Nov 5 (Reuters) - Albertsons (ACI.N), opens new tab must pay the state of ​Washington $900 million for helping fuel an opioid epidemic in the state by failing through its pharmacies to prevent the misuse of addictive ‌painkillers, a state court judge ruled on Thursday. King County Superior Court Judge Janet Helson in Seattle issued the decision after presiding over a non-jury trial in a lawsuit the state's attorney general filed in 2022 against the grocery retailer, which operates in Washington mostly under the Safeway brand.

"The opioid crisis has really been an equal opportunity monster, bringing its destruction not only to ​urban areas, but to many small towns and rural areas throughout our state and impacting people in all walks of life," she said.

Helson ​said the evidence presented during the nine-week trial showed that Albertsons played a substantial role in causing that epidemic by ⁠failing to maintain adequate systems to police against suspicious drug orders being fulfilled.

Helson said the company filled prescriptions from so-called "pill mill" doctors who were "prescribing ridiculous amounts ​of opioids to patients." More than 5.5 million pills were dispensed as a result of prescriptions from five prescribers whose licenses were eventually suspended, she said.

​Albertsons in a statement expressed disappointment in the ruling and said it was considering an appeal. It had denied wrongdoing and argued that pharmacists were not required to question the judgment of a patient's doctor unless there was a compelling reason to suspect a prescription was illegitimate.

"We are proud of our pharmacists and their dedication to the patients and communities they ​serve, and we will continue to support our customers and communities across Washington through responsible pharmacy operations," the company said.

The man had been facing charges of disorderly conduct, attempted third-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, obstructing a law enforcement officer and possession of a controlled substance.

The officer involved in the incident remains on administrative leave pending a full investigation, according to the Auburn Police Department.

The encounter began after police received reports around 3:15 p.m. of a man running in and out of traffic on Auburn Way North and trying to enter passing vehicles. Police said the man did not follow the first officer’s commands.

Video of the officer repeatedly punching the man in the roadway circulated widely on social media. The department later released body-worn camera footage and traffic video of the encounter.

The footage shows the officer approach the man and use a Taser before a struggle breaks out as the officer attempts to handcuff him. The officer punches the man in the head several times before his body camera falls onto the pavement.

At least 24 punches can be seen or heard during the encounter. Three additional officers arrive and help restrain and handcuff the man.

The footage also briefly shows the officer’s bloody hand. At one point, he asks another officer, “Can you roll my sleeves back up, so I at least look cool?”

Gender Justice League, a Seattle-based LGBTQ advocacy group, told KUOW on Thursday that it may challenge the ban on privacy grounds, though the group has yet to formally announce a lawsuit.

“We are having active conversations with our partners and also evaluating what legal options are available to us. If there is an avenue, we will challenge this ballot measure in court on behalf of our members and our community and trans youth,” said Danni Askini, the group’s executive director.

She said Gender Justice League would challenge the measure, Initiative 638, based on a 2008 student privacy rights case that ruled that Washington schools requiring suspicionless urine testing of students was unconstitutional.

“We believe that the Washington constitution and the Supreme Court have been really clear that I-638 would go far beyond a random drug screening and invade all girls’ privacy,” Askini said, adding that the measure “sets a really chilling and disturbing precedent.”

Washington’s ban, which is set to go into effect on Dec. 3, the deadline for the Secretary of State to verify election results, currently has 57% of the vote. Though thousands of votes were left to tally on Thursday, the Associated Press called the race Wednesday evening.

The ban would require girls to obtain a genital exam, a hormone test, or a chromosome test to verify their birth sex before they could participate on a girls’ school sports team. It would be a philosophical shift for Washington state, which for nearly 20 years has allowed students to participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

The executive order directs state agencies to review existing rules and statutes to identify ways to eliminate unnecessary requirements, ease regulatory burdens and modernize administrative requirements. Agencies must submit initial reports within eight months recommending changes based on that review.

“There are few things that frustrate me more than bureaucracy that gets in the way of serving the people,” Ferguson said. “This executive order helps us reduce unnecessary burdens and strengthen Washington’s economic competitiveness.”

The order also pauses new agency rulemaking that would impose new regulatory requirements on businesses, individuals or other regulated entities, with limited exceptions such as responding to imminent threats or binding legal requirements.

Starting Friday, Dec. 4, agencies will not initiate new rulemaking that would impose new regulatory requirements. The pause is set to last six months.

The initiative will be led by the Governor’s Office for Regulatory Innovation and Assistance, in coordination with the Governor’s Office and the Office of Financial Management.

