The National Park Service says a climbing ranger who fell to his death during a rescue operation at Mount Rainier National Park last year was not roped for safety or equipped with an ice ax at the time of the accident.

Thirty-three-year-old Nick Hall was a four-year climbing ranger at the park. He fell roughly 2,400 feet while helping to rescue four injured climbers from Texas on June 21, 2012.

During the business day, the city of Redmond, Wash. sees the nation’s biggest spike in population, according U.S. Census data.

The Seattle Times revealed that commuters increase Redmond’s population by 111.4 percent—the biggest increase seen in cities with a population of 50,000 or greater. The city has a population of 55,150.

The air above your house could be worth a lot of cash if you have a view that's enjoyed by others in your neighborhood.

If you have a low-lying home that sits on a bank overlooking Puget Sound, for example, chances are the neighbors on the hill behind you may want to pay you to keep you from building up and blocking their view.

Washington state has earned a top grade from the American Cancer Society when it comes to helping people suffering from long-term pain. However, the state’s law on pain medication is unusual enough that the Cancer Society is surveying doctors to learn more about how it’s working.

In the past, many patients in chronic pain—lasting months or years—believed they were just supposed to suffer through it.

Violent crime has gone up in our region, according to the latest statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the FBI's Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2012, Seattle and Tacoma saw more murders, robberies and aggravated assaults in 2012 than in 2011. Some other Washington cities, including Bellevue, also saw more crime.

An outbreak of hepatitis A, which has sickened more than 30 people in five states, has been linked to frozen berries sold at Costco stores.  

Anyone who purchased frozen berries under the brand “Townsend Farms Organic Anti-oxidant Blend” from Costco should discard them, according to the state Department of Health. The blend includes cherries, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, raspberries, and strawberries.  

The Seattle Public Library says it has shattered the world record for the longest book-domino chain.

Two college students teamed up with the library to coordinate a winding chain of 2,131 books with the help of 27 volunteers who consumed 112 slices of pizza during the seven-hour process last Friday, according to the library.

The first four tries brought heartbreaking glitches, including the fourth try failing "about 10 books short of finishing", according to Amy Twito, the library's youth program manager. 

With just over a week left in an overtime legislative session, negotiations between key lawmakers are set to continue, but there's still no budget deal in sight and limited activity at the Capitol.

A floor session in the Senate was scheduled for Monday afternoon, but it was uncertain what action might be taken.

Even if you've never visited a jail, you probably have a pretty clear image of what inmate visitation is like: a shatterproof glass barrier, two people sitting on either side, speaking into telephones. But that's changing in some parts of the Northwest.

More and more county jails are switching to privately-operated video conferencing systems that are not unlike Skype for inmates. But these systems have technical difficulties, and come with costs for the inmates’ families.