US: Washington (News/Activism)
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Five competitive cyclists – women in their 50s and 60s – met at the Tokul Creek trail north of Snoqualmie. At the yellow gate before riding into the deep forest, the women took a group selfie. They had no premonition that 19 miles in, a young male cougar would attack one of them, and that they’d spend 45 minutes in a battle for their lives. The first cougar, presumably the mother or a sibling, ran off. But the younger one paused … and then lunged at Keri Bergere, 60, who was biking a few paces ahead of him. “Looking to...
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The bar exam will no longer be required to become a lawyer in Washington, the state Supreme Court ruled in a pair of orders Friday. The court approved alternative ways to show competency and earn a law license after appointing a task force to examine the issue in 2020. The Bar Licensure Task Force found that the traditional exam “disproportionally and unnecessarily blocks” marginalized groups from becoming practicing attorneys and is “at best minimally effective” for ensuring competency, according to a news release from the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts. Washington is the second state to not require the...
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In 2022, Seattle's City Council passed an ordinance mandating a minimum earnings floor for app-based food delivery drivers in the city. The law finally went into effect in January 2024, but so far the main result has been customers deleting their delivery apps en masse, food orders plummeting, and driver pay cratering. The ordinance, part of a legislative package called "PayUp," was passed under the banner of protecting gig workers. By setting a compensation floor for app-based delivery drivers based on miles driven and amount of time worked, the ordinance operates as a (supremely complicated) minimum wage. The wage floor...
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BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A Mexican drug trafficker faces the potential of decades in federal prison after the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested him for peddling fentanyl from a homeless encampment in Bellingham. Prosecutors say Rigoberto Vasquez-Martinez, 32, had a "fortified compound" inside the encampment, which included armed security around the structure where he stayed. The city of Bellingham is in the process of trying to clear the encampment behind the Walmart on Stuart Road after years of shootings, explosions, overdoses, and drug crimes. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, Vasquez-Martinez was a significant supplier of drugs in Bellingham and...
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SEATTLE (KOMO) — The leader of a fraud ring that stole more than $6.8 million in pandemic benefits from nearly every major COVID-19 pandemic assistance program was sentenced to prison. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), 29-year-old Paradise Williams personally received more than $2 million in fraudulent proceeds and spent the money on luxury cars, lavish trips, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and designer goods. The DOJ said Williams was sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. “Paradise Williams was relentless in her efforts to steal pandemic benefits throughout the entire duration of our national emergency,...
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John Barnett, a whistleblower who had been involved in a lawsuit against Boeing, was found dead on March 9 in South Carolina, according to local officials.The 62-year-old was found dead “from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the Charleston County Coroner’s office told The Epoch Times in a statement.The coroner didn’t release additional details surrounding Mr. Barnett’s death, and the Charleston City Police Department is investigating.Mr. Barnett, who had worked for more than 30 years at Boeing before retiring in 2017, had become a vocal critic of the company’s safety and production quality practices. At the time of...
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BBC is reporting that an ex-Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the firm's production standards has been found dead in the United States — John Barnett had worked for Boeing for 32 years, until his retirement in 2017 — In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company. According to BBC, Charleston County coroner said the 62-year-old had died from a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" on 9 March and police were investigating.
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Chief Patrol Agent Lloyd Easterling called the decision 'unfortunate' and 'disheartening' Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the Biden administration's border policies have 'unilaterally destroyed' the country on 'Special Report.' The school district in Spokane, Washington voted unanimously to ban U.S. Border Patrol agents from entering schools, saying that it could be traumatizing for immigrant students. The movement to bar U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) personnel from the classrooms came after members of Latinos En Spokane, an advocacy group that supports the Latino community, said that immigrants seeing Border Patrol agents in their school could be traumatizing. "They could be...
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The trial is underway for a man accused in a 2021 quadruple murder in Tacoma. Maleke Pate is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of Raymond Williams, Natasha Brincefield, Emery Iese, and Maria Nunez. The shooting victims were identified in court documents and by the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. "Nothing, honestly, is going to bring any closure because our loved ones were taken," Lauvale Iese told KOMO News. Iese lost his wife, son and brother-in-law in the October 2021 shooting. It was an emotional day of opening remarks in a Pierce County courtroom Tuesday that...
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SEATTLE — The suspect accused of hitting and killing a Washington State Patrol (WSP) trooper on I-5 in Marysville early Saturday morning is a citizen of Mexico living in the United States "unlawfully," according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The 32-year-old man, with a Lynnwood address, is being held on charges related to vehicular homicide. He "entered the U.S. at an unknown date and time, without admission or parole by an immigration officer, and was first encountered by (Enforcement and Removal Operations) Seattle Oct. 28, 2013, at the South Correctional Entity, Burien, WA, following his arrest for failure...
