YAKIMA — Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Yakima to protest the federal government’s program of bailouts and stimulus spending to fight the economic recession.
Saturday’s demonstration was billed as a “tea party” in the revolutionary spirit of the 1773 Boston Tea Party.
Some participants wore tea bags as earrings, and protest signs urging personal responsibility bore slogans such as, “Spread my work ethic, not my wealth,” and, “Drunken sailors have better budgets.”
Speakers criticized the idea of the government using tax dollars to rescue those hurt by the slumping economy.
Okanogan: Pleas in woman’s slaying
Three people have pleaded not guilty in the slaying of a pregnant Tonasket woman — a crime prosecutors allege was a murder-for-hire plot.
The beaten and stabbed body of 25-year-old Michelle Kitterman was found March 1 southwest of Tonasket.
Lacey K. Hirst-Pavek, 33, of Tonasket, and two Spokane residents, 29-year-old Tansy F. Mathis and 38-year-old Brent L. Phillips, pleaded not guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in Okanogan County Superior Court.
A fourth defendant, 33-year-old David E. Richards, of Spokane, has not yet entered a plea.
They also are charged with first-degree manslaughter in the death of Kitterman’s unborn child.
Investigators allege Hirst-Pavek planned to pay $500 to have Kitterman attacked, because she was having an affair with Hirst-Pavek’s husband.
Olympia: $1.73M to reduce emissions
Gov. Chris Gregoire says that $1.73 million in federal grants will be distributed throughout Washington to reduce emissions from diesel engines.
An announcement Friday said the state Department of Ecology will receive the money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It will use the funds to bolster the Washington clean diesel program.
Ecology has identified diesel exhaust as the air pollutant most harmful to public health in Washington. Diesel exhaust causes 70 percent of the cancer risk from airborne pollutants.
New indoor home for needle exchange
A Thurston County program that provides clean syringes to intravenous drug users soon will be moving indoors.
The program will move into the historic 1896 Cunningham building in downtown Olympia on April 21.
The needle exchange has operated for years out of a van in a downtown parking lot. Its goal is to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases, including HIV and hepatitis, by providing clean syringes so drug users don’t have to share needles.
Officials say the new indoor location could allow the program to offer more services, including rapid HIV testing and on-site drug and alcohol assessments.
Seattle: No more shuttles to Safeco
There will be no special shuttle service to Safeco Field for Seattle Mariners games this season.
For $3 a ride, depending on game attendance, up to 1,000 fans used to take Metro shuttle buses to and from Mariners games.
But Metro no longer is offering special buses from park-and-rides to Safeco because of a recent Federal Transit Administration ruling. The FTA prohibits taxpayer money being spent for public transit to private events.
KING-TV says Starline Luxury Coaches, a private bus company, put in a bid with the Mariners to provide the service, but the Mariners rejected the bid, saying it was too expensive for the baseball team and fans.
Associated Press
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