Starting May 7, 2025, U.S. travelers will need to be REAL ID compliant to board domestic flights and access certain federal facilities.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied the state's request for emergency relief funds to help repair damage from a deadly bomb cyclone in November.

Jimmy Carter considered himself such an environmentalist that he made green his signature campaign color.

The Navy has identified the two crew members killed when their jet fighter crashed near Mount Rainier last week as two 31-year-old aviators from California.

Former Washington state Gov. and U.S. Sen. Dan Evans has died.

Five months after holding its presidential primaries, Washington state is looking further down the ticket to select candidates to compete for federal and state offices in November.

Voters in Washington state will decide this fall whether to keep one of the country's more aggressive laws aimed at stemming carbon pollution.

Tens of millions of dollars raised by a landmark climate law in Washington state will go to Native American tribes that are at risk from climate change and rising sea levels to help them move to higher ground, install solar panels, buy electric vehicles and restore wetlands.

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday said Washington will spell out in state law that hospitals must provide abortions if needed to stabilize patients, a step that comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether conservative states can bar abortions during some medical emergencies.

At a time when book bans have soared to their highest levels in decades, a countertrend is emerging.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a multimillion-dollar measure to send state money to tribes and Indigenous people in the state who die from opioid overdoses at disproportionately high rates in Washington.

The race for the White House isn't the only one with big stakes for climate policy.

A federal judge on Friday rejected a challenge to a Washington state law that cleared the way for lawsuits against the gun industry in certain cases.

The Washington state House has overwhelmingly approved legislation that would ban police from hog-tying suspects, a restraint technique that has long drawn concern because of the risk of suffocation.

The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington have signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.

The Washington state Senate has voted overwhelmingly to make harassing election workers a felony.

Washington state's governor has called for the state to develop best practices on how agencies use generative artificial intelligence as it continues to incorporate the technology into government operations.

A coalition of 25 governors and the Biden administration are set to announce a pledge Thursday morning to quadruple the number of heat pumps in U.S. homes by 2030.

Nick Brown, who recently stepped down as U.S. attorney for western Washington, has announced he is running to become the state's next attorney general.

A federal judge has rejected a request to block a new Washington state law banning the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles.

Washington lawmakers approved and Gov. Jay Inslee quickly signed a major new drug policy, saying it strikes a balance between public order and compassion for those struggling with substance abuse.

Democratic and Republican leaders in the Washington Statehouse have reached a tentative deal on a major new drug policy, one that would avoid making the state the second to decriminalize the possession of controlled substances.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is calling lawmakers back to work after they rejected a bill setting out a new statewide drug policy.

Washington Gov. Jay Inlsee, a Democrat who has sought to make the state a leader on progressive policies from climate change to gun violence prevention, says he will not seek a fourth term in office.

Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan is in hot water, with Republican lawmakers calling for her resignation and the Democratic governor seeking investigations because Fagan took a consulting job with a marijuana firm.

Democratic governors in Washington state and Minnesota on Thursday enacted legal protections for people who travel to those states seeking reproductive and gender-affirming procedures and treatment.

One of Washington state's new gun laws is already facing a court challenge.

A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles has cleared the Democratic-controlled Washington state Legislature.

A handful of states led by Democratic governors are stockpiling doses of drugs used in medication abortions amid fears that a court ruling could restrict access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. Massachusetts has purchased enough doses of the drug mifepristone to last for more than a year.

The Washington Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s new capital gains tax, which was adopted by lawmakers in an effort to balance what is considered the nation’s most regressive tax code.

Nearly 400 school districts across the country are receiving grants totaling about $1 billion to purchase 2,500 “clean” school buses under a new federal program.

The 4th Congressional District in Washington state is a land of snow-capped volcanic peaks and lush irrigated apple orchards.

Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse, who voted to impeach Donald Trump, advanced to the general election following days of vote counts in Washington state’s primary.

Two Republican members of Congress from Washington who drew interparty challenges due to their vote to impeach former President Donald Trump were leading other Republicans in the state’s top two primary.

