Business mask requirement; Big-business payroll tax; Murder victims' family wants answers; Detective on leave; Whale injured by ferry

Starting today in Washington state, if you aren’t wearing a mask, businesses like grocery stores and restaurants are required to ask you to leave.

The new statewide order is in response to a surge in coronavirus cases. Businesses could be fined or lose their license if they do not comply.

The Seattle City Council voted Monday to impose a new payroll tax on big businesses. Companies with more than $7 million in annual payroll will be charged a percentage based on how many people they employ with salaries of at least $150,000.

The money collected from the tax will go to COVID-19 relief and affordable housing.

Family members are trying to raise reward money to convince witnesses to come forward in the case of the gruesome slayings of a South King County couple, whose remains were found in suitcases that washed ashore in West Seattle on June 19.

The family launched a GoFundMe page Monday morning in hopes of raising a $10,000 reward.

The King County Sheriff's Office said Monday it has placed a detective on leave as it investigates Facebook posts that ridiculed protesters who were struck by a car on a closed freeway over the weekend.

Another post on the same account appeared to mock the death of a 19-year-old who was shot and killed inside the "Capitol Hill Organized Protest" (CHOP) zone.

Washington State Ferries said a humpback whale surfaced directly in front of one of its ships on Monday and may have been struck.

A disoriented juvenile humpback was spotted in the water near the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal before it may have been struck. Nearby whale watchers noticed the animal had a gash in its skin and it took a few breaths, went underwater, and was not seen again.