In an unexpected move, President Donald Trump nominated Pete Serrano, a former state attorney general candidate from Pasco, to be the next U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington on Sept. 14.

With contract negotiations nearing a critical deadline, hundreds of Washington state workers recently walked off the job for an hour to highlight demands for wage hikes in their next two-year deal.

A last-ditch legal effort nearly succeeded Sept. 3 to knock a statement off ballots that characterizes how repealing Washington’s new income tax on high earners would affect the state budget.

Workers involved in labor disputes must comply with the state’s rigorous job search requirements to receive benefits. This means actively seeking work and recording efforts to find another job. 

A new analysis from the state Department of Revenue shows Washington’s high-earner income tax will be paid by thousands of additional households and produce hundreds of millions of dollars more than previously assumed – if voters don’t ditch it this fall. 

A Thurston County judge on Aug. 7 upheld a one-sentence statement that will appear on ballots describing the budgetary consequences of an initiative to repeal Washington’s new income tax on high earners.

Washington voters will get their chance in November to embrace or reject the state’s new income tax on households with earnings greater than a million dollars a year.

A lawmaker now earns $72,494, roughly $10,000 more than two years ago. Leaders of the four caucuses continue to receive a stipend for added responsibilities.