Latest Washington Headlines

All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Washington Panel Issues Dueling Climate Reports

Feb 10 2014 // A bipartisan Washington climate panel has released dueling reports how to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The panel posted separate reports online in late January, splitting along party lines. It had...

Hole-in-one Insurance Fraudster in Washington Sentenced

Feb 7 2014 // Kevin Kolenda, 56, a Connecticut businessman who has been reportedly defrauding golf tournaments and golfers for two decades, was sentenced Friday in King County Superior Court in Washington. Judge Jean Rietschel sentenced...

Jury in Washington Awards $9M to Wrongfully Convicted Officer

Feb 5 2014 // A federal court jury in Tacoma, Wash. has awarded $9 million to a former Vancouver police officer who was wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing his children in the 1980s and spent nearly 20 years in prison. Ray Spencer...

PCI Bolsters Washington Operations with 3 Hires: Glassic, Austin, Gray

Feb 5 2014 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI)said it has added three new hires. Tom Glassic will join the association as vice president, policy and government relations; Nicole Austin will join the...

Washington Lawsuit Settled In 2010 Tesoro Refinery Blast

Jan 31 2014 // The attorney representing families of six workers killed in a 2010 explosion at Tesoro’s Anacortes oil refinery have settled a lawsuit against Tesoro and Shell Oil Co. Attorney David Beninger told KING-TV the...

Online Insurance Transactions Pondered by Washington Legislature

Jan 27 2014 // Washington state legislators will consider modernizing how insurance transactions are conducted. House Bill 2662, authored by State Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, will enable policyholders to access their insurance policy...

Washington Panel Issues Dueling Climate Reports

Jan 24 2014 // A bipartisan Washington climate panel has released dueling reports how to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The panel posted separate reports online Wednesday, splitting along party lines. It had missed a...

Felony DUI Bill Working in Washington Legislature

Jan 22 2014 // A Seattle man who lost his parents and whose wife and infant son were seriously injured last March by a drunken driver asked a Senate panel on Monday to pass a measure that would make it a felony charge to drive under the...

Commuter Train Crashes Prompt Call for Safety Improvements

Jan 17 2014 // Commuter rail accidents including a New York derailment last month that killed four prompted a U.S. investigative agency to name improving transit safety as its top priority for 2014. The National Transportation Safety...

Senate Re-Election Politics Boosts Flood Insurance Delay Proposals

Jan 16 2014 // Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will do just about anything to help Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. He arranged the chamber’s floor agenda this week so Landrieu could lead debate on a flood insurance rate reprieve...

Benefits Team Joins Leavitt Group in Washington

Jan 14 2014 // The Leavitt Group’s Tacoma, Wash. office has expanded services by bringing on three employee benefits professionals. Jon Montgomery, senior executive vice president of benefits, will lead the new employee benefits...

Calls for Tougher Chemical Regulation Follow West Virginia Spill

Jan 14 2014 // A chemical spill that left 300,000 people in West Virginia unable to drink their water is reviving calls for more stringent regulation of thousands of chemical storage sites in the U.S., especially those near water...

Obamacare to Ramp Up Pitch to Younger Insureds

Jan 14 2014 // The U.S. government said it would ramp up Obamacare outreach in 25 cities to lure younger people to the program after a report showed about 70 percent of the initial customers are 35 years of age or older. The effort by...

Policing the ‘Dark Side’ of Internet of Things

Jan 13 2014 // The futuristic world of self-driving cars, eyeglasses that e-mail and trash cans that call for pickup is running into the old-fashioned pace of doing business in Washington. Companies from Google Inc. to Bayerische Motoren...

Deputy Assault Lawsuit Settled By Washington County

Jan 3 2014 // Yakima County, Wash. has settled a lawsuit stemming from an assault by an on-duty sheriff’s deputy against his estranged wife. The Yakima Herald reported the woman has reached a $250,000 settlement with the...

Cellphone Records Call Up Fraud Against Washington Woman

Dec 23 2013 // An investigation by Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s office has resulted in charges of theft and fraud against a Tacoma woman who attempted to collect insurance money for a car she claimed was stolen...

Judge Rejects Catholic Church Challenge to Obamacare Birth Control Coverage

Dec 23 2013 // The Catholic Church isn’t harmed by the U.S. Affordable Care Act’s requirement for providing employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives, a judge ruled, throwing out most of a lawsuit challenging the...

Washington Lawyer Faces Four Felonies in Alleged Insurance Scam

Dec 16 2013 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is looking for residents who might be victims of a Seattle attorney who has been charged with four felonies related to a $500,000 insurance settlement. Seattle private law...

How Insurance Industry Associations Help Those in Need

Dec 16 2013 // Big “I” member agents, along with former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann, at a Make-A-Wish event on April 21, 2013, at Pfitzner Stadium in Woodbridge, Va., to benefit local children. Big...

1,700 Pot Business Applications Received In Washington

Dec 12 2013 // Marijuana business license applications keep rolling in in Washington. The state Liquor Control Board says it has received 1,696 applications from people seeking permission to grow, process or sell cannabis under the new...