State & Regional News | The Daily Chronicle

The gravesite of Khalisee Brian Crabill, an infant who died in Cowlitz County in 2022, captured at Green Hills Crematory on Friday, Aug. 23 in Kelso. The Cowlitz County Coroner's Office says Khalisee's family was given the incorrect dead body during previous coroner Tim Davidson's term.

Cowlitz County coroner confuses two dead babies; one family buries wrong infant

Cowlitz County Coroner Dana Tucker confirms two dead babies were mixed up at the morgue during her predecessor’s tenure, with one family receiving and burying the wrong child in summer 2022. … more

Matt Esnayra / The Daily News | 1/4/25

Angler paid record $164,000-plus for fishing the Columbia and Snake rivers in 2024

A summer spent fishing was lucrative for one angler who earned a record amount of just over $164,000 for turning in the northern pikeminnow they caught in the Columbia or Snake rivers. The … more

Annette Cary / Tri-City Herald (TNS) | 1/4/25

Thurston County reports first flu-related death of the season

Thurston County has recorded its first influenza-related death for the 2024-2025 flu season, according to a Friday news release. The county learned about the death as the state is seeing a rise … more

Martín Bilbao / The Olympian (TNS) | 1/4/25

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, left, and Jerrod Sessler.

Failed Washington candidate heads to D.C. to support Jan. 6 rioters and plot third run for Congress

Failed Central Washington congressional candidate Jerrod Sessler says he’ll travel to Washington, D.C., next week to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. … more

By Eric Rosane / The Tri-City Herald (TNS) | 1/4/25

Hens peck through dirt west of Chehalis.

Washington state consumers face limited, increasingly expensive egg options as bird flu affects grocery prices

Judy Simon noticed something strange during her Thursday evening grocery trip in Redmond. The shelves held no chicken eggs, only a few cartons of quail eggs. Limited and increasingly expensive … more

Sofia Schwarzwalder / The Seattle Times (TNS) | 1/4/25

‘I’ll go John Wick on you’: Man charged in Pierce County standoff after firing at officers

A man is facing nearly a dozen charges of first-degree assault after a brazen New Year’s Day standoff with Lakewood police in which he allegedly fired at multiple officers and his … more

Shea Johnson / The News Tribune (TNS) | 1/4/25

Speeding Domino’s pizza delivery driver fatally strikes Oregon man, $4M lawsuit claims

A man walking to a bus stop was fatally struck by a pizza delivery driver who racked up several speeding tickets before and after the deadly 2022 crash, according to a lawsuit. The family of … more

Zane Sparling / oregonlive.com (TNS) | 1/4/25

More than $130,000 offered to catch wolf poachers in Oregon but rewards rarely lead to prosecution

Wildlife officials and conservation groups are offering more than $130,000 for tips leading to an arrest or citation in a series of wolf poaching cases over the past two years across Oregon. … more

Gosia Wozniacka / oregonlive.com (TNS) | 1/4/25

NTSB investigators examine the door plug from Alaska Airlines flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX.

FAA administrator: Boeing needs ‘a fundamental cultural shift’

A year after a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX midflight, a Federal Aviation Administration official says the company is in need of “a fundamental cultural shift … more

By Carleen Johnson / The Center Square | 1/4/25

Washington state lawmakers propose six gun control bills ahead of 2025 legislative session

In less than two weeks, state legislators will convene for the 2025 legislative session, taking action on hundreds of bills, six of which they have already proposed around gun control. … more

Tim Clouser / The Center Square | 1/4/25

State Rep. Jim Walsh speaks during a “Let’s Go Washington” rally at the Capitol in Olympia on Thursday, June 6.

Washington state GOP chair doesn't think Dems are serious about Inslee's proposed wealth tax

Last month, outgoing Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee proposed a 1% tax on an individual’s wealth above $100 million as part of a plan to plug a projected budget shortfall of between $10 … more

By Carleen Johnson / The Center Square | 1/4/25

A Japanese beetle in the Grandview area in 2021. (Washington State Department of Agriculture)

Washington state agency asks thousands of property owners for help in fight against invasive bug

Property owners in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties are being asked to cooperate with state efforts to eradicate invasive Japanese beetles by allowing Washington’s Department of Agriculture … more

By Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero / The Washington State Standard | 1/4/25

Washington Congressman Michael Baumgartner, center left, is sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 3, 2025, joined by his wife Eleanor and their children, and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana. Baumgartner, a Republican, is beginning his first term representing eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District. (Photo courtesy of Michael Baumgartner)

Washington state’s two new members of Congress are sworn in

Republican Michael Baumgartner and Democrat Emily Randall became Washington’s newest representatives in Congress on Friday afternoon. They were sworn in following the session’s first … more

By Jerry Cornfield / The Washington State Standard | 1/4/25

The Washington state Capitol building is pictured in Olympia on Thursday, Jan. 2.

Legislature prepares to convene for 2025 session

While the start of a new year brings eternal optimism, it also means that the state’s lawmakers will soon return to Olympia to address the concerns of Washington residents. In Washington, … more

By Mitchell Roland / mitchell@chronline.com | 1/3/25

The sun sets on Mount St. Helens as pictured from the top of Windy Ridge Viewpoint in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on Tuesday, July 9.

Registration for Mount St. Helens Volcano Naturalist Program closes Jan. 21

Registration is still open for the Mount St. Helens Institute’s 12-week Volcano Naturalist Program, which runs Feb. 4 to April 29. Participants in this program will explore diverse aspects … more

By The Chronicle staff | 1/3/25

Tahlequah, J35, carries her dead calf, J61, Wednesday off Point Robinson on Vashon Island. J61 was confirmed dead New Year’s Eve.

Mother orca Tahlequah once again carrying her dead calf

Tahlequah the mother orca is once again carrying a dead calf, researchers said, as she did in 2018 in a 17-day, 1,000-mile tour that shocked the region and world. “It’s heartbreaking … more

By Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle Times | 1/3/25

Amazon employees head into the Houdini North office building, Thursday morning, Jan. 2, 2025 in Seattle, the day that the company’s policy requiring 5-day RTO — instead of 3 — goes into effect.

Amazon’s Seattle campus still quiet as 5-days-in-office deadline hits

Amazon’s first day back in the office felt like any other Thursday. Which is to say, none too busy in downtown Seattle. In Seattle’s South Lake Union and Denny Triangle neighborhoods … more

Lauren Rosenblatt and Alex Halverson / The Seattle Times (TNS) | 1/3/25

Ex-prisoner sues Washington state DOC, saying it didn’t protect her from sex assault by cellmate

A woman formerly incarcerated at the women’s prison in Gig Harbor recently filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that corrections officers ignored her complaints about her cellmate … more

By The News Tribune (TNS) | 1/3/25

U.S. President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn before boarding the Marine One presidential helicopter and departing the White House on February 29, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Biden signs anti-hazing bill backed by Washington state parents

Sam Martinez's story keeps changing laws. After his death five years ago during a fraternity hazing ritual, his parents, Jolayne Houtz and Hector Martinez of Bellevue, turned their grief into … more

Dahlia Bazzaz / The Seattle Times (TNS) | 1/3/25

Thurston County mother sentenced to over 18 years in prison for murdering her 3-year-old child

A judge has sentenced an Olympia mother to over 18 years in prison for murdering her 3-year-old child in 2022. Sarah Lynn Morrill, 43, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Thurston County … more

Martín Bilbao / The Olympian (TNS) | 1/3/25