Ferguson’s office said improving government efficiency has been a priority since his first day in office, noting that he signed an executive order within minutes of being sworn in to speed up permitting times at state agencies. The governor’s office cited several examples of reduced processing times:

The Department of Licensing cut processing time by almost 50% across its 340 licenses and permits, from 46 days to 25 days, and all license types are being processed in 30 days or less with no backlogs.

The Department of Labor and Industries reduced processing time for new contractor registrations by 75%, from 12 weeks to three weeks.

The 60-mile-long fjord is currently named for a British aristocrat who fought against the United States in the Revolutionary War.

“It's important that our tribe, who did settle the entire Hood Canal drainage in ancestral times, has the opportunity to weigh in on such a significant change,”  Skokomish Chairman and CEO Tom Strong told the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names.

Retired elementary schoolteacher Barbara Stark of Poulsbo is proposing to change the name to Salish Fjord.

“If we would look at [Mount] Rainier, no one would consider calling it a hill. If we looked at the mighty Columbia, no one would call it a stream,” Stark said. “I think it's time that we recognize this marvelous waterway.”

 ”My recommendation is that it be the Salish Fjord in recognition and thanksgiving for all of the tribal communities that have lived along this waterway for hundreds and hundreds of years,” she said.

Hood Canal is not a canal. The natural waterway was carved 13,000 years ago by Pleistocene ice sheets, is home to wild salmon and giant Pacific octopus, and is 600 feet deep in places.

Long before British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver dubbed it “Hood’s Channel” in 1792 in honor of British Admiral and Lord Samuel Hood, local inhabitants called it “tuwaduq sidaqʷ” [too-wah-duke SEE-dock], or “the Twana people's saltwater.”

Tuwaduq, or Twana, is the language of the Skokomish Tribe. Rivers flowing into Hood Canal, including the Duckabush, Dosewallips, Hamma Hamma, and Skokomish, all bear Twana names, or at least anglicized versions of them.

“Every drop of fresh water that drains to Hood Canal is in Tuwaduq, or Skokomish, territory,” Strong said.

Strong said he agreed that Hood Canal was not a proper name for the area.

“To us, it's tuwaduq sidaqʷ. It's our saltwater, tuwaduq people who settled the area, and we're here since time immemorial,” he said.

Strong said he had no idea the Salish Fjord proposal was being considered until a KUOW reporter informed him of it five minutes before the committee meeting began.

“I implore the board to table this request until the Skokomish Indian Tribe, the primary tribe of Hood Canal, is properly consulted in the process,” Strong said.

“When I started this process three years ago, I reached out to several tribes via email and did not hear back from any of them,” Stark said.

Stark said she did not have any connections with tribal communities in order to get suggestions from them.

After some debate, the committee voted to table the Salish Fjord proposal for initial consideration until its next meeting in May.

Safer Products for Washington recommends new restrictions and reporting requirements in 15 products with publication of new report.

Given the likely passing of WA measure 638, would it be possible for girls to just opt out of school sports and start their own private leagues to avoid the sexual abuse?

In Washington’s biggest tax fight in decades, voters were backing the state’s new high-earners income tax in Tuesday’s vote count, rejecting an initiative that would repeal it.

Initiative 645, the tax-repeal proposal, was trailing with 58% of voters opposed. The “no” vote was bolstered by a huge margin in Democrat-dominated King County, where 66.5% of voters were against I-645. It also trailed in Snohomish and Pierce counties.

If Tuesday’s result stands, it would mark a tectonic shift in Washington’s tax code, ending the state’s holdout status as one of a handful without an income tax — keeping in place what backers called the “millionaires tax” passed by the Legislature this year.

Courts will likely still have the last word on the tax as a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality is pending.

Hundreds of thousands of ballots remain to be counted in the coming days.

The mood at the No on 645 campaign, at Seattle’s Reverie Ballroom, was upbeat as national results confirmed a good night for Democrats and liberal causes.

Speaking to the crowd, state Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, the prime architect of the tax, framed the historic vote as a long-sought win.

“For 93 years, we have been saddled with an anchor around our neck, with a tax system that is bad for working people, that’s bad for small businesses, that’s bad for just about everybody except for the 1%,” he said.

More in the article.

Buoyant Democrats were on course Tuesday to strengthen their grip on power in the Washington state House.

But the caucus is poised to lose its longest-serving member, and a series of intraparty battles could unseat incumbents in both legislative chambers. Meanwhile several incumbent Republicans are staving off stiff challenges. Numerous races deserve a close eye through the week as votes continue to be counted.

Democrats are seeking to widen their majorities in Olympia. They already run the show with a 59-39 majority in the House and 30-19 in the Senate. But this election will help them inch closer to a two-thirds supermajority, at least in the lower chamber. All 98 House seats and 24 of the 49 Senate positions were on the ballot this year.

