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Mariana Rose Grimes was a caring wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She peacefully left this world surrounded by her loved ones on March 11, 2024, at age 82. 

She was born to Regina and Cresencio Reyes on Sept. 12, 1941. After graduating from high school, she married James Rose, who predeceased Mariana. They raised a family of six children, Denise, Sandra, Susan, James Jr., Eugene, who passed away at birth, and Jerry. 

Mariana met John Grimes in 2012. They married in 2013, making their home in Toledo, Washington, where he still lives. She loved family time, camping, gardening, canning, motorcycle rides and watching her favorite soap opera, The Young and the Restless. Mariana had a strong passion for animals, so she was a long-term financial supporter of animal shelters. 

Mariana will be honored in a celebration of life memorial service at 1:30 p.m. May 17, 2024, at the Christian Fellowship Church, located at 630 Cemetery Road, Winlock, Washington. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to an animal shelter on her behalf.

Washington Republican candidate for governor Dave Reichert is blasting Gov. Jay Inslee over ongoing issues plaguing Washington State Ferries. 

"With nearly 40% of the vessels in the Washington State Ferries fleet out of service, I'm calling on Inslee to take immediate action on the mismanaged nightmare that happened on your watch," a news release from Reichert's campaign said.

The news release went on to say, “The current administration has decided to just let the ferry system deteriorate purposefully because they have planned to transfer to electric ferries.”

Reichert elaborated in speaking with The Center Square on Thursday. 

“The push to electric ferries puts us out now so many years and people on the islands can’t wait that long," he said of the ferry-dependent San Juan Islands. 

He went on to observe, “We can put clean-burning diesel ferries and build those out and get them on the route and bring back the ferry system to full health as quickly as we can, and we can pretty easily transition those clean-burning diesel ferries to electric, if that’s the direction we decide to go in a few years, but of course there could be even cleaner energies in a few years, too."

Reichert pointed to the shortage of ferry workers at the heart of the agency's struggle with reliability. 

“The employees who were fired during the pandemic is a big part of that, and we need to rehire workers who would like their jobs back," he said. 

In October 2021, more than 400 Washington State Department of Transportation employees were fired for not complying with Inslee’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The largest loss was within Washington State Ferries, which lost 132 employees – 121 of those as separations and 11 as retirements.

Reichert recalled speaking with a former employee who considered going back to her position after Washington State Ferries offered to rehire workers who lost their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. 

“One ferry worker on the San Juan Island run told me she was offered her job back, but at a lower paid position," he said, adding she informed the agency she wanted to come back to her previous position with the same pay as when she left.

“She was refused that, and she shared with me she knows this happened with other ferry employees also," Reichert said. “The job they had, they deserve to have it back."

He concluded, “We’re almost like a third world country with people standing around waiting for the ferries.”

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the frontrunning Democratic candidate for governor, has recently said he, too, supports the construction of at least two diesel powered ferries to remedy the immediate crisis, adding that doesn't mean he's opposed to the Inslee administration when it comes to the ferry system.

“The end goal is to electrify the fleet but what’s become clear is we’ve got a crisis," Ferguson told The Seattle Times. "We’ve got to treat it like a crisis. Half measures won’t cut it."

He denied his stance signals a retreat from his party’s aggressive agenda on climate change. After this story was initially published, the Ferguson campaign emailed a statement:

""Attorney General Ferguson was the first candidate in this race to issue a comprehensive Ferries plan-- calling not just for new boats, but changes in accountability and staffing required to make long term, positive change. The partisan accusations and finger pointing of Congressman Reichert are not a plan, and blaming others doesn't get new boats on the water, and help connect Washington communities."

Washington State Ferries is the largest ferry system in the the U.S.

The Center Square reached out to Inslee's office and the Ferguson campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

The Biden administration’s move to reclassify marijuana as a lower-risk substance has broad implications for the cannabis industry at large, including in Washington state, a pioneer in the legal cannabis industry.

