The 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense – a Richland High School graduate – will deliver the keynote address at the 2026 Association of Washington Business’s annual Policy Summit in Spokane this fall.

Let’s Go Washington, the initiative sponsor, has until July 2 to turn in at least 308,911 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot. State election officials suggest submitting at least 390,000 to account for invalid ones. 

A children’s bookstore that closed following a fire in downtown Kennewick earlier this year has found a new home. 

A retired third-generation owner of the Tri-Cities’ longest operating funerary business has died. 

The Port of Benton is working to correct a roughly $1.14 million deficit in its 2026 budget after a financial review uncovered several discrepancies in budget documents approved last fall. 

The federal government recently released new guidance on how states should roll out the Medicaid work requirements that will affect  healthcare coverage for millions of Americans.

Working women may soon have an easier time navigating a major life change in the workplace.

An indoor agriculture company with a Pasco greenhouse was one of 1,000 companies named to TIME’s World’s Growth Leaders 2026 list.  

A state agency has awarded $2.4 million to support 16 new electric vehicle charging slots across three sites in Benton County. 

The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent decision to downgrade the drug classification for medical cannabis will help medical marijuana businesses. But the broader divide between federal and state marijuana policy remains largely intact, leaving states to navigate a fragmented and still-evolving cannabis landscape with few clear answers about what comes next.