OLYMPIA - About 12,000 Washington consumers will soon get information about their eligibility for restitution under the state's $21.15 million settlement with Household International, a top lender in the sub-prime mortgage market.

The settlement administrator will mail information August 15 to eligible consumers who obtained real estate secured loans with the company through its retail lending subsidiaries Household Finance, Beneficial or Household Realty Corporation between January 1, 1999 and September 30, 2002.

OLYMPIA -- Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire and her colleagues in three other states today described as "wholly unnecessary" a recent legislative proposal from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that would give the agency broad latitude in deciding how to categorize and dispose of high-level nuclear waste at Hanford.

Olympia - At the request of Attorney General Christine Gregoire, the U.S. Department of Justice today agreed to suspend further shipments of transuranic (TRU) waste to Hanford for 45 days.

The announcement follows the state's filing of a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Spokane to halt further shipments of TRU waste until the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) complies with state and federal laws relating to the shipment and management of the radioactive waste.

OLYMPIA -- Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire has undergone successful surgery at St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

A recent screening mammogram revealed an area of abnormality and subsequent diagnostic studies showed ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

The surgery, which was performed Thursday, shows no evidence of invasive breast cancer.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Chris Griffith and Dr. William Reus, and consisted of a mastectomy with immediate reconstruction.

COLFAX - Bruce L. Grass, a former assistant marshal for the City of Palouse, was charged today in Whitman County District Court with one count of first-degree criminal trespass stemming from an incident in the Town of Garfield on the evening of Aug. 24, 2002.

Grass, 49, is accused of entering a Garfield residence through a window without the resident's permission and without first obtaining a search warrant. At the time of the incident, he was assisting a Garfield marshal investigating a report of an underage person in possession of alcohol.

SEATTLE -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire today opposed Qwest's request to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) for early termination of a service quality performance program originally established as part of the Qwest-US West merger.

SEATTLE -- The Attorney General's Public Counsel section today challenged rate increases proposed by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) that would add about $5 to a typical residential customer's monthly electrical bill, and about $4.35 to a gas bill.

Papers opposing the proposed rate increases were filed today with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC). PSE's request would generate an additional $81.6 million from electric customers and $47 million more from gas customers.

SEATTLE -- A settlement which could help reduce drug costs and improve medical care for 60 million Americans was announced today by Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire.

SEATTLE -- A Renton dentist today was sentenced to serve six months on home detention and ordered to pay $175,000 in restitution to the state after pleading guilty in December to theft and fraud charges filed after he billed the state Medicaid program for services he did not provide.

The sentence was handed down to Dr. Hoi Lee by King County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayden.

OLYMPIA -- The Washington State Attorney General's Office today asked the state Supreme Court to review a recent lower court decision that ruled Initiative 655 (I-655) unconstitutional.

The initiative, approved by voters in 1996, makes it unlawful to hunt certain game animals with the aid of bait or dogs. In June, a Jefferson County District Court judge ruled that I-655 violates the Washington State Constitution by dealing with more than one subject. As a result of that ruling, charges against several defendants accused of unlawfully hunting black bear with bait were dismissed.