Latest news with #EvergreenState
Wall Street Journal
27-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Washington Elected the Wrong Bob Ferguson
A madcap political comedy reminiscent of an Eddie Murphy movie is now ending as a tragedy for taxpayers in the Evergreen State. 'Washington state budget adds $9B in taxes, raising affordability concerns,' notes a headline from ABC-TV affiliate KOMO. The new levies will hit Washington residents over the next four years. Regular readers may recall the state of Washington's bizarre 2024 election. That's when the state's longtime attorney general Bob Ferguson was running for governor and threatened to prosecute two other guys named Bob Ferguson who had filed to run against him.
Fox News
19-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Washington restaurant owner forced to close doors after crime surge makes insurance impossible
A popular Italian restaurant in Washington State has shuttered its doors for good after a series of break-ins, with its owner pointing the finger at Democratic leadership and what he described as a lack of support for small businesses. Nirav Sheth, the former owner of Bistro Baffi, appeared on "Fox & Friends First" Monday morning to reveal what was the final straw. "It was hard to get insurance, and I was getting pressured. The landlord [was] saying that, if I don't have business insurance, it will be a default on my lease. Unfortunately, I had to either quit, call it a bankruptcy or get out." Repeated break-ins and rising crime in the area made it difficult to maintain coverage and keep the business afloat. Sheth noted that a nearby Subway was robbed at gunpoint – one of several incidents that underscored the area's deteriorating safety – and, despite police briefly increasing patrols, the response from Democratic leadership amounted to "nothing." Meanwhile, his own restaurant is still in debt, and applying for help has proven fruitless. "The restaurant is not making it… When you have expenses of almost $11,000 a week, and you're making just $3,500, it's at the end. I had to call it quits." Data from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs indicates that crime has been on the rise in the Evergreen State in recent years. Violent offenses rose 18.5%, murders rose 22.5% and robberies rose 23.4% between 2020 and 2023.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New WA law increases penalties for litter, delays plastic bag requirements
Litter is seen alongside an Interstate 5 off ramp near Lacey, Washington. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard) Washington residents will soon face heftier fines for littering and higher prices for plastic grocery bags. A new law signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Saturday toughens the punishment for littering and delays requirements for retailers to offer thicker bags for sale from Jan. 1, 2026 until 2028. The Legislature will use the two years to review the state's reusable bag policies, Ferguson said. Retailers who sell thicker bags before the mandate is in effect will be penalized four cents a bag, under the new law. 'We're called the Evergreen State and is it really evergreen with all the litter?' said Rep. Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla, sponsor of House Bill 1293. 'Our freeways, our interstates, are just packed with litter, it's horrible.' The state's low fines could be a reason why 'people don't really care' about littering, Klicker said, noting Oregon has a higher penalty for littering. Washington's new law raises the penalty from a class three to a class two civil infraction. The fine will increase from $103 to $256, which includes all state mandated charges, according to legislative staff. The fine would apply to amounts up to one cubic foot, or roughly the size of a backpack. The new law will take effect in late July. Over the past five years, the number of Washington State Patrol encounters with suspected litterers decreased from 636 in 2019 to 258 in 2024. Most of those resulted in verbal warnings rather than citations, according to state patrol data. While the state patrol tallied fewer contacts, the amount of litter has not decreased, Klicker said. He originally wanted a task force to study possible ways to better deal with the problem but that part was removed. The Senate added language to delay the date when retail establishments would be required to provide thicker, reusable plastic bags to customers. 'Increasing the thickness of the bag isn't going to help people keep the bags,' Klicker said. 'They'll throw the bags away anyway, so it creates that much more litter into the landfills.' In 2020, the state passed a law banning single-use plastic bags and required retail establishments to offer paper bags or thicker, reusable plastic bags for sale to consumers. Reusable plastic bags are currently sold for eight cents and required to be a thickness of 2.25 mils. One mil is a unit of thickness equal to one-thousandth of an inch. The 2020 law increased the price to 12 cents and the thickness to four mils on Jan. 1 2026. But the Senate delayed the change in thickness by two years. Retailers who sell reusable plastic bags with a thickness of at least four mils before 2028 will be penalized four cents a bag. Customers will see a total charge of 16 cents for each bag on their receipts. The four cent penalty will be deposited in the Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Control Account to address the negative impacts of litter which will go away in 2028. The price for paper bags will remain at eight cents per bag.
