Pierce County

More than three dozen Pierce County Jail inmates allege long-known plumbing issues are creating unhealthy living conditions and sickening people awaiting trial.

When longtime director Dr. Anthony Chen retired this summer, the search committee couldn’t find a qualified replacement.

Inmates at the Pierce County jail say persistent raw sewage backflow and putrid smells are causing illnesses and infections.

There’s red flag warnings and heat advisories in several areas of the Northwest this week, along with several growing wildfires.

Former NBA star Shawn Kemp pleaded not guilty Thursday to an assault charge after prosecutors accused him of shooting at a man while attempting to retrieve a stolen cell phone.

Pierce County has reached a $1.7 million settlement with a former top-level employee in the executive’s office. Carol Mitchell, who is Black, claimed wrongful termination, retaliation, and racial discrimination after she was fired in the summer of 2020.

Pierce County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a man they say was holding a hand grenade while walking along train tracks just outside Tacoma Friday morning.

Attorneys for former NBA star Shawn Kemp say he acted in self-defense when he exchanged gunfire in a mall parking lot while trying to retrieve a stolen cell phone and other items. Kemp was arrested by Tacoma police Wednesday but was released from jail Thursday afternoon without charges having been filed.

Pierce County, the second-most populous county in Washington state, inadvertently released nearly half a million partial Social Security Numbers when responding to a routine public records request in December, according to county officials.

The Tacoma Police Department has started emphasizing cold cases — homicides that no longer have any leads — in hopes of drumming up new information to solve them.