An Arizona lawmaker who embraces election conspiracies and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump has won the Republican primary for the top elections post in the presidential battleground.

Primary elections are being held in six states on Tuesday.

An Arizona lawmaker endorsed by former President Donald Trump and another lawmaker who also believes the 2020 election should be overturned are among four Republicans vying to be the top election officer in Arizona.

When the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established a right to abortion, it sparked legal changes and court challenges in states nationwide.

Across the U.S., numerous Republican-governed states are pushing for sweeping bans on abortion.

Democratic leaders across the nation are vowing to help women who travel to seek abortions.

Gun control measures are likely going nowhere in Congress, and they have also become increasingly scarce in most states.

Reproductive rights advocates are planning to open new abortion clinics or expand the capacity of existing ones in states without restrictive abortion laws.

A former judge and prosecutor is being appointed to oversee Washington state's new independent office to review cases in which police use deadly force — the first such agency in the United States.

There are signs the insurgent candidate backed by former President Donald Trump appears to be faltering in a crowded field of Republicans challenging the GOP incumbent for a U.S. House seat in conservative central Washington state.

The Supreme Court’s apparent intention to abolish a nationwide right to abortion, spelled out in a draft opinion leaked this week, will not be the final chapter in the nation’s most pitched culture battle.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is defending granting clemency to dozens of people, including for a man convicted of murdering a teenager and whose release from prison is coming under fire from prosecutors and sheriffs.

President Joe Biden plans to mark Earth Day in Seattle on Friday, but he's struggled to make progress on a sweeping environmental agenda.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed into law a bill that creates a first-in-the-nation statewide alert system for missing Indigenous people.

Ukrainian communities in cities like Sacramento and Seattle are mobilizing in anticipation of up to 100,000 refugees arriving in the United States amid Russia's invasion of their country.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a new law to make abortions cheaper for people on private insurance plans.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added a contaminated island on the Columbia River to the Superfund list of toxic waste sites.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a measure that prohibits legal action against people seeking an abortion and those who aid them.

On the day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, Koloud “Kay” Tarapolsi reflected the views of many people when she told an Associated Press reporter: “If we avoid each other and listen to the scientists, maybe in a few weeks it will be better."

Farmworkers in Oregon would earn overtime pay for the first time in the state under a bill that the Legislature has approved.

The governors of California, Oregon and Washington have announced that schoolchildren will no longer be required to wear masks starting March 12.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is urging state lawmakers to approve a bill that would make it a crime for elected officials or candidates to knowingly lie about election outcomes if those claims result in violence.

The Biden administration will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free to Americans starting next week.

Governors and state lawmakers are prioritizing climate change as they write their state budgets, devoting money to lowering emissions and guarding against natural disasters such as flood and fire.

U.S. health officials have updated their mask guidance, encouraging more Americans to wear N95 or KN95 masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Jake Dickert has been introduced as the new head football coach at Washington State University and vows to “bring the Pac-12 championship back here to Pullman, Washington.”.

Washington state's Republican secretary of state is preparing to move across the country to take a key election security position within the Biden Administration.

As parts of western Washington began drying out after an atmospheric river dumped days of rain, waters in some areas continued rising, more people were urged to evacuate and crews worked to restore power and reopen roads.

People in the small city of Sumas, Washington, are assessing damage from flooding that hit an estimated three quarters of homes in the community near the Canadian border.

Days of heavy rainfall and high winds Monday coming from a powerful atmospheric river in Washington caused extensive flooding and mudslides that forced evacuations, closed schools and closed Interstate 5 south of Bellingham.

U.S. governors are taking a seat at the table as international leaders gather in Scotland at a critical moment for global efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions and slow the planet's temperature rise.

Ordinary Americans and the nation's airlines are combining to donate miles and cash to help Afghan refugees resettle in the United States.

A Republican secretary of state who challenged former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020 will lead the Biden administration’s effort to protect future elections.

