State & Regional News | The Daily Chronicle

Congress heads into 2026 with unfinished business. Here's a look at what's ahead.

The Capitol is quiet this week, with Congress out of town for its end-of-year recess, but lawmakers are gearing up for what promises to be a hectic few weeks of work when the Senate returns on … more

Orion Donovan Smith / The Spokesman-Review (TNS) | 12/30/25

Seattle no longer tops big cities for share of tech workers

Has Seattle passed peak tech? In a 2023 column, I reported on census data showing that tech employment in Seattle surged during the early years of the pandemic. From 2019 to 2022, the number of … more

Gene Balk / FYI Guy / The Seattle Times (TNS) | 12/30/25

Gas prices remain below $3 nationally, $4 in Washington

As the year ends, gas prices across the nation are sitting at their lowest. Nationally, the gas average remains under $3 a gallon. Across Washington, although higher than the national average, fuel … more

Nance Beston / Columbia Basin Herald (TNS) | 12/30/25

Man dies in Pierce County police shooting

Three Pierce County sheriff's deputies opened fire on a driver during a “high-risk stop" early Monday, leaving him dead, according to investigators. Deputies responded to reports of a … more

Kai Uyehara / The Seattle Times (TNS) | 12/30/25

This truck was stolen out of Port Angeles, involved in a burglary in Forks and spotted in Aberdeen by Flock cameras.

Flock camera leads to arrest for a stolen car in Grays Harbor County

Last week, Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office deputies were alerted by Aberdeen Police Department’s Flock cameras of a stolen vehicle out of Port Angeles traveling through Aberdeen. … more

By The Daily World | 12/30/25

An Alaska airliner docks at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona.

Alaska Air’s year of expansion will bring the world closer to Seattle

Last December, Alaska Air Group executive Ryan St. John said the SeaTac-headquartered airline had reached an “inflection point” in its 90-plus-year history. Alaska had recently completed its … more

Lauren Rosenblatt / The Seattle Times (TNS) | 12/30/25

The Washington state Capitol on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)

New laws and taxes take effect in Washington state on Jan. 1

Tax hikes on big business and rental cars. Unemployment benefits for workers on strike. Those are just a few of the changes to state law taking effect in Washington on New Year’s … more

By Jake Goldstein-Street / The Washington State Standard | 12/30/25

U.S. Supreme Court to take up key Second Amendment challenges in 2026

The United States Supreme Court is set to take up major gun rights cases in 2026 with decisions that could reshape access to firearms for millions of Americans. The Center Square spoke with … more

By Carleen Johnson / The Center Square | 12/29/25

A historic tassel can be seen with scorch marks from a fire set in the State Reception Room at the Capitol in Olympia on Friday, Nov. 21.

Gov. Bob Ferguson proposes $13M in Capitol security improvements following October break-in

Gov. Bob Ferguson proposed spending nearly $13 million to enhance security at the Capitol campus following an October break-in. The money, included in the governor's supplemental budget proposal … more

By Mitchell Roland / The Spokesman-Review | 12/29/25

These photos from Saturday’s memorial service for Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting were provided by the Washington State Patrol.

Loved ones remember Washington State Patrol trooper’s ‘infectious’ positivity

Washington State Patrol Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting was a relentless and infectious source of positivity and kindness, opening her heart to friends, strangers and animals, Guting's family and friends … more

By Amanda Zhou / The Seattle Times | 12/29/25

Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest full-time National Park Service ranger in the United States, poses for a portrait in her home a day before her 100th birthday on September 21, 2021 in Richmond, California.

Betty Reid Soskin, ‘trailblazing’ oldest national park ranger, dies at 104

Betty Reid Soskin, who rose to national prominence as the National Park Service’s oldest ranger and shared her experiences of racial segregation working on the World War II home front, has died. … more

By Lila Seidman / Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 12/29/25

Pictographs are shown in this photo. (Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks photo)

Pictographs vandalized at state park in Montana

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is seeking information on the vandalization of pictographs this month at Missouri Headwaters State Park. In a release, the agency said it appeared a person … more

By Jordan Hansen / The Daily Montanan | 12/29/25

The State Capitol building on January 23, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

Idaho’s replica Liberty Bell to be restored for America250 celebration

Idaho state officials voted Dec. 19 to pay to refurbish the replica Liberty Bell on display on the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. The America250 in Idaho Advisory Council voted … more

By Clark Corbin / Idaho Capital Sun | 12/29/25

A young humpback whale stranded on the Oregon Coast north of Yachats on November 15, prompting a response of trained teams from across the West Coast through the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network. The whale was entangled when it first came ashore, but many of the lines were later cut away, leaving a short length jutting from the animal's mouth.

Conservation groups urge Oregon to reduce whale deaths from crab fishing gear

After at least four humpback whales were entangled this year in Oregon commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear, conservation groups are petitioning the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt … more

By Mia Maldonado / The Oregon Capital Chronicle | 12/29/25

Department of Homeland Security police, along with other federal police, push and tackle protesters at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility south of downtown Portland on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Photo by Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Oregon saw 1,100 immigration arrests in 2025, almost 10 times more than previous year

Federal immigration agents arrested about 1,100 people in Oregon this year, immigration experts estimate — a surge from the 113 arrests recorded in all of 2024. In August, the Trump … more

By Mia Maldonado / The Oregon Capital Chronicle | 12/29/25

Aaron Clark, a vice president for Price Warehouse & Cold Storage, focuses on hiring local workers for apple harvests grown on some 3,500 acres of central Washington orchard lands, which include this acreage near Union Gap. (Photo by Hal Bernton)

In Washington state orchards, immigration crackdown sows fear and uncertainty

UNION GAP, Wash. — On a chilly fall morning, farmworkers fanned out through an orchard here to pick rose-hued apples from green rows of trees that flank this central Washington valley’s irrigated … more

By Hal Bernton / The Washington State Standard | 12/29/25

Emma Stohrer, who is in her second year of an associate’s degree program in forest resources management at Grays Harbor College, is placing vexar tubing around the seedlings that are being planted.

Planting a future forest at the Satsop Business Park in Grays Harbor County

On the Satsop Business Park, where Keys Road intersects Lambert Road, brand-new yellow Vexar tubing dots the hillside amongst the sword fern and logging slash. Protected within these mesh tubs are … more

By Andrea Watts / The Daily World | 12/29/25

Grays Harbor County Commissioner Vickie Raines will not seek re-election

Grays Harbor County District 3 Commissioner Vickie Raines will not seek a fourth term and is stepping down from elected service. Raines made the announcement Friday afternoon. “After months of … more

By Jerry Knaak / The Daily World | 12/29/25

Then-Kalama Police Chief Ralph Herrera walks outside the Kalama Police Department in 2021 during a training.

Union accuses Southwest Washington police chief of being drunk in public before exit

Nearly a month before his abrupt October resignation as Kalama police chief, Rafael "Ralph" Herrera received a unanimous vote of no confidence from the police union that represents the department, … more

Matt Esnayra / The Daily News | 12/29/25

Coroner: Man sleeping outside killed by fallen tree amid heavy rains in Cowlitz County

Dennis Anderson, 53, died after a tree fell on his tent during a storm earlier this month, the Cowlitz County Coroner's Office reported Friday. The leader of a local nonprofit says he was … more

Minka Atkinson / The Daily News | 12/29/25