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Residents strolled through the smoldering rubble of their neighborhoods, some wearing surgical masks to protect their lungs from the smoke and ash lingering in the air of the riverside community they call "Paterodise."

PATEROS — Residents returning here Friday picked through the ash and rubble of homes incinerated the night before by raging wildfire. Baby pictures, gone. Family antiques, gone. Grandma’s recipes, gone. In a half-block line of charred homes — mostly burned down to their foundations — each resident echoed their neighbors: “We lost everything.” More than 30 homes were destroyed here Thursday night by wind-whipped flames racing down a grass-and-sage bluff and into this river town of 650 residents. Nearby, flying embers jumped the Methow River to torch another 40 homes along the Alta Lake Golf Course. An estimated 20 homes...

Politicians here have not even figured out how yet to implement their new law requiring us to pay for everybody else’s health care, and already people are clamoring to legalize drugs that are, at the very least, hazardous to their health. The good people of Colorado and Washington state can now buy and smoke pot without violating state laws. The movement to do so is spreading among other states like a hot tropical virus through a detention facility on the Mexican border. I, for one, have never really cared one way or the other if people choose to smoke pot....

UPDATE: BREWSTER, Wash. - There are LEVEL 3 evacuations being ordered in the town of Pateros which has a population of 650 people, as the Carlton Complex Fire burns out of control. 40-50 homes and businesses have burned to the ground. The Brewster Three Rivers Hospital has been evacuated as well. Staff and patients were transferred to Mid Valley Hospital in Omak. The retirement center in Brewster was evacuated to Bridgeport. Housing is available for those who have been evacuated in Chelan at the High School. Residents from Harmony House are being moved to Bridgeport, believe they said the school...

At least two large fires that appear to be uncontrolled are visible at the Tesoro Refinery, Anacortes, Washington. No further information is available at this time. The Tesoro website does not say anything about the fires yet.

The man used a can of spray paint and a lighter as 'a self-made blowtorch to kill a spider in the laundry room' of a rental house Tuesday night, said Kyle Moore, a spokesman for the Seattle Fire Department. The resulting blaze caused $60,000 worth of damage.

<p>JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD - House Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia, spent time Wednesday talking to many local leaders trying to calm their concern as thousands of immigrant children potentially head to the Pacific Northwest, many to JBLM.</p> <p>The federal government is considering a plan to house undocumented kids up to the age of 18 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. But there is a lot of that concern coming from the community just outside the JBLM gates.</p>

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - A Democrat running for Congress in conservative central Washington on Saturday removed an online campaign video that showed him blasting an elephant-shaped piñata with a shotgun. The Tri-City Herald reported that the advertisement for Estakio Beltran generated a lot of criticism after it was posted last week, including from a group founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who survived a gunshot wound to the head in 2011. "Mr. Beltran's ad showing him shooting a stuffed elephant - the longtime symbol of the Republican Party - is irresponsible and offensive," said the statement from...

U.S. Rep. Denny Heck is urging the Department of Health and Human Services to meet with local government officials before moving forward with a proposal to shelter hundreds of young immigrant detainees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It’s not clear if the department will agree to the meeting, according to Heck’s staff. A spokesman for the department was not familiar with the request Thursday afternoon. “Local residents deserve to know what this change will require from the community, if anything, and how the community—including active-duty military personnel stationed on JBLM—can stay informed on the situation,” said Heck, a Democrat from Olympia....

Mike Boyer got his 15 minutes of fame when he became the first person in Spokane to buy recreational pot on Tuesday. On Wednesday Boyer posted his resume on Craigslist, saying Kodiak Security had fired him. Kodiak officials told the Spokesman-Review, though, that Boyer still had a job with the company. Boyer said two of his three part-time employers have asked him to take drug tests after seeing news reports of his pot purchase. He said he will fail them. Kym Ramey, a human resources manager for Kodiak, said employees are tested per company policy. "We're a security firm," Ramey...

