Application for Indian casino rejected
PORT ANGELES — The U.S. Interior Department has set back the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s long-term bid to build a small casino west of Port Angeles.
The government has rejected the tribe’s “placeholder” application to build a casino on land it owns on U.S. Highway 101, saying the application was incomplete.
Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said the Interior Department said the application was incomplete because it didn’t include environmental assessments of the site.
The placeholder application was filed to preserve the tribe’s option because they feared Congress was getting ready to ban off-reservation casinos. That ban hasn’t happened.
Yakima: Karate instructor charged
A Yakima karate instructor has been accused of having sex with two underage girls.
Yakima Police say 44-year-old Paul Daniel Barr was charged last week with four counts of third-degree child rape for molesting and raping a 13-year-old girl after he met her while teaching at the Yakima School of Karate.
On Friday, Yakima Police questioned Barr about his relationship with another girl, who says she had sex with him when she was 14 years old. Barr has been charged with second-degree rape and sexual exploitation of a minor in the second case.
Yakima Police Sgt. Mike Pollard says the investigation is ongoing.
Idaho: 3 students killed in crash
Three Washington State University students were killed and two other people were seriously injured in a two-vehicle crash near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho State police said Saturday.
Tyler Pearson, 21, of Kennewick died Saturday morning in a Coeur d’Alene hospital, where he had been taken Friday from the crash that killed two passengers in the Isusu Rodeo he was driving on U.S. Highway 95 south of Coeur d’Alene, police said.
Benjamin Lockard, 20, of Kennewick and 19-year-old Ann Barney of Steamboat Springs, Colo., died instantly.
Another passenger, 19-year-old Brooke Smith of Kennewick, was in critical condition Saturday at Kootenai Medical Center.
Pearson was northbound about 7:15 p.m. Friday when his vehicle crossed into the southbound lane and was struck broadside by a Chevrolet Suburban driven by Lea Barnes, 35, of Lakewood, Wash., police said. She was hospitalized in fair condition.
Montana: Freight train derails
Twenty-three cars from a Burlington Northern freight train derailed at Trenton, N.D., Saturday morning, spilling frozen french fries and other merchandise and closing the main track in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, spokesman Gus Melonas said.
Amtrak was busing passengers between Minot, N.D., and Havre, and BNSF was rerouting some trains.
Associated Press
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