SEATTLE -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced a settlement today with Worldlink, Inc., a Shoreline-based Internet provider accused of engaging in unfair business practices.

Worldlink, run by the husband and wife team of Darwin and Lori Lee Hill, offers Internet services including dial-up accounts and DSL service. Under the settlement, entered in King County Superior Court, the company has agreed to pay $17,876 in restitution, civil penalties and fees and stop the business practices alleged to be unfair by the Attorney General in the complaint.

OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case involving the rights of states to regulate direct-to-consumer shipments of wine.

Gregoire joined 35 other State Attorneys General in requesting the court take an appeal of a Federal Court of Appeals decision which struck down Michigan's ban on direct-to-consumer shipment of wine by out-of-state wineries. The legal analysis applied by the court would also call into question laws by states that, unlike Michigan, allow direct shipment of wine to customers in some other states.

OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire has appointed Assistant Attorney General Mary Sue Wilson as the new chief of the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Division.

The division represents the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Parks and Recreation Commission. It also assists local prosecutors and provides general information to the public on natural resources issues.

OLYMPIA -- County prosecutors often face complicated legal issues in their efforts to bring fish and wildlife violators to justice, but they are getting some help on that front this week from the Attorney General's Office.

The office is distributing a new Prosecutors Manual for Fish and Wildlife Violations. It contains relevant laws, a discussion of tribal treaty rights and other legal information, as well as sample charging documents that prosecutors can use in fish and wildlife cases.

McKenna, Attorneys General Nationwide Announce $9 Million in Grants from Neurontin Settlement

SEATTLE – The University of Washington was awarded nearly $400,000 to educate health care providers about the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on how drugs are prescribed, Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today.

The UW is one of 24 grantees nationwide recently selected to receive a total of $9 million funded by a settlement between attorneys general and the makers of the epilepsy drug Neurontin.

Vancouver -  Eleven American and Canadian attorneys general agreed this weekend on an international strategy to crack down on the growing problem of telemarketing fraud.

Attorneys general from British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state met for a two-day conference on shared law enforcement and justice policy issues. The meeting was co-hosted by Washington state Attorney General Christine Gregoire and B.C. Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh

SEATTLE -- The Attorney General’s Office is recruiting consumer analyst volunteers to work with the general public and businesses to resolve consumer complaints.

Volunteers have proven an invaluable resource to the Attorney General’s office; they take complaints and respond to consumer questions daily.

Duties include answering consumer phone inquiries, evaluating and mediating complaints and assisting staff investigators and attorneys. As a result, volunteers will gain a working knowledge of consumer law and learn how to protect themselves in the marketplace.

OLYMPIA - Cancer patients who purchased the chemotherapy drug Taxol or paclitaxel in the past four years may be eligible to receive reimbursements for illegal overcharges, according to Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

SEATTLE – Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced the filing of Washington’s second lawsuit under the state’s computer spyware act. The state’s suit accuses four California-based corporations of installing software that takes control of a consumer’s computer by launching aggressive and persistent pop-ups that demand payment for a movie download service. 

SEATTLE -- The Attorney General's Office today notified the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) that it opposes Verizon Northwest's request for a $29.7 million emergency increase to local telephone rates.

The Attorney General's Public Counsel section joined AARP and WebTEC in filing joint expert witness testimony opposing the hike. WebTEC is an association of large business consumers of telecommunications, and AARP is a non-profit membership organization and consumer advocate for people 50 and older.