Northwest Briefly: Canada’s last surviving WWI veteran honored

SPOKANE — Canada’s minister of veterans affairs has presented an award to a Spokane man who is Canada’s last surviving veteran of World War I.

John Babcock received a Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation from Greg Thompson at a ceremony Saturday in Spokane.

Thompson called the 107-year-old an “ambassador for all those who served in the First World War.”

Babcock, a native of Kingston, Ontario, joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the age of 15. He was soon deployed to England, but was too young to serve on the front lines and never saw active service.

The Spokesman Review

City’s Sunday high is coldest since 1893

It hasn’t been this cold in Spokane for 115 years.

The National Weather Service said the 39-degree high temperature Sunday breaks the record 42 degrees set that day in 1893.

Flurries were expected to become snow showers Sunday night, with 1 to 3 inches possible.

The Spokesman-Review

Lakewood: Ferrari’s occupants die in crash

A 35-year-old Lakewood man and a woman were killed and three others injured when a red Ferrari struck a shuttle bus in Lakewood, a Tacoma suburb.

Lakewood police Lt. Dave Guttu said the driver and the passenger in the Ferrari died at the scene Sunday afternoon.

The driver and two passengers in the Transpro shuttle were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment. Guttu said the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

The sports car had been going north when it crossed into the southbound lanes about 12:30 p.m. It was not known if speed was a factor in the crash, police said.

The News Tribune

Tumwater: Squaxin get petroglyph back

A 10-ton granite rock with ancient tribal petroglyphs on it will be moved this week from a park in Tumwater where it has sat for 45 years.

The Squaxin tribe is taking possession of the artifact for its museum. Tribal members plan to move the rock Wednesday.

The rock has carved symbols of a bear, a mountain, the sun and a bow and arrow. It was initially at Harstine Island, 12 miles north of Olympia, but has been on display in front of the Olympia Tumwater Foundation’s office in Tumwater Falls Park since 1963.

The Olympian