Latest Washington Headlines
All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Elk Damage to Washington Farms Estimated at $1.4M
Jun 11 2019 // The growing elk population in the Skagit County, Wash. is costing farmers $1.4 million a year, according to a new estimate. That figure is slightly down from the $1.5 million estimate released in January, the Skagit Valley...
Washington Supreme Court Rules Against Florist in Gay Wedding Case
Jun 7 2019 // A florist who refused to provide floral arrangements for the wedding of a same-sex couple violated the state’s consumer protection and anti-discrimination laws, Washington’s Supreme Court has ruled. The ruling...
Washington Proposes Changes to Safety Rules for Refinery Workers
Jun 5 2019 // Washington state officials are working to revise regulations that aim to keep oil refinery workers safe. The Skagit Valley Herald reported that the state Department of Labor and Industries has developed a new set of rules...
Washington Couple Charged with Auto Insurance Fraud
Jun 3 2019 // Brittany Jones and Steven Jones, of Marysville, Wash., each were charged with one count of filing a false insurance claim in Snohomish County Superior Court on May 14. The charges stem from an auto insurance claim and...
Driver Involved in Washington Duck Boat Crash Gets $2M Settlement
May 28 2019 // The driver of a duck boat vehicle in the 2015 deadly crash in Seattle has accepted a $2 million settlement for his claims against the tour company. SeattlePI.com reports Eric Bishop announced the settlement Friday in...
Washington Man Pleads Guilty, 4 Others Charged in Pay-As-You-Crash Cases
May 28 2019 // One man was sentenced and four people were charged in separate insurance fraud investigations by Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal Investigations Unit. Paul Albarella, of Kennewick, pleaded...
Washington Couple Charged with Auto Insurance Fraud
May 23 2019 // Brittany Jones and Steven Jones, of Marysville, Wash., each were charged with one count of filing a false insurance claim in Snohomish County Superior Court on May 14. The charges stem from an auto insurance claim and...
London Marine Insurers Expand Middle East Threat Zone After Saudi Ship Attacks
May 17 2019 // London’s marine insurance market has extended the list of waters deemed high risk to include Oman, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf after ship attacks off Fujairah, officials said on Friday, in a move that could...
New Washington Law Requires Plan for Statewide Disaster Resilience
May 14 2019 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s proposal to prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate disasters was signed into law this week by Gov. Jay Inslee. Senate Bill 5106 passed through state...
Washington’s New Short-Term Rental Law Requires Liability Insurance
May 13 2019 // Legislation signed into law by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee requires short-term rentals to remit all taxes, maintain liability insurance and includes critical consumer safety provisions, according to the Washington...
9 Guilty So Far in Massive Washington Fraud Case
May 3 2019 // Nine people have pleaded guilty in a massive case of fraud in Washington in which the participants smashed cars into each other and committed other staged accidents in four western states to collect more than $6 million...
Washington D.C. Plans to Confront Climate Change by Retrofitting Flood-Prone Buildings
Apr 29 2019 // Washington is announcing a goal of retrofitting or removing all of its flood-prone buildings by 2050, the first major U.S. city to set such a policy. The proposal is part of a broader plan to protect Washington, which is...
Crane Collapse Casts Pall Over Seattle’s Rapid Growth
Apr 29 2019 // The crane collapse in the heart of Seattle’s tech hub Saturday ended four lives, cast a pall on the city’s rapid expansion and may lead to tens in millions of dollars of costs for a building that Alphabet...
Former Washington Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty to Theft
Apr 26 2019 // Former Washington insurance agent Abu Ameena Ward has pleaded guilty in Pierce County Superior Court to one count of third-degree theft and was ordered to pay $18,666 in restitution to Farmers Insurance and $700 in court...
Board Faults Utility’s Equipment in Fatal 2016 Explosion in Maryland
Apr 25 2019 // A gas company’s faulty equipment is the most likely cause of an explosion at a suburban Maryland apartment complex that killed seven people in 2016, according to federal report issued Tuesday. The explosion and fire...
Brown & Brown Acquires Assets of ALMEA Insurance in Washington
Apr 22 2019 // Brown & Brown of Oregon LLC has acquired substantially all of the assets of ALMEA Insurance’s Vancouver, Wash. location. Following the deal, the ALMEA Insurance team will continue doing business from its existing...
Washington Commissioner Fines Pet Insurer $25K
Apr 16 2019 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler issued fines in March totaling $158,000 against insurance companies, agents and brokers for violating state insurance regulations, including one fine of $25,000 levied...
Washington Official Wants to Raise Insurance Tax to Help Fight Wildfires
Apr 15 2019 // With an increasing number of forest fires scorching portions of Washington each year, the Legislature is considering a proposal to create a fund dedicated to preventing and battling wildfires. In March, Commissioner of...
Brake Complaints Cause Lyft to Replace 3,000 Electric Bikes in 3 Cities
Apr 15 2019 // Lyft Inc. is removing several thousand electric bikes from service in its bike-share program in New York, Washington and San Francisco because of a braking problem, the ride-hailing company said on Sunday. “We...
Insurers Oppose Premium Tax to Fund Washington’s Wildfire Prevention
Apr 9 2019 // Lobbyists for the property/casualty insurance industry are trying to prevent a $125 million jump in the state of Washington’s insurance premium tax that would fund wildfire prevention and suppression. The tax would...
