SEATTLE – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said Friday that a latter-day Manhattan Project should be created to spur research and development of alternative fuels and lessen dependence on foreign oil.
Clinton announced the plan with fellow Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., at a Friday news conference at Seattle Biodiesel, the largest producer of alternative fuel in the West. Clinton, widely viewed as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, was in town to raise money for Cantwell, who is seeking re-election this year.
Clinton said the foundation of her proposed Advanced Research Energy Act would be akin to the Defense Advance Research Program Agency that is widely credited with the creation of the Internet.
“This is exactly what we should be doing,” Clinton said. “But there’s lots to be done.”
Associated Press
Switzerland: Gates increases TB donation
Microsoft Corp. chairman and co-founder Bill Gates said Friday that his charitable foundation will triple its funding for tuberculosis eradication from $300 million to $900 million by 2015.
The effort is part of a campaign announced at the World Economic Forum to stop tuberculosis worldwide. The disease claimed 1.6 million lives in 2005.
Associated Press
Port Townsend: Ferry ticket system tested
A new electronic ferry ticket system is being tested on the Port Townsend-Keystone state ferry route.
“I think we expected more hiccups than we’ve had,” said Jayne Davis, Washington State Ferries north region operations manager, who was braving the winds to pass out Wave2Go electronic-ticketing information to auto passengers at toll booths in Port Townsend.
Passengers approved of the round-trip pass system, said Susan Harris, the ferry system’s communications manager.
Perhaps the highest hope of the electronic ticketing project is that passengers will be able to buy their tickets online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries, by clicking on the “Wave2Go” icon.
Peninsula Daily News
Bremerton: Police search for rape suspect
Police are searching for a man who allegedly raped a Bremerton girl Wednesday morning in the woods off Old Belfair Highway.
The 17-year-old was waiting for a school bus just before 9 a.m. near the Bremerton Lanes bowling alley when a man drove up in a red Chevrolet Malibu and demanded she get into the car.
The man, identified only as a white male by police, reportedly drove on Old Belfair Highway near Gold Mountain Golf Course, where he raped the girl in a wooded area. Afterward, he drove her back to Bremerton and let her go, according to police reports.
Police have little information on the suspect. They are searching for a late-model, possibly 2004, red Malibu. The vehicle was captured on a security camera near Bremerton Lanes.
Bremerton police detective Sue Shultz said the car’s description is similar to one reported Jan. 20 near Brownsville Elementary School. She said police were not making a connection between the recent car sighting and attempted luring incidents near Brownsville last year.
Kitsap Sun
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