I-TEAM INVESTIGATES: Veteran Relief Fund in Benton County
For years a state law being misinterpreted locally could have left our veterans without access to the emergency funds they need.
Homelessness 3 times more likely among state’s black, Native American kids
OLYMPIA — As speakers and protesters here celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, some sobering new numbers are out on student homelessness in Washington state.
Rents rising quickly as older buildings change hands
Just before New Year’s, Kathy Heffernan’s new landlord announced that her rent on a two-bedroom unit at the Linda Manor Apartments in West Seattle would go up on March 1, from $1,000 to $2,300 — a 130 percent increase.
Judge’s departure means court proceedings in Spanish will end
Her English-Spanish language courtroom in Des Moines’ Municipal Court is about to shut down, but Judge Veronica Alicea Galván, who has been appointed to the King County Superior Court bench, foresees a day when bilingual courts are not unusual.
Can’t Pay Your Fines? Your License Could Be Taken
Drive drunk, drive recklessly, and the state can suspend your driver’s license. But many police and motor vehicle administrators worry about a recent trend: A large number of suspensions are for reasons that have nothing to do with unsafe driving.
These reasons include unpaid traffic tickets, falling behind on child support, getting caught with drugs, bouncing checks; or minor juvenile offenses like missing school, using false identification to buy alcohol, or shoplifting.
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Mobile Home Rentals Fall Into Regulatory Gray Area
Across the Northwest, some families will spend Christmas in rented mobile homes where the living conditions are marginal at best and dangerous at worst. So who’s inspecting these manufactured homes? It turns out that they fall into a regulatory gray area.
Seattle Housing Authority retreats on rent-raising proposal
In response to widespread opposition, the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) has shelved its controversial plan to raise rents for thousands of its tenants.
Whatcom’s new Superior Court judge has tribal background
Whatcom County will have its first Native American Superior Court judge in 2015.
At local motels, no room for the homeless, paid or not
The trouble with being poor goes far beyond having no money, Rex Hohlbein learned the other day.
Example: Even if something is paid in advance, sometimes they still kick you out and threaten to call police — just because you fit the poverty profile.
A Push for Legal Aid in Civil Cases Finds Its Advocates
LOS ANGELES — Lorenza and German Artiga raised six children in a rent-controlled bungalow here, their only home since they moved from El Salvador 29 years ago. So they were stunned this past summer when their landlord served them with eviction papers, claiming that their 12-year-old granddaughter Carolyn, whose mother was killed in a car crash in 2007, was an illegal occupant.