OLYMPIA -- The Attorney General's Office today asked the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) to order two companies to stop collecting a surcharge from utility customers on the Yakama Reservation.

OLYMPIA – The Attorney General’s Office today petitioned the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) to establish negotiations aimed at addressing a dispute over the nature of a utility assessment levied by the Yakama Nation.

The Attorney General’s Public Counsel section filed a petition with the WUTC asking it to establish a collaborative process in which interested parties and commission staff would attempt to address the disagreement.

Olympia – September 27, 2001 The Risk Management Task Force established by Attorney General Christine Gregoire and Governor Gary Locke has announced its recommendations for protecting the public and reducing the number of multi-million dollar lawsuits against the state.

The Task Force focused on ways to prevent the kinds of accidents or injuries that often lead to lawsuits "in an attempt to avoid human loss and suffering in the first place," according to the report released today.

OLYMPIA - Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today that the Williams Companies, Inc. and the Williams Energy Marketing and Trading Company will pay $15 million to resolve state claims that it participated in market manipulations and overcharges that caused electricity rates to skyrocket for Washington consumers over the winter of 2000-2001.

OLYMPIA -- Weyerhaeuser Co. will contribute $130,540 toward a study into the performance of engineered wood siding in Pacific Northwest climates in an agreement that ends an investigation into whether the firm misrepresented the siding's performance.

OLYMPIA - State Attorney General Christine Gregoire today filed criminal charges against two men for violating state water pollution and sewage laws at the city of Ridgefield's wastewater treatment plant.

"These crimes endanger both human health and the environment, and clearly warrant criminal charges as well as civil sanctions," Gregoire said.

Seattle-June 29, 1998-A King County jury today found that the state was not liable for damages for its role in an investigation into allegations of child sex abuse in the Wenatchee area.  Two of the plaintiffs in the suit alleged that the Department of Social and Health Services and a Child Protective Services supervisor were liable for damages arising from the involvement of DSHS employees in the Wenatchee investigation conducted by local law enforcement officials. 

OLYMPIA The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed one of its three-judge panels and ruled 6-5 to reinstate the death sentence of David L. Rice, who killed Seattle attorney Charles Goldmark, his wife and their two children more than a decade ago.

SEATTLE – At least eight Washington state small businesses and nonprofits that lost phone and Internet services when their telecommunications provider, NorVergence, Inc., went bankrupt last year will not have to pay the full amount due on their rental contracts, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced today.

Olympia – September 27, 2001 - Traffic-accident reports prepared by law enforcement officers in compliance with state law are subject to public disclosure and copying under the state Public Disclosure Act, an Attorney General Opinion released today concludes.