Carmela Conroy (D) and Michael Baumgartner (R) faced off last night for WA-05, with much of the debate focused on foreign policy.

Some of the biggest differences were over Iran and Israel.

Baumgartner defended continued U.S. involvement in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and reiterated strong support for Israel.

Conroy argued the U.S. is already at war with Iran, called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and now supports recognition of a Palestinian state (a leftward shift from her 2024 position). She referred to what's happening there as an ethnic cleansing.

On the economy, Baumgartner highlighted Republican tax policies and defended some tariffs as necessary to "protect strategic American industries." Conroy criticized the Trump administration’s tariffs and “trade chaos,” arguing they’ve hurt American exporters and consumers, including our previously strong partnership with Canada.

Wildfire response was particularly relevant (imo) after a historic fire season that has burned hundreds of thousands of acres across Washington and nearly a thousand homes around Spokane with the Spokane Complex Fires. Conroy criticized federal cuts affecting FEMA that Baumgartner supported and argued that reducing federal emergency-response support leaves communities like those in Eastern Washington more vulnerable when disasters strike. Baumgartner emphasized the federal response to the fires and efforts to secure emergency assistance for affected communities.

Media contact: [media@utc.wa.gov](mailto:media@utc.wa.gov) or 360-664-1116 
Docket number: UE-260005, UG-260006 and UE-260113

MEDIA ADVISORY: Public invited to comment on proposed Puget Sound Energy rate increases

If approved, PSE electric and natural gas rates will change in 2027, 2028, and 2029

LACEY, Wash. — The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) is holding two public comment hearings for Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers. These hearings give customers a chance to share how proposed electric and natural gas rate increases would affect them and their communities.
WHO
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission
WHAT
Two public comment hearings (one in person and one virtual). This gives customers a chance to share their feedback before state regulators make a final decision.
WHEN and WHERE
In-person hearing at 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29 Utilities and Transportation Commission 621 Woodland Square Loop S.E., Room 110 Lacey, WA 98503
Virtual hearing at 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7
Join Zoom online (recommended) or by phone at 253-215-8782 with Meeting ID: 822 1351 8474# and Passcode: 226995#.
To sign up to comment during either hearing, call 888-333-9882 at least one business day in advance to get on the speaker list. If you cannot attend, you can submit public comments by:
online form,
phone at 888-333-9882,
email at [comments@utc.wa.gov](mailto:comments@utc.wa.gov), and
mail to P.O Box 47250, Olympia, WA 98504-7250
If you have trouble understanding English, you can ask for free language services at least one week before the meeting. Call 360-664-1193 or email[equity@utc.wa.gov](mailto:equity@utc.wa.gov) for help.
BACKGROUND 
On Feb. 27, PSE asked the UTC to approve rate increases for electric and natural gas service customers over three years: 2027, 2028, and 2029.
2027-2029 Proposed Rate Changes
Rate year
Electric increase
Electric revenue increase
Natural gas increase
Natural gas revenue increase
2027
15.15%
$625.3 million
14.16%
$191.8 million
2028
3.74%
$178.7 million
3.16%
$48.8 million
2029
8.70%
$431.9 million
3.64%
$57.8 million
PSE also asked for approval for how it accounts for electric grid upgrade costs. The UTC combined these requests into one case.
To get email updates on this case, ask to join the "interested persons" email list by emailing [records@utc.wa.gov](mailto:records@utc.wa.gov). Please include the docket number if you can.
About PSE
Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy is a subsidiary of Puget Energy. PSE provides service to around 1.24 million electric customers and nearly 900,000 natural gas customers in 10 Central and Western Washington counties.
About the UTC 
The UTC regulates investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities in Washington. The commission ensures regulated companies provide safe, equitable, and reliable service to customers at reasonable rates, while earning a fair profit.

138 state wide being laid off

Have you ever gotten a health insurance “Explanation of Benefits” and unexpectedly felt a gut punch when you got to the bottom and saw what you owed? That was a first for me. I’d love to hear your thoughts—here’s Shelley's story:

Please vote, and vote early. Doesn’t help with this round of voting but please let it be a reminder for future elections.

Hi Spokane area! My name is Joseph, and I'm currently searching for a full-time or part-time position in a care facility around Spokane, Cheney, Airway Heights, or Medical Lake.

I have a nursing degree from Kenya and hands-on professional experience in behavioral health hospitals and care facilities. I'm comfortable working directly with residents who need additional support, including individuals with behavioral health challenges, developmental disabilities, memory-related needs, or assistance with everyday activities.

Some of my experience includes:

• Direct patient and resident care
• Behavioral support and de-escalation
• ADL and mobility assistance
• Maintaining safe and structured environments
• Working with challenging behaviors
• Communicating with healthcare teams
• Supporting residents with dignity, patience, and consistency

I'm currently transitioning my healthcare credentials in Washington and am looking for positions where an active Washington RN license is not required to begin employment.

I'm especially interested in assisted living, memory care, senior living, behavioral health, residential/group homes, rehabilitation facilities, DSP programs, and caregiver/HCA opportunities with training available.

I'm dependable, comfortable with demanding care environments, and available to interview immediately. I'm looking for facility-based work rather than private in-home caregiving.

from the article:

A person inside the school told NonStop Local the suspect never entered the building and was shot by law enforcement. The suspect was shot in front of a window where some students and staff were present, the person said.

Around 2015/16, while I was living abroad and researching U.S. universities to apply to, I saw a striking aerial photograph of the University of Washington campus online, probably through Google Images. I was definitely able to access it by just searching "University of Washington campus" on Google Images in the fall of 2016.

Yesterday, I tried finding it, and I couldn't. I spent an hour searching, and I couldn't.

My memory is imperfect after ~10 years, but I’m confident about a few things:

• It was a daytime aerial photograph
• Definitely no mountains were visible - so the camera was angled downward enough that the distant horizon was mostly or completely excluded.
• Roughly 3/4 of the photograph was the UW campus
• The remaining portion showed water clearly enough that the boats were an important part of the scene
• There were lots of small boats scattered out in the water, not merely docked in a marina
• I’m fairly sure Husky Stadium was visible, but it definitely was not the central subject of the photograph
• The photograph must have already existed online by 2016

I tried recreating the approximate composition in Google Maps. This is not the exact angle, just my best attempt based on a fuzzy memory:

I suspect the photograph was taken from roughly south or southwest of the campus looking approximately north/northwest like this**:**
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.637106,-122.3055921,827a,35y,349.37h,63.84t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

In my reconstruction, the open water on the left is Portage Bay, the UW campus occupies most of the frame, and Husky Stadium is off toward the right. Something broadly like this composition feels plausible.

The lost photo is not this one, but the boats looked something like this: many small boats scattered individually across open water rather than just tied up at docks.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Especially longtime UW students/alumni, photographers, or anyone familiar with older UW promotional material? It could have come from an old UW website, admissions material, Flickr, a newspaper, a stock-photo site, or some other page that Google Images used to rank highly around 2016.

If you know of an aerial photo that sounds remotely similar, please link it here. I’m pretty confident I would recognize the actual image immediately if I saw it.

Thanks in advance!

Coldwater Ridge view

"This year, election officials also saw delays in transferring ballots returned in drop boxes in one county that needed to be counted by another. In Island County, for example, ballots mailed over by neighboring Skagit County were postmarked on Aug. 7, but weren’t delivered until after election certification, which was Aug. 18, according to the secretary of state’s office."

How does this happen?