Articles by Gene Johnson

Human Error May Have Caused Seattle Crane Collapse, Experts Say

Human error may have caused a crane collapse that killed four people and injured four others over the weekend, experts said Monday. Based on videos of the collapse, they said it appears workers who were disassembling the construction crane had …

Canada Gets Ready for Legalized Recreational Marijuana on Oct. 17

Mat Beren and his friends used to drive by the vast greenhouses of southern British Columbia and joke about how much weed they could grow there. Years later, it’s no joke. The tomato and pepper plants that once filled some …

Judge Won’t Allow Challenge to Seattle’s Rideshare Driver Union Law

For the second time this month, a federal judge has rejected a challenge to Seattle’s first-in-the-nation law allowing drivers of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize over pay and working conditions. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik rejected …

Challenge to Seattle’s Ridesharing-Union Law Dismissed

A judge has dismissed one challenge to Seattle’s first-in-the-nation law allowing drivers of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize over pay and working conditions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents Uber and Lyft, sued in March …

Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Seattle Law Allowing Ridesharing Union

A federal judge in Seattle, Wash. has temporarily blocked the city’s first-in-the-nation law allowing drivers of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize over pay and working conditions. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik’s ruling came after he heard …

Washington Attorney General Will Fight if Necessary to Keep State’s Legal Pot

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says the state is ready to fight if necessary to keep its legal marijuana. Ferguson made the comments after White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggested during a press briefing that President Donald Trump’s administration might …

Suit against Washington Shoemaker over Use of Marathoner’s Name Dismissed

The maker of a popular line of minimalist running shoes doesn’t have to pay damages for naming some of its models after Abebe Bikila, the legendary Ethiopian runner who won the 1960 Olympics marathon barefoot, a federal judge has ruled. …

$60M in Settlements for Victims of Deadly Washington Landslide

Survivors and family members of people killed in the nation’s deadliest landslide have reached $60 million in settlements with the state of Washington and a timber company that logged an area above the site of the collapse. Just as opening …

Judge Orders AG to Hand Over Emails in Washington Landslide Liability Case

A judge this week ordered the Washington Attorney General’s Office to give him internal emails that might help explain when state lawyers handling a case about liability for the devastating Oso landslide realized that their expert witnesses were improperly deleting …

State, Stillaguamish Tribe Argue over Liability in Washington Mudslide

The Stillaguamish Tribe is fighting off suggestions by the Washington Attorney General’s Office that it might face liability for the devastating Oso landslide, which wiped out a rural neighborhood and killed 43 people in 2014. In a lawsuit filed in …