OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today that Rite Aid has entered into an agreement with 20 states, including Washington, to help reduce the sale of tobacco to minors.

Rite Aid, the latest national retailer to reach such an agreement with state attorneys general, will adopt procedures to prevent tobacco sales to underage youth in its more than 3,000 stores across the country, including 134 stores in Washington.

Judge’s order comes in response to Washington’s first case under the federal anti-spam law

SEATTLE – A California marketing firm today was ordered to pay $3 million in civil penalties and $375,000 restitution to the Seattle School District for sending junk e-mails. Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced the U.S. District Court order against AvTech Direct, which came as a result of Washington’s first lawsuit under the federal anti-spam act.

SEATTLE – The Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement today with Sammamish-based SoftwareOnline.com, Inc. Under the settlement filed today in King County Superior Court, the company will refund affected consumers and pay $190,000 to resolve allegations that it misrepresented the extent to which its software is necessary for security, bombarded potential customers with pop-up ads and used deceptive billing practices.

OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today that Vibo Corporation of Miami, Florida has joined the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and will pay Washington State $1.5 million immediately and approximately $35 million over the next ten years.

Vibo, which does business as General Tobacco, was the largest remaining tobacco company not signed on to the MSA. It is the exclusive U.S. importer of cigarettes from Protabaco, S.A., based in Bogota, Colombia, and sells a number of cigarette brands, including Bronco, GT One, Champion and Silver.

SEATTLE – The Public Counsel Section of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office today recommended the state Utilities and Transportation Commission reject a request by Avista to increase revenues by nearly $23 million by raising energy rates for its Eastern Washington customers.

SEATTLE --Attorney General Christine Gregoire said today Cyco.net, Inc., a New Mexico firm, has agreed to stop selling tobacco products in Washington.

Cyco.net and its president, Richard Urrea, were sued under the Consumer Protection Act for selling cigarettes to minors over the Internet.

The lawsuit was filed after an undercover investigation where a minor was able to buy cigarettes on a website provided by Cyco.net.

OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today that he is asking Hollywood's major motion picture studios to insert anti-smoking public service announcements in all DVDs and videos in which smoking is depicted. 

McKenna and attorneys general in 31 other states sent letters to executives at Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.

SEATTLE -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire filed suit today accusing a Seattle fine arts dealer of selling fake Asian and Chinese art.

The consumer protection suit, filed in King County Superior Court, alleges Thesaurus Fine Arts engaged in unfair and deceptive acts by misleading customers. The Seattle business, now closed, sold pottery represented to be hundreds of years old from a downtown store-front location as well as through Internet auctions on eBay.

SPOKANE - After nearly a year of gathering evidence and nine months of active investigation, attorneys from Attorney General Rob McKenna’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit today filed a petition in Spokane County Superior Court for the civil commitment of Kevin Coe.

Coe was convicted in 1985 of the first degree rape of a Spokane resident and originally scheduled for release from the Washington State Penitentiary on Sept. 8.

Joint Consumer Alert from ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB MCKENNA and DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna and Labor and Industries Director Gary Weeks warned consumers today to be on the lookout for private companies mailing notices that threaten businesses with up to $17,000 in fines, lawsuits and audits for not displaying labor law posters.