On Dec. 6, 2012, Washington became the first state in the nation to legalize recreational use of marijuana and the first to allow recreational marijuana sales, alongside Colorado. Washington had previously legalized medical marijuana in 1998.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department confirmed that the Drug Enforcement Agency, agreeing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is proposing to move marijuana from Schedule I status to Schedule III status under the Controlled Substances Act.  

Schedule I status means the federal government thinks there is no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs include heroin and LSD. Federal law prohibits the cultivation and possession of Schedule I drugs, except for approved research studies.

Marijuana has been a Schedule I drug since 1970.

Schedule III substances are considered to have medical use and moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Prescription drugs such as anabolic steroids, ketamine and testosterone are in the Schedule III category.

The Justice Department’s proposal means the federal government would recognize the medical use of cannabis, but wouldn’t legalize it for recreational use.

Aaron Pickus, media relations head at the Washington CannaBusiness Association, an organization representing Washington’s licensed and regulated cannabis and hemp business, applauded the federal government’s expected change in marijuana classification.

“This is an important incremental step that will one day improve the lives of patients and better support economic opportunity for those working and investing in Washington’s safe, quality-controlled and regulated cannabis marketplace,” he said in an email to The Center Square.

According to Marijuana Business Daily, Washington’s marijuana market has cooled a little recently but is still robust.

The Evergreen State sold about $1.13 billion in adult-use marijuana through November 2023, down just slightly from the $1.18 billion it sold during the same period in 2022.

Pickus pointed out that moving marijuana to Schedule III has major tax policy implications for state-legal cannabis businesses. If reclassification is ultimately implemented, marijuana businesses can officially take federal tax deductions that they’ve been barred from under an Internal Revenue Service code known as 280E.

“This decision also begins the process to resolve the issue of 280E, a longstanding challenge for legal businesses who were blocked from making normal tax deductions on their federal returns,” Pickus explained.

However, he pointed out that the federal government still needs to address the fact that many financial institutions don’t want anything to do with money from the marijuana industry for fear it could expose them to legal trouble from the federal government.

“We call on lawmakers to advance additional opportunities to support a safe, viable legal marketplace that keeps products out of the hands of kids by adopting the SAFER Banking Act, removing Washington’s ban on access to capital for local businesses and further aligning the regulations governing the legal cannabis industry with the same expectations that workers and business owners in any other legal industry are afforded,” Pickus said.

The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulations, or SAFER, Banking Act would allow banks to provide services to the cannabis industry in those states where it’s now legal.

Conventional wisdom is that marijuana businesses in Washington and other states are susceptible to and targeted by criminals because they are largely all-cash enterprises.

Another ongoing challenge faced by the marijuana industry in Washington is the growing potency of cannabis products.

Hikers have more to watch out for than bears this summer.

Washington state's gray wolf population has increased over the last 15 years, said Julie Smith, endangered species recovery section manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), during Wednesday’s episode of "The Impact" on TVW. 

In fact, the gray wolf population jumped by 20% alone in 2023, she said, with packs now moving south of Interstate 90 and further into the western half of the state. 

At the end of 2023, WDFW and tribes around the state counted 260 wolves and 42 packs, according to the department's website. 

“Where we expect to see growth is in Southwest Washington, where we have a lot of good forested habitat,” Smith said. “We have Mount St. Helens National Monument. We have Mount Rainier National Park. Those have yet to see their first wolves cross within those boundaries, although they’ve come close.”

Until this week, gray wolves were federally listed as endangered. Now, following U.S. House Resolution 764, the Trust the Science Act, gray wolves are no longer listed on the Endangered Species Act. 

While previously thought to have been eradicated in Washington for almost 100 years, scattered reports over the decades indicated that some gray wolves made their way over from neighboring states and British Columbia, Canada, according to WDFW's website.

While this week’s decision delisted gray wolves nationwide, the species was federally delisted for much of eastern Washington in 2022. However, since state government still lists the species, it’s illegal to “kill, harm, or harass them."

Smith said WDFW anticipates the species will continue working its way along the Cascade mountain range and around the Olympic Peninsula. The agency expects population trends to slow as gray wolves occupy more of the state’s habitat. 

