Law

A massacre at a school in Texas has spurred a ballot initiative in Oregon that would require permits to purchase firearms and ban large-capacity magazines. Oregon is the only state in America with a gun safety initiative under way for the November ballot, but one of its sponsors says it “can start to build hope across the nation for others to do the same.”

The city of Kent, Wash. will pay more than $1.5 million to settle a dispute with a former assistant police chief who was disciplined for posting a Nazi rank insignia on his office door and joking about the Holocaust.

The Washington Supreme Court says a person's race and ethnicity must be taken into account when deciding whether they were free to leave an encounter with police. The unanimous ruling Thursday was in the case of a man identified in court records as Asian Pacific Islander.

A judge has ordered the release of 78 photographs of tattoos that cover the body of an Auburn police officer charged with murder, but said prosecutors must redact about half after finding them “inflammatory” and saying their release could jeopardize the officer’s right to a fair trial.

The Supreme Court is limiting when someone can sue for a violation of their rights by a federal official. The justices sided with the government in a case involving the owner of a notorious inn in Blaine, Washington on the U.S.-Canada border. It’s the latest in a line of cases narrowing the public’s ability to sue federal officials for rights violations.

The Seattle Police Department has stopped investigating new reports of sexual assaults with adult victims, according to an internal memo sent to Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz. Reporters Ashley Hiruko from KUOW and Sydney Brownstone of the Seattle Times sat down with KNKX's Vivian McCall to explain why this is happening and what this means for victims.

The Washington state Supreme Court has fined a nonprofit group and its lawyer more than $28,000 for making legally meritless claims alleging widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. The Washington Election Integrity Coalition United and its Sequim, Washington-based attorney, Virginia Shogren, were ordered last month to pay the fines for suing Gov. Jay Inslee.

A man has pleaded not guilty to rape and voyeurism charges in Seattle after completing a prison sentence in New Mexico for rape. Pope was booked May 19 into King County Jail, where he remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Canada is allowing the province of British Columbia to try a three-year experiment in decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs. It hopes to help stem a record number of overdose deaths by easing a fear of arrest by those who need help.

People convicted under Washington’s longtime felony drug possession law are starting to get their records cleared, and their court-imposed fines refunded. It’s a consequence of the Washington Supreme Court’s groundbreaking decision in “State v. Blake,” to strike down the law in February 2021.