Personal stories of NW families struggling to make ends meet & avoid foreclosure highlight the need for community involvement to help Pierce County families struggling to stay in their homes

Christensen admits beating, strangling stepfather in domestic violence dispute

FERRY COUNTY, WASH.– Morgan Eugene  Christensen pled guilty to second degree murder with a deadly weapon and first degree burglary Friday in Ferry County Superior Court. Christensen broke into the home of his mother and stepfather in October 2012 then beat his stepfather with a tire iron and strangled him to death. Both charges are Class A felonies with maximum penalties of life in prison and $50,000.  

Affinion settles deceptive advertising and membership enrollment allegations  

 Evaluating response options

 SEATTLE - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) informed the Washington State Attorney General’s Office that the federal government is at substantial risk of failing to meet three more milestones ordered by the court in the 2010 Hanford Cleanup Consent Decree.

With today's notice, all deadlines set in the Consent Decree for the construction and operation of Hanford's Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) between now and 2022 appear to be at risk.

SEATTLE – Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a criminal case Friday, October 4 against Colville police officer Rex Newport.

The charges are the result of a sexual misconduct investigation by the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office, after receiving a complaint from a citizen in March of 2013. 

The seven charges include: 

STOP.THINK.CONNECT.™ Campaign Encourages Awareness During Cyber Security Month

SEATTLE – Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington and the Washington State Attorney General’s Office are proud to announce their participation as partners of STOP.THINK.CONNECT.™, a global cyber security awareness campaign to help digital citizens stay safer and more secure online.

SEATTLE − Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, along with 13 other attorneys general, sent a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture demanding that the department and the U.S. Forest Service return sequestered funds owed to the states.

This would be a loss of $1,158,186 due to the people of Washington state. The funds would be used to finance wildland fire mitigation, assistance to homeowners, wildfire-related education, roads and rural school programs.

Check arrives before American Indian Day on Sept. 27

Seattle—Attorney General Bob Ferguson presented a $138,721 grant to the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) to develop its new Chronic Pain Management Project patient registry. The registry will help SIHB health care providers identify and create individualized service plans for patients with chronic pain and other diagnoses. 

Attorney General Ferguson made this presentation as part of the week-long celebration of American Indian Day on September 27.

SEATTLE — Washington state has received a $6 million federal grant that will help connect expectant and parenting teens, women, fathers, and their families with health, education, and social services.
 
The grant money will primarily be spent on programs in the state’s four-county region of Yakima, Franklin, Grant and Adams. This region has some of the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates. On-time graduation rates for the area are lower than the state average.

 OLYMPIA—Benton County Superior Court Judge Carrie Runge today set an October 2014 trial to determine whether convicted sex offender Stephen Robinson is a sexually violent predator (SVP).

Robinson, 56, was convicted of sexually violent offenses against young girls in Benton County in 1984 and again in Denver County, Colo. in 1999.  He was scheduled for release from the Walla Walla Penitentiary on July 26, 2013, but was transported to the state’s Special Commitment Center pending today’s hearing.