SEATTLE — Fumes in the sixth-floor mail room at the King County Jail sickened at least four employees Monday, prompting the evacuation of staffers on two floors.
Inmates remained locked up as a hazardous materials crew tried to track down the source of the fumes, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Sue Stangl said.
Two employees who complained of lightheadedness and nausea were transported to a hospital because of concerns about their medical histories, Stangl said.
The fire department did not find the source of the fumes, but determined the building was safe and turned it back over to the county around 12:30 p.m., about three hours after the fumes were first reported, Stangl said.
Bremerton
Sailors bunking at hotel: With most of the Navy ships home-ported in Bremerton back from the war in Afghanistan, Naval Station Bremerton has run out of beds for the thousands of sailors who were on board. So 176 sailors are spending three months at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel — Bremerton’s largest. With most of the sailors doubled up, they’re occupying 87 of the hotel’s 145 rooms until June 8. The hotel is setting up a game room for the sailors, and also has a pool.
Olympia
Locke meets with Canadian official: Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley and Gov. Gary Locke met Monday to discuss ways to ease the post-Sept. 11 congestion at the Washington-British Columbia border. Manley said he also appealed to Locke for help in Canada’s battle with the U.S. government over softwood tariffs. Since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., U.S. officials have clamped down at border crossings. That’s resulted in long lines at Washington state’s northern border, causing problems not only for tourists, but truckers and others who had been accustomed to breeze back and forth daily.
Wenatchee
Parade is safe, mayor says: Wenatchee’s mayor says the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade is safe, even though a motorcyclist suspected of drunken driving crashed into spectators, injuring one adult and three children. "It’s a very family oriented function, and to portray it otherwise is a misrepresentation," Mayor Dennis Johnson said. Mark E. Kane, 40, of Wenatchee drove his motorcycle into the crowd shortly after the parade began at 7 p.m. March 17. In a test administered a short while later, Kane’s blood-alcohol level was almost .15 percent, or nearly twice the legal limit of .08 percent, Chelan County District Court records showed.
Oregon
Woman arraigned in double slaying: A Bend woman was arraigned Monday on aggravated murder charges in the shooting deaths of another woman and the woman’s grown son. The bodies of Helen Rodriguez, 56, and Felipe Rodriguez Jr., 31, were found Saturday after Randy Joseph Stewart told police there were two bodies in her mobile home. Officers conducted a check and found the bodies.
From Herald news services
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