Austin Jenkins

A Washington state senator found dead in his hotel room Friday died of heart failure – the result of a previously undiagnosed enlarged heart. That’s the finding of an autopsy this weekend.

Democrat Scott White was 41 years old. A public memorial is planned possibly later this week.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The fight to privatize liquor sales in Washington just got a lot more expensive. Costco has dumped another $9 million into the Yes on Initiative 1183 campaign.

That brings the wholesale giant’s total spending to more than $22 million – a state record for a ballot measure.

Washington voters who signed an anti-domestic partnership petition in 2009 can expect their names to appear online within a month. That's the word Tuesday from a Massachusetts-based gay rights group called "Know Thy Neighbor."

Referendum 71 was a failed effort by opponents of gay marriage to repeal Washington's "everything but marriage" domestic partnership law. Now, following a protracted legal battle, a federal judge has ordered the petitions be made public.

LAKEWOOD, Wash. – Unionized state workers are protesting a cost-cutting proposal to close five wards at one of Washington's mental institutions. More than a dozen employees staged a lunch-time picket Thursday outside Western State Hospital.

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Usually, high dollar political contributors let their money do the talking. They write big checks to campaigns, but otherwise stay behind the scenes. Not so with Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman. He’s become the money and the mouth behind Tim Eyman’s latest initiative – to limit highway tolling.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Former Washington Governor Albert Rosellini is being remembered as a reformer. Rosellini died today at the age of 101 of complications from pneumonia.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Despite a slow economic recovery, inflation is up. That means Washington’s minimum wage will increase to more than $9 an hour starting in January.

That was the announcement Friday from the state. The wage hike is based on a voter approved initiative that links the minimum wage to inflation.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington schools chief Randy Dorn has defied a request by the governor to provide a list of new education budget cuts. Instead, Dorn sent Governor Chris Gregoire a letter that explains why he told his staff not to respond to her request.

It's been 10 years since federal prosecutor Tom Wales was shot dead in the basement of his Seattle home. The case has never been solved. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Seattle Wednesday to bring fresh attention to the cold case.

At a news conference, Holder asked anyone with knowledge of the crime to come forward. Wales' daughter, Amy, also read a lengthy statement.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – It’s been a good run for Democrats in Washington state. They’ve held the governor’s office for nearly thirty years, the state House for a decade and the Washington Senate since 2005. But that political dominance could be imperiled.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – There are fresh signals that majority Democrats in Olympia may try to send a tax measure to voters this spring. House Democrats met behind closed doors Monday.

With a special session scheduled for late November, time is of the essence. State Representative Kathy Haigh chairs the House education appropriations committee. She says getting Democrats on the same page to fill the new $2 billion hole in the budget won't happen overnight.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – A young Army private from Boise has been sentenced to a maximum of seven years in a military prison for murder and other crimes while deployed to Afghanistan. Private First Class Andrew Holmes admitted to shooting an unarmed 15-year-old Afghan boy.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – A 21-year-old soldier from Boise has pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder of an unarmed Afghan civilian.

Private First Class Andrew Holmes entered his plea Thursday as part of an agreement with prosecutors. The deal spares him a possible mandatory life sentence.

NEAR CLE ELUM, Wash. – JPMorgan Chase is on track to comply with a new state law that requires disclosure of an 85-cent ATM fee charged to welfare recipients. So says the company’s Northwest chairman, Phyllis Campbell.

“We’re working hard to figure out how we can disclose that on our ATMs and is part of the law now and we absolutely are complying. We’re very close to making sure it will be done. The question is can it be done on other bank’s ATMs and that’s something I can’t answer,” Campbell said.

NEAR CLE ELUM, Wash. – Anti-poverty activists tried to crash a meeting of business leaders at a resort in Central Washington. The action – dubbed “Showdown at Suncadia” – happened today as the state’s chamber of commerce held its annual policy summit.