If it happened to Harvard University, could it happen anywhere?

The Trump administration’s surprising bid to end Harvard’s international enrollment put the higher education world on edge this week, looming as a larger threat against academic autonomy.

Gov. Bob Ferguson called on the state’s Republican congressional coalition to “explain their votes” on a massive federal spending bill that could result in 200,000 Washingtonians losing Medicaid coverage.

Walla Walla’s state lawmakers will visit for a town hall meeting and Q&A on Saturday, May 31, at Walla Walla Community College.

The event will be 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center, 500 Tausick Way in Walla Walla. No advance registration is required.

President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending bill could come with a big, ugly cost, economists warn. Nonpartisan research groups studying the proposal have estimated that it would add more than $2.5 trillion to the federal debt - currently at an all-time high of $36.8 trillion - over the next decade. 

It’s a Thursday morning in the Sustainable Practices Lab, a nondescript building inside the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. On the ground floor, dozens of inmates are hard at work making license plates, furniture and other goods.

The National Weather Service office providing forecasts and hazardous weather warnings for the greater Tri-Cities area will no longer be staffed at night because of the Trump administration's job cuts and a federal hiring freeze.

US Rep. Michael Baugmartner came to Walla Walla this morning, had four private meetings, and tried to avoid contact with the general public or voters.

Nonetheless, the Walla Walla Democrats and constituents were delighted to let Michael know what they thought of the job he's been doing as our Congressman for the last 126 days.

A federal judge in Vermont ordered the Trump administration on Friday to release Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student whose sudden arrest in March led to a public outcry.

The judge, William K. Sessions III, said Ms. Ozturk should be freed immediately. “Her continued detention cannot stand,” Judge Sessions said, adding that her continued detention “potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens.”

US Rep. Michael Baumgartner is visiting Walla Walla today, stopping at the Union-Bulletin, Walla Walla High School, the Jonathan Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. He is not attending any meetings to which the public is invited.

The Walla Walla Democrats invite their constituents and the public to gather at the US Army Corps of Engineers headquarters at 2:00 pm today to protest Baumgartner’s lock-step support of Trump’s undemocratic agenda and reckless policies.

Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, was breezing toward the office elevator in his signature trench coat in February when he passed a group of about 10 young prosecutors preparing to leave, framed diplomas and keepsakes in hand.

“Whoa, what’s going on here?” Mr. Martin asked with a chuckle, seemingly oblivious to who they were and where they were going, according to people with knowledge of the exchange.

Washington joined a coalition of states in suing the Trump administration Monday over the deep cuts and layoffs at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which they say have torn the department apart, depriving it of the resources needed to do its job.

“Over the course of a few days in late March and early April, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismantled the Department in violation of Congress’s instructions, the U.S. Constitution, and the many statutes that govern the Department’s programs,” the lawsuit, filed in federal District Court in Rhode Island, says.

U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner is planning introductory meetings with staff at the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center and the Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District on Friday, May 9.

The meetings will not be public. Instead, they’re a chance for Baumgartner to get to know the leadership and staff of the agencies, spokesperson Andrew Rolwes said.

The Supreme Court decided Tuesday that the Trump administration may reinstate its ban on transgender people serving in the military, blocking a lower court order out of Washington state. 

The emergency ruling, which was unsigned and did not include a reason for allowing the ban to move forward, takes immediate effect and will remain in place while legal challenges proceed. 

When former Gov. Jay Inslee was reminded that he was the “last” Democrat to represent the now-reliably Republican 4th Congressional District, Inslee was quick to interject.

“Not the last, just the most recent,” he said prior to a town hall in Yakima April 9. “There will be more.”

In February, the Walla Walla County Rural Library District was awarded six grants of up to $1,000 for district employees’ professional development.

Then on March 14, President Donald Trump signed an executive order deeming the IMLS and six other entities "unnecessary" and eliminating their "non-statutory components and functions ... to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law."

For the first 100 days of President Trump’s new term, Kamala Harris drifted into the recesses of political defeat back home in Los Angeles. She mulled her thoughts and pondered whether to run for California governor but, noticeably, said little about the president.

It wasn’t until Wednesday night that the former vice president waded back into the conversation with an affirmation of Democratic frustrations, in a speech that her camp had billed as her most extensive remarks since leaving Washington after losing her bid for the White House.

An appellate court has sent an Open Public Meetings Act case back to the Walla Walla County Superior Court to nullify actions taken by the Board of County Commissioners at a special meeting on Jan. 7, 2021.

The appellate court sided with Walla Walla County resident R.L. McFarland, who filed the lawsuit against the county and then-Commissioners Gregory Tompkins, Todd Kimball and Jenny Mayberry in 2022.

Voters believe President Trump is overreaching with his aggressive efforts to expand executive power, and they have deep doubts about some of the signature pieces of his agenda, a New York Times/Siena College poll found.

The turbulent early months of Mr. Trump’s administration are seen as “chaotic” and “scary” by majorities of voters — even many who approve of the job he is doing. Voters do not view him as understanding the problems in their daily lives and have soured on his leadership as he approaches his 100th day in office.