MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon police say a 17-day-old baby taken from Skagit Valley Hospital by his mother early Wednesday has been brought to a hospital in Nampa, Idaho.
Lt. Chris Cammock said he believes a sister of the baby’s 24-year-old mother brought baby Jaden to Mercy Medical late Wednesday to receive care.
Earlier reports said his mother Nicole Hulse took him from the Washington hospital because she disagreed with the care he was getting. Police were concerned that he receive appropriate care.
Hulse has since been arrested in Idaho on felony charges of writing a bad check. She’s being held in Canyon County Jail in Caldwell, according to the jail roster.
Skagit Valley Hospital spokeswoman Kari Ranten said earlier the baby is medically fragile but wouldn’t specify his condition. The Skagit Valley Herald reported the boy could be going through drug withdrawal.
Tukwila: Prolific car thief held
Police said a man arrested after a chase and crash early Thursday in Tukwila is a prolific car thief.
KIRO-TV reported a patrol officer spotted a stolen pickup truck in Kent about 1:30 a.m. and chased it to Tukwila where it crashed into a retaining wall.
The driver is a man in his 20s who, police say, has been taking two-to-five vehicles a week in the area south of Seattle. They say he uses the stolen cars for transportation and sells property he finds inside.
Seattle: Contract awarded
Washington’s Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to replace the southern mile of Seattle’s aging Alaskan Way viaduct, with work to begin this summer.
In a news release Thursday, the department said Skanska USA Civil of Riverside, Calif., submitted the low bid of $114.6 million. That’s 25 percent under the $152.6 million the state had estimated.
The company will replace two-level viaduct south of the Pioneer Square neighborhood with a side-by-side roadway. A four-lane detour will connect the new section to the existing viaduct. No major construction closures or detours will occur until early next year, and work is to be completed in 2013.
Death threat defendant in court
A man accused of threatening to kill Sen. Patty Murray pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court in Seattle. Trial for Charles Alan Wilson was set for July 6.
The 64-year-old from Selah was arrested in April and charged with threatening a federal official.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said Wilson left voicemail messages laden with expletives and threats to kill Washington’s senior Democratic senator over her support for health care legislation.
Wilson remains free on bond. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
$27.5M for homeland security
The Department of Homeland Security is giving Washington state about $27.5 million to boost preparedness for terrorism, disasters and other emergencies.
The money announced Thursday is part of nearly $790 million in grants issued nationally for security programs.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray says the grants include $20.2 million to protect ports and $2.6 million for transit security in the Puget Sound area. There also is $2.5 million to help secure critical sites such as chemical and power plants, dams and sports stadiums. And there’s money to improve emergency communications and to reduce fraudulent drivers licenses and other state documents.
Reforms for ferry system OT
The Washington state ferry system is making changes to address problems brought to light by a KING-TV investigation.
Transportation Department Secretary Paula Hammond told the Seattle station the state has put a stop to costly travel time perks for some employees and limited the opportunity for triple overtime.
She said the state Auditor’s Office has been asked to examine state ferries timekeeping and payroll processing. Hammond promises stronger management oversight.
Hammond told KING-TV an entrenched culture in the ferry system sanctioned questionable practices in the past, but with the current economy she said the state must get expenses under control.
Fugitive busted through Facebook pleads guilty
SEATTLE — A fugitive who was captured in Mexico thanks to some help from his Facebook page has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in Seattle.
Maxi Sopo fled to Cancun, Mexico, last year after learning he was under investigation. For a while, investigators weren’t sure where he was. But then Sopo began posting status updates on Facebook saying how much fun he was having — and he added a former Justice Department official to his list of Facebook friends.
U.S. authorities used the information to track him down and he was extradited to Seattle last month. On Thursday he pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges. Prosecutors said he and an associate falsely obtained more than $200,000 from Seattle-area banks and credit unions.
Sopo is a native of Cameroon who previously was convicted of fraud in the United Kingdom. He is to be sentenced in August.
Whale still tangled in crab pot gear
Rescue attempts to free a juvenile humpback whale tangled in crab pot lines off the Washington coast will resume Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
A team of whale experts led by Olympia-based Cascadia Research Collective was able to cut several lines from the whale’s body and tail Thursday, but the animal’s flipper remains trapped, anchoring it to the ground.
John Calambokidis, a Cascadia research biologist involved in the rescue, said rough conditions on the water and the need for different equipment forced the team to suspend its efforts by afternoon. They left the whale marked with a buoy and a radio transmitter to locate it Friday, he said.
The whale appeared to be in good condition, and was active and feisty, he said. “It was very gentle with us and allowed us to get it part way free.”
“We’re hopeful it will end successfully, these things are always dicey,” said Brian Gorman, a NOAA spokesman.
A fisherman reported the whale Wednesday about eight miles southwest of Destruction Island entangled in crab pot gear with two orange floats attached.
The fisherman said the whale was wrapped several times in crab gear and was thrashing around in the water and swimming in circles, said Kristin Wilkinson, a marine mammal stranding specialist with NOAA.
The rescue team launched boats from La Push and reached the whale Thursday morning. The Coast Guard and a marine biologist from the Makah Tribe also assisted.
