Long-term care program launch

By Bill Lucia | Editor

By Jerry Cornfield

Applications are already rolling in for WA Cares benefits. The state had received 113 as of June 22. Of those, 44 people were deemed eligible for benefits, and $1.2 million in services were authorized. The long-term care insurance program is funded by a 0.58% tax on the paychecks of workers in Washington — about $39 a month for someone earning $80,000. An estimated 3.7 million people have paid into the insurance fund, and it held around $3.3 billion at the end of last year. Lawmakers have approved changes to the program since it was first approved in 2019. This included creating a pathway for people who move out of state to continue participating. And in November 2024, a ballot measure to roll back the program failed.

By Jake Goldstein-Street

Drivers caught on camera speeding through highway work zones in Washington will face $125 penalties starting today. The fine for further infractions will be $248. Until now, drivers got away with a warning the first time one of the cameras recorded them zipping through a work zone. This resulted in over 85,000 infractions statewide since April 2025, with over 77,000 going to first-time violators, according to the Department of Transportation. The trailer-mounted cameras can be moved to different spots around the state. Early this week, they were planned in eight locations on Interstate 5, I-90, I-405 and state routes 18, 509 and 522. The state transportation budget passed in 2025 counts on $138 million in fine revenue from the cameras over the next six years.

By Aspen Ford

The lightning-sparked Mount Tom Creek Fire continues to burn about 6 miles from the Hoh River visitor center in the Olympic National Park, even after the area received about an inch of rain in recent days. The fire is roughly 86 acres, according to the latest updates, and 0% contained. It’s burning in steep, rugged terrain that’s difficult for firefighters to work in. Donald Svetich, a retired U.S. Forest Service fire captain who worked at the national park for nearly thirty years, said that while the fire’s behavior is typical for the Olympics, it’s unusual for a fire to be burning there this early in the year. As of Tuesday, all Hoh Rain Forest facilities remained open. But the Lake of the Gods backcountry campsite was closed, and a campfire ban was in place inside the park. 

By Alixel Cabrera

A bipartisan group of 11 Western governors, including Washington’s Bob Ferguson, signed a letter endorsing the establishment of a multi-state task force to develop a study and action plan to update the region’s energy grid. 

The study, the letter said, must “promote open, competitive markets by reducing bottlenecks that restrict choice and limit access to lower-cost power,” provide a thorough assessment of transmission needs across the region, and offer a roadmap for expanding transmission infrastructure “that will improve reliability, reduce congestion and dispatch costs, strengthen the regional grid, and achieve energy superabundance.”

The governors also committed to establishing a group that would start taking the first steps to coordinate between states and the federal government to accelerate the development of new transmission lines.

ICYMI

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