"WASHINGTON — The government’s multi-billion-dollar effort to clean up Hanford, the nation’s largest former nuclear-weapons site, has become its own dysfunctional mess, critics say."

"County council elections turn on local issues, but the recent ballot in Washington State's Whatcom County drew big money and national interest. As Ashley Ahearn of public media's EarthFix reports,these councillors must approve any permit for a huge coal export facility, and those elected are considered by many to be opponents of such a coal terminal."

"Huge proposed coal export terminals at Longview and Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, must get “exhaustive and independent review” of potential environmental, economic and climate change impacts, Washington’s four Catholic bishops said in a statement adopted Friday."

"OLYMPIA, Washington -- With one day before the election in Washington State, grassroots organization Food Democracy Now! is urging its 650,000 members and citizens everywhere to make calls urging voters to support Yes on 522, a ballot initiative that would require labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms."

"Last week, the Whatcom County Council in northwestern Washington voted to buy six new SUVs for the local Sheriff's Department and introduced its annual road construction plan. These were significant developments in this sleepy rural enclave of scarcely 200,000 people, but nothing compared to what's on the horizon: A proposal to build the largest coal export terminal on the West Coast, capable of annually shipping a whopping 48 million tons of Montana and Wyoming coal to Asia."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- Saying that the West Coast must lead the way in battling climate change, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington, along with the premier of British Columbia, signed an agreement Monday committing the Canadian province and the three states to coordinate global-warming policies."

"The Energy Department is tightening its control over the Bonneville Power Administration in the wake of a scandal over BPA's illegal hiring practices."

"Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co., among the biggest makers of bioengineered crop seeds, are persuading Washington state voters to change their minds about a proposal to require labels on genetically modified food."

"INCHELIUM, Wash. -- Imagine bringing your kids to the lake and wondering if they’d be better off at home, watching TV."