Wilkinson said there have been at least 17 reports of whales getting tangled in fishing gear since 2005.
Calambodikis said most whales reported entangled are typically on the move and hard to locate. He said this rescue is only one of several in the past 10 years where rescuers have been able to work with the animal.
Army corps increasing Green River flow
The Army Corps of Engineers is increasing the amount of water flowing from Hanson Dam following a series of tests at the dam’s reservoir on the upper Green River.
Heavy rains in January 2009 damaged a reservoir wall, limiting the amount of water the dam can hold. That’s increased the flood danger in the heavily developed Green River Valley south of Seattle.
The corps has been testing interim repairs at the flood-control dam, including raising the water level this spring. The level now is being lowered, which will significantly increase the flow in the river through Saturday. The corps said the flow levels will be far below flood stage, but people using the river should exercise caution.
Audit criticizes Puget Sound Partnership
A state audit criticizes the Puget Sound Partnership for contracting procedures and spending on items to promote the agency responsible for cleaning up Puget Sound.
The audit report Wednesday said the agency apparently structured a legal services contract to avoid competitive bidding. To help “brand” the agency, it spent $3,650 on 5,000 tubes of lip balm with the agency’s name and $12,000 on 150 jackets and vests that were given away.
Partnership spokesman Frank Mendizabal told The Seattle Times the problems have already been corrected, and most were the result of starting a new agency.
The Partnership was created by the Legislature in 2007 to improve the water quality of Puget Sound. It has a two-year budget of $16 million.
Port Angeles: Jury deliberating in branding trial
A jury in Port Angeles has acquitted a man who branded his children like cattle of two felony second-degree assault charges.
Jurors deadlocked Thursday on two lesser charges of fourth-degree assault. Superior Court Judge Brooke Taylor declared a mistrial on those and told Mark J. Seamands that he was a free man.
The Peninsula Daily News reports that the two teenage sons of the 39-year-old Seamands testified this week that they wanted to be branded.
The Sequim (skwim) man was also branded himself. He testified he wanted to bring the family closer together in November 2008 while he was going through a divorce.
The brand “SK” stands for Seamands Kids.
South Bend: Guilty plea for partner of missing fisherman
The business partner of an Oregon fisherman last seen in the southwest Washington port of Ilwaco has pleaded guilty to killing his fishing partner and dumping his body at sea.
Erin Rieman of Pacific City, Ore., pleaded guilty Tuesday in Superior Court in South Bend, Wash., to first-degree manslaughter in last July’s death of 53-year-old John Adkins of Albany, Ore.
Deputy Prosecutor David Bustamante said he’ll recommend a higher-than-average sentence of 11 years when the 47-year-old Rieman is sentenced May 21.
Rieman and Adkins were partners in a fishing boat called the “Tiger” that they sailed from Oregon to Ilwaco last July 4. According to court papers, a deckhand told police he returned to the boat late on the night of July 5 to find Rieman killing Adkins.
Westport: Bunny killed was 4-year-old’s pet
A Westport couple who killed a couple of rabbits that had been raiding their garden could be fined more than $1,000.
KOMO News reports one of them was a pet belonging to a 4-year-old neighbor boy, Cohen Andersen. His mother, Dalaena Anderson, said her son’s pet was brutally murdered.
George and Billie Jean Lehman said they tried chasing away rabbits, calling animal control and building a vegetable cover. But they were fed up earlier this month, and Billie Jean Lehman dispatched two rabbits she cornered.
The Lehmans say the neighbors should keep their pets penned up.
Westport ordinances say pet rabbits shouldn’t run loose, but you can’t kill one either.
Grandview: Broken pipe spills sewage
The Benton-Franklin Public Health District issued an alert because of a sewage spill at Grandview.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reported about 300,000 gallons spilled from a broken main Wednesday and likely reached the Yakima River.
The health district advised people not to swim in the river and to avoid contact with irrigation water in the Kennewick, Prosser and Columbia districts.
The flow in the 21-inch line was diverted and crews are replacing about 60 feet of pipe.
Spokane: Man seriously burned in trailer fire
A man suffered burns over 40 percent of his body in a Wednesday night fire in a small travel trailer in Spokane.
Fire Battalion Chief Bruce Moline told The Spokesman-Review 59-year-old Phil Gordon was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Moline said there were several small cylinders of propane in the trailer and investigators are looking into whether a leak cause the fire.
Yakima: Flower beds catching fire at Wal-Mart
The landscaping at a Wal-Mart store in Yakima is a fire hazard.
KAPP-TV reported firefighters have put out five small fires this month. The latest one Wednesday started when someone flipped a cigarette into a flower beds.
Deputy Fire Chief Ron Melcher said the landscaping bark is a shredded wood that easily catches fire.
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company is aware of the danger and will replace it.
Othello: Body recovered from reservoir
The body of a 39-year-old man who drowned after a paddleboat sank in the Scootney Reservoir near Othello was recovered Thursday.
Franklin County Coroner Dan Blasdel said volunteer divers located the body of Pedro Valentin Javier of Othello, who drowned Saturday.
Three other men who were in the boat made it to shore. The men were not wearing life vests.
From Herald news services
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