Several years ago, I wrote about noncompete agreements for the Tri-cities Area Journal of Business.Legislation passed in 2019 has changed the rules, and it is time for employers to reconsider agreements that include noncompete clauses because the enforceability has been significantly curtailed by the new Washington law.In the olden days...

Bill would create an alert system for missing Indigenous womenAttorney General Bob Ferguson and Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Anacortes, plan to propose a bill in the upcoming legislative session to create an alert in Washington state to help identify and locate missing Indigenous women and people.The alert, similar to “silver alerts”...

Benton-Franklin Superior Court Judge Cameron Mitchell is resigning from the bench, effective March 11 after 18 years in office. Gov. Jay Inslee’s office announced the resignation on Jan. 3.Mitchell, the only Black member of the Benton-Franklin bench, was first appointed in 2004 and won his current term in 2020.A Richland...

An independent judge cleared Kennewick Port Commissioner Don Barnes of misconduct in a case that roiled the port for more than two years.Judge Paris K. Kallas overturned the findings of an earlier investigation by an outside attorney.Barnes, the board’s current chair, appealed the results of the investigation into his conduct...

Washington power providers must remove coal from their portfolios by 2025 under rules adopted by the Washington State Department of Commerce and the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.Commerce regulates 64 publicly-owned utilities, including the public utility districts, cities and rural electric associations that keep the lights on in much of...

Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. This is as true for sophisticated estate planning as it is for anything else. It’s worthwhile then to step back and consider not the sophisticated, but the mundane instead.Most Americans don’t have a basic will (or any will for that...

Owner, The Cicotte Law Firm, PLLCGeorge CicotteNumber of employees you oversee: 35Brief background of your business: My firm was established in the Tri-Cities in 2002. For seven years before that, I practiced with international firms in Washington, D.C., and in Denver, Colorado.How did you land your current role?Before becoming an...

Franklin County prosecutor2020 president of Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys Shawn P. SantNumberof employees you oversee: 26 Briefbackground of what the Prosecuting Attorney’s office does: The prosecutor’s office handles all legal matters forFranklin County. This includes criminal prosecution for all felony crimesoccurring within Franklin County, as well as misdemeanor crimes...