SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle has ordered the Washington state Republican and Libertarian parties to repay more than $70,000 in legal fees they were awarded two years ago in the lawsuit over the state’s top-two primary election system.
The Seattle Times reports Democrats have already repaid fees they were awarded before a lower court decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The judgment issued Tuesday by Judge John Coughenour means interest will begin to accrue on the amount owed until the parties pay it off.
Man’s body found in Lake Washington Ship Canal
Seattle police say the body of a man in his 30s was found floating in the Lake Washington Ship Canal just west of the Fremont Bridge.
Police spokeswoman Renee Witt said a citizen reported the body Thursday afternoon. Police at the scene estimated it had been in the water for quite a while.
Additional details were not immediately available.
Kennewick: Lighthouse on Columbia nearly done
A new lighthouse on the Columbia River at Kennewick is almost complete.
Workers on Wednesday hoisted the 10-foot-tall lantern room onto the platform for the lighthouse that marks Clover Island.
Port of Kennewick official Larry Peterson told the Tri-City Herald that the structure is almost complete, with crews needing to install staircases, windows and doors before the 62-foot-high lighthouse starts functioning next month.
Its solar-powered beacon will flash once every four seconds as a navigational aid to boats on the Columbia River.
Toppenish: Body wrapped in plastic pulled from canal
A Yakima County sheriff’s officer says a man whose plastic-wrapped body was pulled from an irrigation canal near Toppenish has been identified as 21-year-old Fernando Figueroa of Yakima.
Sheriff’s detectives say the man may have suffered a gunshot wound. An autopsy is planned.
Chief of Detectives Stewart Graham says Figueroa’s relatives had reported him missing less than two weeks ago. They called the sheriff’s office Thursday afternoon to say they had found a possible body in the canal.
Graham says the body had been wrapped in black plastic before it was apparently dropped off a bridge.
Vancouver, Wash.: Gun at school leads to boy’s arrest
Clark County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 12-year-old boy at his Vancouver-area middle school after finding an unloaded 9 mm handgun and two loaded ammunition clips in the boy’s backpack.
Sgt. Craig Randall says the boy told investigators Thursday that he took his father’s gun to Pacific Middle School, without permission, to protect himself and friends from a bully.
The unidentified boy was taken to Clark County juvenile detention on accusations of theft of a firearm and possession of a dangerous weapon at school.
Randall said officers learned the boy had displayed a knife at school on Monday and the gun on Tuesday and Wednesday. Evergreen Public Schools safety manager Scott Deutsch said a schoolmate told his mother about the gun Wednesday evening and she alerted the school early Thursday.
Evergreen spokeswoman Carol Fenstermacher says the district is investigating the gun incident and the claims of bullying.
Oregon: Crabbers get nearly a season’s worth of harvest in December
Oregon commercial crabbers had a December to remember.
According to state statistics, Oregon boats harvested about 15.6 million pounds of Dungeness crab in the first four weeks of the season that began Dec. 1.
Last season’s entire eight-and-a-half month catch netted about 13 million pounds.
The crabbing season runs through mid-August, but crabbers catch as much as 80 percent of the annual harvest in the first eight weeks.
The fishery’s historical average is about 10.3 million pounds per season. The all-time record was set during in 2004-05, when boats brought in 34 million pounds.
Utah: Missing woman’s husband may be leaving Utah
Police say it appears the husband of a missing Utah woman is moving out of the couple’s West Valley City home.
West Valley police Capt. Tom McLachlan says it appears relatives of Josh Powell are packing up items from the home and relocating the family to Washington state.
Susan Powell has been missing since Dec. 7. She was last seen by her husband, who has said he left on a winter camping trip with the couple’s children at about 12:30 a.m. that day.
Police say Josh Powell is the only person of interest in the case. He has not been named a suspect.
The Powells have family in Washington state.
Joshua Powell’s attorney, Scott Williams, will only say that Salt Lake doesn’t currently provide his client with the financial and social support his family needs.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