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A city council meeting in Seattle became so unruly with far-left activists that councilmembers had to take several recesses and a handful of people wound up in handcuffs. On Tuesday, hundreds of activists, many of them wearing face masks, marched outside Seattle City Hall and flooded the chamber inside, demanding that local leaders allocate more resources toward immigrant housing rather than fund "racist" police equipment. The protestors included members of far-left groups such as Stop the Sweeps Seattle and Comunidad Sin Fronteras. "We need housing now!" they chanted in unison before one ringleader, believed to be Rosario Lopez Hernandez, rattled...
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TUKWILA, Wash. — The victim of a random drive-by shooting on Interstate 5 in Tukwila suffered serious injuries after a bullet struck his spinal cord. Evan Hershey was shot multiple times on southbound Interstate 5 in Tukwila on Monday, Feb. 19. According to Washington State Patrol (WSP) Trooper Rick Johnson, the victim was driving a 2015 Ford Mustang on southbound I-5 near I-405 when they were shot around 11 p.m. "We don’t know what to say, so we will do our best to share what we can," the Hershey family said. "Evan, our son, brother, and friend, needs our help."...
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JBLM Army doctor was formally arraigned on Friday in what has been described as the largest sexual assault case of its type in military history. Michael Stockin said little during the brief arraignment at the Cascade Courthouse Complex as part of an Article 120 hearing. He stands accused of sexually assaulting at least four dozen men during his time as a pain management doctor at Madigan Army Hospital at JBLM. Stockin deferred entering a plea during his first court appearance Friday, which is allowed in military court. A charging sheet obtained by KOMO News claims that Stockin abused the soldiers...
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A Seattle area bar association is apologizing after publishing an article calling for a genocide of Jews in its newsletter. The King County Bar Association Board of Trustees apologized after printing an article from one of its members and former director, Dua Abudiab, entitled From The River To The Sea, a phrase that calls for the destruction of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of its residents. Abudiab’s antisemitic screed was printed on the front page of the King County Bar Bulletin above the fold. Abudiab equated claims of "white nationalism" occupying North America to justify Palestinian claims to Israel despite...
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Joe Kent, a Republican 3rd Congressional District candidate, believes the Yelm and Rainier communities are a crucial factor in his second attempt running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. That’s why he visited Mr. Dougs in Yelm on Thursday, Feb. 8 for a meet and greet with approximately 50 supporters in attendance. Despite only a portion of southern Thurston County being represented in the 3rd District, Kent said the region is “key” to his candidacy. “Yelm and Rainier and this little sliver of Thurston County is very important because it’s a very conservative district. We did very...
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The owner asked to remain anonymous for fear of being targeted by activists ... A Seattle, Washington restaurant owner .. has lost faith in city leadership after his business suffered what he claims is its 23rd break-in since the "defund the police" movement started three years ago. "I have lost all faith in the city of Seattle, SPD, Council members, and state elected officials ... The owner of the establishment asked to remain anonymous over fear that activists would target him ... he was previously inundated with a slew of negative Yelp reviews after speaking out against the crime crisis...
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Students in a Seattle English class were told that their love of reading and writing is a characteristic of “white supremacy,” in the latest Seattle Public Schools high school controversy. The lesson plan has one local father speaking out, calling it “educational malpractice.”Lincoln High School in Seattle teachings on white supremacy leads to controversy. (School photo courtesy of the school district website; quiz images provided by a parent in the school district)As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week, World Literature and Composition students at Lincoln High School were given a handout with definitions of the “9 characteristics...
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House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) announced he will not be seeking a fourth term in Congress. This decision follows his prominent role in leading the impeachment efforts against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Green released a powerful retirement statement criticizing the Washington elites and explaining his decision to retire from Congress. “At the start of the 118th Congress, I promised my constituents to pass legislation to secure our borders and to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable. Today, with the House having passed H.R. 2 and Secretary Mayorkas impeached, it is time for me to return home....
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Students in a Seattle English class were told that their love of reading and writing is a characteristic of “white supremacy,” in the latest Seattle Public Schools high school controversy. The lesson plan has one local father speaking out, calling it “educational malpractice.” As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week, World Literature and Composition students at Lincoln High School were given a handout with definitions of the “9 characteristics of white supremacy,” according to the father of a student. Given the subject matter of the class, the father found it odd this particular lesson was brought up....
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Progressives spent last year torturing home cooks by threatening gas stoves and dishwashers in pursuit of energy efficiency. Now the climate brigade is going after drivers. A new bill in Washington state would give regulators the ability to ban tires that create a drag on fuel efficiency. The proposal would give the state Department of Commerce authority to prevent the sale of replacement tires that the state says have too much “rolling resistance,” which decreases the fuel efficiency of the vehicles. Rolling resistance depends largely on the weight and depth of a tire tread, the grippy thick part that keeps...
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