Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed felony charges Thursday against three Tacoma Police Department officers related to the death of Manuel Ellis.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died in handcuffs while being restrained by Tacoma police on March 3, 2020.
Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins are charged with second-degree murder, and Timothy Rankine is charged with first-degree manslaughter. All three officers were booked into the Pierce County Jail Thursday.
The three officers are expected to have their first court appearance Friday morning. Read more
The Seattle Public Schools board has approved the district's plan to reopen in the fall. The plan includes five days a week of in-person learning.
The plan could include removing daily health screenings for students, staff and visitors, allowing schools to move to three feet of physical distancing instead of six, and required mask use.
All districts in the state are required to submit similar plans to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction by next week. Read more
New research is raising concerns over toxic chemicals being found in breast milk.
A paper published this month in Environmental Science and Technology followed 50 Seattle-area women looking for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in their breast milk. Researchers found PFAS in 100% of the breast milk samples.
The concern is some PFAS chemicals have been linked to negative health impacts like cancer, weakened immune system, and thyroid impacts. Read more
For the first time, the Washington State Department of Ecology issued a drought advisory map, and most of the counties in Washington are on it.
This is the first time a map has shown a combination of where the state is already at and how conditions are expected to change as spring turns into summer. The map shows an early warning, covering most of the state, that drought conditions are developing.
Already, March and April represented the fourth driest period on record for Washington state since 1895. Read more
Thieves will get creative with what they can steal -- from copper to catalytic converters, even lumber. But a home builder in Pierce County is getting creative on his own to stop potential lumber thieves.
Terry Folden, the general manager of Presidential Homes in Puyallup, said he invested in dozens of concrete "ecology" blocks that weigh about 3,000 pounds each that are typically used for retaining walls.
He then uses a forklift to put the heavy weights on top of plywood stacks to stop thieves from taking the lumber and hauling it away. Read more
Also see: Seattle local forecast
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