NASCAR eyes site in Kitsap, reports say

A site in rural south Kitsap County now appears to be the frontrunner in the race for a NASCAR track in the Northwest, according to published reports.

Developers reportedly are looking at the site that Kitsap County has earmarked just south of the Bremerton National Airport for the track. That means plans to build a NASCAR racetrack in Oregon are on hold.

A spokesman for developer International Speedway Corp. says previous progress and investments are driving the focus on Washington. ISC is hoping to site the track within 30 miles of Seattle.

Last fall, the developer announced it had chosen a site near Marysville, but by November, the deal had fallen through.

A group in Troutdale, Ore., has tried to persuade the developers to put the track in the Portland suburb.

The Sun

Tacoma: Girl made up rape story, police say

Tacoma police now believe a girl who reported Monday that she was abducted and raped made up the story so she wouldn’t get in trouble for skipping school. Police spokesman Mark Fulghum said the 13-year-old girl admitted lying about the incident to cover up the fact she skipped class Monday to hang out with her boyfriend. “She made up the story,” Fulghum said. The girl told police Monday that a man had taken her to a part of the Hilltop neighborhood and raped her. The girl most likely won’t be charged with a crime, Fulghum said.

The News Tribune

Vancouver, Wash.: Sewage fouls shoreline

Another sewage spill has tainted the Columbia River shoreline at Frenchman’s Bar Park; authorities say a 5 million gallon spill of raw sewage from the city of Camas may be the culprit. The Clark County Health Department left the park open, but officials urged residents to use caution at area beaches. The mess was discovered by state spill response specialist Curt Piesch, who decided Monday to check the beach after a weekend of heavy rain. It was at least the third time in about a year that sewage has washed up along Frenchman’s Bar, which is west of downtown Vancouver.

The Columbian

Burien: Thief targets look-alike women

Police are on the lookout for a smooth criminal who strikes up casual conversations with unsuspecting victims, steals their wallets, then goes on shopping sprees. The suspect, a white woman in her 20s with long black hair and brown eyes, picks the pockets of women whom she resembles, presumably so she can use the victims’ identification and credit cards. The woman also is known to use a Hispanic accent, police said. She has struck at least four times in the past month, in an area that extends from Lynnwood to south King County. So far, she has taken her victims for more than $10,000, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.

King County Journal

Bellevue: ‘Ice cream bandit’ pleads guilty

A Bellevue man known only as the “ice cream bandit” until his arrest in December has pleaded guilty to a reduced set of charges. Jason Paul Knuth accepted a plea bargain, which reduced his original six counts of second-degree robbery to three counts. Prosecutors say Knuth, a 31-year-old unemployed truck driver, held up eastside and south King County Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream stores six times in two weeks in December. They allege he also found time to hold up two minimarts and a drug store in Bellevue and a hair salon in Federal Way. Knuth said he committed the robberies to buy Christmas presents.

King County Journal

Kirkland: Police say woman tried to kill sons

A Kirkland mother may face charges of attempted murder after crashing her car on I-90 with her two young sons in it. Michelle Phua, 36, remained in the Kittitas County jail in Ellensburg on Tuesday. The Washington State Patrol said Phua was eastbound on the freeway past Snoqualmie Pass when she intentionally swerved her Acura into a barrier Monday. The Patrol said Phua told her 4- and 7-year-old sons to unbuckle their seat belts. The woman told troopers she was depressed and was trying to kill herself and her boys. The car was totaled but only the older boy was hurt, suffering minor injuries. The children were released to their father.

King County Journal

Camas: Police car smashed up with ax

A 17-year-old boy, allegedly high after inhaling gasoline fumes and reportedly mad at the government, took a double-edged ax and gave a Camas police cruiser a dozen whacks, police said. Damage to the squad car, which was attacked late Monday night while parked outside the Camas police station, was estimated at $8,000 to $10,000, said police Sgt. Doug Slyter. Put to the ax were the light bar, hood, left front fender, both driver’s side doors, the side windows and the windshield, Slyter said. “We estimate there were 12 to 13 blows with the ax.”

The Columbian