(The Center Square) – Costs of renting office space for hundreds of employees in the Washington State Attorney General’s Office has more than doubled in the last decade, according to an analysis of fiscal data by The Center Square.The largest recipient of AGO spending, according to fiscal.wa.gov, for the past several biennia has been BPP 800 Fifth REIT LLC, which operates 800 Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle. 

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(The Center Square) – Tuesday is primary election day in Washington state. Ballots must be postmarked or placed in a ballot drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday to be counted. Washington has a top-two primary, which means that in candidate races, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. 

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(The Center Square) – A Spokane native now overseeing much of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development across the Northwest says the Housing First model is failing American taxpayers. President Donald Trump issued an executive order at the end of July, rebuking the approach as his team brought HUD Regional Administrator Chris Patterson back into the fold. Patterson, who oversaw Region 9 during Trump's first term, now leads Region 10, including Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. 

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(The Center Square) – Washington state is currently forecast to run out of money by 2027 and experience a fiscal deficit by 2028 despite the largest tax increase in state history this session, in addition to record revenue levels. While some elected and appointed state officials have highlighted the impacts of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Medicaid funding for the combined operating budget, one lawmaker says it’s a distraction from how the state actually got to this point. 

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(The Center Square) – The end of a six-month suspension of a policy that for years allowed for the auto-deletion of Microsoft Teams or instant messages at Washington state agencies after one week is approaching. Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based team collaboration software that allows users to communicate, set up meetings, and share files within a workspace environment, typically via email. 

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(The Center Square) – Amid allegations of a quid pro quo, the Spokane Ethics Commission voted Wednesday to initiate an independent investigation into Mayor Lisa Brown and the city council. The allegations claim that Brown and five of the seven council members violated the ethics code on June 16 by reversing their vote on a proposed camping ban after much of the public had left. 

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(The Center Square) – The Olympia City Council on Tuesday night rejected a proposal to adopt a $20 minimum wage as part of a Workers' Bill of Rights initiative. The council voted 4-3 against passing the initiative outright. However, the council did vote unanimously to send the initiative to Olympia voters for a decision in the November election. Ahead of the vote, members of the council expressed varying opinions about the initiative. 

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