LONGVIEW — A Qwest Communications spokesman says work crews have repaired a severed fiber-optic line in Ridgefield. A contractor bored through the line Monday morning, disrupting phone and Internet service to a number of customers on both sides of the lower Columbia River.
Spokesman Bob Gravely said the line was repaired about 5 p.m. Monday.
He said earlier the line serves a wide area in Washington and Oregon, including Vancouver, Woodland, Longview and Kelso in Washington and Astoria, Ore.
It wasn’t clear how many people were affected.
Port Angeles: Russian ship joins Coast Guard exercise
The Coast Guard says a Russian Border Guard vessel taking part in an exercise in Washington waters is the first visit by such a vessel to the Lower 48.
The Vorovskiy arrived at Port Angeles Sunday for the three-day Pacific Unity exercise. The Coast Guard says vessels from Canada and Japan also are taking part. China and South Korea are observers.
The exercise involves simulated search and rescue, navigation and security operations.
The participating nations are members of the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum, which was formed in 2000 to improve cooperation against common threats on the high seas.
Westport: Large squid are back in area
Large Humboldt squid are back in the waters off Westport.
The state Fish and Wildlife Department told The Aberdeen Daily World some fishermen have hooked them while trying to catch tuna. The squid eat the same fish as tuna.
The squid are 5 to 6 feet long and once were rare in Washington waters. They get sluggish and die in cold water.
Last October there was a large die-off of Humboldt squid that washed ashore at Westport’s marina.
Pasco: Beware Japanese beetles
Washington agriculture officials have placed 2,000 traps across Washington this summer to detect a leaf-eating pest that could threaten grapes, hops, cherries, pears and apples.
A state Agriculture Department pest program spokesman, John Lundberg, told the Tri-City Herald some traps for Japanese beetles have been placed near airports because the insects have been known to stow away on cargo planes.
The traps are put out in late June and are removed in mid-September. Last year traps caught two beetles, one in Spokane and one in Seattle.
Lundberg said efforts to keep Japanese beetles out of Washington have been successful, so far.
Vancouver, Wash.: Spotted owls put wind farm on hold
Plans for a wind farm on some state land in Skamania County are on hold because it’s spotted owl habitat.
The Department of Natural Resources is no longer considering leasing 2,560 acres to the SDS Lumber Co. for possible future expansion of the proposed Whistling Ridge Energy Project.
The Vancouver Columbian reported the state is required to manage the second-growth forest, with scattered old-growth trees, as a spotted owl emphasis area.
Bingen-based SDS Lumber has applied for a permit to build a 42-turbine wind farm on a logged-over ridge it owns near Underwood. It approached DNR officials about expanding the proposed Whistling Ridge project onto adjacent state land.
The DNR currently has 24 active wind power leases.
Oregon: Puppy drowning suspect arrested
Police arrested a Medford woman accused of drowning a friend’s puppy in the Chetco River.
Capt. Bob Rector of the Curry County Sheriff’s Office told The Oregonian that witnesses reported seeing Rachel Wilson-McCollough intentionally drown the 6-month-old pit bull on Aug. 9.
Rector said law enforcement spent more than a week looking for the woman before Medford police arrested her Thursday. Wilson-McCollough is charged with animal abuse.
Bail was set at $25,000, but had been reduced to $7,500 by Monday.
Associated Press
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