RENTON — One man was fatally shot and another was injured Sunday in a confrontation with an off-duty King County sheriff’s deputy, the sheriff’s office said.

The deputy, whose name was not released, was contacted shortly before noon by a neighbor who said there was a suspicious truck blocking a road in the Lake McDonald area.

The driver was armed with a semiautomatic handgun, and the situation escalated until the deputy drew his own weapon and fired. The driver was killed and a male passenger in the truck was shot in the hand, sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Dymerski said.

The deputy is a 20-year veteran of the sheriff’s department who patrols the nearby Maple Valley area.

Seattle

Boater inspection system reinstated at border: Mariners traveling north into Canada can again sail through border inspections using a prescreening system that was suspended following the Sept. 11 attacks. The system, called CANPASS, allows boaters to avoid docking at the border by calling ahead and notifying Canadian Customs officials where and when they plan to cross. More than 8,300 people enrolled in the program before it was suspended, said customs spokesman Michel Proulx. While the system allows inspectors to focus more on higher risk areas, the agency still plans to increase security checks and verifications for CANPASS holders.

Gig Harbor

School reopening after thorough cleaning: Artondale Elementary School is scheduled to reopen Monday, eight weeks after it was shut down over concerns that indoor air-quality problems were making people sick. The Peninsula School District spent at least $300,000 to thoroughly clean the building and its ventilation system, bore through walls to find and eradicate mold and replace dingy carpets with floor tiles. During the closure, Artondale’s 470 students studied in portable buildings and makeshift classrooms at four other district schools. "We can’t wait" to get back, para-educator Jo Iversen said as she ushered students onto buses bound for satellite classrooms last week.

Spokane

Appellate Court finds for Kaiser in 1997 death: A judge was right to dismiss most of the safety violations found by the state after the accidental death of a mechanic at a Kaiser Aluminum plant, the state Court of Appeals has ruled. Kaiser was fined $35,000 by the state Department of Labor and Industries for five violations at its suburban Mead plant after the October 1997 death of James VanDoren, 33, of Spokane. L&I appealed to Spokane County Superior Court, which upheld the administrative law judge’s decision. L&I then appealed to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court ruling.

From Herald news services