The magic number for the Democrats to get a two-thirds supermajority of 66 seats in the House is seven pickups from Republicans.

And Democratic political consultant Dean Nielsen expects his party to flip at least seven state House seats.

“What should I wear for the funeral for the Washington State Republican Party?” he said in a text message.

On the other side, state Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh sees the Democrats picking up a couple, but falling short of the seven they’d need.

More in the article.

All but one of the slate of five Washington state Supreme Court candidates backed by Democratic leaders led their races handily after the initial vote count Tuesday night in an election that will transform the court.

Two recent appointees of Gov. Bob Ferguson, a new face to the high court and its chief justice all were ahead, with more votes to count in the coming days. 

Their four opponents were backed by the state Republican Party.

The one Republican-backed candidate having some success is King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell, who leads the tightest race of the bunch over Democrat-endorsed appeals court Judge Ian Birk by 2 percentage points. This was the most closely watched of the five races.

These races garnered more attention this year for several reasons. Four justices are leaving the court, creating a rare opportunity to change its makeup. Conservatives have been unhappy with its decisions in recent years. 

The high-earners income tax, which voters are deciding on in this election via Initiative 645, is sure to land before the court, setting the stage for a decision on its constitutionality and whether to overturn nearly century-old precedent.

More in the article.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53956274

Election Day is on Tuesday November 3rd.

Get organised today here: https://www.vote.org/

Be aware of your rights and course of actions: https://lemmy.world/post/53334632

Ultra-wealthy conservatives are spending big to back their slate of right-wing state Supreme Court candidates, hoping to block efforts to tax the rich and level the playing field for working families.

WSU’s new “Student Belonging and Success Initiative” centers on smaller, university-supported communities and helping students better experience the breadth of the offerings on campus, university officials said Wednesday in a news release. The initiative also aims to increase the retention rate of first-year students, said Provost and Executive Vice President Chris Riley-Tillman, who noted the percentage of students who leave before they start their second year is in the high teens.

“This is really focusing on that first year from the student-life perspective and really making sure that if one thing stops working … you have broader connections throughout the university instead of just one thing,” Riley-Tillman said Wednesday.

Part of the initiative includes deferring fraternity and sorority recruitment, which typically begins before or at the start of the school year. The change in recruitment rules will take effect in fall 2027, according to the university.

“The goal is to preserve the friendships, leadership opportunities, service and lifelong connections that make fraternity and sorority life meaningful,” WSU officials wrote in the news release. “This shift provides students more time to be a Coug first, settle into college, focus on academics and make friends.”

The university also plans to implement stronger standards related to recognition and accountability for existing sororities and fraternities. Since fall 2024, WSU has investigated at least 17 incidents at Greek life chapters involving hazing, drug and alcohol offenses, or other code-of-conduct violations, according to the university’s transparency report.

The state Supreme Court ruled in July that WSU is obligated to protect students from harm foreseeably caused by fraternity hazing. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the parents of Sam Martinez, a 19-year-old WSU freshman who died in 2019 after consuming most of a half-gallon bottle of alcohol during a pledging event at a WSU fraternity.

AUBURN, Wash. — The incident happened shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday on Auburn Way. The video appears to show the officer straddling the man in the roadway while trying to handcuff him, then repeatedly striking him in the head and face. A review of the video appears to show about 20 punches.

Auburn police say the man was running in and out of traffic and attempting to get inside passing vehicles. The department says he refused to comply with the first officer’s commands, prompting the officer to use a Taser. That led to a physical struggle, according to police.

Police say it took four officers to gain control of the man and handcuff him. The man did not appear to have any serious injuries, according to police. The officer was also taken to a hospital.

The incident is under investigation. The officer has been placed on administrative leave while investigators examine the use of force.

Washington election officials announced a preliminary review of a federal list of more than 400 alleged noncitizen voters has already uncovered U.S. citizens, inactive voters and people who are not currently registered. The revelation renews concerns about the accuracy of the Trump administration’s expanding effort to identify supposedly ineligible voters.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) disclosed the findings Wednesday in a blistering response to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which this week threatened litigation unless Washington stopped processing ballots tied to people on a list supplied by the Department of Homeland Security.

“A preliminary investigation confirms what your letter acknowledges: This list includes United States citizens and is not reliable,” Hobbs wrote. He said refusing to process a registered voter’s ballot without individualized proof of ineligibility would be “both irresponsible and illegal.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53666069

The early voting for the Midterms is now available in many places. You can early vote at a polling place or you can use mail-in voting.

Get organised today here: https://www.vote.org/

If you choose to vote in person, either now or on election day, be aware of your rights and course of actions: https://lemmy.world/post/53334632

In a letter to the Washington Secretary of State's Office, the Justice Department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by the over 400 people in prior elections. It asked the state to set aside any ballots the people might cast in next month's midterm until state officials can confirm they are legally eligible to vote. The state has more than 5 million registered voters.

