Washington state Senator Mike Carrell of Lakewood has died from complications related to treatment for a pre-leukemia blood disorder.

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler said Carrell died Wednesday morning at a Seattle hospital of lung complications from his ongoing treatment of transplants from his brother and chemotherapy. Schoesler says that Carrell died in his sleep with his wife, Charlotte, nearby.

The Agriculture Department says a non-approved strain of genetically engineered wheat has been discovered in an Oregon field.

USDA officials said the wheat is the same strain as a genetically modified wheat that was tested by seed giant Monsanto a decade ago but never approved. Monsanto stopped testing that product in Oregon and several other states in 2005.

In my whole life I've never even had a one-martini lunch. I stay right here in the KPLU Jazz Bunker, wolfing down last night's leftovers.  If you think  Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson  is lunching more luxuriously, think again.

It may not feel like it when you’re in your car, but figures from the state Department of Transportation show there is less traffic on Washington’s roads than at any time in the last 10 years.

Between 1980 and 2002, the miles driven on the state’s roads more than doubled, from 15 billion per year to about 32 billion. Then suddenly, it leveled off and stayed that way for the past decade.

State officials are working to spread the word: visitors can still reach businesses in the Northwest corner of the state in spite of the collapsed Interstate 5 bridge in Mount Vernon.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee directed the state Department of Commerce to release $150,000 for marketing and promotion efforts to help affected businesses. The state will work with local partners in Skagit, Whatcom, Island, and San Juan counties to develop a regional media plan to inform the public that area businesses and attractions are open and reachable by alternate routes and ferries.

Doctors are sounding an alarm about marijuana and young children, especially when it comes to marijuana-infused products, or "medibles". 

The rise of medicinal marijuana has brought a growing number of food products that contain the drug and might appeal to kids. Pot brownies have been around for decades, but nowadays you can also find pot cookies, lollipops, bon-bons, lasagna, and more. These products make it easier on someone who needs to use marijuana for medical reasons but doesn’t want to smoke. 

Starbucks is defending its tip-sharing policy in New York, with its attorney telling the state's top court that baristas and shift supervisors divide up the cash jar weekly because they essentially provide the same customer service.

Attorney Rex Heinke says assistant store managers are excluded because they have an essentially different role and "real power" over the others.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is appealing a federal ruling ordering the state to fix culverts that block salmon passages.

Ferguson says that the state on Tuesday filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the March 29 U.S. District Court ruling by Judge Ricardo S. Martinez.

Last fall, sixth-graders in Spanaway, Wash. were forced to confront a tragedy no student should have to go through when their beloved teacher Rob Meline died. To make matters worse, Meline's death was the kind that makes the evening news.

State officials are urging owners of backyard chicken to sign up their flock for bird flu testing.

The state is trying to prevent an outbreak of a new strain of bird flu like the one recently seen in China. At least 36 people have died of the disease since March.