Driver in multiple wrecks dies
SEATTLE — The King County medical examiner’s office says a man involved in multiple south Seattle vehicle crashes, including a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer rig, has died.
The man was identified Wednesday as 44-year-old Jose Madrigal. A medical examiner’s spokesman says no cause of death has been released. After Tuesday’s trail of collisions ended with the big rig crash, the man was pulled from his crushed car and taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.
No one else was seriously injured.
Police say the man sped through the streets of Seattle on Tuesday afternoon, colliding with four vehicles besides the big truck, striking one pedestrian and driving directly at an off-duty state trooper.
Murder ad suspect pleads not guilty
A Kent man accused of placing a Craigslist ad to kill a woman has pleaded not guilty in Seattle to a second-degree attempted murder charge.
KOMO radio reported the plea was entered Wednesday in King County Superior Court for 24-year-old Shawn Tyler Skelton.
Court papers say he posted an ad saying he was interested in meeting a woman who wanted to be killed during sex. In communicating with an undercover officer, prosecutors say, Skelton agreed to carry out a hit on an unwitting victim.
He was arrested April 27 when he showed up at a south Seattle motel carrying a knife and a length of heavy chain.
Trial begins in ‘85 Shoreline murder
The murder trial has begun in Seattle for a man accused of killing a neighbor in Shoreline in 1975 when they were both 16.
A prosecutor told King County jurors Tuesday that the stabbing of Diana Peterson went unsolved for so long because police focused on the wrong man.
Prosecutors say 50-year-old James Groth stabbed Peterson in the back on Valentine’s night and left her body in her yard where it was found the next morning by her father.
The defense lawyer says the other man, who was the girl’s boyfriend, is still a suspect in the case.
Deportation sought for illegal inmates
The head of the state prison system says it wants to go ahead and deport inmates who are in the United States illegally.
Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail told KING-TV the department is seeking the approval of prosecutors and judges to allow the deportations.
The Legislature was considering the move but ran out of time before the session adjourned.
Vail says prison officials are talking with the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorney and the Supreme Court Judges Association.
The director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Jorge Baron, told KING-TV the effort to save money could deport the wrong people.
Ethan, Olivia top list of baby names
The five most popular names for baby boys last year in Washington were Ethan, Jacob, Alexander, Daniel and Logan.
The list compiled by the Social Security Administration says the five most popular names for girls were Olivia, Emma, Ava, Sophia and Emily.
Most of the names were in the top five in 2007 as well.
Seattle hires female assistant fire chief
The Seattle Fire Department has named its first female assistant chief.
Susan Rosenthal, a 29-year veteran of the department, received the promotion last week. She’s the highest ranking woman in department history.
She had been working since 2003 as the deputy chief of communications. Before that she was a safety officer and an operations division battalion chief.
The fire department says she was among the first group of women to serve as firefighters for the city.
Bridgeport: Agent shoots, kills cougar
A state Fish and Wildlife officer shot and killed a cougar that had climbed a tree near a home in Bridgeport.
Sgt. Jim Brown told The Wenatchee World newspaper he felt horrible about shooting the animal Tuesday afternoon because officers had hoped to tranquilize and relocate it.
Brown says the adult male cougar was in a poplar tree from which it would have been difficult to remove a tranquilized animal. Officers scared it from the tree. Instead of running off, it crouched under a nearby bush, ready to pounce.
Brown said a crowd of people had gathered and could have been threatened, so he had to make a decision to fire.
Tacoma: Foundry blast suit settled
A lawsuit over the death of a truck driver in an explosion at a Tacoma foundry has been settled for undisclosed terms.
The agreement was announced Wednesday by John Christensen, a lawyer for the wife, son and daughter of Charles McDonald Sr. McDonald was fatally burned when propane he was unloading at Atlas Castings &Technology exploded on Oct. 6, 2007.
Christensen says a hose owned by Atlas was missing a nozzle and clamps when McDonald arrived, and repairs were made by inexperienced workers.
The hose failed, releasing a cloud of propane that caught fire. The 8,000-gallon tanker truck then exploded in an enormous fireball just north of the interchange of I-5 and Highway 16.
McDonald died a week later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Associated Press
Tri-Cities: Doctors can’t work in area
A Benton County Superior Court judge has ruled that a non-compete agreement will stop three cancer doctors from treating patients in the Tri-Cities.
The doctors, Mario Chenal, Kevin Weeks and Saritha Thumma, had signed an agreement with Columbia Basin Hematology and Oncology not to work at the Tri-Cities for two years after leaving the practice.
The Tri-City Herald reports they recently quit over management and financial disagreements.
The doctors are being sued for alleged breach of contract and the parties were in court Tuesday for an injunction to stop the doctors from practicing until the case goes to trial.
Columbia Basin Hematology and Oncology says it has enough other doctors to treat its 600 patients.
Chehalis: City sells failed Wi-Fi project
The Chehalis City Council voted to sell off equipment it had bought for a Wi-Fi project that failed.
Economic Development Manager Joanne Schwartz told the council Monday the city may recover about $5,000 of the $25,000 investment with Go Networks.
City Councilman Rob Fuller told the council Schwartz should take responsibility for the failed attempt to provide free Internet access in the city.
Fuller told KITI radio that Wi-Fi should be a project for the business community, not the city.
Pullman: Moscow, Spokane train study
Students from Washington State University-Spokane and Eastern Washington University are studying a possible rail line between Spokane, Pullman and Moscow, Idaho.
WSU landscape architecture students are conducing public surveys while EWU students are preparing a market analysis. WSU Associate Professor Bob Scarfo says the information will be presented to people with an interest in train service.
Whitman County Commissioner Greg Partch told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News the rail service would be beneficial but the county probably would not be able to provide any financial assistance.
Students will present their project May 26 at the community center in Rosalia, which is about half way between Spokane and Pullman.
Mount Vernon: Outage cause found
A car crashing into a power pole in Sedro-Woolley did not cause the April 23 power outage for more than 100,000 people in four counties. It just happened at the same time.
Puget Sound Energy told The Skagit Valley Herald the outage was caused by an electrical fluke on a transmission line that combined with three different maintenance projects.
The outage covered Skagit and San Juan counties and parts of Island and Whatcom counties.
The Tesoro and Shell refineries near Anacortes had to burn off excess fuel during the outage.
Oregon: Results halt brain study
A national traumatic brain injury study that involved Oregon Health &Science Universities has been stopped after early results showed no difference in methods of treatment.
The study tested whether hypertonic saline — water with a higher salt content than blood — or hypertonic saline with dextran, an added sugar molecule, could improve survival or brain function recovery after traumatic brain injuries.
Hypertonic saline was believed to compensate for blood loss more effectively, reduce inflammation and prevent brain swelling.
The National Institutes of Health stopped the second portion of the clinical trial after testing showed no improvement over standard saline.
Senators defend guns in parks vote
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, say they were acting to preserve states’ rights when they voted in favor of an amendment allowing loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.
Washington state Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, voted against the measure.
Wyden spokeswoman Jennifer Hoelzer says that just as Wyden has fought to protect Oregon’s law on physician-assisted suicide, his gun vote “recognizes that each state has certain rights, within reasonable limits, to determine how best to protect its citizens.”
Merkley spokeswoman Julie Edwards says Oregon law already allows qualified gun owners to carry firearms within state parks.
Under current federal policy, she added, a gun owner could violate federal law by passing from state to federal land.
The gun amendment passed 67-29 Tuesday. It was attached to a bill imposing restrictions on credit card companies.
Associated Press
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