Austin Jenkins

As the presidential candidates prepare for Wednesday night’s debate, polls show President Obama averages a 15-point advantage in Washington over Republican rival Mitt Romney. Washington’s open race for governor is much closer. The two candidates in that contest met Tuesday night in Yakima for a fiery third debate. But the polls highlight a reality for Republican Rob McKenna: he’ll have to woo a good number of Obama voters if he’s to become Washington’s first G-O-P governor in nearly 30 years.

Nearly nine out of 10 city councils across the Northwest have no Latino members. That estimate comes from a database we assembled of Hispanic officeholders in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. One of the cities with no Latino representations is located in one of the most heavily Hispanic parts of our region. We’re talking about the city of Yakima. The ACLU is suing over the issue. Correspondent Austin Jenkins has our latest story on why the region's largest minority group has so little clout in the political arena.

Both candidates for Washington governor have pledged to drive more money into education – without raising taxes. But the state faces a $1 billion shortfall in the next two year budget cycle. Plus, a recent Supreme Court ruling requires the state to come up with another $1 billion for schools.

The candidates for Washington governor will square off in Yakima Tuesday night for their third official debate. Polls give Democrat Jay Inslee a slight lead over Republican Rob McKenna.

The U.S. Justice Department will intervene in a timesheet fraud case at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The case began in 2009 as a whistleblower complaint against Hanford contractor CH2M Hill. Since then, eight former workers have pleaded guilty to falsifying their time cards.

A staff attorney for Washington state Senate Republicans has agreed to drop his $1.75 million hostile workplace claim, and will receive no damages. The agreement announced Friday follows allegations that Senate leaders failed to protect the lawyer from verbal abuse by Sen. Pam Roach.

There’s more evidence that a Hispanic last name on the ballot can hurt a candidate’s chances. A statistical analysis released Wednesday reveals patterns of racially polarized voting in a Supreme Court race on Washington’s August primary.

The Washington Supreme Court could decide by the end of this year whether a voter-approved two-thirds requirement for tax hikes is constitutional. But first, the justices must determine who has the right to challenge the law. That technical question was the focus of oral arguments Tuesday. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins has details.

The fate of Washington’s two-thirds requirement for tax hikes is now in the hands of the state Supreme Court. The justices Tuesday heard oral arguments in a constitutional challenge to the supermajority threshold.

The Washington Department of Corrections will pay $12.5 million to the families of three of the four Lakewood police officers killed by parolee Maurice Clemmons. The settlement announced Friday comes nearly three years after the Thanksgiving weekend shooting at a coffee shop.