Other LanguagesOLYMPIA — The Attorney General’s Office yesterday filed a brief in the case of MMH, LLC v. Fife. The plaintiffs in this case seek to open marijuana businesses in Fife despite the city’s ban on such businesses. The city argues that it is not required to allow such businesses under Initiative 502. The city also argues that if I-502 does require it to allow such businesses, then I-502 is preempted by federal law. The AGO intervened in this case to defend I-502 and its proper interpretation.
SPOKANE — A Prosecutor from the Attorney General’s Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Unit in Spokane is fighting to prevent a dangerous sex offender from being released into the community.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson yesterday asked the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Wash. for permission to file an amicus, or “friend of the court,” brief in the J.E.F.M. v. Holder lawsuit. Ferguson believes that unaccompanied immigrant children — children under the age of 18 who are not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian when they are apprehended in the United States — should not be forced to represent themselves in complex deportation hearings in which the child’s future is at stake.
SEATTLE—Today the Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously for the State in two important pension cases.
KENNEWICK—Attorney General Bob Ferguson yesterday secured the first derelict vessel conviction in Benton County. The defendant, Brandon Traner, will serve 20 days in jail and pay restitution for abandoning a derelict fishing trawler in the Columbia River.
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Attorney General’s Office will vigorously defend I-502, the initiative legalizing marijuana, against an argument raised by the city of Fife. The city claims that the state law is invalid because it conflicts with federal law. If a court accepts that argument and it is upheld on appeal, it would mean the end of the state system for legal marijuana sales in Washington.
OLYMPIA – The sunken 167-foot Helena Star has been raised, patched, and towed to Seattle, where it is being scrapped and recycled, announced the Washington State Departments of Natural Resources (DNR) and Ecology.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today moved to intervene in three marijuana lawsuits filed against the cities of Wenatchee and Fife. Businesses that applied for marijuana licenses have sued these cities in Chelan and Pierce County Superior Courts to challenge city ordinances that block them from operating. The AGO is intervening to defend Initiative 502, not to support the plaintiffs’ or cities’ positions.
SEATTLE — A Snohomish County jury has decided that repeat sex offender Calvin Malone is a dangerous predator and must be confined in the State’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island. In the interest of public safety, prosecutors from Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Unit have been fighting since 2012 to prevent Malone’s release into the community.
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against Michael Mann, owner of Wheelchairs Plus Inc., in Thurston County Superior Court. The AGO alleges Mann committed the crimes of First Degree Theft and Medicaid False Statement when he fraudulently provided 119 Medicaid recipients with used or refurbished wheelchairs while billing Medicaid as if they were new. Mann billed the State Medicaid system a total of $606,980 for the wheelchairs.