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Washington on Tuesday became the second state to allow people to buy marijuana legally in the U.S. without a doctor's note as eager customers who lined up outside stores made their purchases and savored the moment. People began buying marijuana at 8 a.m. at Top Shelf Cannabis, one of two Bellingham stores that started selling the drug as soon as it was allowed under state regulations. Several dozen people waited outside before the doors opened at the shop in this liberal college town of about 80,000 north of Seattle. The first three customers in line were...

In 35 years in law enforcement, said the Takoma Park Police chief, he's never had this happen. He's never had a store tell him that he would have to leave his service weapon in the car or leave the store -- especially when he was in his police uniform. But that's what happened July 4 in the Ikea in College Park, where Takoma Park Police Chief Alan Goldberg had stopped in with his daughter. Goldberg was in uniform because he had worked that morning at the city's July 4 parade, and would be back on duty that night for fireworks....

Aerospace giant Boeing finds itself in a fishy fight against Native Americans and environmentalists over pollution in the waterways -- a disagreement that could affect where Washington state's largest employer builds the next generation of planes. At the heart of the fight, which could impact thousands of jobs, is a peculiar question: How much locally caught fish do Washingtonians eat, and what are the health risks? Green groups, alone with Washington state tribes, have sued the Environmental Protection Agency to push for increased fish consumption rates -- currently set at six-and-a-half grams a day. If the number is set higher,...

With the state set to license a handful of recreational-marijuana stores Monday, retailers have been hustling to set up shop while growers and processors are racing to package pot so it’s ready to deliver Tuesday, when the first stores are expected to open. Aaron Nelson, the general manager of 2020 Solutions in Bellingham, said his store has already passed inspection by the state Liquor Control Board and hopes to open its doors Tuesday at 8 a.m., the earliest hour allowed under state law. Nelson expects to have enough marijuana for at least 1,000 people Tuesday, but said 2020 Solutions might...

When Seattle passed their new city council ordinance mandating a staged increase in the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour, many local businesses – as well as observers across the nation – were left shaking their heads. The rules seemed to be unevenly applied, with some businesses having to comply but not others, as well has having a complete disregard for whether or not the job providing entities would be able to remain competitive and survive under the new rules. As Reuters reports, a coalition of business owners are now moving to exercise the power of public support to...

SUPERIOR, MT -- A Montana Rail Link train derailed near Superior Thursday, sending Boeing aircraft fuselages into a river. [Photo in Comments]

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the meadow jumping mouse as an endangered species. Now, the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees the Santa Fe National Forest, is considering erecting a series of 8-foot high fences to protect the mouse’s habitat. The Luceros, members of the San Diego Cattleman’s Association and holders of grazing permits with the federal government, say the fences will lock out their cattle — as well as those of other permit holders — from ever returning to the meadow where the livestock graze for 20 days in the spring and up to 40 days...

The Huffington Post has a pop-up feature entitled "Politicians' Science Gaffes" included on a related article about how "GOP Lawmaker Says Climate Change Is 'The Greatest Deception In The History Of Mankind'." Of course, the feature only includes Republican politicians (10 in total) who have said purportedly dumb things about science. And, according to the Huffington Post, the first listed science gaffe by a politician is the following statement by Ronald Reagan:

Ali Muhammad Brown was charged with executing two gay men in Seattle. Brown was previously prosecuted federally following an FBI probe into an Islamic group suspected of supporting jihadists overseas. This devout Muslim is also a registered sex offender for crimes against a 6-year-old girl, the same age as Aisha when Muhammad married her. He was previously prosecuted as part of a federal investigation into a sleeper cell thought by investigators to be linked to a terrorism funding organization. “One prominent member of the group is thought to have been killed waging jihad in Somalia after fleeing prosecution in the...

LYNNWOOD, Wash. – Michelle Obama’s national school lunch overhaul is getting a little ridiculous. The First Lady worked with federal bureaucrats to strictly limit what types of foods can be served in school cafeterias across the country in an effort to fight childhood obesity. The federal regulations on meat, vegetables, salt, and other aspects of the school lunch has been met with staunch indignation from students who have either trashed their mandatory fruit and vegetables or opted not to eat lunch at all. Now, the Edmonds School District in Washington state and others are cracking down on birthday cupcakes and...