Not guilty plea for suspect in kidnappings
BOISE, Idaho – A federal judge entered a not guilty plea Friday for Joseph Edward Duncan III, who has already pleaded guilty to killing three members of an Idaho family in a 2005 attack and now stands accused of kidnapping the family’s two youngest children and killing one of them.
Duncan, 43, is accused of kidnapping Dylan Groene, 9, and his sister, Shasta, then 8 years old, sexually abusing them both and later killing Dylan in Montana. Shasta Groene was rescued as she and Duncan ate at a Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, restaurant in July 2005, about seven weeks after the family was attacked.
When Duncan’s lawyer, Tom Monaghan, tried to enter a plea of not guilty during Friday’s hearing in U.S. District Court, Duncan stopped him, saying, “Oh, that’s not right.” Monaghan then said his client wished to remain silent, so Judge Mikel H. Williams entered a not guilty plea on Duncan’s behalf.
The judge set a trial date for March 20.
Duncan specifically is charged with kidnapping resulting in death; kidnapping; sexual abuse; firearms violations; and stolen vehicle counts. The charges include aggravating circumstances that will allow the government to seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors had not yet filed the paperwork to seek the death penalty Friday but intend to do so, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson.
Seattle: Viaduct issue will get vote in March
Seattle voters will have their say in March on whether to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct with an elevated highway or a four-lane tunnel.
The Seattle City Council voted 6-3 Friday to put the two alternatives on an advisory ballot March 13.
The council’s vote comes after Gov. Chris Gregoire and key state lawmakers Wednesday rejected Seattle’s earlier timeline for a late April vote – after the Legislature’s scheduled adjournment.
Wording of the ballot measure has not been finalized but would include details that the four-lane tunnel – the current choice of Mayor Greg Nickels – would cost $3.41 billion. The measure asking voters if they support a new elevated structure would list its cost at $2.8 billion – with most of the money already secured.
The 53-year-old, two-tier structure, a vital waterfront artery and north-south traffic alternative to Interstate 5, was damaged in the Nisqually earthquake in early 2001, and engineers say it may not survive another major quake.
Yakima: Citrus freeze may lift apple prices
It’s not just oranges that are likely to cost more because of a freeze in California that citrus growers estimate will cost them $1 billion.
Washington state packers and growers, who have their own weather problems, report growing demand for apples and pears, and one industry official says apple prices at supermarkets could rise by as much as five cents a pound.
Grocers have been replacing oranges and tangerines with apples and pears in their advertising since the freeze earlier this week, and Pacific Northwest apple packers say sales have been growing.
“The calls really felt good for the apple and pear industry,” said Rick Plath, president of Washington Fruit &Produce Co. in Yakima. “Not to wish anything bad for the citrus industry, but it was a causal relationship between the cold weather in California and increased interest in Northwest fruits.”
California: Judge issues ruling on salamanders
A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service illegally rejected a petition by environmentalists to give protected status to two salamander species that live in old-growth forests in California and Oregon.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the agency to consider listing the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders as threatened or endangered species.
The San Francisco-based judge said the service’s decision last year to deny the petition was “arbitrary and capricious.” Alsup gave the agency until March 23 to decide whether to conduct a more in-depth analysis of the salamanders’ status.
If the two species are granted protected status, the U.S. Forest Service would be required to make sure that logging operations do not harm the salamanders or their habitat.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will comply with Alsup’s order, said agency spokeswoman Alexandra Pitts.
Both salamanders are about five inches long, colored black with speckles, and have no lungs, instead breathing through their skin. They live on rocky slopes under the canopy of old-growth trees in the Siskiyou Mountains and Klamath River basin in northern California and southern Oregon.
From Herald news services
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