WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Doc Hastings and Dave Reichert of Washington have announced that they are skipping the Republican National Convention.
Hastings, of Pasco, and Reichert, of Auburn, said through spokesmen Thursday that they will not attend the four-day convention next week in St. Paul, Minn., where Republicans are meeting to nominate John McCain for president.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is skipping the convention to campaign.
A spokesman for Hastings said the veteran congressman will be campaigning in central Washington, while a spokeswoman for Reichert said he will be on an overseas trip.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said Thursday that she will attend the convention as a delegate for Washington state.
Rockport: Two hikers close to being rescued
A Skagit County sheriff’s spokesman says two hikers who had been stranded on a narrow mountain ledge in the North Cascades were able to make their way to a somewhat safer spot on a nearby glacier as they wait for rescue hikers.
Deputy Brad Holmes said that by 10 p.m. Thursday, the quick rescue team was at about the same 6,000-foot elevation as the stranded pair and was trying to locate them.
He said the 33-year-old man and his 27-year-old girlfriend were able to move off the 18-inch ledge on Spire Point and down onto nearby Dana Glacier.
They called for help Wednesday night after becoming stranded on the peak northeast of Darrington.
Holmes says the hikers have not reported any injuries but their exposed condition in the cold and intermittent rain is a serious concern.
Yakima: New medical school hopes to expand
A new Northwest medical school that just opened its doors to students laid out plans Thursday for two more colleges, intending to ease shortages of additional health care professionals in the region.
The private, nonprofit Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences has 75 students enrolled in the inaugural class of its College of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima.
The university also has been conducting a study to determine what other health education programs it might be able to support. The university announced Thursday that its board of directors had voted to open two additional colleges, possibly as early as next fall: the College of Allied Health Sciences and the College of Biomedical Sciences.
Initial degrees to be offered include a doctorate in clinical psychology and a master’s degree in clinical counseling or public health and a master’s degree for physician’s assistants.
South Dakota: Seattle detective charged
Grand jurors have indicted a Seattle police detective, a Hells Angel biker he shot, two customs officers and another man following a bar fight at this year’s Sturgis motorcycle rally.
Joseph McGuire, 33, of Imperial Beach, Calif., was shot and injured Aug. 9 at the Loud American Roadhouse by Ronald Smith, 43, a vacationing Seattle detective, authorities said.
Both men are charged with alternative counts of aggravated and simple assault.
The four other men charged are, like Smith, members of the Iron Pigs Motorcycle Club, a biker group culled from the ranks of law enforcement and firefighters. Dennis McCoy, 59, a Seattle police sergeant; Customs and Border Protection officers Scott Lazalde, 38, of Bellingham, and James Rector, 44, of Ferndale; and Erik Pingel, 35, of Aurora, Colo., were charged with the misdemeanor of carrying a concealed pistol without a permit, and an alternative count of failure to abide by a permit of a reciprocal state.
McGuire and Smith also face those charges, and Smith is further charged with perjury.
Associated Press
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