Fatal Burien apartment fire was arson
The Burien apartment fire that killed three people was arson, according to the King County sheriff’s office.
A spokesman, Sgt. John Urquhart, said investigators are certain the fire was set. A $10,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest.
Urquhart said evidence from the scene is being sent to a State Patrol crime lab.
The fire early Sunday killed two men and a boy, about 8 years old. Property damage is estimated at $1.75 million at the Tara Apartments.
The Red Cross opened a shelter and is helping 15 families who have been burned out of their homes.
Olympia: Gas tax up 1.5 cents to 37.5 cents
The gasoline tax is going up a penny-and-a-half to 37.5 cents a gallon in Washington.
A state Department of Licensing spokesman, Brad Benfield, said Tuesday’s hike is the last step of a 9.5-cent increase that has been phased in since 2005. It was approved by the Legislature to help fund nearly 300 projects over 16 years.
Projects include the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the Highway 520 floating bridge in Seattle. Other projects include more bridge repairs, reducing congesting, making highway safety improvements and improving freight mobility.
With the way gasoline has been going up recently, Benfield said the tax increase is “not going to be real noticeable” because it’s a diminishing component of the overall price.
Tacoma: 2 Makah Indians get jail time
Five Makah Indian whalers who killed a gray whale in an illegal hunt last September have been sentenced in federal court in Tacoma. The sentences include jail time for two men considered the leaders of the group.
Wayne Johnson received five months in jail, and Andy Noel was sentenced to three months in jail. U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Emily Langlie says both men also will be supervised for a year after their release.
Langlie says the other three men — Frankie Gonzales, Theron Parker and William Secor — received two years of probation and between 100 and 150 hours of community service.
As part of Monday’s sentencing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelley Arnold also said all five men have lost their privilege to hunt whales during their supervision period, even if the tribe obtains a federal permit for a legal whale hunt.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:State told to speed foster care changes
A judge is ordering state officials to speed up their efforts to improve foster care.
The ruling is part of a lawsuit known as the Braam (brahm) case, in which foster children sued the state for bouncing them around foster homes without adequate services.
The state settled the lawsuit in 2004 by promising to make dozens of reforms. But lawyers for foster kids say the state hasn’t lived up to its promises.
Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Charles Snyder’s order gives Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration a month to come up with plans for meeting four specific targets, including smaller social-worker caseloads and more monthly visits with foster kids.
The Department of Social and Health Services has no immediate comment on the ruling.
Kennewick: Police say baby cut from mother
Kennewick police report that a pregnant woman was stabbed multiple times in the chest and her nearly full-term baby was cut from her womb. A second woman has been arrested.
The baby has been hospitalized in critical condition.
Court documents say 27-year-old Araceli Camacho Gomez of Pasco had her hands and feet bound with yarn and suffered “massive trauma to her stomach area.” An autopsy showed she died of the chest wounds. Her body was found early Saturday in a Kennewick park.
A 23-year-old Kennewick woman, Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong, has been arrested for investigation of first-degree murder and is accused of trying to pass the infant boy off as her own in calls made late Friday night to emergency dispatchers. She is being held without bail.
Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg said Monday the baby was on life support at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane.
Associated Press
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