SEATTLE – The Public Counsel Unit of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office will recommend Friday that the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) continue investigating the so-called “hedging” strategies used by utility companies in their natural gas purchasing strategies.  Public Counsel will also further recommend that the WUTC order that certain hedging costs not be passed to customers.

OLYMPIA— The Washington State Senate today approved a bipartisan measure proposed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson to extend current courthouse protections to all residents accessing the courts.

 
BELLINGHAM, WA – March 14, 2013 – The operator of the now-closed Bayside Café in Bellingham has been charged with the theft of at least $286,000 in sales tax he collected from customers but failed to remit to the Washington State Department of Revenue.

Agreement Bans Unauthorized Data Collection, Requires Training of Google Employees on Privacy and Nationwide Campaign to Education Consumers on Protecting Information

OLYMPIA-- Attorney General Bob Ferguson today joined 37 other states and the District of Columbia in a $7 million settlement with search engine giant Google for collecting data from unsecured wireless networks nationwide while taking photographs for its Street View service.

OLYMPIA-- Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that Washington has joined with other states and the federal government in a $22.5 million settlement with Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc. (“Par”). The states allege Par promoted sales of the drug Megace ES for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and not covered by the State Medicaid programs.

OLYMPIA— It can happen to anyone. Spoofers have targeted two well-respected consumer protection agencies in an attempt to harm the very people those agencies protect.

In mid-January, the Federal Trade Commission warned people that scammers had sent e-mail messages that appeared to be from the FTC to thousands of businesses claiming that people had complained about them. The email included a link or attachment to a document including more information. The goal? Entice frazzled business owners to click on the link or attachment then dump malware on their computer.

EVERETT – March 6, 2013 – A Bothell contractor was charged today with stealing nearly $23,000 in sales tax between 2004 and 2010 and covering up the theft by filing fraudulent tax returns.

Olympia —Confessed murderer and rapist Cal Coburn Brown was put to death by lethal injection at 12:56 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 10, 2010, at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

King County jurors convicted Brown of aggravated first-degree murder after he confessed to the 1991 strangulation and stabbing death of 21-year-old Holly Washa in the Sea Tac area. Since the jury sentenced him to death in December 1993, Brown utilized the many legal options available to him and filed multiple appeals.

OLYMPIA – Call  them scammers, swindlers, fraudsters or grifters. But whatever you do, don’t believe a word they say.

Just like their counterparts over the ages convinced desperate dreamers to sink their savings into imaginary investments or lured lovesick loners into losing their family fortunes, today’s scam artists prey on people’s desires for love, money or good luck –and walk away with their wallets.

OLYMPIA—The Walla Walla County Superior Court Friday entered a preliminary injunction, ordering several Northwest auto dealerships owned by Mark Gilbert to comply with Washington dealer and consumer protection laws, requiring prompt payoff of customers’ trade-in vehicles.