Washington State has fired football coach Nick Rolovich and four of his assistants for refusing a state mandate that all employees get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Opponents of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in Maine have filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after being dealt another legal defeat.

The Biden’s administration’s mandate that employers with 100 or more workers require coronavirus vaccinations or institute weekly virus testing has moved one step closer to enforcement.

Pakistan’s planning minister says the government will begin a drive to vaccinate children aged 12 or above to protect them from coronavirus.

Officials in the northeast China city of Harbin say national level health officials have been sent to the city to deal with what may be a coronavirus outbreak.

Religious objections were once used only sparingly around the country to get exempted from various required vaccines.

Washington hospital officials say the state is facing its own COVID-19 crisis and has little capacity to help Idaho deal with a surge of cases driven by unvaccinated people.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says President Joe Biden’s new federal vaccine requirements are “clearly unconstitutional” and that he believes Biden issued the mandate to distract Americans from the fallout over his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.

Israel says it will soon reopen its gates to foreign tour groups -- even as it battles one of the world’s highest rates of coronavirus infections.

A growing number of communities are moving to require teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of aggressive campaigns to ward off the delta variant, which has infected hundreds of thousands of children in the United States.

Washington State coach Nick Rolovich says he intends to follow a new state mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all those working at the state’s colleges and universities, including coaches.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is ordering that students and employees in the state’s schools wear masks indoors, as the fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus brings more infections and hospitalizations.

President Joe Biden is sounding the alarm about the need for more resources to fight a series of wildfires in Western states.

Washington state is embarking on a massive experiment in police reform and accountability following the racial justice protests that erupted after George Floyd’s murder last year, with nearly a dozen laws that took effect Sunday.

Washington state has become the second state in the Pacific Northwest in as many days to announce emergency rules that provide farmworkers and others who work outdoors more protection from hot weather.

The grim toll of the historic heat wave in the Pacific Northwest has become more apparent as authorities in Canada, Washington state and Oregon say they're investigating hundreds of deaths likely caused by extreme temperatures.

As the Pacific Northwest swelters in an unprecedented heat wave, an electrical utility in the Washington state city of Spokane has announced that more rolling blackouts have started that will cut off electricity and air conditioning to some customers.

The U.S. Supreme Court won't allow Wyoming and Montana to sue Washington state for denying a key permit to build a coal export dock.

Intense.

The Pacific Northwest sweltered Friday as a historic heat wave hit Washington and Oregon, with temperatures in many areas expected to top out 25 to 30 degrees above normal in the coming days.

Uganda is tightening its lockdown measures to try and stem a surge in coronavirus infections in the East African country that is seeing an array of variants.

Washington’s new “joints for jabs” vaccination incentive program is off to a rough start.

Mexican officials say they will use 1 million U.S. doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine to inoculate people along the border.

Washington is the latest state to offer prizes to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, with Gov. Jay Inslee announcing a series of giveaways during the month of June that include lottery drawings totaling $2 million, college tuition assistance, airline tickets and game systems.

After nearly four years of litigation and pandemic-related delays, a trial is underway to determine whether the GEO Group must pay minimum wage to detainees who perform cooking, cleaning and other tasks at its Northwest immigration detention center in Washington state.

Marcus Whitman has been an iconic figure from early Pacific Northwest history for generations.

Three Washington state police officers have pleaded not guilty to charges in the restraint death of a Black man who repeatedly told them he couldn't breathe.

The Environmental Protection Agency is restoring a rule that grants states and Native American tribes authority to block pipelines and other energy projects that can pollute rivers, streams and other waterways.

At least 17 states have prohibited or severely limited the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by police officers in the year since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis after being pinned under an officer's knee.

Even as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved earlier this month to ease indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, some blue states like Oregon and Washington are still holding on to certain longtime coronavirus restrictions.

A number of states have embraced new federal guidelines that say fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most situations.

New Mexico has adopted guidance on facemasks from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or outside in most cases.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a measure overhauling the state’s approach to drug possession, after the Washington Supreme Court struck down its previous law as unconstitutional.