“[Our wolf populations] don’t tend to just move across and show up in a completely new area of the state where there aren’t any wolves,” she said. “Typically, you’re going to see buds off current packs.”

Given wolves’ ability to adapt, persevere and disperse, Smith said it’s reasonable to assume that western Washington will have strong packs in the next 10 years. 

“We manage for recovery in this state,” she said, “... we expect their populations to grow.”

Smith said people can undoubtedly expect wolves in the northeast and southeast portions of the state, as those areas have had established packs for over a decade. There are also increased reports in the central and north Cascades. 

Given the shy nature of the species, it’s unlikely for people to stumble upon a gray wolf. Instead, she said that people should expect to see signs, such as scat or tracks. However, she recommended leaving the area cautiously upon spotting a gray wolf. 

“The best thing you can do is keep your eye contact with that wolf and slowly back away,” Smith said.

Cowlitz County Coroner Dana Tucker has released the identity of the motorcyclist who died Sunday following a single-vehicle crash on Lewis River Road west of Yale.

The motorcyclist was Robert L. Jones, 54, of Vancouver.

Jones was killed in the accident where he lost control of his bike around 3 p.m., crossed into the southbound lane of Lewis River Road, and collided with the guardrail, a press release states. The collision caused him to be ejected down an embankment on the south side of the road, and he died from blunt-force traumatic injuries.

Three people were killed in a two-car accident while fleeing from Cowlitz County deputies Tuesday night in Kelso.

The wreck occurred at about 8:35 p.m., near the intersection of South Pacific Avenue and Yew Street, according to Kelso police.

The fleeing vehicle struck another car, according to a Kelso police press release. The three people from the fleeing vehicle were killed, and two people from the other vehicle were injured.

Police have not released why the vehicle was being pursued.  

Neither the identification of the victims nor the cause of the accident has been released either. 

Trooper Will Finn, a spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol, said the agency's Major Accident Investigation Team will investigate the crash.

The state recently loosened its law on law enforcement vehicular pursuits. 

The new law, effective June 6, allows law enforcement to follow vehicles based on reasonable suspicion of any crime or traffic violation, but must immediately tell a supervisor first.

In 2021, lawmakers made it harder for police to pursue people by requiring probable cause, meaning a higher level of evidence, and only when people are suspected of committing violent crimes, sex crimes or driving intoxicated; the law prohibits car chases for minor offenses, like theft.

Hours after police cleared Portland State University’s Millar Library on Thursday morning, a small group of people worked to re-establish an encampment, covering a chain-link fence with tarps and getting back inside the building.

It was unclear how many people got into the library around 6 p.m., but people could be seen moving past some of the five-story building’s windows.

A crowd of about 150 people, many dressed in black and wearing masks looked on from the South Park Blocks. An organizer yelled, “if you have visible tattoos cover them. Cover your eyebrows. Cover your mouths.”

Dozens of police officers returned, ordered the crowd to break up and leave, and made eight arrests. Overall, police arrested 30 people throughout the day, according to preliminary figures released by Portland police.

The latest clash capped a volatile day at the downtown campus that drew hundreds of onlookers, students and protesters who variously milled about, chanted, shouted and at one point threw a volley of bottles after police cleared the library and then maintained a visible presence for hours around the building before leaving.

A PSU spokesperson said university officials didn’t realize police would be pulling back from the library, which is near several dorm complexes.

In an email at 7:30 p.m., Mike Benner, a Portland police spokesman, wrote that officers had moved back in and cleared the area. The crowds did leave the area near the PSU library, marching east away from campus.

In a 10 p.m. news release, Portland police wrote that they’d “secured the library with plywood and erected a fence, and as planned, Portland officers left the scene.” The press release acknowledged that people tore down the fence and got back into the library. The release said that “officers will continue to monitor for criminal activity and will make arrests when lawful and appropriate.”

The release stated seven officers suffered injuries Thursday, including a “serious knee injury” that required ambulance transport.

Occupation of the library began on Monday and school officials canceled classes for the next three days. A tour of the library late Thursday showed much graffiti on the walls, damage to ceilings and trash.

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