PORTLAND, Ore. – A luxury stern-wheeler cruise ship with nearly 300 people on board ran aground during a Columbia River cruise on Friday, and the Coast Guard was transferring the passengers to safety aboard another ship.
The 360-foot Empress of the North ran aground on a sandbar in the river channel near Washougal, said Petty Officer Mike Zolzer at the Coast Guard regional office in Seattle.
No one was reported injured.
A sister ship, the 230-foot Queen of the West, pulled alongside to take aboard passengers and crew members, Zolzer said.
Associated Press
Olympia: Governors object to BPA plan
Three Democratic governors are protesting President Bush’s plan to tap surplus revenue from the Bonneville Power Administration, which supplies nearly half the Pacific Northwest’s electricity.
In a letter released Friday, Govs. Chris Gregoire of Washington, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon and Brian Schweitzer of Montana asked Bush to remove the BPA proposal from his 2007 budget.
Bush’s plan would use some surplus revenue from the regional power marketing agency to pay down the federal debt, instead of lowering electricity rates for Northwest businesses and consumers.
The three governors said that would provide little relief for the deficit, but would “undermine one of the most successful federal-state partnerships for regional economic development and hurt the citizens and businesses of our states.”
They estimated that the resulting rate increases would cost regional taxpayers more than $100 million a year and jeopardize more than 1,100 jobs.
Associated Press
Richland: Experts issue fix-it list for waste plant
A waste treatment plant under construction at the Hanford nuclear reservation faces 28 technical issues that could prevent it from reliably treating radioactive waste, a team of experts concludes in a new report.
However, the experts also concluded that the problems are fixable and the plant is essential for cleaning up the highly contaminated site.
The so-called vitrification plant is being built to treat highly radioactive waste left from decades of plutonium production for the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal. The waste is currently being stored in 177 underground tanks, with plans to eventually run it through pipes to the plant.
Since late 2004, technical and management problems have pushed the cost estimate for the plant from $5.8 billion to more than $10 billion. The start date also has been pushed from 2011 to 2017, though the U.S. Department of Energy expects to issue a final cost estimate and startup schedule sometime this summer.
Associated Press
Granger: Bank robber found stuck in chimney
A man found stuck in a bank chimney was at least forthright about his purpose.
Police in this lower Yakima Valley town were summoned about 8:40 a.m. Thursday by US Bank employees reporting an apparent break-in attempt. Officers found the top had been removed from the ventilation shaft for the furnace.
“We looked down, and there he was,” Police Chief Robert Perales said. “We asked him what he was doing down there, and he said, ‘What do you think? I’m trying to rob the bank.”
Firefighters threw down a rope and pulled out a soot-covered 26-year-old Sunnyside man, who was arrested on the spot.
After being taken to the police station, the man bolted through the front door after his handcuffs were removed so he could use the restroom, but was quickly caught and subdued after a brief struggle, Perales said.
The man was booked into the municipal jail in Wapato for investigation of burglary, felony malicious mischief, escape and resisting arrest, Perales said.
Associated Press
Oregon: Warrant issued for snowbound couple
Arizona authorities have filed felony drug charges against two members of a family rescued from a snowbound motor home in Oregon this week. But as of Friday, there were no signs that authorities in either state were actively seeking the couple.
Arizona had not decided whether to seek extradition, and police in Oregon said they could not pursue them unless that happened.
Warrants were issued in Snowflake, Ariz., for Elbert and Becky Higginbotham on Wednesday, a day after they and four relatives were rescued in a mountainous region of southern Oregon.
Authorities weighed whether it was worth the expense of extraditing the couple, and relatives said they had not seen them since Thursday.
A newspaper said the warrants were issued after Arizona authorities saw TV coverage of the rescue.
Associated Press
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