(Press Release from Attorney General’s Office) 

Attorney General says executive order does not fix unlawful policy…

Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced he will lead a coalition of states in challenging the Trump Administration’s policy of forced family separation on the U.S. southern border. The lawsuit will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

When the lawsuit is filed, it will be Ferguson’s 27th against the Trump Administration. Ferguson has nine legal victories thus far and has not lost a case against the Administration.

“This is a rogue, cruel, and unconstitutional policy,” Ferguson said. “We’re going to put a stop to it.” More

(Staff Reports)

Seattle’s 2016 GDP per capita of $86,990 was the fourth-highest among the 40 largest metro areas.

GPD and average weekly wage high in Seattle…

A new report by Business Insider ranks the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area as having the fourth-strongest economy in the nation. The report used five criteria: unemployment rate, average weekly wage, job growth rate, gross domestic product per capita and GDP growth rate. Seattle’s 2016 GDP per capita of $86,990 was the fourth-highest among the 40 largest metro areas and in the third quarter of 2017, the average weekly wage in the city was $1,445 which is the third highest in the nation.

Seattle has also been on the top of charts for both soaring numbers of people moving to the city and housing costs.

This comes as a reflection of the overall economy in the state of Washington. According to a study by Visual Capital, a design media brand, Washington had the No. 1 ranked economy in the nation thanks to factors like strong gross domestic product growth, exports per capita, and percentage of high-tech jobs.

The strongest city economy in the country was San Jose, while the second highest was San Francisco. Austin, Texas and Denver, Colorado come in at three and five respectively.

Here are the full rankings. 

(Staff Reports/Chewelah Independent)

Brown says Republicans intended to use children as bargaining chips…

Both incumbent congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Democratic challenger Lisa Brown said U.S. President Donald Trump was right to end the policy of separating families of immigrants at the border, the Spokesman-Review is reporting.

Jared Powell, spokesman for Cathy McMorris Rodgers said that the congresswoman is relieved the administration responded to her requests to make a short term policy change. McMorris Rodgers said that Congress now must find a permanent fix.  More

(By Brandon Hansen/Chewelah Independent)

Firefighters work on a brush fire that broke out in Addy in 2017. (File photo)

June has been wet so far, but the summer dry-out is just around the corner…

While it’s been a somewhat cool and wet spring for eastern Washington, fire danger should be something still heavily weighing on residents in the area. Agencies have already fought 315 fires around the state and with the Fourth of July, quickly approaching, the big dry is expected to hit soon.

“As soon as the weather changes, things are going to dry out quick,” Fire District 4 Fire Chief Tim Van Doren said.

In the catch-22 of wildfire fighting, a wet spring has helped things right now for fire agencies, but it has also grown the brush and grass to tall levels.

“The moisture in grass dries up a lot faster and they can burn really quick and fast,” Van Doren said. “They burn faster than a log.” More