Tagged: government

The newest Port of Seattle commissioner should be a familiar name to anyone who follows Washington state politics. She’s 33-year-old Courtney Gregoire, daughter of former Washington Governor Chris Gregoire.

  A House committee in Olympia will hear public testimony Wednesday for a bill that would abolish capital punishment in Washington. House Bill 1504 would eliminate the death penalty in favor of life without parole.

KUOW has learned that the U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into discipline rates in Seattle Public Schools. In an email, agency spokesman Jim Bradshaw told KUOW that its Office for Civil Rights is looking into whether black students in Seattle are disciplined "more frequently and more harshly" than white students for the same infractions.

The first members of Washington state’s new Charter School Commission are due to be appointed Wednesday. The commission will be able to approve some of the 40 charter schools allowed under the law voters passed last fall.

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.