Amy Radil

Boeing has announced it will lay off 800 machinists in the Puget Sound area this year. The company says workforce needs on two of its newest jet programs have been reduced.

Story last updated by Phyllis Fletcher on March 18, 2013 at 4:35 p.m.

A March 6 special hearing by the Seattle City Council was intended to launch the city’s new Community Police Commission. But the meeting became mired in the background of one of its appointees.

Gun control advocates are regrouping this week. They’re looking at their options, now that a bill to broaden background checks for gun sales failed in the Washington Legislature. They want to seize a moment when they believe public sentiment is on their side.

A new state law says you can have a licensed retail store for recreational marijuana, but it can’t be located within 1,000 feet of many facilities: schools, parks, transit centers, arcades, or libraries. In Seattle, that 1,000-foot rule means most of the city is off-limits. Smaller cities may have no eligible sites.

Both of King County’s death penalty cases are on hold pending appeal to the Washington Supreme Court. A key issue in both cases is whether the defendants have experienced any hardships that should have required prosecutors to be more lenient.

Snohomish County officials are preparing for a change in leadership. Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon says he’ll resign at the end of May. Reardon announced his pending resignation at a 7:00 a.m. meeting at the Everett Golf and Country Club Thursday.

The deadline for marijuana experts seeking work has closed in Washington state. All bids to help the state set up its legal marijuana system had to be submitted by 2:oo p.m. on February 15. State officials say the response was substantial.

One of the most urgent questions surrounding Washington’s legalization of marijuana is the affect it will have on teenagers. Researchers say teens often see marijuana as “natural” and “safer than alcohol.”  Many adults who consider themselves addicts supported legalization, but not because they think marijuana is risk-free.

“Under Washington law, is a consumer entitled to emotional distress damages when a fast-food employee spits in his or her hamburger even though the consumer did not eat the hamburger?” The Washington Supreme Court said Thursday that the answer may be yes.

The second statewide public hearing this week on the future of the marijuana industry was held in Seattle. Like the earlier one in the week in Olympia, this one had overflow crowds. The Seattle hearing was filled with people who have grown marijuana for years and want to go legit.