Backers file initiative to tap drivers ed funds
OLYMPIA — Driving instructors have filed an initiative in Olympia that would use money from traffic tickets to pay for drivers education in public schools.
The initiative was filed Friday by the Washington Traffic Safety Education Association. A member of the association, David Slipp of Tumwater, says the state had provided funding for drivers ed until the Legislature cut it in 2002.
The measure would tap the Public Safety Education Account, which is funded by traffic fines and citations. Last year it received $92 million. The money now goes to programs for crime victims, disruptive students, criminal justice data collection and sex offender notification.
Backers of the drivers ed initiative will need to collect about 225,000 signatures by July 3 to get the measure on the November ballot.
Yelm: Ramtha school opposes development
The leader of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, JZ Knight, is opposing development near her school in Yelm.
Knight’s lawyer was expected to ask the Yelm City Council on Tuesday night to reverse approval for 568 new homes because of unsecured water rights.
Knight claims she has more than 6,000 students around the world who listen to her channel the spirit of an ancient warrior named Ramtha. She established her 80-acre school complex in 1988 in Yelm.
In 2004, the Ramtha school also opposed a proposal for a NASCAR racetrack in Yelm.
Renton: Speeding car slams into state truck
A speeding car crashed into the back of a Department of Transportation truck on Highway 167 in Renton.
The driver of the car, a 22-year-old man, was taken to nearby Valley Medical Center in critical condition.
Washington State Patrol Sgt. Doug Geltz says the Transportation Department truck that had closed a lane for construction absorbed the impact and the truck’s driver was not injured.
The driver of another car that may have been racing the car in the accident was arrested for investigation of reckless driving and vehicular assault.
After the crash investigation, the highway was reopened about 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Tacoma: Trial set for suspect in UW arson
Lawyers are preparing for the Feb. 11 trial of a woman accused of acting as a lookout for a group of Earth Liberation Front ecoterrorists who set fire to the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington.
The fire in May 2001 caused more than $1.5 million in damage.
Briana Waters is charged with arson and other charges. If convicted in federal court in Tacoma the 32-year-old from Berkeley, Calif., faces a mandatory prison sentence of 35 years.
Her defense lawyers say she was not involved in the attack and was in Olympia, where she was a student at The Evergreen State College.
The trial follows a Justice Department investigation into the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front that led to arson and sabotage charges against 18 people.
Oregon: Cocaine bust largest in three years
A routine weekend traffic stop led to the largest cocaine bust by Oregon State Police in three years, state police said.
A veteran state trooper working I-5 near Salem pulled over a 26-year-old motorist for speeding and failing to signal a lane change.
During a search, the trooper found a false compartment in the rear cargo area of the car that contained 30 kilograms of cocaine — about 65 pounds.
State police did not identify the driver because it might compromise a continuing investigation. The agency did not name the trooper.
State police say their drug seizures have increased recently, partly as a result of updated training.
@3. Headline Briefs 14 no:Slide over rail tracks bigger than thought
Repair crews now say it may be weeks before a weekend landslide that blocked passenger and freight rail lines near Oakridge can be cleared.
“We just got there and it’s a lot bigger than we thought,” Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond said Monday night.
One 3,000-foot segment was covered in mud and logs 20 feet deep.
The line is Union Pacific’s main connection between Eugene and California. The slide was about 8 miles southeast of Oakridge in an area so remote that crews had to blaze a road into the area.
Until the line is reopened, freight traffic between Portland and Roseville, Calif., will be rerouted using Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks through Bend.
Amtrak passengers on the Coast Starlight, the only Amtrak train that uses those tracks between Seattle and Los Angeles, will be bused around the closure.
Associated Press
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