By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
Thursday was a busy day for two committees overseeing the state Capitol. For one, they decided a location for the new statue of legendary Native American leader Billy Frank Jr. and where to move Marcus Whitman’s sculpture. The two panels also endorsed expensive options for restoring a number of items in the State Reception Room damaged in vandalism last October. The biggest price tag is over $900,000 for a one-of-a-kind rug.
“It ain’t just a rug,” Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said. “It’s a piece of artwork. It’s an original piece of artwork that is unique in the world.”
Also in today’s edition…
• Immigrants lose access to commercial driver’s licenses.
• And, the cyclosporiasis outbreak grows.
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A bronze Marcus Whitman statue in the Washington state Capitol building weighs over 9,000 pounds with its stone base. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
By Jerry Cornfield
The question of where to put Marcus Whitman, whose role in the displacement of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest has been reexamined in recent years, and Billie Frank Jr. in the Legislative Building has been debated for more than two years. Whitman has long greeted visitors on the north side. Whitman’s statue in the U.S. Capitol will return to Washington to make way for Frank, while the replica will move to the entrance to the Senate cafeteria room.
This photo shows damage to the State Reception Room at the Washington state Capitol after an intruder broke in on Oct. 5, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Department of Enterprise Services)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
The huge, nearly century-old rug was burned in two spots in the Oct. 5 break-in. Gunnar Schubert is accused of parking his car on the sidewalk of the campus flag circle, breaking into the Capitol through a window, setting fire to county, state and U.S. flags, tipping over busts of George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr., and burning a piano, among other damage. The episode lasted about 10 minutes.
The repair work can’t get started until a decision on whether insurance will cover it.
By Mia Maldonado
Last summer, the Trump administration determined 25 states, including Washington and Oregon, violated federal regulations by issuing commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs, to noncitizens or not complying with other rules. In March, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration followed up with a rule barring states from issuing CDLs in most cases. States that don’t follow the new rule risk losing millions in federal transportation funding.
Now, roughly 900 people legally living and working in Oregon can no longer renew their temporary CDLs or learner’s permits. And others who had hoped to enter into the profession can no longer obtain one.
By Shalina Chatlani
This year features the worst cyclosporiasis outbreak on record, with roughly 4,200 cases across 41 states, according to federal health officials. But that count is likely underselling the extent of the outbreak. In Michigan, state health officials are reporting upward of 7,600 cases alone. Officials suspect there are multiple sources of the outbreak, but they have connected at least 1,644 cases in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia to shredded iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico and sold by Taylor Farms.
ICYMI
Agency director out as Ferguson installs an interim leader | by Jerry Cornfield
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