, a Spokane native and graduate of Ferris High School, will fill an upcoming opening on the Washington Supreme Court, Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Monday.

WASHINGTON – When the Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday for a hearing on the rising cost of health care in the United States, Republicans and Democrats agreed the problem has become a national crisis, but it didn’t take long for the parties to demonstrate why they’ve had such a hard time working together to solve it.

As winter looms on the Lilac City’s horizon, so too does the question of what to do with Spokane’s homeless population.