"We are asking the state to set aside those ballots until we can confirm they are legal voters," Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in a news conference.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was reviewing the administration's demand. His office noted that it had received about 60 subpoenas from the Justice Department since last month seeking information about voters.

"We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process," Hobbs said in an emailed statement. "We see what's happening in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed."

A statewide ballot measure to bar transgender girls from girls school sports will almost certainly face a legal challenge if approved by voters next week, legal experts say.

In that event, as the ballot measure winds its way through the courts it could undermine state laws that have broadly prohibited discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression for two decades, opponents of the initiative say.

The measure at the center of the conversation is Initiative 638, also known as the “Defending Equity in Interscholastic Sports Act.” If enacted, I-638 would block transgender girls from competing in competitive team sports or individual events “intended for female students only” at public and some private K-12 schools. It would not impact boys school sports.

Six attorneys and a ballot initiative expert who spoke with The Seattle Times presented a range of potential scenarios if voters approve I-638: Some said that a court could declare the initiative invalid for violating the state constitution. Others said a court could allow the ballot measure to stand, a move that could open the door to rewriting other aspects of state antidiscrimination protections.

“If (I-638) passes, I fully expect that it will be challenged in the courts as violating the Washington Law Against Discrimination and some of the constitutional protections that Washington really has strengthened at the state level that are no longer available at the federal level,” said Kelli Rodriguez, an attorney and the director of the sports law program at the Seattle University School of Law.

The conservative political committee behind the measure, Let’s Go Washington, said I-638 does not aim to overwrite all state protections for transgender people — just those related to girls school sports.

More in the article.

The Trump administration on Monday asked Washington state to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it suspects registered to vote without U.S. citizenship.

In a letter to the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, the Justice Department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by the over 400 people in prior elections. It asked the state to set aside any ballots the people might cast in next month’s midterm until state officials can confirm they are legally eligible to vote. The state has more than 5 million registered voters.

“We are asking the state to set aside those ballots until we can confirm they are legal voters,” Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in a news conference.

Much of the list was built based on “recent contacts” with suspected noncitizens, Floyd said, because federal officers are now routinely checking to see if the people they interact with are registered to vote. His office wants to compare that list against the state’s voter information because that will help determine how many people actually cast ballots, Floyd said.

Without access to those state records, proving someone illegally voted will be a difficult and labor-intensive process, Floyd said.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was reviewing the administration’s demand. His office noted that it had received about 60 subpoenas from the Justice Department since last month seeking information about voters.

More in the article.

Three harmful statewide ballot initiatives, which seek to block the millionaires tax and curtail the rights of queer and transgender kids in Washington state, are an effort to distract and divide us. Don't fall for it.

As Washington voters fill out their ballots, Initiative 638, which would require sex verification for female school sports, deserves careful reflection. Much of the discussion around I-638 is around political commentary, but I have a perspective based in experience: I’ve actually coached a trans athlete.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53292583

The early voting for the Midterms is now available in many places. You can early vote at a polling place: https://www.eac.gov/voters/register-and-vote-in-your-state

Or you can use mail-in voting: https://www.eac.gov/voters/national-mail-voter-registration-form

It's highly recommended to avoid election day voting in person, and vote early.

The Point Chehalis peninsula has always been a place of “shifting sands.”

Today, the peninsula is home to Westport Light State Park and the surrounding coastal town, which depends on commercial and charter fishing, surfing and beach tourism. Those draws are possible in part because of a 130-year-old commitment from the federal government to maintain a navigable channel to the Port of Grays Harbor with a mileslong jetty, undersea dredging and beach replenishment.

The latest possible shift, both geophysical and metaphorical, is the build-out of a links-style golf course like those along the Scottish coast. That proposal, called Westport Golf Links, will be the subject of a special meeting of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission on Monday at Aberdeen High School.

Nearly a decade after Washington State Parks designated Westport Light State Park as a prime location for privately developed recreation and seven years after a Seattle homebuilder and part-time Westport resident pitched the $60 million-$70 million investment, the commission seems close to making a decision on the long-debated project.

Proponents tout the economic benefits of jobs and visitor revenue in Washington’s eighth-poorest county, plus the opportunity for private capital to help a cash-strapped state agency address longstanding concerns around invasive species and fire risk. Opponents have cried foul over a litany of issues, chief among them wetland disturbance, chemical application for grounds maintenance and risk of further coastal erosion.

The unprecedented proposal has also left the community pondering the park’s future. Will the nature lovers and grungy surfers be able to coexist with well-heeled golfers?