Northwest News

Get a traffic ticket, get a letter of reprimand from the Department of Licensing. That’s how it works in Washington if you are a driver between the ages of 16 and 21. The letter-writing campaign is designed to reduce crashes among younger drivers. But some parents don’t appreciate it.

It's a question all of us face sooner or later: whether to spend a good chunk of money to protect against a catastrophe that has a very low chance of occurring. A workshop that just wrapped up in Corvallis considered that dilemma in the context of Northwest dams and a magnitude 9 earthquake. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

Governor Chris Gregoire created the Puget Sound Partnership five years ago to revive the stalled cleanup of Puget Sound. Now, with six months left in her term as governor, she's replaced the agency head in hopes he can accelerate progress on the sound. He'll be the Partnership's third director in five years. KUOW's John Ryan has the story.

Washington Supreme Court Justice Steve Gonzalez was appointed to the state’s high court six months ago. Now he’s up for reelection.

His opponent is Bruce Danielson, a Kitsap county attorney who has declined to campaign. The race will be decided in the August 7th primary, and Gonzalez says he’s rushing to build name recognition. KUOW’s Amy Radil reports.

The number of whooping cough cases in Washington State has passed 3,000. Washington’s infection rate was rising so rapidly that health officials called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help. That was in May. Yesterday, the CDC issued a report on its findings. Scientists noticed an unusual pattern.

A new report faults managers of north Idaho’s Lucky Friday mine for an accident last November that killed a 26-year-old miner. It was one of two fatalities at the mine last year.